NASCAR is a sport in the United States that is clearly more popular in some parts of the country than others. NASCAR hit a peak in popularity after Dale Earnhardt's unfortunate death after the 2001 Daytona 500. The stock car racing series continued to be popular due to the likes of drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Kevin Harvick. As those drivers are now heading into retirement, with the exception of Kevin Harvick, NASCAR is struggling to get fans in the stands and get new fans into the sport. The upper midwest is an area where NASCAR may be the toughest area to draw new fans as the closest Monster Energy NASCAR Series tracks are located in Chicago and Indianapolis. However, the fact of the matter still remains that NASCAR is still one of the major pro sports leagues in the country.
With COVID-19, also known as Coronavirus, taking control of the world and cancelling all sports leagues currently, there was a way that NASCAR fans were still getting a taste of new competition. While the NASCAR season was postponed, they decided to have an eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series that had actual NASCAR drivers in competition on NASCAR simulators. Last weekend's race, which was actually aired on a national television sports channel, took place at a virtual Bristol Motor Speedway. Bubba Wallace was involved in an on track incident with fellow racer Clint Bowyer. Bowyer pushed Wallace into the wall sending his car to the pits. Immediately after the incident, Bubba Wallace quit the race and told viewers to "have a good one" and this is why he "doesn't take this shit seriously".
Then the situation moved over to social media on Twitter. It is also where the situation got out of hand. Bubba Wallace posted on Twitter... "Bahaha I'm dying at my mentions right now... I ruined so many peoples day by quitting... a video game. Damn quarantine life is rough". He followed that quote up with three laughing with tears emojis. One of Bubba Wallace's major sponsors Blu-Emu replied to Bubba Wallace's tweet and said, "GTK (Good To Know) where you stand. Bye bye Bubba. We're interested in drivers, not quitters." Bubba Wallace apparently didn't take the response seriously because he posted again on Twitter showing his original post and added, "I mean #RAGEQUIT". Wallace again followed this quote up with two more laughing with tears emojis and again Blu-Emu replied. This time Blu-Emu replied with a gif of Donald Trump saying You're Fired. The joke was apparently over.
This was legit. Blu-Emu pulled their sponsorship from Bubba Wallace and his race team. I think it is an appropriate decision as Bubba Wallace was not being a good role model. What made this a big deal is that the simulator views were on national television, the driver view inside the car showed a Blu-Emu sponsor banner on the screen. Now, I am surprised that a sponsor pulled their support because of a video simulated race, because there have been many real NASCAR incidents that have had poor choices made by drivers, and their sponsorships may have been in danger, but not pulled. Those situations were also more severe than this incident with Bubba Wallace. However, it is the company's decision what to do their money, and really it was nice to see Blu-Emu have standards and stick to them.
I tried to do quick research on how much Blu Emu's sponsorship was worth and that information was not public. What I do know is that Blu-Emu was on the hood of Bubba Wallace's race car for several races, and that means the sponsorship was potentially worth millions of dollars. Blu-Emu was also a major sponsor for the spring Martinsville race. So, this spur of the moment decision by Bubba Wallace, a decision fueled by rage and anger and poor sportsmanship, could cost him a racing career when the NASCAR season resumes if his other sponsors aren't able to fill the gap financially, or if his other sponsors joins Blu-Emu with their decision. Time will tell. Be kind to everyone.
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