550 package wasn't nowhere near as bad as the gen 7 short track and road courses are, regardless of aero packages used...while 550 wasn't great it produced a few great races inspite of itself, only twice has the gen 7 put on a good short track race.
Honestly I really liked 2018 until Miami… even tho it was the same 3 guys winning every week it was very entertaining watching them all go at it and try to 1-up each other. If one of them won the title I think it would’ve been the best season I’ve ever watched (except 2019 bc bias Kyle Busch fan)
Most would be fine with keeping the stage points but completely ditching the stage cautions. Stage points at least let you halfway salvage your race if you get knocked out of the race due to things beyond your control.
Yes - this would be so much better. It's like the mid stage mountain tops and sprint checkpoints in pro cycling, if you need an analogy But it's probably a good place to insert ads so they won't do this
Nascar had been on its way to closing the doors since around 2010. So many stupid decisions it's to far gone. Once the went away from a fair points system they lost me.
generally speaking, while i do totally agree with the sentiment of the late 2010s being a really sour time for nascar & its fans, i feel like this video (and many young & old fans, at that) is overblowing a few of the circumstances mentioned in here to their own accord-- a trait that makes nascar's job of "listening to the fans" incredibly hard because they can't make their minds up, making them the most overreactive fanbase i can possibly think of anywhere. i mean, look at what nascar is now: a hodge-podge of things that make up for a mixed experience. that being said, like mentioned prior i do agree with the idea that the late 2010s were awful-- all of some of the best & most popular drivers retiring, lower horsepower figures, teams learning and taking advantage of the gen-6 platform & its dirty-air weakness, and a playoff format before 2017 that was all about chaos. add to that, awful off-track headlines like the tv ratings absolutely tanking from 2015-2019 (13 mil. for the 500 in 2015 vs. 9.3. mil. for the 500 in 2019), & brian france getting drunkenly arrested in the hamptons, and you have probably the most unenjoyable group of seasons in nascar's post-peak existence. there are things about nascar today that i'm not satisfied with, but it's so much better in the early next-gen era than the entirety of the late 2010s. those days were ROUGH and i hope the sport doesn't experience something like it again.
2017 is truly one of the most slept-on seasons IMO. Not as many crazy moments as 2016, but the racing overall was solid across all three series. Multiple current Cup guys getting their first wins across all series. All 4 Crown Jewel races were good, and the deserving guy in Truex finally got the payoff to a career that almost didn't make it to 2017
@@S.K.R.E.Inc. As much as people complain, I much prefer them keep it the same for at least some period of time. There had been 4 formats used in the first 13 years with the Chase, so using the same one for an extended period with the playoffs doesn't bother me
Even if I wasn’t a "real" fan back then, I’d say it was. The racing was getting worse, Popular drivers retiring, More drivers dominating, Mickey champions, It was a doozey!
How can you complain about the big 3 not winning it all in 2018 and then also complain about 2019 being boring because someone from the big 3 did win it? Seems like hating just to hate
1) It’s boring if someone dominates. 2) It’s just straight up annoying if the guys who dominate don’t even get to win it all. Makes it feel like the suffering was for nothing. I don’t get why you think this isn’t a problem.
He's wearing a Talladega Nights shirt as a NASCAR fan and "expert." Changes arguments depending on which driver he likes or doesn't like. This is strictly an entertainment page with some historical accuracy, but very little substance in terms of talk.
In the midst of the Big 3 winning nearly all the races to start off 2018 Clint Bowyer also squeezed multiple wins in before the halfway mark of the season
Joey Logano's Martinsville Win & 2018 Championship will forever be The Overall Conclusion of The Jeff Gordon/Clint Bowyer Saga in 2012 & The Matt Kenseth/Joey Logano Saga in 2015 because Logano (Driving The 20 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing with Dollar General as the sponsor) was the driver wiped out in Gordon's retaliation against Bowyer in The Infamous Phoenix Race which Foreshadowed Kenseth kamikazing Logano into the Turn 1 Wall at Martinsville (The Very Same Track & Very Same Corner that sparked The Gordon/Bowyer Saga resulting in The Infamous Phoenix Race 7 months later in the season) as retaliation for the Kansas race 2 weeks prior resulting in Gordon's 93rd and Final Career Win.
When did the playoffs start? 2004? Yeah. That’s when the dark age started. And that’s quantifiable by every measurable metric you can think of. I only keep tabs on NASCAR with what’s going on. The franchise isn’t interested in sport. Entertainment, by their own admission, is the goal. And going by the metrics they’re failing at that too.
@@Paradox_Of_Crota couldn't disagree more but love ure username lol was a huge Destiny player just recently stopped playing regularly the last year or so. Tried final shape. Pretty cool but couldn't keep me like back in the day.
@@nickypowers2335 Gotcha, Thx. But back to the topic at hand, If we go back and watch, Carl literally blocked LOGANO all the way to the paint. Like dude, he got the better restart, let it go.
That's not how that worked. At all. If you want to blame someone, blame Brian France. Not Joey. Carl could have let Joey underneath and tried to pass him back. Instead he blocked him to the apron when Joey had the run. Hard to hold something against a guy and never forgive him for something that wasn't his fault.
@@BraydenBunch58 Nope, just realistic. 2003 was the last we see of Winston, racing back to the yellow, and old-school. 2004 was when the gimmicks began with the Chase, overtime, and Toyota launching in Trucks. 2007 was Fuelgate, 2008 hit the fan at the Brickyard and sponsorship in general come September, we don't need to mention what happened to the championships between 2006-10, it's all too known. 2012 is when Dodge leaves NASCAR and for good, 2013 was Spingate and the 13-car Chase. 2017 was when stage racing ruined events and the Chase was scrapped for an even worse format, then came the horsepower reductions, then win-and-you're-in, and bland-personality, silver-spoon brats are replacing the old-school, down-to-earth, rags-to-riches drivers that defined the sport for decades. Also, the Ferko lawsuit took away Rockingham, Darlington's Labor Day date, and put TexARSE as a top track when fans absolutely HATED that track. NASCAR never died when Dale died, if anything, it died when Brian France took over and was responsible for all this $#!+ mentioned in one way or another
Upon Nascar's inception the limits of speed, power, endurance and safety were yet unknown. Annually, records for qualifying, avg. lap speed and total run time were being set. Sometimes twice in the same season. All without cool suits and other modern driver amenities.Until the 80's, when restrictor plates were introduced. Nascar has long since reached its limit of safe top speed. The thrill of watching cars go faster and longer is no more. I beg to differ with your assessment of the sport's finest era. My vote is for the 70s because they were still racing cars that could be bought by the public.
I went to night bristol 2021 just to say I did, Since I kinda predicted nascar would be bought out of defunct by the end of the decade. With pretty much nobody to cheer for. I felt there was little point in being there other than t see the giant TV and feel the energy of being at one of their events among the less than half full attendance. I got a hell of a race. And I became a larson fan. Feeling the engines roar by in the gen 6’s was unbelievable. And seeing chase elliott’s night owl paint in person was neat too. And ever since, I’ve watched every single weekend. I bought a wheel for my computer and started iRacing. It became way more of an obsession. Next month at Atlanta makes my 12th race since september of 2021. 🏁
As a card carrying member of Junior Nation I naturally gravitated to his replacement, Alex Bowman. In the limited races he had in the 88 during the 2016 season he definitely showed what he was truly capable of. He got his first pole at Phoenix and almost won the race. He had a better overall finish than Gordon did in the same car.
I generally agree. That’s coincidentally when I really tuned out of NASCAR for a while. I grew up watching it from around 2005 through the early 2010s and initially stopped watching as much because more of the drivers I cared about were retiring. Tried to get back into it in the late 2010s, but just didn’t find an interesting driver to latch onto or find the racing very interesting. But since getting back into it for the 2022 season, I’ve really come to enjoy it again! It’s far from perfect, but it has a lot of entertaining races and some of the younger drivers that joined in the 2010s are finally starting to become proper veterans.
Jeff and Jr were always my favorite and tho I still watch it will never be the same, with those guys not out on track. 2017 I will say was probably my favorite season, idk why, it just special.
I will say, 550 wasn't quite good, but the 1.5 mile races in 2019, especially for the first half of the season were awesome, the 600 and Spring Kansas in particular being some great races I'd recommend going back to rewatch
Agreed. The racecar and package was good. Racing product was good. Headlines going into the races were great. I feel like the people who only were just fans of their driver, not the sport, think that season sucked. The big 3 was probably the most competative subjects of the 2010s and even the 20s
I definitely feel the dark ages started in 2018 and that was cuz we lost all our star power , 2015 wasnt a bad year like people act like it was & 2016/2017 were very underrated! 2018 started the dark age continued by the 550 package. 2018 - somewhat 2021 were the dark age
The true dark era of NASCAR for me was having ESPN and abc shoved down my throat for 8 years between 2007 to 2014. I'm super happy with the FOX and NBC coverage we have today, and glad that they are both still going to be around through 2031 at least, while being able to incorporate new media partners into the fold at the same time to join FOX and NBC. I believe with Amazon, TNT, and The CW there will be potential.
I feel like we are currently in the dark age of Nascar, but I think it originated from the end of 2022 with the appeals board making some controversial decisions as well as the botched Ross Chastain call in Martinsville that was later determined to be illegal. But I believe outside of Martinsville wasn't exactly Nascar's fault. I think when things took a turn for the worse was when Elton Sawyer took over his current position. It's just been one thing after another and just seems to have gotten worse and worse. The last 6-7 races have been really bad too in that department with Indy really taking the cake I think.
@@PaperBanjo64 I've watched one or two since then. At this point I feel like the overall champion has been tainted regardless of who wins it, but I figured I could watch some of the bigger races here and there like Chicago and Indy. However, I'm not even sure I want to do that anymore. It's just been rough. Hopefully Nascar does the right thing and fires Sawyer this offseason and we can start fresh next year. If not I'm not sure it's worth watching until he is gone. It's become too much like F1 anymore.
I mean sure those ears are like the dark ages of NASCAR but 2022 does anybody remember anything that happened in the 2022 season? Because I don't remember nothing from that season and sure Austin centric win at Daytona the Coca-Cola 600 Martin truex Jr missing the playoffs And Ross Chastain wall riding in the final lap like what does 2022 brings up to the table nothing
Early 2022 was only good because of the unknown of the gen 7 car, but as the season went on how shitty gen 7 cars are got exposed more and more and more, last season had its moments, this season has been absolutely horrible, only a handful of good races, the rest snoozers or shit shows, sometimes a combination of both!
5:52 Also Harvick was caught by cheating because i think his roof have a deflection (if you pay attention in Las Vegas race photo of #4 you could saw a little deflection in Harvick’s roof)
I can't consider any seasons from the video or mentioned in the comments the 'Dark Age' of the sport when we've had no fatalities in that time. Thankfully. '64-'65, '93-'94, or 2000-'01 were the true dark ages of the sport.
I'm already willing to go back to gen 6 cars with the 550 package at the bigger tracks if we get 750 HP and low downforce and good short track racing to look forward to again.
I became a nascar fan in 2018, believe it or not. It was mostly because of the regional K&N series and the Modified series. Nascar should do a better job promoting those, get them on tv in evening slots rather than on streaming services that only racing diehards get. I wasn't even into racing before then.
@@dsz2448 I agree 100% and also if they're trying to get new manufacturers they should also go to OHC rather than Push-Rod like the Cadillac prototypes have and those sound bad ass
@@chrisstevens917 or just open it up. if one team wants to run pushrod engines, let them. if another wants OHC, go for it. I'm sick and tired of boring underpowered spec cars and engines. Yes, the series has always been spec to a certain point, but 20 years ago, even though Dale Jr and Jeff both drove Chevys, you could still pick out clear design differences between their cars. And 10 years ago we had 900+ horsepower. This current crap just doesn't cut it.
In my opinion as an MTJ fan or not, 2017 wasn't a bad season. Mainly because the one who was the best all year, the one who dominated, won the championship and still would have won it under the old Winston points format
The 2014 season was probably the last good season of NASCAR even if Gordon got screwed out of the championship you still had moments like Jr. winning his 2nd Daytona 500 and Keselowski getting the crap beat out of him in the Chase
I personally think NASCAR is exiting these “dark days” because drivers are actually starting to emerge as personalities. Larson, Elliot, Chastain, Bell, Blaney, Wallace, Bowman, etc. have some character and wins to their names. They can’t replace the “golden era” drivers, but I feel like that 2015-2020 era was just trying to stay afloat while they transitioned into a new era. I feel like the excitement around the sport is back internally.
Funny enough, 2016 was when I got back into the sport for the full year and not just one or two races here and there. That year and 2017 were surprisingly solid, especially compared to some of the years we've had since. The on-track product was rather solid, especially 2016. But 2018, oh my god. I'm glad someone's finally talking about it because that season was not nearly worth its second-half. The first half of 2018 may have genuinely been the worst half of a season the sport has seen, at least since the start of the millennium. Lost in the shuffle of the same three guys winning over and over again, was the lack of any competitive finishes until, like, Chicagoland. What an awful year.
I'll raise you 1974. 27 races won by three drivers, and the biggest surprise of the season being Junior Johnson's second car winning at Martinsville. Factor in the dumbest point system ever, and you have a recipe for NASCAR's worst season.
Sadly I think we have entered the dark days of Nascar these last 3 years with the integrity of the Championship being ruined by controversial calls and finally Elton Sawyer. 2022 was ruined by the controversial William Byron penalty being overturned and the wall ride that wasn't penalized. 2023 came the Elton Sawyer war on Hendrick and so many others. Then finally we get this season which has been an absolute disaster of controversy on a nearly weekly basis.
If you omit 2022 because of all the parody and chaos that this new car brought in its inaugural season, NASCAR's dark age is still ongoing. The traditional superspeedway races have become dull because nobody can pass without wrecking or running out of fuel. Most of the short track races have also become dull because there's no significant tire fall off. NASCAR ruined what was great road course racing by designing a car that drives too good on road courses, practically eliminating most of its racing excitement (unless weather is involved).
The video made some really good points for a few minutes. But then you credit Truex as being a deserving Champion while Logano is a fluke Champion? The fluke won a second title. Truex only won the Championship because the stages and playoff points you took a dump on a few minutes before. Not to mention anyone with eyeballs knows that Championship wasn't Truex at all. It was all Cole Pearn. Truex was a career also ran before Pearn got him. And he's essentially become that again, even in top of the sport JGR equipment without Pearn.
Darkest stretch of NASCAR history, I get what you said, 15-20 through had sad moments, Gordon, Stewart, Edwards, Biffle, Earnhardt Jr,, Kenseth, Bobby Labonte all retiring, or Kenseth eventually having two comebacks, and not doing as well as he did previously, and then Jimmie retiring full time and not many fans saw him, now they do again, but he crashes a lot now sadly. But that's tough, but I think 2020 was the darkest in my opinion, 15 was shocking knowing I wasn't a Kyle Busch fan but I didn't wish for him to get injured like that but had a remarkable comeback, I respect about that, 18 and 20, yeah same guys winning wasn't all fun, but 2020 was my least favorite year in life as well, given everything that happened! Covid, a stolen election, the riots, everything! and of course with NASCAR there was the hoax that happened, that really, really, really got me mad at a certain driver, and I was pissed off by some of the NASCAR media for how it was handled but 2020 was my least favorite year as a NASCAR I was hopeful positive of how I was looking forward even they came back I was happy, and then BUBBA HAPPENED AND THE SEASON for me went like someone wetting the bed on me. It tested me a fan and I thought I would never ever ever wanted to watch them again. There was a time John, I wasn't so sure if I ever wanted too watch them.. I admit I don't love the sport like I used too, and lots of it was mainly due to both Bubba and NASCAR for their antics related to that certain thing they did and promoted too. But other than Chase Elliott winning the title, I didn't like 2020 at all. for many reasons and I truly hated sports professionally too don't forget cause everybody had that.
While far from perfect NASCAR was still pretty good back then, NOW is the dark ages, other than Atlanta and Kansas having photo finishes, and Bristol tire wear, NASCAR has been unwatchable this year.
Yes yes yes yes once they screwed the gen 6 car it only got worse and the drivers with the most experience in the best equipment won 🏆 and that was that oddly enough I ended up going back and realizing something crazy the 2011/12 gen 5 cup car was outside of gen 4 the best NASCAR car we’ve ever seen every race was a banger and it wasn’t a fluke thing it was natural racing with talented drivers and no stages with high horse power damn I wish we could go back to late gen 5
2013-2016 easy; 2015 being the darkest year of them all & it's not even close. Heck if not for the NASCAR UA-cam Community I would've certainly quit watching NASCAR for good after 2015 Homestead instead of 2024 Daytona Trucks.
2015 - 2020 was Truly a Dark Age of NASCAR, from the Playoffs to the 550 Package and the Choking down of the Horsepower and constant Changes in Rules Package
Yea once they ruined the gen 6 car it only got worse everything else was a move of desperation to look cool and nobody liked it they never should have changed the original gen 6 car from 2013-14 it was great not as great as late gen 5 but damn it was great
If you say 550 to a Nascar fan, you'll give them PTSD
Especially if you bring up The 2020 Hollywood Casino 400 AKA The Dirty Air Race
550 package wasn't nowhere near as bad as the gen 7 short track and road courses are, regardless of aero packages used...while 550 wasn't great it produced a few great races inspite of itself, only twice has the gen 7 put on a good short track race.
@@PaperBanjo64and they were both this year
@@craigstephenson7676 yep Bristol and Iowa
@@PaperBanjo64Bristol only worked arguably because of the horrific tire wear too
This stretch may have been one of NASCAR’s worst, but I still believe 2016 was one of NASCAR’s best years and the only exception from this time
For some reason every sport was great in 2016
@@dpra2827that’s actually facts
Honestly I really liked 2018 until Miami… even tho it was the same 3 guys winning every week it was very entertaining watching them all go at it and try to 1-up each other. If one of them won the title I think it would’ve been the best season I’ve ever watched (except 2019 bc bias Kyle Busch fan)
THANK YOU!!!
2016 deserves WAY more love then it has gotten.
2017 was much better
Most would be fine with keeping the stage points but completely ditching the stage cautions. Stage points at least let you halfway salvage your race if you get knocked out of the race due to things beyond your control.
Yes - this would be so much better. It's like the mid stage mountain tops and sprint checkpoints in pro cycling, if you need an analogy
But it's probably a good place to insert ads so they won't do this
Nascar had been on its way to closing the doors since around 2010. So many stupid decisions it's to far gone. Once the went away from a fair points system they lost me.
Kyle Bush fans look back fondly on these years.
Definitely better what we have now for KFB fans, That’s for sure!
I love those years
Can confirm
Just had to wait for jeff, tony, carl to retire and jimmie to get old
Kyle crybaby is so overrated
generally speaking, while i do totally agree with the sentiment of the late 2010s being a really sour time for nascar & its fans, i feel like this video (and many young & old fans, at that) is overblowing a few of the circumstances mentioned in here to their own accord-- a trait that makes nascar's job of "listening to the fans" incredibly hard because they can't make their minds up, making them the most overreactive fanbase i can possibly think of anywhere. i mean, look at what nascar is now: a hodge-podge of things that make up for a mixed experience.
that being said, like mentioned prior i do agree with the idea that the late 2010s were awful-- all of some of the best & most popular drivers retiring, lower horsepower figures, teams learning and taking advantage of the gen-6 platform & its dirty-air weakness, and a playoff format before 2017 that was all about chaos.
add to that, awful off-track headlines like the tv ratings absolutely tanking from 2015-2019 (13 mil. for the 500 in 2015 vs. 9.3. mil. for the 500 in 2019), & brian france getting drunkenly arrested in the hamptons, and you have probably the most unenjoyable group of seasons in nascar's post-peak existence.
there are things about nascar today that i'm not satisfied with, but it's so much better in the early next-gen era than the entirety of the late 2010s. those days were ROUGH and i hope the sport doesn't experience something like it again.
I want a 2014 type of season again😢
2017 was a good year in my opinion. Because the right guy won the title.
I couldn't agree more as an MTJ fan
2017 is truly one of the most slept-on seasons IMO. Not as many crazy moments as 2016, but the racing overall was solid across all three series. Multiple current Cup guys getting their first wins across all series. All 4 Crown Jewel races were good, and the deserving guy in Truex finally got the payoff to a career that almost didn't make it to 2017
Unfortunately, the right guy winning also caused a horrible format to stay for the past 7 years
@@S.K.R.E.Inc. As much as people complain, I much prefer them keep it the same for at least some period of time. There had been 4 formats used in the first 13 years with the Chase, so using the same one for an extended period with the playoffs doesn't bother me
Go back to f1
2022-present the rebuilding of NASCAR
Kind of but we’re still in the dark age but has gotten better
The next gen car isn’t perfect but I think it’s brought a lot back to the sport. And nascar has been doing really well with it’s schedule changes
Even if I wasn’t a "real" fan back then, I’d say it was. The racing was getting worse, Popular drivers retiring, More drivers dominating, Mickey champions, It was a doozey!
2014 was the end of an era in my opinion. Everything went to shit after that.
How can you complain about the big 3 not winning it all in 2018 and then also complain about 2019 being boring because someone from the big 3 did win it? Seems like hating just to hate
1) It’s boring if someone dominates.
2) It’s just straight up annoying if the guys who dominate don’t even get to win it all. Makes it feel like the suffering was for nothing.
I don’t get why you think this isn’t a problem.
That's why we get a spec series.@@StanTheManExtra
Because he’s a typical Hendrick fan.
He's wearing a Talladega Nights shirt as a NASCAR fan and "expert." Changes arguments depending on which driver he likes or doesn't like. This is strictly an entertainment page with some historical accuracy, but very little substance in terms of talk.
In the midst of the Big 3 winning nearly all the races to start off 2018 Clint Bowyer also squeezed multiple wins in before the halfway mark of the season
Joey Logano's Martinsville Win & 2018 Championship will forever be The Overall Conclusion of The Jeff Gordon/Clint Bowyer Saga in 2012 & The Matt Kenseth/Joey Logano Saga in 2015 because Logano (Driving The 20 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing with Dollar General as the sponsor) was the driver wiped out in Gordon's retaliation against Bowyer in The Infamous Phoenix Race which Foreshadowed Kenseth kamikazing Logano into the Turn 1 Wall at Martinsville (The Very Same Track & Very Same Corner that sparked The Gordon/Bowyer Saga resulting in The Infamous Phoenix Race 7 months later in the season) as retaliation for the Kansas race 2 weeks prior resulting in Gordon's 93rd and Final Career Win.
Carl was my favorite driver and I almost went to that homestead race with my friend but I'm so glad I didn't lol
Dark age is the move of numbers position, lost the personality of category. Chaotic system points, playoffs and stages. Final in Phoenix.
When did the playoffs start? 2004? Yeah. That’s when the dark age started. And that’s quantifiable by every measurable metric you can think of.
I only keep tabs on NASCAR with what’s going on. The franchise isn’t interested in sport. Entertainment, by their own admission, is the goal. And going by the metrics they’re failing at that too.
JPR giving me NASCAR PTSD is something I never knew I needed.
Hey this was when KB when was in his prime and I enjoyed it so I don’t complain
Ironically this is when I started watching
the NASCAR 2015 game
same lmao
2019 was genuinely one of the absolute worst seasons in nascar history
I will never forgive Joey for literally making Carl Edwards retire from heartbreak.
Carl turned himself
@@Paradox_Of_Crota couldn't disagree more but love ure username lol was a huge Destiny player just recently stopped playing regularly the last year or so. Tried final shape. Pretty cool but couldn't keep me like back in the day.
@@nickypowers2335 Gotcha, Thx. But back to the topic at hand, If we go back and watch, Carl literally blocked LOGANO all the way to the paint. Like dude, he got the better restart, let it go.
That's not how that worked. At all. If you want to blame someone, blame Brian France. Not Joey. Carl could have let Joey underneath and tried to pass him back. Instead he blocked him to the apron when Joey had the run. Hard to hold something against a guy and never forgive him for something that wasn't his fault.
We didn't realize how good we still had it in 2011-2014.
“Not THAT 5 year gap”
Truly was a dark time for the sport, but stayed extremely loyal each race
The dark age
The dark age indeed
A little dark age 🎶
2002-2021. 19 dark years
@@S.K.R.E.Inc. Are you one of those "NaScAr DiEd WhEn DaLe DiEd!1!1!1" people?
@@BraydenBunch58 Nope, just realistic. 2003 was the last we see of Winston, racing back to the yellow, and old-school. 2004 was when the gimmicks began with the Chase, overtime, and Toyota launching in Trucks. 2007 was Fuelgate, 2008 hit the fan at the Brickyard and sponsorship in general come September, we don't need to mention what happened to the championships between 2006-10, it's all too known. 2012 is when Dodge leaves NASCAR and for good, 2013 was Spingate and the 13-car Chase. 2017 was when stage racing ruined events and the Chase was scrapped for an even worse format, then came the horsepower reductions, then win-and-you're-in, and bland-personality, silver-spoon brats are replacing the old-school, down-to-earth, rags-to-riches drivers that defined the sport for decades. Also, the Ferko lawsuit took away Rockingham, Darlington's Labor Day date, and put TexARSE as a top track when fans absolutely HATED that track. NASCAR never died when Dale died, if anything, it died when Brian France took over and was responsible for all this $#!+ mentioned in one way or another
2019 did have one more thing
The instant classic Bristol Night Race
Upon Nascar's inception the limits of speed, power, endurance and safety were yet unknown. Annually, records for qualifying, avg. lap speed and total run time were being set. Sometimes twice in the same season. All without cool suits and other modern driver amenities.Until the 80's, when restrictor plates were introduced. Nascar has long since reached its limit of safe top speed. The thrill of watching cars go faster and longer is no more. I beg to differ with your assessment of the sport's finest era. My vote is for the 70s because they were still racing cars that could be bought by the public.
That Big 3 thing gave me PTSD 😭
When cheating Chad & Johnson kept winnin the sport was boring as hell
I went to night bristol 2021 just to say I did, Since I kinda predicted nascar would be bought out of defunct by the end of the decade. With pretty much nobody to cheer for. I felt there was little point in being there other than t see the giant TV and feel the energy of being at one of their events among the less than half full attendance. I got a hell of a race. And I became a larson fan. Feeling the engines roar by in the gen 6’s was unbelievable. And seeing chase elliott’s night owl paint in person was neat too. And ever since, I’ve watched every single weekend. I bought a wheel for my computer and started iRacing. It became way more of an obsession. Next month at Atlanta makes my 12th race since september of 2021. 🏁
As a card carrying member of Junior Nation I naturally gravitated to his replacement, Alex Bowman. In the limited races he had in the 88 during the 2016 season he definitely showed what he was truly capable of. He got his first pole at Phoenix and almost won the race. He had a better overall finish than Gordon did in the same car.
2000-2001, losing several talented young drivers and Dale Sr.
I generally agree. That’s coincidentally when I really tuned out of NASCAR for a while. I grew up watching it from around 2005 through the early 2010s and initially stopped watching as much because more of the drivers I cared about were retiring. Tried to get back into it in the late 2010s, but just didn’t find an interesting driver to latch onto or find the racing very interesting.
But since getting back into it for the 2022 season, I’ve really come to enjoy it again! It’s far from perfect, but it has a lot of entertaining races and some of the younger drivers that joined in the 2010s are finally starting to become proper veterans.
2:54 - 3:03 has got to be the best statement to summarize this video. It still blows my mind that JJ came out on top that season.
6:31 my goat 🙏
Jeff and Jr were always my favorite and tho I still watch it will never be the same, with those guys not out on track. 2017 I will say was probably my favorite season, idk why, it just special.
2016 was a great season and 2020 was a solid season, 2015 2017 2018 and 2019 had its moment's but was random seasons 😊
IG we are not gonna talk about Clint Bowyer in 2018.
I will say, 550 wasn't quite good, but the 1.5 mile races in 2019, especially for the first half of the season were awesome, the 600 and Spring Kansas in particular being some great races I'd recommend going back to rewatch
JPR!?!?!
I see JPR and I have gotten you into NASCAR...
2024 has been a great season so far
Blinded by the future
I was at Pocono in 2015 when Truex won that race, I’m glad I picked that one to go to
2017 was my first year as a Nascar fan. Loved it. Lost interest when they yanked the horsepower. Came back last year. So far so good.
1:12 As a fellow Gordon fan, I agree 😔
Only season's I liked racing wise was 2016 and 2017 and I remember all the doom and gloom in the fanbase at that time so yes it was a dark age
2018 was a good season.
No it wasn't it pretty much seem like if you already knew who was going to win every Sunday that Year worst NASCAR season ever.
Agreed. The racecar and package was good. Racing product was good. Headlines going into the races were great. I feel like the people who only were just fans of their driver, not the sport, think that season sucked. The big 3 was probably the most competative subjects of the 2010s and even the 20s
I definitely feel the dark ages started in 2018 and that was cuz we lost all our star power , 2015 wasnt a bad year like people act like it was & 2016/2017 were very underrated! 2018 started the dark age continued by the 550 package. 2018 - somewhat 2021 were the dark age
the 2021 Bristol is the best playoff race i remember calling Chase Elliot a b**ch
I don’t think I watched a single race other than the 2 Bristol races I attended between 2016-start of 2020 after Jeff Gordon retired
The true dark era of NASCAR for me was having ESPN and abc shoved down my throat for 8 years between 2007 to 2014. I'm super happy with the FOX and NBC coverage we have today, and glad that they are both still going to be around through 2031 at least, while being able to incorporate new media partners into the fold at the same time to join FOX and NBC. I believe with Amazon, TNT, and The CW there will be potential.
I say 2017-2019 2016 was the end of something good 2020 was the start of a new time
I feel like we are currently in the dark age of Nascar, but I think it originated from the end of 2022 with the appeals board making some controversial decisions as well as the botched Ross Chastain call in Martinsville that was later determined to be illegal. But I believe outside of Martinsville wasn't exactly Nascar's fault. I think when things took a turn for the worse was when Elton Sawyer took over his current position. It's just been one thing after another and just seems to have gotten worse and worse. The last 6-7 races have been really bad too in that department with Indy really taking the cake I think.
I've barely watched since April...more times than not races have either been snoozers or shit shows.
@@PaperBanjo64 I've watched one or two since then. At this point I feel like the overall champion has been tainted regardless of who wins it, but I figured I could watch some of the bigger races here and there like Chicago and Indy. However, I'm not even sure I want to do that anymore. It's just been rough. Hopefully Nascar does the right thing and fires Sawyer this offseason and we can start fresh next year. If not I'm not sure it's worth watching until he is gone. It's become too much like F1 anymore.
This 5 year span only bolstered my hatred for Toyota
Get rid of the fucking playoffs and bring back Winston Cup points and then you will have another golden age of NASCAR
You forgot how good the superspeedway races were in 2019
I mean sure those ears are like the dark ages of NASCAR but 2022 does anybody remember anything that happened in the 2022 season? Because I don't remember nothing from that season and sure Austin centric win at Daytona the Coca-Cola 600 Martin truex Jr missing the playoffs And Ross Chastain wall riding in the final lap like what does 2022 brings up to the table nothing
Early 2022 was only good because of the unknown of the gen 7 car, but as the season went on how shitty gen 7 cars are got exposed more and more and more, last season had its moments, this season has been absolutely horrible, only a handful of good races, the rest snoozers or shit shows, sometimes a combination of both!
Yes it was the 2018 and 2019 seasons were boring
5:52 Also Harvick was caught by cheating because i think his roof have a deflection (if you pay attention in Las Vegas race photo of #4 you could saw a little deflection in Harvick’s roof)
I can't consider any seasons from the video or mentioned in the comments the 'Dark Age' of the sport when we've had no fatalities in that time. Thankfully. '64-'65, '93-'94, or 2000-'01 were the true dark ages of the sport.
Yea, those 5 years were horrendous
And in ten years people will look back on this time as a golden era and will yearn for 550 horsepower
I'm already willing to go back to gen 6 cars with the 550 package at the bigger tracks if we get 750 HP and low downforce and good short track racing to look forward to again.
@@PaperBanjo64 your regressionist ideas are the exact type that will permanently keep nascar from growing
@@andrewdotmp4blinded by present day
lol if nascar even exists
I became a nascar fan in 2018, believe it or not. It was mostly because of the regional K&N series and the Modified series. Nascar should do a better job promoting those, get them on tv in evening slots rather than on streaming services that only racing diehards get. I wasn't even into racing before then.
This was definitely a transition period for Nascar. Really ever since they added the Tapered Spacer they've never been able to get the racing right.
It’s almost like they should take them off 🤷🏻♂️
@@dsz2448 I agree 100% and also if they're trying to get new manufacturers they should also go to OHC rather than Push-Rod like the Cadillac prototypes have and those sound bad ass
@@chrisstevens917 or just open it up. if one team wants to run pushrod engines, let them. if another wants OHC, go for it. I'm sick and tired of boring underpowered spec cars and engines. Yes, the series has always been spec to a certain point, but 20 years ago, even though Dale Jr and Jeff both drove Chevys, you could still pick out clear design differences between their cars. And 10 years ago we had 900+ horsepower. This current crap just doesn't cut it.
@@dsz2448 Totally agree need to have parody in the field thats what makes good racing.
@@dsz2448 And it is really sad there's production cars that have more horsepower than the current Cup cars that makes zero sense.
This wasn't the dark ages. It was more like the last good moments NASCAR got before actually entering the dark ages in 2020
Harvick fan here🤘🏼 loved that season.
In my opinion as an MTJ fan or not, 2017 wasn't a bad season. Mainly because the one who was the best all year, the one who dominated, won the championship and still would have won it under the old Winston points format
The 2014 season was probably the last good season of NASCAR even if Gordon got screwed out of the championship you still had moments like Jr. winning his 2nd Daytona 500 and Keselowski getting the crap beat out of him in the Chase
It was the period in which I quit watching all of the races. So yes.
I personally think NASCAR is exiting these “dark days” because drivers are actually starting to emerge as personalities. Larson, Elliot, Chastain, Bell, Blaney, Wallace, Bowman, etc. have some character and wins to their names. They can’t replace the “golden era” drivers, but I feel like that 2015-2020 era was just trying to stay afloat while they transitioned into a new era. I feel like the excitement around the sport is back internally.
Funny enough, 2016 was when I got back into the sport for the full year and not just one or two races here and there. That year and 2017 were surprisingly solid, especially compared to some of the years we've had since. The on-track product was rather solid, especially 2016. But 2018, oh my god. I'm glad someone's finally talking about it because that season was not nearly worth its second-half. The first half of 2018 may have genuinely been the worst half of a season the sport has seen, at least since the start of the millennium. Lost in the shuffle of the same three guys winning over and over again, was the lack of any competitive finishes until, like, Chicagoland. What an awful year.
So pretty much my childhood💀💀
People often forget that 2016 was Greg Biffle's last season.
I'll raise you 1974. 27 races won by three drivers, and the biggest surprise of the season being Junior Johnson's second car winning at Martinsville. Factor in the dumbest point system ever, and you have a recipe for NASCAR's worst season.
I’ll agree that 2015 sucked, but 2016 and 2017 were much better. It’s not like what we have now is much better than what we had from 2015 to 2020.
7:45 Denny didn't choke for once, his crew did
Sadly I think we have entered the dark days of Nascar these last 3 years with the integrity of the Championship being ruined by controversial calls and finally Elton Sawyer. 2022 was ruined by the controversial William Byron penalty being overturned and the wall ride that wasn't penalized. 2023 came the Elton Sawyer war on Hendrick and so many others. Then finally we get this season which has been an absolute disaster of controversy on a nearly weekly basis.
The 2021 Bristol night race still angers me till this day. Harvick should of just wrecked chase and Kyle ha had the field beat till he got chased
I hated the 2018 season.
2006 to 2010 took me out of NASCAR. 2022 brought me back in.
If you omit 2022 because of all the parody and chaos that this new car brought in its inaugural season, NASCAR's dark age is still ongoing. The traditional superspeedway races have become dull because nobody can pass without wrecking or running out of fuel. Most of the short track races have also become dull because there's no significant tire fall off. NASCAR ruined what was great road course racing by designing a car that drives too good on road courses, practically eliminating most of its racing excitement (unless weather is involved).
I don't know as a KFB fan this time was pretty good
2014-2016 was hell
Especially if you were a Tony Stewart fan….. dark times .
@@kharnthebetrayer1575 😓
Its insane that this is what I grew up on Ive never seen nascar at peak
Something not mentioned here but Busch was a deserving champion in 2019. Best average finish and would have won it under the proper format.
the way i see it joey should have won 2015 and kyle should have won 2018 so it evens out
Damn video ruined when I heard you’re a Larson fan. Talk about golden boy and rigged nascar
The video made some really good points for a few minutes. But then you credit Truex as being a deserving Champion while Logano is a fluke Champion? The fluke won a second title. Truex only won the Championship because the stages and playoff points you took a dump on a few minutes before.
Not to mention anyone with eyeballs knows that Championship wasn't Truex at all. It was all Cole Pearn. Truex was a career also ran before Pearn got him. And he's essentially become that again, even in top of the sport JGR equipment without Pearn.
you used pmd music thats amazing dude!!!
Maybe cause it’s I’ve only been watching since 2015 but I like the stages personally kinda
Darkest stretch of NASCAR history, I get what you said, 15-20 through had sad moments, Gordon, Stewart, Edwards, Biffle, Earnhardt Jr,, Kenseth, Bobby Labonte all retiring, or Kenseth eventually having two comebacks, and not doing as well as he did previously, and then Jimmie retiring full time and not many fans saw him, now they do again, but he crashes a lot now sadly. But that's tough, but I think 2020 was the darkest in my opinion, 15 was shocking knowing I wasn't a Kyle Busch fan but I didn't wish for him to get injured like that but had a remarkable comeback, I respect about that, 18 and 20, yeah same guys winning wasn't all fun, but 2020 was my least favorite year in life as well, given everything that happened! Covid, a stolen election, the riots, everything! and of course with NASCAR there was the hoax that happened, that really, really, really got me mad at a certain driver, and I was pissed off by some of the NASCAR media for how it was handled but 2020 was my least favorite year as a NASCAR I was hopeful positive of how I was looking forward even they came back I was happy, and then BUBBA HAPPENED AND THE SEASON for me went like someone wetting the bed on me. It tested me a fan and I thought I would never ever ever wanted to watch them again. There was a time John, I wasn't so sure if I ever wanted too watch them.. I admit I don't love the sport like I used too, and lots of it was mainly due to both Bubba and NASCAR for their antics related to that certain thing they did and promoted too. But other than Chase Elliott winning the title, I didn't like 2020 at all. for many reasons and I truly hated sports professionally too don't forget cause everybody had that.
what losing an influential 7 time champion on the final lap of the most important race of the season does to a sport
While far from perfect NASCAR was still pretty good back then, NOW is the dark ages, other than Atlanta and Kansas having photo finishes, and Bristol tire wear, NASCAR has been unwatchable this year.
The Moments Of NASCAR
Definitely felt out of love a bit with nascar during this era
Ah yes the first 5 years I got into nascar
Yes yes yes yes once they screwed the gen 6 car it only got worse and the drivers with the most experience in the best equipment won 🏆 and that was that oddly enough I ended up going back and realizing something crazy the 2011/12 gen 5 cup car was outside of gen 4 the best NASCAR car we’ve ever seen every race was a banger and it wasn’t a fluke thing it was natural racing with talented drivers and no stages with high horse power damn I wish we could go back to late gen 5
1:34 kill me
i miss prime KB haha
2013-2016 easy; 2015 being the darkest year of them all & it's not even close.
Heck if not for the NASCAR UA-cam Community I would've certainly quit watching NASCAR for good after 2015 Homestead instead of 2024 Daytona Trucks.
9:54 i meannnn 2022 Martinsville fall
Take the rest of the race into account and probably not tbh
2015 - 2020 was Truly a Dark Age of NASCAR, from the Playoffs to the 550 Package and the Choking down of the Horsepower and constant Changes in Rules Package
Yea once they ruined the gen 6 car it only got worse everything else was a move of desperation to look cool and nobody liked it they never should have changed the original gen 6 car from 2013-14 it was great not as great as late gen 5 but damn it was great