NASCAR Hopes Drivers’ Riding on Daddy’s Coattails Will Help Build Audience

Legacies and lineage will be an "overarching theme" this year for NASCAR, as it enters the season with "a bevy of cross-generational story lines dotting its three national series," according to Nate Ryan of USA TODAY.

Austin Dillon, the grandson of team owner Richard Childress, will drive the late Dale Earnhardt's No. 3 car in the Sprint Cup Series. Chase Elliott, the son of former Sprint Cup champion Bill Elliott, will drive his father's No. 9 car in the Nationwide Series. In the Camping World Truck Series, Jeb Burton and Ryan Blaney "will be carrying on surnames that are familiar to those who watched their fathers, Ward Burton and Dave Blaney, team at Bill Davis Racing more than a decade ago."

ESPN NASCAR analyst Dale Jarrett said, "To have those names showcasing this is still a family sport is important as we try to continue to bring fans back." Ryan wrote as NASCAR "attempts to lure a younger audience that seems less enamored with cars while placating an old-guard fan base that has weathered the retirement of many of its heroes, the links between old and new might strike the right balance." There had been "much debate over whether the No. 3 should return to the track without an Earnhardt behind the wheel." But JR Motorsports co-Owners Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller "enthusiastically supported the move because they thought Dillon was a worthy successor to burnish their family's reputation." USATODAY.com