NASCAR’s biggest problem isn’t the graying of its fan base, America’s diminishing affection for the car or shattered consideration spans. NASCAR’s greatest downside is that its most marketable belongings — the drivers — have a disturbing tendency to, nicely, cease driving.
No group sport has this problem. In the event you’re a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers, you’ll be able to really feel fairly assured that they’ll nonetheless be enjoying basketball 5, 10, 20 years from now. In the event you’re a fan of Ohio State College, you recognize all the soccer program isn’t going to close down after a number of makes an attempt at a title.
However in NASCAR, the checkered flag comes for each driver’s profession. And when you’ve grown up a fan of Richard Petty, or Dale Earnhardt, or Jeff Gordon, or Tony Stewart, or Dale Earnhardt Jr., that profession finish — whether or not sudden or long-dreaded — can go away you adrift. It’s not simple to shift the bonds of fan affection from one driver to a different, and NASCAR has spent untold hours and social media posts making an attempt to make this new technology of drivers occur.
Now comes the game’s greatest swing but: “Full Velocity,” a five-part Netflix collection now airing and specializing in the 10-race playoffs from 2023. It’s a formidable, if acquainted, achievement — substantial behind-the-scenes entry, emotion on show, pressure each in and between races. The antagonism is, for probably the most half, natural, and so is the drama. Had this collection come out half a decade in the past, it will be groundbreaking; at this level, it’s virtually desk stakes for any sport this facet of the NFL.
Netflix’s unique racing collection, the Components 1-focused “Drive To Survive,” looms massive over “Full Velocity.” Bubba Wallace even references DTS when he comes right into a studio for his on-camera interview. “Is that this the ‘Drive To Survive’ second?” he asks when he sits down earlier than a working digital camera, very similar to, sure, “Drive to Survive.”
The distinction is that whereas “Drive to Survive” is a actuality present with a veneer of competitors, “Full Velocity” is a aggressive saga with parts of actuality TV. However “Full Velocity” lacks the worldwide scope of “DTS.” Cameras take you inside Denny Hamlin’s home, and sure, it’s a really good home … however it ain’t a yacht off the coast of Monaco. The collection travels from Daytona to Darlington to Martinsville to Phoenix, all notable NASCAR areas … however they’re not Monza or Spa or Baku.
NASCAR must forge connections between its present crop of drivers and its present (and future) fan base, and that is the place “Full Velocity” shines. After the requisite (and pointless) intro about how these guys are modern-day gladiators, risking their lives, et cetera, we get to see the highlight drivers of their factor, generally exulting, generally coping, generally cussing. (And no, there are not any bleeps.) Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney — every one will get a flip within the highlight … which might reveal a complete lot about extra of them than they could need.
Barely current, whether or not by design or circumstance: notable NASCAR veterans like Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and the retiring Kevin Harvick, which is smart when you’re positioning this as a documentary pointing towards NASCAR’s future. Additionally not within the combine: Chase Elliott, NASCAR’s reigning Most Common Driver, which can or will not be an enormous loss given Elliott’s reticent on-camera character. (“Drive To Survive” has carried out simply fantastic with out Max Verstappen front-and-center, as an example.) Different acquainted characters step out and in of the narrative — wives, kids, crew chiefs (Bootie Barker of Wallace’s crew is a standout) and the odd Michael Jordan look or two.
Hamlin is the main focus of the collection — nicely, at the very least till he (spoiler) fails to make the ultimate championship 4 — and it’s a sensible alternative, placing him on the middle of the documentary. He’s as gifted as anybody who’s ever wheeled a automobile; his 51 profession victories rank thirteenth all-time, and solely Petty and Cale Yarborough have extra Daytona 500 wins. However he’s nonetheless missing a championship, and he is aware of that’s a glowing neon asterisk floating above his head, his profession, his life. He claims that he’d be fantastic with no title, however even a first-time viewer can see that for the defensive bluster it’s. Hamlin’s mixture of conceitedness and insecurity, supreme expertise and that gap in his resume, makes him probably the most fascinating driver in NASCAR, and one of many extra compelling tales in sports activities proper now. The anguish he feels at lacking out on one more title radiates by the display screen.
And that’s the important thing to hooking anybody into NASCAR, newcomer or half-century-long veteran: the tales. The narratives that underlie every driver on the grid are what energy this sport. They will not be as cinematic as Petty’s triumphs, as aw-shucks feel-good as Gordon’s, or as hell-yeah ass-kicking as Earnhardt’s, however they’re tales all the identical, and the extra NASCAR can determine methods to inform them successfully, the higher off the game will likely be.
Oh, and the sounds, too. Perhaps it’s simply that this documentary is hitting within the midst of an extended, chilly, NASCAR-free winter, however the sight of a colourful array of automobiles on monitor, the roar of engines that hits you within the chest earlier than it hits your ears — that’s the texture that actually drives this sport. “Full Velocity” has that deep in-your-gut rumble, and must be performed on the loudest sound system obtainable. Any medium that may seize that — documentary, film, virtual-reality sport, fragrance, no matter — will at all times have itself a winner.
