Has NASCAR Trashing Pylons Made Its Dynamic Worse With Track-Going Fans?

Was Denny Hamlin fuming after his car failed to finish the Talladega race, marking his first DNF of the 2024 season? Assumably yes. Considering the ironic fact, his race team’s #45 took the checkered flag in a victory where most Toyota drivers, including himself, crashed out due to late-stage cautions. But did Denny see the scoring pylon from the infield? Absolutely not. Because, as per common knowledge, the tower was already scrapped because of deterioration and maintenance issues, before the 2024 GEICO 500.

Regardless, an equally important question arises regarding the collective fan satisfaction at the 2.66-mile racetrack where anything can happen at any time. Jeff Gluck of The Athletic suggests it was a completely different story for the viewers attending the events on race day. 

NASCAR switching from tradition to technology

Prior to his disappointing advances at the second superspeedway race of the NASCAR season, Denny Hamlin and many others voiced their displeasure over the ascertained ‘abandonment’ of this decades-old tradition. The information beacon has been a staple for fans watching on track, and over television to determine scores, laps, leaders, and various intricate details depending on ‘the thrill of the race.’

However, Jeff Gluck shuts down a lot of the outcry with an intelligent statement to co-host Jordan Bianchi on a recent episode of ‘The Teardown’ where the two experienced journalists broke down Sunday’s ‘Dega draft dance. When the conversations stalled upon the mystery of the missing pylon, Gluck states, “Texas takes down the scoring pylon… that’s a bigger issue than Talladega taking down the scoring pylon. But they’re getting conflated because they (NASCAR) had back-to-back weeks (of races with no scoring pylon). So everybody goes, ‘What the Hell? Are they suddenly taking down scoring pylons? What is going on here?’ Right? I happen to think they’re slightly different issues…”

What are these issues? He elaborates on his original statement, “The Texas one is a scoring pylon that people actually use and need. It’s one of those ones like a Kansas, Vegas, Charlotte, where it’s right there on the frontstretch, you could see the laps remaining, you could see the whole running order, all that stuff. You need that. Drivers can look at it. Fans can look at it.” 

But when explaining his race day experience at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend, Gluck also talks about the difficulties he experienced, due to the absence of what many now claim to be an ‘archaic’ artifact. “To lose that, like last week at the end of the race. I am on Pit Road and I texted you: ‘Who finished where? I don’t know…’ Because you’re used to looking up…. And I get that they have the video boards, at Texas it’s Big Hoss. But it’s more than just the top few drivers that you need to see. You need pylons at these places, and to take them down is doing a disservice to people,” opines the well-respected industry insider.

What is the bigger picture?

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Nevertheless, reports regarding the Talladega scoring pylons also suggest that “the company that manufactured the pylons no longer makes parts for them,” and “new pylons cost around $5M, so the chances of them getting replaced are slim.” NASCAR officials also admitted to the Charlotte Observer that replacing certain parts of the tower was impossible because they were no longer available for purchase. As Gluck emphasizes, for fans to fully immerse themselves in the world’s premier stock car racing experience, they need to see more than just the top 10 drivers on the big screen.

Even drivers who expressed their dependence on the tower before the race faced visible difficulties during the all-important final stage of the GEICO 500. From Christopher Bell to his teammate, Denny Hamlin, the race saw two caution flags waved for on-track incidents. However, the Big One broke loose on the backstretch of the final lap, and although Gluck rightfully explains, the Talladega pylon does not play much difference in the bigger background of the longest superspeedway of the NASCAR calendar from the infield.

Did it make any difference for Tyler Reddick’s inaugural victory for Michael Jordan and his business partner, Denny Hamlin?