“Cannot Settle for This”: Insider Calls Out NASCAR’s ‘Unacceptable’ Short Track Product That Crushed MTJ’s Hopes

If there was one track where Martin Truex Jr. could’ve scripted a comeback run to keep his championship hopes alive, it was Bristol. The veteran Joe Gibbs Racing driver finished second behind his teammate Denny Hamlin in a brutal tire-wear outing at the 0.533-mile track back in March. However, hopes to compete for the title came crashing down on him after speeding on pit road.

He went from finishing inside of the top 5 position to crashing out of the championship race. During lap 333 in the final stage, Truex Jr. was too eager to get back on track after hitting the pit road. According to the driver, he was 0.9 mph over the speeding limit that saw him serve a pass-through penalty. And considering the trend of race, it was practically impossible for him to regain his spots. The race finished without any caution for the next 163 laps, and with no tire wear, the #19 found himself stuck battling with mid-pack drivers.

It was not the most convincing display of what a NASCAR race should look like. For all the hype and the experiments, they are yet to find a fix for the short-track package. This was further highlighted by prominent reporter Jeff Gluck, who urged NASCAR to address the issue before it becomes a norm.

NASCAR needs to do a better job with the short-track package

Usually, a new machine or invention leads to better output or efficiency in the motorsports world. However, in NASCAR’s case, the script has been completely flipped ever since the arrival of the Next-Gen car. One of the big concerns is the lack of passing opportunities on the short tracks. Teams and drivers have been demanding an increase in horsepower, but NASCAR hasn’t been obliged to make those drastic changes.

Thus, to make the racing better, they tried different tire compounds. An experiment that has failed miserably. Be it the new package that rolled out during the spring race or the red option tire from the All-Star race. NASCAR thought they cracked the code with the massive tire wear for the spring event in Bristol. But Sunday’s race saw drivers struggle with the issues that have plagued short-track racing for a while now.

Reacting to the uneventful and flat playoffs race last Sunday, Jeff Gluck said, “It’s an elimination race. There’s still things that can happen. And then you start to realize, Oh, they can’t really pass. Like Martin Truex Jr. was running what second. He could not pass Kaulig and Ricky Ware cars with his playoffs on the line to just even get around them. Ty Gibbs had a problem getting back through the field.” Gluck said this on his special show The Teardown.

The Xfinity Series race saw a similar trend. Layne Riggs of all drivers was able to go back-to-back for the first time in 2024. Meanwhile, Dale Earnhardt Jr., despite fighting tooth and nail with Ryan Truex for the fifth spot, didn’t find any joy. So, this issue is prevalent across the board and is not just a Cup Series issue. Gluck also rang the alarm bell, arguing that NASCAR has to do a better job to solve this crisis.

“You can say the solutions whatever, but ultimately, where I wanna see is NASCAR just cannot settle for this is as the short-track product. This cannot be what is acceptable in any way. This cannot be like, well, we’ve tried some things, and this is just how it’s going to be now. That just cannot happen,” Gluck added.

It was indeed a crushing blow for Martin Truex Jr. who will have to bow out of the championship race in the very first round. While questions are being asked about the failure of the short-track package, the veteran driver held himself accountable for derailing his playoff run.

Unforced errors and mistakes proved costly for the #19 team

Everything was going according to the plan for Martin Truex Jr. for him to advance to the next round. Collecting back-to-back stage points in the first two stages, he had chalked off the point deficit and was above the cutline. It was going to be a tough ask, but it looked like he could make it until his final pit stop of the night completely flipped the storyline.

He was running second behind race winner Kyle Larson, but exiting the pit road, he was found speeding by the race officials. And this mistake proved costly to him, as he couldn’t manage to get up the field and ended the race 24th. All he needed was a top 5 finish to script a storied end to his Cup career, but it was not meant to be.

“It’s on me, obviously. My mistake. They said that we were going to have to run second or third there to have a chance, and I don’t know if we could have done it, but it would have been nice to see. Just really sad for my guys. They work so hard. We had a really strong car tonight. We got a lot of stage points; we did what we needed to there. Just hate I screwed it up. I wish we could have at least seen if we could have done it. Would have been fun to have a fighting chance,” Truex Jr. said after the race.

He wasn’t the only one to feel this way; the likes of Brad Keselowski, Ty Gibbs, and Harrison Burton also suffered a similar fate, crashing out of the playoffs.