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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
HEMBREE: Intermediate Tracks Need Some Oomph
NASCAR, already addressing tandem drafting, should check parade-like racing at other speedways…
Mike Hembree  |  Posted January 06, 2012   Charlotte, NC
Auto Club Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic
Virtually everyone associated with NASCAR continues to bask in the afterglow of what was a good season, one whose attraction was underlined by a great Chase and a remarkable late-season run by ultimate champion Tony Stewart.

The season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway was a thing of magic, a tension-filled affair that matched two of the sport’s best racers in a caldron of speed and strategy.

Practically forgotten by many in all this joy, however, are two elephants in the room. One is being addressed. The other, not so much.

Tandem drafting at Daytona and Talladega was roundly vilified last year. Fans complained by the thousands, and NASCAR is making attempts to right the ship. Only time will tell if those efforts bear fruit (although it wouldn’t be realistic to expect a dramatic change for next month’s Daytona 500).

The second problem is not quite as evil as the two-by-two drafting, but it made for some snoozer races last year. Although some of those races were saved by close finishes or compelling late-race strategies, by and large the events at intermediate tracks last year were blatantly boring.

Too many of those races developed into parade-like affairs in which the only real excitement came after caution flags, when the field was bunched for a few laps and there was actual competition for the lead.

Carl Edwards won the Las Vegas race by 1.2 seconds after Tony Stewart led 163 of the 267 laps.

Auto Club Speedway, which has had very few compelling races in recent years, saw a pretty close finish as Kevin Harvick won, but Jimmie Johnson stayed out front for 151 laps.

Matt Kenseth won the spring race at Texas Motor Speedway by a whopping 8.3 seconds after leading 169 laps.

Charlotte Motor Speedway produced more leaders and got a green-white-checkered finish in the Coca-Cola 600, but that marathon had very little absorbing racing at the front.

Kansas? Kurt Busch dominated (152 laps led), and Brad Keselowski won by 2.8 seconds.

At Kentucky, Kyle Busch led 125 laps in another parade-like event that didn’t make anyone forget the day’s traffic difficulties.

The once-scorned road-course races have presented much more excitement in recent seasons than the typical 1.5-mile oval experience.

The current car’s aerodynamic properties simply make it a difficult vehicle to handle in close-quarters situations once the “good” has worn off new tires and drivers spring out into the open from the restart packs.

It’s an issue that pops up far too often, particularly with so many of the schedule’s races at intermediate tracks. It should be on NASCAR’s worksheet.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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