NASCAR putting in two superspeedway tracks in next year’s playoffs might seem like an exciting shuffle to the already exciting schedule to some, but for those who are directly taking part in those races, it doesn’t seem to be the case. First, it was Denny Hamlin who extensively explained his disapproval of this shuffle. More recently, it was Joey Logano who shared his take on the same.
Advertisement
Logano’s take, while not as detailed or word-heavy, was one that was on the same lines as his fellow driver.
Joey Logano echoes Denny Hamlin’s aggressive stance on the schedule shuffle
Soon after NASCAR announced next season’s schedule, Hamlin, in a press interaction, called out the two superspeedways in the playoffs.
“Obviously, I don’t like it,” he said. “I think you continue, you know, to make this a game a chance. One of the common quotes that you’ll hear from leadership is that ‘We like to test our drivers.’”
“That’s silly. You’re testing their luck. You’re not testing their skill.”
A few days after Hamlin’s pretty aggressive quotes, Joey Logano was asked about his thoughts on the same.
“I don’t know if I agree with putting two superspeedways in the playoffs,” Logano said.
NASCAR explain the reason behind two superspeedways in playoffs
With heavyweights like Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano not receiving the two superspeedways in playoffs warmly, NASCAR’s intent behind putting them there is pretty interesting.
Ben Kennedy, the senior vice president of racing development and strategy, pointed toward how Atalanta has played out in the last two years with its new configuration. “Obviously, we want to see how it both started and evolved over the repave, and after seeing several races play out in Atlanta, it felt like it made sense to move it into that second slot after Daytona,” he explained as per RACER.
As the season progresses into its second half, Kennedy claimed that given the racing product at Atlanta, the fan sentiment, they felt it was an opportunity to introduce “a little bit of variety” to that phase of the schedule.
In the end, Kennedy added that adding Atlanta in the playoffs would “test the variability” and skills of drivers along with shaking it up a bit, which is more or less the reasoning Denny Hamlin predicted.
