Travis Pastrana Injury: What Latest Setback Means for X Games 17

How will losing Travis Pastrana affect X Games 17?

The better question is, will losing Pastrana even affect the games at all?

Now, don’t get me wrong here, losing Pastrana is a huge hit to the “star factor" of the X Games, but that being said, it’s not like he’s the only big name on the docket.

He may be one of the more exciting names to participate in X Games 17, but I just don’t see it being that big of a deal.

Sure, will the fringy fans just tuning in for kicks turn it back to NFL free agency talk or the MLB?

Yeah, I’m pretty sure.

That being said, the die-hard action sports fanbase won’t be phased.

They are going to watch and enjoy no matter who is in the competition. Does it help that some of the biggest names in the actual sports will be there? Oh, you bet it does!

But, I think it’s important to understand that the action sports community is not about the names and all about the sport.

Even the big names seem to understand that what they are doing is less about their name brand, but more about the brand of the sport they are representing.

So yeah, it’s definitely a bummer that Pastrana won’t be able to compete for the rest of X Games 2011, but the sport will move on and so will Pastrana.

I think the greater impact will be on the NASCAR circuit, where Pastrana was expected to race.

Pastrana is slated to drive in seven races of the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

His first race is scheduled to be September 9th at the Richmond International Raceway, but unfortunately due to this injury it looks like he will have to bow out for now.

The ratings for that race would have been huge, because NASCAR would have been attracting a good majority of the action sports community to their TV’s and even to the race.

So, as a matter of fact I do think Pastrana’s injury is going to have an impact, but it won’t be on the X Games.

NASCAR might be the biggest loser in this scenario.

It would be nice to not have any losers though because all parties involved are well deserving of ratings and publicity, so hopefully Pastrana will heal up quickly.

For everybody’s sake…

For more coverage of X Games 17, tune into Bleacher Report's Action Sports page.

Follow Andrew on Twitter: @AKonSports