Dale Earnhardt Jr will probably not return to race his #88 at Bristol next year. Sure, he fought long and hard for his seventh-place finish under the lights on Friday. But Saturday’s Cup race left way too many diehards dissatisfied. And that demographic, unsurprisingly, includes our favorite racing legend.
On the September 25 episode of his podcast, Jr raised some uncomfortable discussions on NASCAR’s deteriorating short-track product. Many fans and industry personnel alike reciprocated his “disappointment.” However, Chris Gabehart, pit boss of the #11, who boldly declared ‘The days of the old Bristol over’, stole the spotlight with some contradictory opinions on Twitter. Regardless, even Gabehart admits that the current state of short-track racing has been a letdown.
Chris Gabehart and Dale Jr caught in the short-track debate
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“These are the world’s best stock car teams and drivers. If you don’t give them enough ways to separate themselves, that’s what you’re going to see,” said Denny Hamlin’s crew chief after he finished fourth behind Kyle Larson, in a Bristol Night Race that lacked the element of excitement. In fairness, Bristol has lacked the thrills for quite some time now, for whatever reasons. Saturday’s 500 laps confirmed that the Spring Race was indeed an anomaly. And it isn’t just Bristol. Many argue that tracks like Martinsville, Richmond, and Iowa — all under a mile — have become tougher to pass on with the Next-Gen cars.
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Dale Jr concurred with these sentiments on DJD when he said, “I do not see short track racing surviving this if they (NASCAR) don’t find some solution… It’s not out of the question to think that, you know, in just a few years, the Martinsvilles and the Bristols are going to be really hanging on.” Maybe so, but Chris Gabehart put forth a confusing opinion when he replied to the video clip on X, writing, “All the doom and gloom is a little thick and aids in perpetuating the problem. Could it be “better?” Yes. Has it been “bad” by a lot of validated eye test metrics of the past? No, not really. Does our society sensationalize nearly everything now? Yes. That’s not helping either.”
In hindsight, Gabehart seemed to refute his own opinions made earlier at Bristol. Dale Jr picked up on this, responding, “What’s funny is I kinda formed my opinion here by watching the race AND watching your post-race pit road interview. I guess I read you incorrectly.” He then added, “The short track product can and needs to improve somewhat. You surely can agree. And it’ll be people like you who make that happen.” This must have prompted some introspection from Gabehart, who humbly replied, “You deserve more.”
It isn’t just Dale Earnhardt Jr who deserves “more,” but also the fans who have been slowly witnessing the fall of NASCAR’s short-track racing quality. Nevertheless, Gabehart wrapped up his thoughts, saying, “Most of all, I want everyone to know how hard it is to race at the cup level. G7 cars don’t showcase that well enough. Natural cautions should be common at short tracks bc the cars are hard to drive for the world’s best drivers. That should be the goal.”
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That makes total sense. No one can ever refute how hard it is to race a Cup car. However, it’s hard to argue that excitement levels dip just a notch when NASCAR races on tracks under a mile. And by this point, it’s almost predictable. Some blame the Next-Gen car. Some blame Goodyear’s tires. A few like Gabehart suggest it’s the community growing impatient. The truth might be a combination of all those things. But after the Bristol Night Race featured 46 fewer lead changes than the Spring Race back in March, even NASCAR Senior Vice President, Elton Sawyer agreed with the collective sentiment.
The threat to Bristol’s future
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“We’re baffled, to be perfectly honest,” said Sawyer in an official address on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. He explained, “We felt like that we had a recipe there from the spring that gave us what we’re looking for in our short track racing, putting kind of the tire management back in the driver’s hands…” But that wouldn’t be the case. Uncharacteristic of the rapid lap time fall-off we witnessed during the Bristol Spring Race, the tires on Saturday lasted for 100+ laps over a single run.
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Regardless, Sawyer uttered nothing but facts, when he said, “I think the big thing we have to keep in mind is these things happen throughout time, whether it’s a race event or you go into any type of sporting event… You’ll have a blowout every now and then. We just need to figure out what happened, how we’re going to correct it and move forward because we have had some really good short track racing, as well as road course racing… Goodyear’s tire has really contributed a great deal to that.”
But the question remains: will all these factors lead Bristol to a fate similar to Richmond? The latter lost a date to the Mexico City road course next year. Yes, Bristol ensured 120,000 attendance at this year’s Night Race after quite some time. But if the product keeps faltering, will fans be eager to make it a consistent affair as the years roll on? And if they don’t, will the sport find it profitable enough to run races with dwindling audiences? NASCAR needs to identify a fix without further ado. Otherwise, guys like Chris Gabehart and Dale Earnhardt Jr will be left discussing the remnants of what could’ve been.