The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season is one for the history books. Three of the eight closest finishes in series history have transpired this season, including the closest ever. The latest among them unfolded in Talladega this weekend with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. beating RFK Racing co-owner Brad Keselowski by 0.006 seconds. But abnormally this hasn’t left fans going gaga. Why so?
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They believe that these finishes have been manufactured by NASCAR using rules that were introduced recently. The parity of the Next Gen car, stage racing, and the frequency of late-race cautions often create scenarios where close finishes are the only outcome. So, the contention is that these finishes aren’t the result of hardcore racing between drivers. This makes them far less appealing.
NASCAR on NBC recently flaunted on social media about how the ongoing season has produced several thrilling race finishes. The fans were largely critical of the statistic and chose to break it apart. One wrote, “Yeah- when all the cars are identical they tend to finish the same!” Parity has been the biggest goal of the Next Gen car. But is the sport paying too high a cost for it?
Another continued, “When you have late-race cautions the field is gonna be stacked up duh!” This particularly holds true in tracks where drafting isn’t a strategy. Late race cautions bring the field together and nullify all the hard work that leaders did all race long. Eventually, they only end up in close finishes. One fan said, “All from staged heat racing bring back the old format”
Yet the worst season ever. A couple close finishes do NOT make good races.
— Rick Yanac (@YanacRick) October 7, 2024
Another fan had all the right questions in response to NBC. They asked, “Were they earned? Or were they contrived via rules?” This comment will send NASCAR officials into a thought crisis if they see it. The promotion is creating rules to make races more entertaining but they can’t possibly recreate the surprises that stem from proper racing – as fans saw it a couple of decades ago.
One other fan drew a rather damning verdict about the ongoing season and wrote, “Yet the worst season ever. A couple of close finishes do NOT make good races.” These words stem from the frustration of watching leaders run behind lapped cars, unable to make passes, since the entire field runs on the same lap time.
All these opinions make it clear that many aren’t thrilled with the close finishes. As long as NASCAR continues to desire control and doesn’t let races play out naturally, fans aren’t going to be completely pleased with such gimmicky close finishes. The other remarkable results that played out were in Kansas and Atlanta.
