Can the Next Gen’s ability to put on better shows at 1.5-mile tracks save even Texas [Motor Speedway]? – @Walker_Skeeter
Frankly, if TMS is dead, I think the Next Gen killed it.
In May of this year, the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race returned for the second time to the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway. Ryan Blaney won the race (and the check for $1 million), but the lack of on-track passing and farcical overtime situation left many fans with a bad taste in their mouths.
That’s certainly nothing new for Texas, as ever since its 2017 repave, it’s been the subject of concentrated vitriol from both NASCAR and IndyCar fans. While the introduction of the Next Gen car this season has revitalized racing on the Cup Series’ numerous mile-and-a-half speedways in 2022, Texas has been left behind. While Auto Club Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway have produced some of the most exciting racing action this year, their fellow intermediate oval in Fort Worth gave us yet another stinker.
RYAN BLANEY (officially) WINS THE 2022 ALL-STAR RACE.
Retweet to congratulate the No. 12 team on their Texas victory! pic.twitter.com/0isKFlZr94
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 23, 2022
And so, despite Texas already advertising its All-Star date, NASCAR dropped TMS down to a single date in 2023 with the traditional fall playoff race. And, in the greatest irony in the history of motorsports scheduling, gave the spring date back to North Wilkesboro Speedway, the short track from which Texas had taken the date in 1997.
It seems the North Wilkesboro decision happened at the last minute, with the All-Star announcement coming just days after the historic North Carolina racetrack unexpectedly suspended its Racetrack Revival dirt series, preserving the old asphalt layout for use by the Cup cars in 2023.
There’s no way to read this other than a lack of confidence in Texas’ product, one that NASCAR has been wrestling with for nearly half a decade. While longtime TMS president Eddie Gossage long held a monopoly on racing dates in the Lone Star State, NASCAR held a long-awaited race at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas starting in 2021. That race, the Echo Park Texas Grand Prix, keeps its spring date in 2023.
38 weekends of non-stop action.
The 2023 #NASCAR Cup Series schedule is here. pic.twitter.com/kPckLXDVVV
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 14, 2022
However you look at it, TMS’ hold on racing in the state of Texas is weakening by the year….
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