“We can’t just have follow the leader racing,” NASCAR drivers unanimously demand major engine updates to fix short-track racing
Martinsville was a lackluster race when factoring in the entertainment perspective.
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2023 Martinville Cup race
There were two major storylines after Sunday’s Martinsville Cup race. The first one was obviously the iconic race win scored by Kyle Larson in the No:5 Hendrick Motorsports car, which honored the history of the HMS dynasty that started with a win in Martinsville 38 years ago. The second storyline was the entertainment value of race. Fans and drivers were pretty disappointed with the lower number of green flag passes.
While statically, it is wrong to say that they were fewer green flag passes as, according to NASCAR records, the race saw the greatest number of green flag passes in three years. But the struggle drivers had to overcome to gain positions was pretty evident. Pole sitter Ryan Preece was sent back to the grid after leading 135 laps for speeding in the pitlane, never recovered, and finished in P14, showing how the fastest man of the day couldn’t do much.
Joey Logano, who passed the entire field to secure a P2 after being lapped twice, didn’t necessarily do it with the help of the No:22 Ford’s sheer pace. He was helped by two impressive pitstop decisions by his crew chief, and if not for that, the defending champion would have finished outside the Top 10. While talking to NBC post-race, he said that there wasn’t enough speed difference between cars that could have made passes easier. He urged NASCAR to increase the horsepower limit.
“You got 30-something cars out there that run within a tenth (of a second). I was racing cars that I didn’t think I’d be racing, cars that in the past you would pass with ease. I couldn’t do that. … There’s just not enough speed difference in the cars. They’re almost the same. There’s not much fall-off. We need more fall-off, and we need a lot more horsepower,” says Joey Logano.
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Denny Hamlin urges NASCAR to increase horsepower
His former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin had the same message for NASCAR. Hamlin was also affected by the lack of speed difference and was pretty depressed in his post-race interview. He said that the sanctioning body either have to increase HP or work on tire fall-off so that driver with Fresh tires has an advantage. He said that following the leader the whole race makes the race points.
“We’re in a box with these engines, and NASCAR’s leadership wants us (with these) engines, they keep lowering horsepower, which makes us have to shift. So I don’t know if we’re ever going to fix this until we put more horsepower on the cars or build a tire that somehow falls off, We have to try something different because we can’t just have follow-the-leader racing. Man, you want to see passes for the lead, and we’re just not really seeing any of that right now,” Hamlin said.
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Justin P Joy
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