However, the sun was beaming on the racetrack as the green dropped on Sunday, which increased the track’s temperature and put an end to such worries. In the Food City 500 on Sunday, Kyle Larson led 411 of 500 laps. This is the second consecutive Bristol race in which the driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet has led more than 400 laps to win. Some fans were upset about Kyle Larson’s utter dominance on the field on Sunday, while others were more upset at what appeared to be a dearth of on-track passing throughout the field. According to Sawyer, NASCAR is “not going to sleep on [the short track package]” and is making every effort to make it better. They’re looking at it regardless of how good or bad an individual race is.
“If you look at our product that we put on the racetrack every week, we’re constantly looking at that and what we can do to improve,” Sawyer stated on Tuesday. “That’s what I would say we talk about every week.” “We have fantastic racing at our intermediate tracks, our superspeedways, and we have witnessed fantastic racing at road courses and short tracks. I don’t want our fans to lose sight of that. We’ve worked closely with the industry, including our drivers, teams, and NASCAR representatives here at the R&D Center, and we’ll keep an eye on our short track package while collaborating with our good colleagues at Goodyear to improve the tire and aim to obtain that fall-off we’re looking for on those short tracks.”
Some drivers, like Denny Hamlin, have been very outspoken in recent weeks regarding the adjustments they would like to see made to the seventh-generation car and its short track package. He discussed the topic extensively on both his podcast Actions Detrimental and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. According to Sawyer, there has never been such close industry collaboration in NASCAR’s 77-year history. Series officials will continue to consult with broadcast partners, drivers, owners, and other industry stakeholders regarding their preferences for the short track package. “I believe that after considering the opinions of everyone, but in the end, the people seated in the stands and the people seated at home and are watching our product, they have a loud voice, as well as our broadcast partners, and our teams, and every stakeholder that has interest in the sport.
“I think the collaboration today is so much better than it has ever been, but we get their point of view because sometimes what is best for the garage area doesn’t give us the best product on the racetrack and vice versa. In the end, we have to take all of that and NASCAR has to make the final decision on what direction we’re going to go.” Sayer added that NASCAR and Goodyear will keep talking about Bristol Motor Speedway, what they observed over the weekend, and their future plans. These plans include future tire compounds, future tire tests, and other methods that the tire supplier can use to locate the valuable tire fall-off that everyone is searching for. Whether or not changes will be implemented in the near-future, is yet to be seen.
