Overreaction Monday: Spring Martinsville

What else can really be said about the Cup Series action on short tracks? If you include Phoenix, there have been four short tracks races so far this season. Out of the four, only one produced compelling entertainment that fans (mostly) enjoyed. That was Bristol, which was the result of the tires magically shredding into dust. For the three short track with the new short track package, the on-track action has been subpar (to say the least). Whether it is the lack of horsepower, the width of the tire, tire falloff, or any other factor, the end result is unsatisfactory for the audience. The short track racing has been a recurring theme for Overreaction Monday, so there is no point to discuss it further below. So what other headlines from this weekend for spring Martinsville will be discussed?

Hendrick Wins Another Marque Event? Coincidence, Surely

Much like last week, conspiracies do not usually enter the realm of thought when it comes to NASCAR (and sporting events in general). Can things seem sketchy? Of course. The Kansas City Chiefs winning the Super Bowl during a “down year” while Taylor Swift is dating one of their players? Sure, seems questionable. However, sports are difficult to rig and the amount of secret keeping it would require in today’s social media society goes beyond reasonable expectations. However, Hendrick Motorsports winning two marque events for their history in the same season does raise an eyebrow.

Obviously, the ending of the Daytona 500 drew some ire with NASCAR’s quick trigger for a yellow magically going away. Whether it was William Byron or Alex Bowman in the lead at the time of the caution, Hendrick Motorsports was picking up the Daytona 500 win 40 years to the day of the organization’s first start. This past weekend, Hendrick Motorsports celebrated the 40th anniversary of their first win. All four cars were wrapped in ruby-based schemes. What happens in the race? William Byron emerges victorious as Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott finish second and third to make Martinsville history. Once again, an eyebrow is raised.

At this point, might as well hand over the championship trophy to Rick Hendrick and William Byron since they keep collecting these historically significant wins. In all seriousness though, it is doubtful NASCAR is pulling the strings for these Hendrick wins. It might feel dubious, but Hendrick Motorsports is still the top team in NASCAR. Them winning should not be cause for conspiracy theories. At least not yet.

Remove a Martinsville Date

Based on recent reporting, it sounds like Richmond Raceway will be losing one of its races for the upcoming season. The move makes sense, as the racing at Richmond has been poor for a long while now. Especially during the NextGen era, Richmond has been a slog to get through twice a year. However, what about Martinsville Speedway? Arguably, the racing at Martinsville has been worse than Richmond since the introduction of the NextGen car. The old days of rough and tumble racing has been replaced by a leader unable to pass the 33rd place car (who is already a lap down). If Richmond is losing a date for poor entertainment value, should Martinsville not be on the chopping block?

On one hand, there is an argument to be made for Martinsville losing a Cup date. Even if you chalk up the issues at the track to the NextGen car, the car is not going away. While the difficulty of passing at Martinsville has always been a feature, the inability for the cars to get near each other takes away the bump and run.

With the NextGen, a light bump does not work (if a driver can even make it to the bumper of the car in front). In order to do the bump and run, it has to be plowing through the other driver. Cup Series racing at Martinsville is not fun to many anymore. So if the racing is poor, then why should Martinsville get a second date?

Before getting angry about the above points, Martinsville should not lose a date. The argument can be made for it, but the short track should keep both dates (for now). Martinsville still draws a solid crowd despite the on-track product being subpar. The subpar product is completely on the NextGen car, unlike Richmond that was having poor races with the previous car. However, NASCAR should see the discourse about this topic as a warning sign. Some course of action needs to be taken to fix the short track racing. Could that mean NASCAR has to do the one thing they are hellbent not to do: increase the horsepower?

Xfinity/Trucks Not Helping Matters

As fans grow their frustration with what short track racing has become for the top series, the lower series seemingly get a pass for their mediocre efforts this weekend. While Martinsville Speedway is built to have elbows bowed out, the wreck-fest endings are not ideal either.

Every season, it feels that the topic of either (or both) lower series embarassing themselves with sloppy racing turns up at some point. For the Craftsman Truck Series, that is actually multiple times per season. Outside of Daytona though, the racing has been fairly clean and respectable. Sure, there have been moments that induce eye-rolling, but nothing extreme since the opener. Well, that goodwill went up in smoke after Martinsville. It allowed Christian Eckes to inch his way back to the front, ultimately passing trucks with older tires with relative ease. The answer to the Cup Series boredom is not wrecking every restart for the last 50 laps.

While lesser, the same issue cropped up in the Xfinity Series race. The final 60 laps saw 4 cautions fly, including 2 under 10 laps to go. A yellow flag ended the race after Aric Almirola took the white flag. Prior to the ending, the racing was solid. Sure, Almirola dominated the race. However, the action behind him was entertaining. There were comers and goes, the bump and run was in play, and there was enough driver drama to hit the quota for melodrama. Still, the late race cautions for both lower series races diminish what value they offered. For a Martinsville weekend, the mood is sour heading into Texas.