NASCAR short track woes reach tipping point at Martinsville as Denny Hamlin, others sound off

It wasn’t just a special-paint-schemed, Hendrick Motorsports podium sweep that had NASCAR fans and drivers seeing red on Sunday.

Yes, there was plenty of burgundy at the front as William Byron, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott finished 1-2-3 while adorning special red paint schemes in celebration of the 40^th anniversary of Hendrick’s first win, captured by Geoff Bodine at Martinsville in 1984.

But not even a late restart and NASCAR history could generate drama in yet another short-track event with minimal passing, less tire wear and next-to-no passes of consequence throughout the top 10.

Minor aerodynamic changes aren’t cutting it.

SPEED FREAKS: Can William Byron win you over? Is Chase Elliott about to win?

“I didn’t think we could make it worse but by golly, we did,” Kyle Busch said on Saturday.

Denny Hamlin went for the jugular on his podcast Monday.

“The racing needs to be fixed,” he said. “If we sit back and do nothing, then shame on us. We deserve everything coming to us in the long run."

“We couldn’t even pass Austin Dillon for 50 or 60 laps. The last car on the racetrack, we could not pass him at the end of Stage 2.

“It’s just a conveyor belt.”

Yet Goodyear and NASCAR seem to be in a staring match with the former seemingly unwilling to build a softer tire that wears and the latter refusing to give in to driver pleas for more horsepower or changes to gear ratios.

And the urgency is building.

Rumors are flying that Richmond may lose one of its two events next year. There’s no telling how many more duds it’ll take for Martinsville to become a victim as well.

As fans continue to pound the table for adherence to tradition, taking events away from such pillars of the sport seems counter-intuitive.

Besides, there's been plenty of great racing on those tracks before. The tracks are not the problem.

And none of that mentions potential ramifications in terms of TV ratings.

"Until you make a horsepower or tire or shifting change, you will have the same result,” Hamlin warned. “We keep tinkering with aerodynamics. I’m sorry, we’re running 45 miles an hour in the middle of Martinsville. It’s not aerodynamics, it’s a horsepower-to-tire ratio and until we get that through our thick skulls it will remain the same.

“(In practice), my fastest lap was a 20.20. When I left practice running 50-something laps my last lap was a 20.55. Three-and-a half-tenths? We’ll never (expletive) pass. Never. It just keeps getting worse.”

So, what will it take for change?

Let’s hope criticism from the fans, pundits and the sport's veteran drivers are enough, before some of the cathedrals of American auto racing fall by the wayside.

Let’s go through the gears:

First gear

Boring or not, nobody at Hendrick Motorsports was apologizing.

“You just can’t script it like this,” Jeff Gordon, HMS vice chairman, said. “These three guys ... they just drove their butts off.”

Byron continues to climb the Hendrick wins list, claiming his 13^th to move to within five of Larson and Elliott, who have 18 each. Gordon (93) and Jimmie Johnson (83) lead the pack. In total, 20 drivers have gone to Victory Lane driving for Rick Hendrick, including legends like Darrell Waltrip, Busch and … Jerry Nadeau?

Yep. For every Terry Labonte, there’s a Casey Mears and all of them are part of a four-decade run of excellence.

Here’s a look at the drivers to win in a Hendrick Motorsports car as well as some other statistics:

Wins by driver

Wins by track

Wins by year

Second gear

Elliott nearly returned to Victory Lane.

He tapped Byron getting into the corner after the final restart, but didn’t go full-send. Who could blame him for not risking the ruination of his boss’ banner day?

So, the drought remains for Elliott, who has not won since Talladega in 2022, a span of 42 races.

“Nice to lead some laps, certainly fell off a little more than I wanted to at the end of those runs,” Elliott said. “I thought our car was close."

Third gear

The steady, weekly learning curve for Shane van Gisbergen remains a fascinating watch in the Xfinity Series.

It was on display Saturday night too as the New Zealander grew more and more comfortable with some Martinsville beating and banging, surging late to secure an 11^th-place finish.

And best of all, SVG is taking his lumps with a smile.

“I’ve never done anything like that but it was a lot of fun,” he grinned. “There’s people waving at me angry but they’re hitting me too.”

Fourth gear

Yet again, last week’s winner has the best numbers at next week's track. Byron’s average finish of 3.3 is tops among all drivers over the last three events at Texas. Kyle Busch is the active wins leader with four.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR, Goodyear must find answers; Gordon, Hendrick celebrate sweep