Each week The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi answers readers’ questions about the latest happenings across motorsports.
Note: Some submitted questions have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
It seems a major reason Texas got the All-Star Race was to offset losing one of their points races to COTA. Seeing that Speedway Motorsports seems willing to continue operating the COTA race, does this make moving the All-Star Race that much more difficult? Or if it is moved, does that mean another SM race likely loses a date to keep Texas at two races per year? I have a hard time envisioning Texas with only one race going forward, even though that would be the best thing in terms of providing quality racing. — Steve S.
In a nutshell this is the conundrum of relocating the All‐Star Race. Speedway Motorsports executives have long maintained that Texas Motor Speedway having two races is essential and it’s why, when Circuit of The Americas was added to the Cup Series schedule, the All‐Star Race was moved to Texas — even though few outside those associated with Speedway Motorsports thought this was a good idea.
Few would argue that the All‐Star Race and Texas aren’t a flawed union, one that feels unsustainable, making what becomes of the All‐Star Race a fascinating development to watch. A strong argument can be made that Texas doesn’t deserve a single Cup date, let alone two; except Speedway Motorsports is likely to push back to losing a race — and the accompanying millions of dollars brought from NASCAR’s television contract — to a venue outside its portfolio. And it’s worth noting that since the All‐Star Race was created in 1985, Speedway Motorsports has hosted the race at one of its properties for all but one year (1986 at Atlanta Motor Speedway).
All of which makes it difficult to imagine NASCAR doing the right thing by either insisting that Speedway Motorsports shift the race elsewhere — say Bristol — or taking away the date to give to a non‐Speedway Motorsports facility. And any compromise that gives Texas a second points race in return for losing the All‐Star Race would be met with considerable backlash among fans, to the point it’s hard to envision NASCAR actually agreeing to this.
Something has to be done, though. The All‐Star Race can’t continue to be held at Texas. Doing so will only guarantee that the event’s once marquee status will only further diminish to the point there will be no way to resuscitate it. A possible solution that could be a win‐win for all involved is NASCAR allowing Speedway Motorsports to continue promoting the race but require it do so at a track not currently on the Cup schedule, like the Nashville Fairgrounds or some other short track. This is essentially the same arrangement Speedway Motorsports has with COTA, where it rents out the facility and acts as promoter.
But while Texas has a laundry list of problems, let’s not completely give up on it. At least not yet. That the track is located in Dallas/Fort Worth, the fifth largest television market in the U.S., cannot be overlooked with NASCAR’s television rights soon up for bid. This is too key a market for NASCAR not to maintain a presence in.
What can be done to fix Texas? Is the only option to just resurface entirely at this point? Maybe they can just do to Texas what they planned to do to Auto Club? — Benton S.
There were quite a few versions of this question this week. And the answer to fixing Texas is rather straightforward, though costly: Dynamiting the track followed by a massive reconfiguration.
Because while Texas could resurface, this offers no guarantee of improving the quality. Look how poor the racing was when Texas was configured and repaved in 2017, leading to Speedway Motorsports applying various chemical compounds in hopes of creating traction beyond a single groove. Let’s avoid repeating the same decisions that got us here.
What’s maddening about this…
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