NASCAR Industry Buzzing, Looking for Short Track Fix After Mundane Bristol Race
Last Saturday's Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol left a sour taste in the mouth of the entire NASCAR industry, as once again, a short track race didn't deliver the excitement that fans have become accustomed to at these tight-quarters racetracks.
That's been the story of NASCAR's seventh-generation car, though, despite multiple attempts over the last three seasons to alter the aerodynamics on the racecar. Lately, though, the sanctioning body has been working with Goodyear to develop a different tire compound conducive to better racing.
The toughest part about Saturday? Overall, the event was expected to be solid, as NASCAR and Goodyear chose to bring the exact tire to the half-mile short track that it did in March, which provided a record-breaking 54 lead changes and extreme tire fall-off. So, when that didn't pan out, everybody (including NASCAR) was confused.
Chris Gabehart, crew chief of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11, was honest about his thoughts post-race, saying that the show put on Saturday at Bristol is about as competitive as you can expect the racetrack to be with the seventh-generation vehicle.
"It’s too easy to drive, they’re too close, and you’re not going to have so much better racing. I’m sorry, you’re not," said Gabehart. "The bottom was good, the middle was good, the top was good, but they’re all separated by point-o-nothing, and physics is a buffer.”
Even with the 'Round of 12' set to begin Sunday at Kansas Speedway, Bristol remained the hot-button topic throughout the entire week, with several drivers, crew chiefs, and former competitors weighing in on the matter, with some offering solutions that they feel would work better.
Early in the week, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. said on his podcast that he “[does] not see short track racing surviving this if they don’t find some solution” and that “it’s not out of the question to think that in just a few years the Martinsville’s and Bristol’s are going to be really hanging on”.
Kyle Larson, the winner of Saturday's Bass Pro Shops Night Race, took to social media to share his thoughts, both on his experience with the current racecar and the competition at Bristol in general, where the two-time winner said the track's always been tough to pass, and this racetrack has been like that for a long time.
Larson's essay-like post talks about how Bristol always used to have more natural cautions because cars could race closer together, causing wrecks, or the right-front tire would overheat, leading to tire blowing, which would also draw a caution. While the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion doesn't have the answer, he says it's not a tire problem, so don't be blaming Goodyear.
"Temper your expectations. We're driving spec race cars," Larson said at the end of his post.
Cliff Daniels, Larson's crew chief, also chimed in on Thursday, with a post talking about his ideal scenario with the NextGen car, which says: “Chew on this. [The] old car and current Xfinity, the trailing car can move the leading car with air. Nose down and back up. [NextGen] racing is nose up and back down and trailing car cannot scoop or pack air toward the leading car bumper. We can work on this to allow [the] trailing car to ‘move that guy’. Yes, tires and [horsepower] are in the equation, but we have lost that dynamic in [the seventh generation] car.”
That sparked a day-long interaction between Daniels and fans on social media, where he offered a great deal of positivity to everybody's perspective, something that isn't very common in discussions like these, especially when held on social media.
Daniels delved into the positives of the seventh-generation racecar, talking about how the intermediate and superspeedway races, as well as some road course events, are better than what we had been provided with under the old racecar.
"Let's keep digging to make the [short tracks] better and we're going to really have something," and "Short track races need help, we're all on the same page. It can be done. Keep watching, keep supporting, and don't give up on us," were among the positive messages provided to fans by the 21-time race-winning crew chief.
Ryan Bergenty, crew chief for Todd Gilliland and Front Row Motorsports, also chimed into the conversation on Thursday, with a proposal for the sanctioning body on how to make the racing better overall, the highlights of which were 900 horsepower, a ride height rule, and option tires, amongst other technical changes.
Hear me out @NASCAR
— Ryan Bergenty (@RyanBergenty) September 26, 2024
-Remove the entire carbon floor from front to back
-Install old school valence to the nose
-Ride height rule
-900HP
-Reduce camber by 2* on all corners
-Option Tires
And yes for 1.5 mile tracks!
How much would this cost teams? @dennyhamlin
If there's one thing that has been made clear with this week's back-and-forth on social media, it's that there are no lack of ideas or objectives for improving NASCAR's short track racing product with the NextGen car.
It's clear that NASCAR is making an attempt to fix the issue, and the numerous tire and aerodynamic changes that have been theorized, tested, or implemented since the vehicle's debut in 2022 have proven that to be true. However, as time passes, it's becoming more obvious that the sanctioning body needs to rely on some of its smartest minds.
