Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway drew criticism for its “lack of competition," and drivers again “expressed frustration at the inability to pass"Getty Images
NASCAR SVP/Competition Elton Sawyer acknowledged yesterday morning that the sanctioning body “needs to do more to improve its short track product,” according to Kelly Crandall of RACER.com. Sawyer on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio said, “We want that racing to be at the level of superspeedways and our intermediate racetracks are today. … We need to work harder to come to a place, as I said a couple of weeks ago, to figure out how to bottle up what we learned at Bristol.” Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway drew criticism for its “lack of competition,” and drivers again “expressed frustration at the inability to pass.” It has been a “repeated theme in the series since the Next Gen car was introduced in 2022.” Crandall wrote the “unexpected, and still unknown,” reason for tire wear at Bristol Motor Speedway “received high praise from those in the industry and the fans.” Sawyer said, “We are, I promise you and our fans, working daily to continue to try to come up with a tire that will give us the short track racing that we’re all looking for.” NASCAR is “using a different aero package” at short tracks and road courses this season. It has “not been a key piece of the puzzle as hoped” and attention has “turned more toward tire wear.” Sawyer said, “This car is in its third year, so a lot of work has been on the aero side of the short tracks and just to be perfectly honest that doesn’t move the needle” (RACER.com, 4/9).
