In Christopher Bell’s emphatic 7th career Cup victory with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota, the festivities under the sun at the Phoenix Raceway had been under plenty of speculations. First, the heavily contemplated short track package on debut for the first time at the 1-mile racetrack faced a lot of heat with drivers stating prior to the event that they did not see any “significant” changes from last year. Secondly, Joey Logano’s recent claims about NASCAR fans being “spoiled” looked to gain traction throughout the 2024 season.

The Team Penske driver made these comments for a very different reason, however. He made these remarks recently on discussions with SiriusXM, highlighting that NASCAR fans have a higher level of access compared to other sports. The sanctioning body then went on to restrict post-race VIP access, starting at Phoenix, a decision that drew a lot of ire.

Joey Logano May Have Said the Truth and Nothing More

Nevertheless, the 1-mile doglegged oval in Arizona was the latest battleground fowinnerr fans and NASCAR spectators were heavily divided over the lack of excitement due to the one-sided Toyota display. Pole winner Denny Hamlin, as well as the 6 fastest cars in practice, all sported the iconic Toyota badge. Many differing opinions swirled online, but it was SIriusXM’s NASCAR radio host Pete Pistone, who took to Twitter to state, “NASCAR has moved into the impossibly untenable world where if it’s not three wide for three hours the race is deemed a failure – unless of course it’s a superspeedway, then nobody likes that either”

The effect? Fans jumped into discussions again on the NASCAR subreddit to weigh in on Pistone’s Twitter rant.

As common knowledge, one fan referred to the evolving nature of “collective” interest spans within people and the broader spectrum of motorsports viewership trends across the world – “When the appeal of other motorsports is well it’s boring as hell but at least it’s short. The collective mind isn’t able to handle good motorsports anymore.”

However, one reply stood out as the “comment of collective reason,” as it read, “I feel like all the outrage around Phoenix is because it’s the finale. If the finale rotated or was still back at Homestead people wouldn’t be as up in arms as they are right now…”

Another Reddit user echoed this sentiment and shared the need to have a revolving “Superbowl” style championship race for the Phoenix track writing, “Treat it like the Super Bowl.” 

But it is barely ever that simple.

An Evolutionary Problem Plaguing NASCAR

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The sport has multiple stakeholders. Each has its own agenda. Amidst all this, NASCAR has presented the premier form of stock-car racing admirably for more than 7 decades. Through all the coverage changes and the constantly evolving landscape of spectator sports interests, it is only natural for a few problems to stand out.

Read More: NASCAR Acting on Joey Logano’s ‘Spoiled Fans’ Perspective Breaks Unity in the Fandom

This fan had an interesting take on the Reddit discussion, stating broadcast coverage reasons for the decline in collective appreciation: “People don’t see that mid-pack battles can be insane because TV doesn’t show them. We literally CAN’T see them. Both broadcast partners do a terrible job at this. It IS boring watching a dude check out by 6 seconds and run clean laps because that’s all the TV is showing you. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t something interesting elsewhere on the track….”

Another user joined in on this sentiment with the commendable desire to someday have multi-camera coverage on different race-day situations. The reply read, “I wish we would get more split screen/four cameras broadcasting on the screen, being able to view multiple battles all at once. I feel like that would help showcase the mid-pack battles and keep ppl engaged when the leaders check out.”

This resonates with the conflicting broadcast schedule of NASCAR season, spread across FOX and NBC, which will become even more difficult to manage for fans after the introduction of Amazon and Warner Brothers in 2025.

However, it is these very fan discussions and debates that keep the sport as relevant as it could be in its 76th year of providing high-speed excitement. With the short track package on display one more time next week at Bristol, it will be interesting to see what becomes the next topic of conversation.