The Perfect Race

I’m fast approaching my 20th year working in and covering NASCAR – which is another story in itself – but, hand on my heart, I can honestly say last Sunday’s (May 5) race at Kansas Speedway was the best race I’ve ever seen. From the drop of the green to the flutter of the checkers, I was absolutely riveted. And, added to that, it was the closest finish in NASCAR’s long Cup Series history.

And it got me thinking, is there such a thing as a perfect race? Come to that, is there such a thing as a perfect anything (and like my NASCAR history, that’s a whole ‘nother story). But back to my point, can you have a perfect race, even allowing for all the biases — inherent, open and otherwise — we have as race fans on any given Sunday afternoon?

One good indicator on where Sunday’s race sits in the annals of NASCAR history, albeit a somewhat unscientific indicator, is the Jeff Gluck Good Race Poll. And the results show that in eight years and 312 races the veteran NASCAR writer has polled fans, it was the number one race with a whopping 95.8% positive reaction. It edged out the Bristol Motor Speedway Night Race of 2021, coincidentally also won by Kyle Larson.

This of course begs a secondary question in my inquiring mind: what exactly about that race did 4.2% of respondents think was not good?

Some theories might include: die-hard Chris Buescher and RFK Racing fans; folks who despise green-white-checkered finishes; fans who don’t like Larson or Hendrick Motorsports, as an entity; Chase Elliott fans who don’t like races he doesn’t win; or maybe fans who are just overall irritated with NASCAR, but other than that I can’t think of anything else significant. If by some small chance you’re one of those 4.2% of respondents who voted that it wasn’t a good race, please elaborate below in the comments. I’d be fascinated to know what you didn’t like. Genuinely.

In this week’s installment of Actions Detrimental, Denny Hamlin went as far as to call it the perfect race. This, don’t forget, is from a driver who would likely have won had the late caution not occurred and who led the field to green for the overtime finish. If anyone could legitimately have a gripe about how it all went down, it would be the 20-year, 662-race Joe Gibbs Racing veteran from Chesterfield, Va. But even he called it perfect.

And as I think about a perfect race, there is one immediate distinction I want to make right off the bat….