All-Star Race Continues To Be A Problem

For the 2023 Cup Series All-Star Race, NASCAR seemingly made the perfect decision. They decided to return to North Wilkesboro Speedway for the first time since 1996. A track that has had many fans clamoring for NASCAR to return there finally hosted a race again. While the track received extensive renovations to the facilities to modernize it, the track surface remained untouched. The Craftsman Truck Series and CARS Tour would joining the Cup Series for a week of festivities. NASCAR announced that qualifying would be determined by a pit stop competition, bringing back a favorite element of former All-Star weekends. It all lined up to be a great weekend of racing. Until Sunday night, it was. Then the main event of the weekend occurred.

Sunday night, the NASCAR Cup Series treated their fans to 200 laps of further proof NASCAR missed the ball with the NextGen car. After an early yellow for Ricky Stenhouse Jr spinning himself on Erik Jones’s nose, the race turned into a slog. Drivers who started in the back took tires during that caution. That ended up being the deciding factor of the race. Kyle Larson drove from last to first in a matter of 33 laps. Once he took the lead, there was no competition for the win. Larson won the All-Star Race by 4 seconds over Bubba Wallace. Only twelve cars remained on the lead lap. While domination for the win is not bad itself, the rest of the field was caught in single file purgatory. Little movement throughout the pack led to a snoozer. No question about it, Sunday’s race was another failure of an All-Star Race.

Boredom at Historic Track

The All-Star Race was a boring race. You can like Kyle Larson and think him winning was great. You can enjoy the fact that NASCAR returned to North Wilkesboro and loved the nostalgia/historic feel of the event. However, you cannot call that race entertaining, exciting, or good. The best thing you can say about the All-Star Race was that it was short. Other than that, the positives from the race are slim.

Once again, this statement is not because Kyle Larson dominated once he changed tires. NASCAR has a long history of drivers simply dominating a race. Larson dominated the majority of the truck race, but that was still entertaining. The primary issue with the All-Star Race was the overall racing, from the front to back of the pack. It is not entertaining to watch 24 cars hug the bottom line in stationary format for 200 laps. The heat races gave an unfortunate preview of that when Joey Logano was able to hold off faster cars by hugging the bottom line. This type of racing resembles what you see at your local go-kart track: if you can hug the railing, then no one can pass.

After the drivers in the outside lane for the restart found their way in line, the last 100 laps of the race saw very little action. The lack of action was so poor on track that the booth of Mike Joy, Darryl Waltrip, Larry McReynolds, and Clint Bowyer were actively rooting for a caution for some action. When FOX’s paid hype-men are unable to maintain kayfabe to sell the race, the product must be bad on track.

“Five-Wide and On Fire at Checkers”

To address this before someone comments it below, a race does not have to be a spectacle of passes for lead, outstanding wrecks, and a photo-finish to be considered good. Multiple wrecks/caution does not equal a good race. A driver dominating the field and leading every lap does not equal a bad race. There are always complexities to how fans evaluate a race. A race can be exciting without any cautions. Often, a late race caution this year has spoiled some potentially great finishes. COTA is considered a bad race due to the chaos of the ending with the cautions.

At the same time, Kansas had limited cautions and saw a long green flag run finish the race. That is considered one of the better races of the year. Homestead in 2022 was a race dominated by Larson, had limited cautions, and there was no final lap pass/battle for the lead. Yet still, it received positive reactions from fans. Fans have to stop cannibalizing each other when it comes to a bad race. It is not helpful to the discussion to imply someone who did not enjoy race wants a demolish derby or requires a tight finish to enjoy a race.

Are there fans who are like that? Yes, of course. However, to assume anyone who did not enjoy a boring race is like that is unfair and unproductive. NASCAR should be producing better quality than what they gave fans on Sunday night. To tell fans who did not enjoy it to “just be happy [North Wilkesboro] is back” is allowing NASCAR to ignore the active problem they have on their hands. Two things can be true at once: it is great that NASCAR went back to North Wilkesboro and the Cup Series race did not live up to expectations.

NextGen Short Track Issues

For the 2023 season, NASCAR attempted to fix the short track issue by making adjustments to the downforce of the cars. Have those adjustments led to better racing at these tracks? Yes. Has that improvement led to good racing? No. NASCAR’s adjustments were destined to make the racing better. There was not much worse the NextGen car could do on short tracks. Despite the improvement, NASCAR is still far away from delivering the type of short track racing expected from the fans. NASCAR can do whatever minor adjustments they want to the NextGen car, it will not provide a massive improvement. The NextGen car itself is not designed to provide quality short track racing.

There is an inherent design flaw with the NextGen car when it comes to short track racing. Remember, the main functionality NASCAR wanted with the NextGen car was better road course racing. With that in mind, they increased the width of the tire. With the wider tire, it is more difficult to get the car loose around the turns. Essentially, these cars are glued to the track. When there is only one line, that makes it quite easy to see slower cars keep their position because they can hold their line through the turns. Only when there is a tire advantage for the driver behind is clean passing an option.

One lane short tracks are nothing new to NASCAR. The use of the “bump-n-run” is quite popular. However, with the NextGen cars glued to these short tracks, it takes more than a little bump to cause a car to move up the track. As previously seen at The Clash, the “bump-n-run” is now a maneuver of plowing through the driver ahead. Chase Elliott demonstrated this during the final 100 laps stint when he had to throttle it to “bump” Chase Briscoe enough to move him up the track. That is what short track racing has come to now with the NextGen car: dive-bombing corners and/or using the front bumper as a plow.

Disinterest in More Short Tracks

For years, NASCAR fans have clamored for more short tracks to be put on the schedule. When the initial announcement of Auto Club being transformed into a short track was released, fans were excited. Two years since that announcement, it would be difficult to find a fan who wants this switch to still happen. Auto Club has hosted two of the best races of the NextGen era. Meanwhile, fans are still waiting on a single good short track race.

North Wilkesboro joins Martinsville, Richmond, and Bristol as short tracks to be burned by the new car. With the likelihood that the Nashville Fairgrounds might be renovated for NASCAR action, it is pressing that NASCAR fixes the short track design of the NextGen car. Nobody is going to be excited for the return of the Nashville Fairgrounds (for the Cup Series) if Sunday is the racing that will be on display.

All-Star Race Woes

NASCAR has been attempting to bring some life back to the All-Star Race. Since 2019, the All-Star race has been hosted at three different tracks: Bristol, Texas, and North Wilkesboro. Out of the four All-Star races, only one has received mixed-to-positive reviews (Bristol). NASCAR has tried chopping the races up into smaller stages to keep the racing close. In 2020, NASCAR slid the numbers back and threw some LED lights under the car. Texas was allowed to host the All-Star race since COTA was placed on the scheduled. North Wilkesboro was the latest attempt to recharge the All-Star Race.

In terms of fanfare and hype, the move to North Wilkesboro was a success. The stands were packed for all the events of the week, including the Pit Crew Challenge. While the ratings are not in yet as of this writing, it would be surprising if this race did not have great viewership. Based on this, the discussion have begun about whether North Wilkesboro should be added to the schedule permanently, either as the All-Star Race or a points paying race.

With that said, the lackluster product might hamper the positive vibes. While attendance would likely be good again next year, how many TV viewers are going to tune again? The racing was boring and did not play well on TV. Being there live was surely a better experience, but it did not translate well. With the All-Star Race around the same time as NHL and NBA playoffs, there is a competitive market for viewers eyes. If next year the All-Star Race is held at North Wilkesboro on Sunday night and NASCAR does not make any serious changes to the NextGen car, how many non-hardcore fans will tune in? Based on Sunday’s race, it would not be surprising to see a massive drop off.