Driver frustrations are at an all-time high with the state of the NASCAR superspeedways and the nature of racing on these tracks. Last week’s Daytona 500 did not help the cause either, with “The Great American Race” becoming an outing of luck rather than a measured approach to success.
Drivers of past and present have started coming together to comment on the state of the sport, and hardly any of them carry a positive tone. They all claim that something different needs to be done right away, particularly at Daytona and Talladega — but what is it that needs to be done?
Drivers Call for NASCAR To Fix Superspeedway Racing at the Earliest
NASCAR’s 2012 Cup Series champion, Brad Keselowski, pressed that there is “always a better way” to organize racing. However, he added that he did not “necessarily know how to find it.”
According to Keselowski, Atlanta Motor Speedway proves that there is a better way to put on an exciting race and still exhibit race craft from teams and their drivers.
Continuing his statement, Keselowski claimed the Cup Series was in an “interesting spot right now.” Per the former champion, a day would soon come when the drivers would have to decide if “We’re the Harlem Globetrotters or not.”
Denny Hamlin, a three-time winner of the Daytona 500, also feels that The Great American Race” has become a feat of luck more than anything else. Ranting about the state of affairs, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver even revealed that it has started making him question his love for it all.
A prime example of the luck factor of the Daytona 500 is Joey Logano. Talent and good performance mean very little out on superspeedway racing, and Logano’s outings prove it best.
He led 45 laps in Daytona last year but crashed out. The summer race saw him lead 34 laps but crash out again. And to top it all off, the Team Penske driver held the lead for 43 laps before crashing out of the 2025 Daytona 500.
“You can look at the stats on almost every superspeedway, and the cars that lead the most laps don’t win the race because they end up on the book (of the crane) almost every time,” says Logano.
While the Penske driver remains reluctant to use the word “luck,” Logano still referred to the word he hates “more than any other word in the dictionary.”
Meanwhile, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., a frontrunner for every superspeedway race win for a decade, feels it is ultimately about serving the fans. Citing the 2010 Xfinity Series Daytona race, Stenhouse reminisced about a track that hadn’t been repaved yet.
The tires had worn out and the cars were sliding around, and that’s what made superspeedway racing fun for him. There used to be a balance between drafting and handling, which led to the field spreading out, but he’s unsure if the fans like that kind of racing.
