by Larry McReynolds

Help wanted

Seats are empty, ratings are down ... it's obvious NASCAR needs old-school heroes to regain fans' attention, Lee Spencer says.

Unfortunately, some of our fans have drifted away and are not around to witness this great action.

The only thing I'm a little discouraged about is that we continue to have a lot of drivers that complain about other drivers racing them hard and leaning on them.

I gotta tell you folks, these guys who are whining would've been in trouble back in the late '70s through the '90s when Dale Earnhardt would rub on you just for the sake of rubbing on you.

I feel like this complaining from drivers is one of the things that has hurt the sport a little bit and caused some fans to tune out. These guys have to realize that hard racing is what you are supposed to do, especially at a place like Martinsville Speedway last weekend. You are supposed to lean on other drivers and battle for positions. Yeah, of course you want to make sure you race smart and not take yourself out of a race, but you had drivers like Jeff Gordon raising Cain about the way Juan Pablo Montoya was racing him — but guess what, that's what we are supposed to be doing, it's what puts the people in the stands and gets them on their feet.

Speaking of Montoya, he and Brad Keselowski have been getting a bad rap lately because of their "rough" driving style. I love these two guys' style and I hope they don't change. For so many years, I was accustomed to watching and being a part of races where drivers raced each other hard, leaning on each other — not wrecking each other or taking each other hard, but racing each other hard.

Does Keselowski go over the edge every once in a while? Absolutely. But you know what? That's what Earnhardt did for a number of years — sometimes he'd step across the edge. As far as Montoya, I watched Sunday's race pretty darn closely at the track and I didn't see him do anything out of line other than just racing hard, and that's what we are supposed to do.

It baffles me. I can't imagine 15 years ago somebody complaining that Earnhardt raced them hard. He would've horse-slapped them. What are you doing out here if you don't want to be racing hard?

These guys need to wake up because 20-25 years ago when I came in the sport, a guy would pressure you to get one more spot because that could be another $1,000 in his paycheck that would help him pay more of his bills. Darrell Waltrip will tell you today, he raced as hard as he could race because the better he finished it would mean more bills he could pay and more groceries he could buy. That's a little something that's missing with these guys right now — as DW has said, these drivers are maybe too comfortable.

These guys need to respect each other and not wreck one another, but racing hard and fighting for positions is what this sport is all about.

FOX race analyst Larry McReynolds has more than 25 years of NASCAR experience as a mechanic, crew chief and broadcaster. He and his fellow Crew Chief Club members take you behind the wall at www.crewchiefclub.com.

"How to Become a Winning Crew Chief" is on bookstore shelves, or you may order your own autographed copy from www.DWStore.com.