Racing at superspeedways like Daytona, Talladega, and Atlanta has undergone a seismic shift in recent years. The days of drivers charging full throttle from the green flag are long gone. Now, survival has become the name of the game.
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Modern superspeedway strategy revolves around saving fuel and avoiding chaos rather than trading paint early on. Drivers now run in the draft at partial throttle, biding their time instead of going aggressive.
Kyle Busch recently shed light on this evolving approach while discussing the nature of superspeedway racing in the Next Gen era.
The pack racing that defines these events has turned every lap into a balancing act. Patience outweighs aggression. Staying in line or hanging at the back to preserve fuel, tires, and bodywork has become the norm. Until the closing laps, that is, when the gloves finally come off.
“You run them more part throttle now more than you ever have before. The fuel mileage game, and the saving of the fuel, and things like that,” Busch said, when asked what he expects from this weekend’s race at Talladega.
“Trying to get yourself into that leapfrog strategy. It seems like everybody is doing that, where you want to spend the least amount of time on pit road to pick off spots, because it seems like it is more difficult to pass,” he added.
Busch explained that when the bottom and middle lanes ride side-by-side, conserving fuel, the third lane can form and pick up speed. But once those two lanes go full throttle, the top groove fades fast.
The bottom becomes too quick, and the top line too long, killing any momentum drivers might hope to build. Without that extra burst from the banking, making passes feels like pushing water uphill.
As the laps wind down and the tension builds, drivers hesitate to pull out of line. One wrong move without drafting can drop them from the front to the tail, after all.
“Everybody is a bit more scared to take that chance,” Busch admitted. “So they just all stay in line until they can literally see the checkered flag out of their windshield, and then they all go crazy, and that’s about when the wrecking ensues.”
Some veterans, like Ryan Blaney, argue that fuel mileage is a big part of superspeedway racing. Michael McDowell calls it a “necessary evil.” But not everyone buys into it.
Carson Hocevar, who lost fuel pressure late in the Daytona race and limped home 30th, admits the concept still doesn’t sit right with him.
For fans, though, this new brand of racing feels like watching paint dry… Until the closing laps, when it turns into a demolition derby. The strategic patience may win races, but it’s testing the patience of those in the grandstands.
