Perhaps Marcus Smith, the President of Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) didn’t watch the recent All-Star Race at the Texas Motor Speedway. Otherwise, he’d surely have anticipated the backlash before his words left his mind. The backlash was led by Denny Hamlin and extended to a train of NASCAR fans.
Smith said in a recent interview, “When we had it in Charlotte, we had some detractors who would always say ‘Why is it in Charlotte?’… We move it and people say ‘Let’s put it back in Charlotte.’ I’ve found nobody likes change and nobody likes anything to stay the same … You can’t make everybody happy.”
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“There’s just some people out there who like to complain more often than anything. … If you talk to the fans who were there, they had a great time.”
Speedway Motorsports, Inc. President & CEO @MarcusSMI joined @DanielleTrotta & @LarryMac28 today on #SXMOnTrack and spoke about whether he would consider moving the #AllStarRace to a venue that’s not currently on the #NASCAR schedule. pic.twitter.com/5UWxnjeiiw
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) May 23, 2022
This led to Joe Gibbs Racing driver and 23XI Racing co-owner, Denny Hamlin subtly taking a jibe at Smith and his comments. This was then followed by a slew of criticism of the race venue from the fans.
Please the court. I would like to present exhibit 1.
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) May 23, 2022
What, all 2000 of them that were there? @MarcusSMI should realize that the overwhelming majority of fans knows that his track is a major failure and shouldn’t be hosting any races under its current configuration right now.
— Jon Iaccino (@ji711) May 23, 2022
I really like Marcus Smith, but that race was awful…glad they sold so many tickets, but that is a long way to go for a crappy race…
— Ryan LeGrand (@RhinoLeGrand) May 23, 2022
Head in the sand, that's all you can say at this point. They aren't listening to the driver's, and they sure as hell aren't listening to us, the most important, FANS!! pic.twitter.com/3M3Gs1Jm1A
— Family Man (@TeamJGRfan) May 23, 2022
My goodness this is so stupid. Texas literally closed off entire parts of the grandstand. Also isn’t it more about the rating anyways. I don’t think nascar really relies on ticket sales anymore
— Blake Mace (@BlakeBoss14) May 23, 2022
Saying the truth isn’t complaining. That track sucks. And that all star race sucked. 💁🏻♂️
— Matt (@MIracingfan) May 23, 2022
Denny Hamlin had more reasons to be mad at NASCAR for
After the All-Star race that ended in quite some controversy thanks to a questionable call, Denny Hamlin let loose on his frustrations with the events that he felt should’ve led to a black flag.
“This isn’t a Denny Hamlin judgement call,” he said. “I’m just saying, ‘Whatever the rule is, let’s be consistent and play by the rules.’ It’s unfortunate because he made a mistake.”
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He argued that Blaney should’ve won the race the first time as he was 100 yards away from the win, that “many cars have not won races” because of a mistake at the end, and that “those things happen.”
The #11 driver added that he is confused about whether or not it was a “moral problem” they had, to not cost him the win so they conveniently threw the caution at the end.
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“I think they just had a moral dilemma instead of just playing by the rules like they’re supposed to.”