The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs push drivers and teams to their limits, but instead of just thrilling competition, it has become a battle of aggressive, elbows-out racing.
While NASCAR encourages intense competition, drivers have pushed the boundaries even further this year. Last weekend at Watkins Glen exemplified this, with even the most experienced athletes going beyond mere contact to secure their positions.
Martin Truex Jr., a proponent of clean racing, expressed his disappointment with the Glen race. “I don’t really understand how these guys can call themselves the best in the world when they just drive through everyone on restarts at the end of races,” he said.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has also voiced his concerns about the increasingly aggressive racing style that drivers have adopted.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. speaks on respect in racing
For casual fans, last weekend’s Cup race at Watkins Glen was an exciting display of aggressive racing, one that unfolded multiple storylines. To say the race was chaotic would be an understatement. From the start to the checkered flag, one constant was the drivers taking each other out of contention.
Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney’s championship hopes suffered on the very first lap. William Byron found himself caught in Brad Keselowski’s window net due to Joey Logano’s aggressive move. The race ended with Shane van Gisbergen and Chris Buescher colliding. While Dale Jr. enjoyed the race as a fan, as a series and team co-owner, he was disappointed with the recent escalation of aggressive driving.
“You don’t want it to continue escalating; my concern is that we’re seeing a lack of respect, with guys driving through each other at the end of races, and it seems to be increasing,” Dale Jr. said on the DJD podcast. He emphasized that drivers are in the best position to address this growing trend of turning races into demolition derbies.
“It’s a bit classless; it’s a bit embarrassing. You want some of that toughness, where drivers are pushed around. But you don’t want the whole field looking like buffoons going into corners, with no skill involved, just whoever doesn’t get wrecked,” Jr. added.
This aggressive trend is partly a result of NASCAR’s latest innovations. Drivers know that there won’t be a significant performance loss from contact, so they’ve adopted a more abrasive style of racing.
NASCAR Insider Urges Rick Hendrick to Sign ‘Next Kyle Larson’ After $100,000 Victory
The lack of passing opportunities and power in the Next Gen race design has also fueled criticism of the new race cars. The conversation intensified when cars began flipping after sliding on the racetrack. Josh Berry and Corey LaJoie were involved in such freak accidents. This rugged style of racing has also raised concerns about the cars’ durability.
“These guys are knocking the sides off these cars, and you’ve made the front and back more crushable. They beat these cars up because there’s less of a performance penalty,” Dale Jr. explained.
Despite significant damage to the #11 Toyota Camry, Denny Hamlin was able to continue the race with just a quick pit road repair. “It sucks because I knew the damage was bad,” Hamlin said after his early incident. “I was really looking forward to this race because we made some good adjustments. I wanted to see what my car had, but I never got the chance.”
Xfinity and Truck Series drivers racing aggressively is understandable due to their inexperience, but this shouldn’t be the case for Cup Series drivers, who are expected to set an example for younger talents.
Chintan Mahesh Devgania, a NASCAR Writer at EssentiallySports, delves deep into the sport, often covering less-explored topics that later become top stories. His report on Toyota recruit Jade Avedisian’s thoughts on Late Model Racing is one such example.
