NASCAR insider argues against changing superspeedway racing

Much has been made of the Daytona 500 in the wake of William Byron‘s win to kick off the NASCAR season, which came under a green flag following a pretty significant wreck in the final lap that took out a handful of contenders.

Some have attributed the finish to superspeedway style racing, pointing out there’s often a late wreck and a mad dash to the finish that can be as much luck as skill.

Denny Hamlin made that case and NASCAR even pushed back against it.

Jeff Gluck, an insider for The Athletic, outlined the issue on a recent episode of The Teardown podcast.

“The downside of it is this is being billed as the biggest event and the most prestigious race and we spend all this time talking about the legacy and Daytona 500 winner and what it means, and ultimately you’re just like eh, I don’t know,” Gluck said. “It’s hard to assign a bunch of meaning to it because all the drivers know it’s not necessarily the best driver of the race. It’s the most talented guys that put themselves up there but time and again you see that there’s a lot of fortune involved here. You have to admit there’s a lot of luck.”

But is that enough to push NASCAR toward making a change in the format or the rules for superspeedway racing.

Don’t bet on it, and Gluck’s co-host on the podcast, Jordan Bianchi, broke down why.

“It’s seven, eight o’clock primetime on the east coast,” Bianchi said. “People are watching. You get a lot of casual viewers theoretically, and they’re flipping and they’re like, ‘Oh man, I’m going to check out the Daytona 500. It’s the Daytona 500.’ And they’re like whoa, these guys are running three-wide at 190 miles an hour. They don’t know.”

While NASCAR has potentially introduced various strategies, for the most part everyone stuck to the same one on Sunday at Daytona. Conserve fuel in the middle parts of the race until you’re clear of the window, then get into the gas the rest of the way.

“Let me say this, though, I don’t think NASCAR has any incentive to get rid of this type of fuel-saving racing and here’s why,” Gluck said. “This is the race, for instance, as all are superspeedway races, it looks good. This is the casual fan’s race.”

So while the diehard NASCAR fans might not much love how the Daytona 500 unfolded or think it a great barometer of skill, the more casual viewers that make up the bulk of viewership still find the race very compelling.

“Everybody listening to this podcast or watching our live stream knows, but the casuals don’t know,” Gluck said. “So they’re watching and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh!’

“Three-wide almost the entire race. So why would NASCAR go, ‘No, let’s break this up and then we’ll have the manufacturer groups all pit together.'”

And even for the way things turned out on Sunday, there was at least some intrigue throughout the race.

“I will say this, you still had guys like a (Joey) Logano, you still had guys making moves,” Bianchi said. “You still had guys making moves. Like I was fixated on watching Logano in Stage 2 pick his way up, and it was great to watch. Same with Kyle Busch.

“The optics are incredible. Under the lights at Daytona, three-wide.”

Given that backdrop, don’t expect NASCAR to be itching for superspeedway change any time soon.