Martin Truex Jr. completed a dominant performance by holding off Kyle Larson during the final green-flag run of the day at Darlington on Sunday night. It was the third time Truex Jr. had won this year and he was out front for basically the last 150 laps of the race.
But that didn’t stop drivers and fans from speaking up about their love of the low downforce / high horsepower, 750HP engine package that NASCAR ran at the track on Sunday.
“I love low downforce,” Truex Jr. said in his race winner press conference. “That’s all I’m going to say. I love it. (I’m a) big fan of this kind of racing. (I) really enjoy it. Today was a heck of a challenge.”
Now, this is obviously taken slightly with a grain of salt.
Truex Jr. has won each of his three races this season at tracks where NASCAR ran the 750HP package.
Although his comments highlight the challenges of handling the car and what he experienced while controlling the race.
“I did come on the radio one time and say I’m really surprised how slow it feels and how slick it is,” Truex Jr. said. “I was leading and driving away from the field, and I’m like, this thing is sliding everywhere. It’s pretty amazing just how much this track changes year to year every time we come back. It gets more difficult with the wear of the pavement.”
Those challenges are what fans of the series are wanting to see when they watch what is supposed to be one of the top motorsports groups in the world.
The drivers, that didn’t obliterate the field like Truex Jr., liked what they saw as well.
Man, low downforce, high horsepower is the package we need to be racing every weekend. Despite some bad luck and losing laps in the garage, this was the most fun I’ve had driving a Cup car in a while. Our #LenniePond throwback scheme was on point! Off to Dover next 💪 pic.twitter.com/7cemfhmwRC
— Josh Bilicki (@joshbilicki) May 10, 2021
Charlotte Observer Reporter Alex Andrejev asked Denny Hamlin about his thoughts on the package, and he gave an answer that was more reflective on whether fans would like what they saw or not.
Hamlin has found success with both of the intermediate packages NASCAR has utilized in recent memory, but him taking the fans into account on it says a lot.
Denny Hamlin on low downforce package at Darlington: “From a statistics standpoint, they’re gonna say it’s not a good race cause Truex dominated, but man, it was a driver’s racetrack today.” pic.twitter.com/Fj8PKJdrcq
— Alex Andrejev (@AndrejevAlex) May 10, 2021
Young, up-and-comer Sam Mayer – an ARCA & Truck Series racer that was tuning in on FS1 – enjoyed what he saw as well.
Low downforce baby 📈
— Sam Mayer (@sam_mayer_) May 9, 2021
It seems like a majority of the field looks forward to the races that run the 750 setup, so where do the fans that didn’t like the action on Sunday come into play? What’s not to like?
The tweet below from @BrandonGomezYT has gotten an amount of interaction from different personalities and fans on social media.
You call this good racing????? pic.twitter.com/dYBxy5T8W9
— Brandon 🇬🇹🇸🇻🏳️🌈🏁 (@BrandonGomezYT) May 9, 2021
The major point of his being that because the leader was so far out from the field, it was less appeasing to watch battles in the back of the pack.
The flip side is, with the other package, it’s so hard to pass the leader that the second-place driver might as well be 10 seconds behind the lead car. It’s all a back and forth argument – one that will be somewhat moot soon with new cars coming next season.
There are fans that LOVED the race
They are fans that HATED the race
This is a battle every weekend, always have & always will
Nobody wants to concede and everyone wants their opinions heard. Its cool,
Nothing wrong with sharing views but the sport marches forward#NASCAR https://t.co/FwjXKAmxm8
— Chris Knight (@Knighter01) May 10, 2021
Motorsport’s Jim Utter pointed out another concern with parts of the race that fans may have not enjoyed as well.
Difference between first and fifth – 21.9 seconds
I believe race ended with 104-lap green-flag run
— Jim Utter (@jim_utter) May 9, 2021
There’s no telling which is right from wrong on the debate between the two, but it’s pretty obvious to see what side drivers are on.
We’ll get to hear more about this, too, as we go on. The 750HP will be used at Dover, Nashville, New Hampshire, all of the road courses, and a majority of the playoff races (including the last two).
This won’t be the last time this debate is had, but whatever side wins could greatly impact the future and the direction that NASCAR goes.
