Full-Contact: Have NASCAR Races Become too Aggressive?
NASCAR has always been a full-contact racing series, it's a huge part of the draw of the top form of motorsport in the United States. Always has been, always will be. But the question on everyone's mind is whether the NASCAR Cup Series, which has become increasingly more and more aggressive on track, is too aggressive?
After having one of the best cars in Sunday's Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International, but going on to finish 20th after a wild bit of pushing and shoving in the closing laps, Martin Truex Jr. thinks so.
"We worked hard, perservered, had good strategy I think to have a decent day. And just as always, you get to the cautions at the end, and guys just drive right through you," Truex stated with clear dejection in his voice.
Truex detailed that he was pushed out of the way and put three or four wide in the esses on a late-race restart, and then on the next restart he was shoved wide again and ultimately turned by a competitor. After a rally on fresh tires on an overtime finish attempt, Truex would salvage a top-20 finish on a good day that devolved into full-on shenanigans over the last few laps.
"It's just crazy that all of these races always come down to this. I don't really understand how guys can call themselves the best in the world when they just drive through everyone on restarts at the end of these races," Truex lamented. "It's very frustrating, but it is what it is these days, so, I'm outta here."
While you could chalk Truex's reaction up to a driver in his final full-time season having the pressure of being in the bottom four of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Standings heading into an elimination race at Bristol as the reasoning for being so upset, Truex isn't the only driver or person in the industry that weighed in on the over-aggression being displayed on a weekly basis in NASCAR's top series.
"There is no more driver code. It's gone," regular season champion Tyler Reddick said in an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. "I got home, and I was on the couch and I saw Martin Truex's post-race comments and it is so relatable. I completely get where he is at. I get it. I don't know, you go back and you watch some different in-cars and you watch people drive into the corner on a restart and use the car ahead as a brake pedal. It just sucks. Call me a hypocrite if you want. I've made my mistakes. I've screwed up and run people over. I've just never liked driving into the corner and using someone as a brake."
Dale Earnhardt Jr., a NASCAR Hall of Fame driver, NASCAR Xfinity Series team owner who will also compete in this weekend's NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway feels the increase in aggression in the NASCAR Cup Series sometimes crosses into the category of being an embarrassment.
"I'm a bit concerned how the aggression is just kind of ratcheting up. Some of this is good, but too much of this is bad, right," Earnhardt opined on this week's Dale Jr. Download. "Too much of this is foolish and unprofessional. It's anything goes. It's a little embarrassing. Like when the IMSA guys come and run with us, they're like, 'Holy crap. Wow,' it's a little classless. It's a little embarrassing. You want some of it though."
Earnhardt is right, you want some of it. The sport needs some of it, it's what truly differentiates NASCAR from any other form of racing in America or around the world. But as we've seen this year, the ever-moving line of what is acceptable and not acceptable has been crossed multiple times this year. The most egregious example was the moves that Austin Dillon made on the final lap of the Cook Out 400 at Richmond to win that race.
While Dillon will forever be credited in the NASCAR history books as the winner of that race, he was stripped of the Playoff Berth-clinching benefits from the win. As a result, Dillon and the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team missed the Playoffs, which team owner Richard Childress says cost his organization more than a million dollars.
But therein lies the problem, when you rule that contact is okay in your racing series, there is no clear definition of what is over the line. While many are placing the blame on the drivers for driving over their heads in the modern days of the NASCAR Cup Series, two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano, who is the lone driver locked into the Round of 12 heading into this weekend's Night Race at Bristol, believes the increase in aggression on track has more to do with the Next Gen car, and how durable it is under contact than drivers just having an overall lack of respect.
"When everyone hated me because I was the most aggressive guy, that's nothing, now," Logano explained on his SiriusXM NASCAR Radio show Behind The Wheel. "Like, literally, that is nothing compared to what it is now. I mean, it's crazy out there. But a lot of that is because of the car. The car accepts so much contact. You used to just touch somebody and cut their tire down. So, you think about it, you would end somebody's day just by rubbing on them. Now, whatever, right? Leaning on each other is just something that is part of the game."
With the level of aggression in the NASCAR Cup Series under the microscope, the series heads to one of the tracks that encourages aggression the most -- Bristol Motor Speedway. With the advancement to the Round of 12 hanging in the balance, expect more fireworks to fly at some point throughout the 500 dizzying laps around the 0.533-mile short track in Bristol, TN. Hopefully it
The Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway is set for Saturday, September 21. USA Network will televise the event beginning at 7 PM ET. The Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio call of the 500-lap Playoff elimination race.
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.