Unless you’re part of Martin Truex Jr.’s immediate family, a member of his fan club or an employee of Furniture Row Racing, you likely weren’t enthralled by Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
NASCAR’s longest race had a mere nine lead changes with Truex leading 392 of a possible 400 laps. And even outside of Truex turning the event into a runaway, there was an absence of side-by-side racing and passing throughout the field.
That tepidness didn’t go unnoticed. NASCAR’s chief development officer, Steve O’Donnell, told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Tuesday that the sanctioning body was “going back to the drawing board” in attempt to find ways to improve the quality of racing.
“One of our stated goals is passing up front, and that was not what we saw (Sunday) night,” O’Donnell said his weekly appearance on The Morning Drive. “Not to take anything away from Martin. He had the car to beat and he didn’t give it up all night long.”
The lack of excitement Sunday was in contrast to how the All-Star Race, also held at Charlotte, unfolded the week before. Whereas drivers struggled to attempt pass during the Coca-Cola 600, the All-Star Race featured lead changes and plenty of passing.
The difference between the two events is that NASCAR employed a trial rules package for the All-Star Race limiting how teams configured the rear of the chassis setup, which took away downforce and sideforce.
“That’s one of the reasons why we ran two different (rules packages) to have some comparative data,” O’Donnell said. “Obviously, we saw some really good things with the skew we had for the All-Star Race. It’s something we can immediately pull the lever on (going forward).”
A particular area NASCAR is evaluating centers on how tires wear during night races, which due to cooler temperatures tends to produce less tire falloff over extended green-flag runs. Although the new low downforce package has largely created better racing this season compared to 2015, night events at Charlotte, Texas Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway didn’t generate the same quality as races staged in the afternoon.
NASCAR announced a pair of rule changes last week for upcoming races at Michigan International Speedway (June 12) and Kentucky Speedway (July 9). The modifications pertain to the front splitter, rear deck and spoiler. Michigan is a Sunday afternoon race, while Kentucky is a Saturday night event.
“More so than anything, we look at our partnership with Goodyear and what we need to do to look at how we wear tires as much as possible — particularly at night races,” O’Donnell said. “We can work on that.
“Goodyear has been a great partner this year from the rules package and matching that up. We’ve seen some really great results — particularly in the day races. Obviously, we’ve got some things to look at, we look at some of the future night races and see what we can do with that tire combination and that rules package.”
Despite discussing extensively how the racing could have been better Sunday, O’Donnell made sure to credit Truex, crew chief Cole Pearn and team owner Barney Visser several times for a performance that saw Truex lead a NASCAR-record 588 miles. O’Donnell acknowledged a team will hit a setup and races will “have those blowouts from time to time.”
“I don’t want to by any means take anything away from what Martin, Cole Pearn and that team has done, they are more deserving of that win,” O’Donnell said. “(Truex) is a great story. When you look at it, he’s a guy who you expect could win a championship now. That is just great to see.”
