A typical criticism of NASCAR racing is that it’s just a bunch of people “driving in circles for two hours.” It’s a critique borne out of ignorance as much as it is a dislike of the sport. The reality is, operating a 3,400-pound race car at speeds over 200 mph with other cars mere inches away requires an extraordinary amount of skill. As former NASCAR champion Darrell Waltrip said during a broadcast, as a pack of cars sped down the backstretch, “People don’t even park this close!”
NASCAR has evolved since its founding in 1948. A regional phenomenon in the South for decades, the 1979 Daytona 500 was the first nationally televised race. It also featured a high-profile fight involving drivers Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison after they wrecked going down the backstretch on the last lap. These days, every race in the 36-race season receives a national broadcast and the fan base stretches from coast to coast.
One of the more striking changes, however, is the level of competition. In the 1960s and 1970s, it wasn’t uncommon for a handful of drivers to win most of the races. Richard Petty, nicknamed “The King” of stock car racing, won an astounding 27 races out of 48 starts in 1967. In the modern era, understood to have begun in 1975, Petty and Jeff Gordon hold the record for most victories in a season with 13. The last driver to win 10 races was seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, a feat he accomplished in 2007.
Since the death of NASCAR racing legend Dale Earnhardt in 2001 at Daytona International Speedway, the sport put an emphasis on driver safety. Technical changes made to the cars along with changes on the track and the HANS, or head and neck support, device have all made the sport safer than it’s ever been.
Unfortunately, it also impacted the quality of the racing.
While no driver dominated any one season, the racing, particularly at the 1.5-mile, D-shaped, oval tracks, became not about racing for a lead, but track position. One change increased the gravitational force pushing the cars closer to the track. The move allowed the cars to go faster through a corner because they could better grip the track. That, in turn, cut down on the frequency with which cars passed each other on those turns. Lead changes were reduced dramatically. Some fans started tuning in for the opening and closing laps only, since nothing much changed in between.
Officials continued to make changes, and while it took time, they might have finally found a perfect middle ground that makes the racing more exciting without going back to the era when one or two drivers dominated. A new technical package introduced at the NASCAR version of an “all star” event in 2018 went into full effect at the start of the 2019 season. A recent race at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway produced the racing fans expect.
According to Reuters, “There were 10 different race leaders — eight of whom led double-digit laps. Five of the drivers who finished in the top 15 at Kansas started 30th or worse. It all speaks to the possibilities that exist with this new technical package at the 1.5-mile tracks.”
It bodes well for the sport. Over the last several years, high-profile drivers such as Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. retired. Drivers who were “kids” in the early 2000s, such as Johnson, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Ryan Newman, are all in their 40s. As of now, no “stars” exist in the world of NASCAR, and so the sport will rely heavily on the racing competition to maintain and grow its fan base. It appears that after years of work, fans will have the parity the sport needs and good reason to watch entire races.
Jay Caruso is a deputy editor for the Washington Examiner magazine.
