NASCAR snoozefest completely justifies empty Bristol grandstands

Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway was the shortest at the track in the history of the series, not by time or distance, but because of the fact that everyone with any semblance of NASCAR knowledge, specifically knowledge of the Next Gen car on short tracks, knew it was over as soon as Kyle Larson took the lead on lap 40.

Larson led 462 of the 500 laps around the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked Bristol, Tennessee oval in September, and he led 411 more laps today en route to a victory that was never in doubt, even with the completely unnecessary stage cautions in a race that saw next to no tire wear throughout.

We've all heard the complaints about the Next Gen car on short tracks, and Sunday's race was no different.

Bristol's half-empty grandstands vindicated by Sunday snoozefest

The on-track product with this car has been awful ever since its introduction in 2022, and the only exception was last year's spring Bristol race, which saw comers and goers all race and had a total of 54 lead changes among 16 leaders. There were 10 lead changes during the 121-lap green flag run to the finish alone.

It's almost like NASCAR saw what happened in last year's spring race with the tire wear, which generated the most exciting short track race of the Next Gen era, and everyone got together to make sure that no short track race is ever even close to being that entertaining ever again.

It's not so much the dominance of Larson, or any driver for that matter, which has led to the Next Gen criticism. It's the fact that the racing itself has been and continues to be terrible. The cars lack enough horsepower to make things interesting, overtaking is at an all-time low, and the tires seem to be the closest thing you can possibly find to road tires for a Cup car.

Add all of it up at NASCAR's shortest points-race venue, and you get a race that basically ends on lap 40 of 500. The checkered flag could not come soon enough.

It's no wonder why Bristol, which used to have a years-long waitlist among fans looking for seats, no longer generates a large crowd, and the "Last Great Colosseum" is just one example of a once-iconic track's tragic, yet totally predictable, downfall.

Fortunately for fans, aside from the non-points All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway next month, there are no more short track races on the calendar until the race at Dover Motor Speedway in July, though Dover is actually considered an intermediate track. After that, August's race at Iowa Speedway is the next up.

But non-short tracks have had their own problems in the Next Gen era, and until sweeping changes are made, don't expect the criticism to stop. And don't expect the grandstands to fill back up again, either.