“There’s something very familiar about all this” – Old Biff Tannen, Back to the Future Part II
First off, how about that Kansas Speedway race?
We now live in a world where someone making the statement, “Kansas Speedway is the best track in NASCAR,” will leave you like this:
Can’t argue with that, and it’s technically not wrong.
For the record, Darlington Raceway, where NASCAR will hold its 10th Throwback Weekend in a few days, is still my favorite on the circuit.
But in the last three years and five races held there, the 1.5-mile track in Kansas City, Kan., has arguably put on the best show in the sport.
Not counting the tire induced bonanza at Bristol Motor Speedway and the three-wide finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Sunday’s (May 5) Kansas race was one of the best flag-to-flag races we’ve seen recently, right up there with the last two Coca-Cola 600s.
It had race-winner Kyle Larson making this statement right after coming out on top of the closest finish in NASCAR history.
“That race from start to finish was amazing,” Larson said. “That first stage was incredible. I wish we had more mile-and-a-halfs.
“We all bitch about the package and all that, but [at] these mile-and-a-halfs, these cars just race so amazing.”
The fact anyone in NASCAR is saying this sincerely is, well, remarkable.
When the racing product on nearly every other style of track is cratering, thanks to a Next Gen car that maybe should have been tested more on short tracks during its development and which was specifically designed to handle better on road courses — oops? — it’s the mile-and-half-tracks that are NASCAR’s savior.
Coming to theaters this summer: ‘Revenge of the Cookie Cutters.’
Seriously, we’re in a bizarre moment.
This was highlighted Sunday night. Someone on Twitter posted a screenshot of a headline on an article I wrote at NBC Sports essentially a decade ago in May 2015.
Written three months into my six-year tenure at NBC Sports, I don’t remember this story about reaction to that season’s All-Star Race at all.
But reading through it in 2024 is amusing, if not surreal.
1.5-mile tracks — or at least Charlotte…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …