Thinkin’ Out Loud at Bristol: NASCAR’s Quest for Parity Has Ruined Short Track Racing

What Happened?

Kyle Larson.

That’s what happened.

The Elk Grove, Calif., native took the lead away from Alex Bowman on lap 41 and seldom relinquished it again. He led 411 of 500 laps and swept both stages en route to winning the Cup Series’ Food City 500 on Sunday (April 13) at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Larson’s win was reminiscent of his masterclass at Bristol last fall, where he led 462 laps on his way to the win. Larson also won the Xfinity Series race on Saturday (April 12) but missed out on the Craftsman Truck Series win by one spot on Friday night (April 11) — once again missing out on the clean sweep of the weekend by that much.

What Really Happened?

No doubt about it, Larson’s win was a good old-fashioned butt-kicking — something we should be accustomed to seeing at Bristol. Between last fall’s race and Sunday’s race, Larson has led a combined 873 of 1,000 laps.

But entering the weekend, there was concern (excitement?) over the tire wear and perhaps a potential repeat of last year’s spring race, when tires fell off after 50 laps or so. With short tracks lacking in action since the introduction of the Next Gen car, tires have been the saving grace — whether it’s the fall off we saw at Bristol last year, or the option tires that have been used at Phoenix Raceway and Richmond Raceway.

With different temperatures than expected on Sunday, those tire issues were non-existent. That led to an overall very uninteresting race at Bristol. Combined with the argument that the seats were empty (which by the way, Bristol at half-capacity still has more fans than a sellout at a lot of other tracks), many were calling for bringing back the dirt race, or even dropping one of Bristol’s two race dates.

But don’t let recency bias fool you. The problem with Bristol — and really all short tracks — isn’t the track itself. It’s the car.

NASCAR’s continual quest for parity (which, let’s be honest, ended a long time ago) has killed most of what we know as short track racing. The 2024 spring race was so entertaining because the tires falling apart provided a nice refresh from the parade we’re normally used to seeing at most Next Gen short track races. The same reason is why the option tire races at Richmond and Phoenix were also so popular — the different tires allowed for more strategy and passing at a type of track the Next Gen is historically not good at.

But tires can only do so much. They aren’t (and can’t) be the be all, end all of fixing short track racing. With everyone in essentially equal equipment now thanks to the single-sourced parts, it’s hard to gain an advantage anymore. With less horsepower and more mechanical grip, the cars aren’t as hard to drive anymore on a short track.

It’s frustrating to see the same song and dance at the short tracks when it feels like there’s feasible solutions for NASCAR to find and utilize going forward.

Looking on X after the race, there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of positive reaction out of this race — maybe this race is the straw that breaks the camel’s back for Next Gen short track racing.

But honestly, I doubt it.

Who Stood Out?

Welcome back to the top five, Ty Gibbs! A third-place finish might finally be what the No. 54 team needs to get their season turned around. That’s Gibbs’ first top-five finish since Kansas Speedway last fall. Coming off of a ninth-place finish last week at Darlington Raceway, it’s also the first time Gibbs has scored consecutive top 10s since Michigan International Speedway and Daytona International Speedway last summer.

AJ Allmendinger also had himself a day at The Last Great Colosseum. After qualifying inside the top 10, The Dinger rarely left the top 10 and capped off his afternoon with a respectable ninth-place finish. On top of that, Allmendinger also took home the weekly bonus point for the fastest lap of the race. He clocked in at a lap time of 15.38 seconds (124.759 mph) — which denied Larson an opportunity to achieve a perfect 61-point day.

Who Fell Flat?

The race only had one caution for cause, and it came from Shane van Gisbergen. While the rookie is not having a great start to his season, bringing out the only true caution of the race surely doesn’t boost the Kiwi’s confidence. After going behind the wall, van Gisbergen ended up 38th.

Polesitter Bowman was shaping up to have a great day — he may not have had race-winning speed, but top five speed to be sure. However, engine issues arose and forced the No. 48 behind the wall for good after 343 laps, ending a promising afternoon.

Paint Scheme of the Race

Grizzly recently expanded its sponsorship to both Kaulig Racing Cup teams. Having already secured sponsorship of Ty Dillon, Grizzly is now joining Allmendinger for a few races.

With Dillon sporting the usual red Grizzly paint schemes, Allmendinger’s paint scheme was switched up to a nice bright green paint scheme.

Just look at this beauty.

16 team stays hot. 🔥

Excellent day for @AJDinger! pic.twitter.com/GgA1RdVzqw

— Kaulig Racing (@KauligRacing) April 13, 2025

What’s Next?

An off-week? How nice!

However, we won’t be completely devoid of racing. While the Cup Series takes Easter off this year, the NASCAR Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series (along with the ARCA Menards Series East) are still in action.

And they’re returning to a historic racetrack we haven’t seen in NASCAR in over a decade.

Coming down to the wire… It is ALMOST "officially" race week in @Rockingham1965 ! Xfinity @nclottery 250 Presented by Blacks Tire tickets are getting really low and still some great seats available for the Truck Series @BlacksTire 200https://t.co/lo06tg3jwX pic.twitter.com/Kp1VGR4sUd

— racetherock (@racetherock) April 13, 2025

That’s right, Rockingham Speedway is back on the NASCAR circuit — for the Truck Series, it’s the first time it’s back on the 1.017-mile track since back-to-back race dates in 2012 and 2013. For the Xfinity Series, it’ll be the first time at the iconic track in over 20 years, since before the track first closed in 2004.

ARCA East returns to the site of one of its tightest championship battles, which ended with Brett Moffitt crashing from the lead, handing the win to Tyler Reddick and the title to Larson — for what it’s worth, Larson is also the most recent visitor to The Rock’s victory lane, in the truck race in 2013.

So while there isn’t any top-tier NASCAR racing, you can still find plenty of action over Easter weekend. You can find coverage for each race as follows (all times ET):

Anthony Damcott

Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter. He has also assisted with short track content and social media, among other duties he takes/has taken on for the site. In 2025, he became an official member of the National Motorsports Press Association. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight coordinator in his free time.

You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.