“Christopher Bell’s a great example!” Mike Joy blames social media for young NASCAR drivers’ poor media skills

Mike Joy slammed the impact of social media and smartphones for affecting the media skills of young NASCAR drivers.

“Christopher Bell’s a great example!” Mike Joy blames social media for young NASCAR drivers’ poor media skills

Mike Joy (via JeffGluck.com)

NASCAR TV icon Mike Joy has witnessed multiple generation of drivers in the field. He has seen the way different generations have behaved in the sport over the years, be it on or off-track. However, when it comes to the current young drivers, Joy believes that one thing has hampered their media skills, phones.

Joy asserted that the maturing process of the current set of drivers has been massively hampered by smart phones. The 75-year-old reckoned that even a star driver like Kyle Larson has not managed to avoid such a fate. Mike Joy pointed out that the social skills of drivers in the field was now completely dictated by phones and social media.

I think that maturing process is hindered by what is permanently attached to our pocket, and that’s the cellphone A lot of these younger drivers, and I’ll even put Larson and Bell into that category, their social skills have pretty much been determined by their cellphones.

Mike Joy said on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast.

The TV personality claimed that Christopher Bell was never on the radar during his first couple of years in the Cup Series because he simply didn’t familiarize himself with the media during that period. Mike Joy revealed that as was the case with Bell, creating a media personality takes time, particularly in sports like NASCAR. Now, the 30-year-old has become a household name in the field, with Kyle Larson also being a leader of the sport.

That’s their interaction with their peers, and people skills and media skills take a while to develop. And Christopher Bell’s a great example. He wasn’t even on our radar the first couple of years in Cup because he wasn’t out with the media, you know? His personality, his external personality, took a while to develop. And like I say, now, he’s a spokesman, he’s a leader in our sport. So is Kyle Larson

Mike Joy added.

Mike Joy makes fans responsible for creating heroes

There is no doubt that NASCAR’s youngest drivers are incredibly talented and have the potential to make it big on-track. However, as per Joy, they still lack what it takes to become idols for millions of fans watching at home. So much so, that the 75-year-old has hinted that the burden of making them household names might now lie on the media and the viewers.

Christopher Bell
Christopher Bell (Via IMAGO)

Joy believes that the time it takes for young drivers to build a media personality has increased in recent years. Now, fans are more responsible when it comes to creating heroes out of drivers on the grid. Though, he pointed out that the drivers of the latest generation are certainly very talented

But these younger drivers, it’s really taking a while, maybe longer than it should, to bring it out of them and try to make them into stars. We have stars, we have great drivers in this series, and I guess it’s up to you and me and the people that will follow us this season, to make heroes out of them.

Mike Joy said.

Certainly, Mike Joy is concerned about the impact social media has had on drivers in NASCAR. Now, drivers are more bothered about their image online and less about in-person interactions. This has shifted the way drivers are seen by fans, with younger audiences being more interested in social media activity. As such, it might take a long time before the effect of this shift can be limited in curating a media personality for drivers.

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