Following a wreck – one of many in NASCAR’s first Truck Series race at Knoxville – that took Sheldon Creed out of his car for the night, his words drew a big reaction out of the crowd.
“Knoxville fans are awesome…” Creed said. “Thank you everyone for the hard work, but we don’t belong here. We should be down at Iowa Speedway. That’s what these trucks are made for.”
A frustrated Sheldon Creed talks with @JamieLittleTV after being involved in a late pileup at Knoxville Raceway. pic.twitter.com/MYf6N2fVUM
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) July 10, 2021
His words, and also that 50-second clip of the broadcast will be synonymous with the first ever Corn Belt 150 for years, at least in my head.
Knoxville fans saw a long wreckfest of a race that was prolonged by overtime attempts including a 17-minute red flag following the big accident as seen in the video above.
It looked bad on NASCAR from a dirt racing fan’s perspective – seeing a rubbered down, one-lane race track and continuous double-file restarts that resulted in accidents that delayed the finish.
It looked just as bad on dirt racing from a NASCAR fan’s perspective – watching a race that started as entertaining go on to be a slugfest that you just wanted to see end.
That’s a divide that’s grown bigger and bigger over the years and really something that would benefit all sides if those fan bases get brought closer together.
I don’t want to just focus on the negatives here, though. It sounded like a lot of people had a great time at the race.
The truth is, a lot of people had a ton of fun at the Knoxville truck race last night. The kids loved it.
— Knoxville Moths (@KnoxvilleMoths) July 10, 2021
Trucks: I sat in grandstands & people around me had a blast. I overheard how awesome Kville was, how fast trucks were, loved the food, & the drama with crashes. Not a negative comment all night. It was so satisfying to hear that in real time from fans we worked so hard to reach.
— Eric Arnold (@_EricArnold) July 10, 2021
Both Eric and the Moths are mainstays of the people that you see when you frequent Knoxville Raceway. I’d like to say I do, but they’re both at the track no matter who is racing, every week.
That’s the thing about this, too. The first stage of the race was phenomenal. There were multiple lanes. Guys were moving around. The Corn Belt 150 was a success before the track rubbered down, and ultimately it can be looked like that in the grand scheme of things anyway.
All of this, though, begs the big question.
What will happen with NASCAR and its existence in the state of Iowa?
It’s not an unpopular opinion that drivers thought this mid-summer race should be held at Iowa Speedway. Brett Moffitt mentioned that on Thursday night during the practice day at the track.
I’d like to see the annual truck race schedule contain a race at both Iowa Speedway and Knoxville. I’d like to see the Cup Series likewise at both tracks. That’s a pipe dream of mine.
But right now there’s hardly a sign suggesting that either is possible, at least on the Cup Series front.
As site publisher Chris Williams has said, Iowa Speedway looks like a salvage yard right now. The only thing that has ran on the track in the past two years was ARCA renting out the facility for use.
It’s as close to dead as the speedway has ever been. It sucks.
That was another project NASCAR was trusted to handle and now we’re reminded again that we’ve been left in the dust here in Iowa as they try to run another 150-lap dirt race without the track getting rubbered down.
So here’s my dream.
Iowa Speedway gets rejuvenated. Give the track a Cup race at the end of its normal 3-weekend schedule. Get IndyCar back there. Sit back and enjoy.
Five of the six races in Newton in 2019 – the last year the track hosted a real season – ended with dramatic and excitable finishes. Put a Cup race in there and watch what happens.
As far as Knoxville goes?
I want the trucks back there, and as I said on KXnO I expect to see them back at Knoxville Raceway in 2022 for a second annual Corn Belt 150.
I want to see the top tours on Bristol Dirt too, but for Peter’s sake just run a 75-lap main event.
Take a three-hour broadcast window, open it with qualifying before going into heat races. If you want to really do a dirt race, run heats with transfer spots and throw a 5-lap B-Main in there. Start 24 trucks and give the rest of the drivers 25-40 finishing positions or however high the car count is. That might bring some more teams, too.
It’s tiring to watch what’s going on now, both with NASCAR’s involvement and Iowa and their attempts at dirt racing.
We’ve seen three examples of how a great start gets overshadowed on dirt this season alone…
I’m imploring NASCAR to not give us 4, 5 and 6 in 2022.
