After several good performances from the NASCAR Cup Series Next Gen car at Texas Motor Speedway, some are wondering whether or not the longtime Lone Star State circuit might be in the conversation for the best track on the schedule.
Its unpredictable nature and the emphasis the track puts on driver skillsets make it an interesting conversation, and one that Frontstretch felt deserved some attention in the wake of another exciting race at the venue.
Treacherous Texas Is the Track That Is Too Tough To Tame
For many years, Texas was disliked by both drivers and fans, and for good reason. The track was responsible for removing North Wilkesboro Speedway from the NASCAR schedule in 1997 until its recent return for the All-Star Race, after all.
Over time, the track has been repaved and reconfigured, but it remains a hodgepodge of elements that make racing there unique and also challenging. Turns 1 and 2 differ from 3 and 4, preventing a single setup from working across the entire track like it does throughout the schedule (minus the road courses, perhaps). Leftover PJ1 traction compound and a single bump make the track treacherous, as was evident last weekend.
But what if this racetrack, long considered one of the worst, has become exactly what fans and drivers have been asking for? A rugged diamond in the rough that’s ready to be ascended upon in the Wild West and produce a show fans want to see?
The current car has been a blessing for mile-and-a-half tracks but has produced terrible racing on others. Darlington Raceway, Martinsville Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway all received poor reviews in Jeff Gluck’s Good Race poll on X. Those four tracks never garnered more than 51% approval, highlighting how this car has hurt some of NASCAR’s most beloved and historical venues.
Then there’s Texas, a quirky mile-and-a-half that doesn’t race like typical tracks of the same style, such as Kansas or Charlotte. Its unique structure and various elements on the track force drivers to adapt to the challenge; one mistake or bad groove, and cars can go spinning and collecting others in the process.
Taking the wrong line can be costly, causing the car to tighten up and forcing the driver back into traffic. Drivers generally dislike this track, but the fans? Fans have treated it lately in some ways like the rock band Nickelback, hating on it just because it’s the cool thing to do. Historically, tracks that drivers hated often created the most compelling races, as they pushed drivers to show their skills instead of just riding around for a few hours.
Texas, in its current form, has begun to offer excitement and give fans something unpredictable to watch. While no one is claiming Texas is a better track than others, Sunday’s race proved it’s compelling, entertaining and is still a race where strategy matters.
Drivers at times opted for two tires instead of four, and it added to the race unfolding and the players who would emerge, such as Michael McDowell, who almost won. In contrast, the last four tracks NASCAR visited put on races that lacked much of what one would call racing, but that doesn’t mean those tracks are bad. Many have said it’s just a product of the car, but this weekend does not make Texas good, either.
The argument here is that we need to embrace Texas for what it is: the redheaded stepchild of the NASCAR schedule. It forces the race into the hands of the drivers, where no amount of math, car setup or data can fix or overcome the challenges the track brings. Until changes are made, whatever they may be or if any at all are ever done, it’s time to recognize Texas as the track that in 2025 is the one that is too tough to tame. -Trenton Worsham
That Wasn’t Bad, But Let’s Pump the Brakes
Last Sunday’s Würth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway wasn’t terrible. The margin of victory was one of the closest non-superspeedway finishes of 2025 at .346 seconds, and the impression left was that had there been a few more green-flag laps it would have been even closer, perhaps with a different result.
Does that mean that Texas, of all places, is becoming the Wild West at long last?
Whoa, there, partner. Not so fast.
To give credit where due, the Next Gen racecar has improved the finishes at the very intermediate tracks where the last three generations of cars struggled to put on any kind of competitive show. Some of the Next Gen races at tracks like Homestead-Miami Speedway and Kansas Speedway have been pretty great, actually.
But let’s not get crazy here. Texas isn’t going to take over from Darlington as the new Lady in Black anytime soon. The reason Darlington is so difficult is that drivers have to race the track first and each other second. Mistakes will eat you alive at Darlington.
Texas, though? It’s still the same old Mild Asphalt Circus.
Let’s take a closer look at Sunday’s overtime finish and what really allowed the finish to have the illusion of being better than it really was: restarts. And what caused the final caution? Aerodynamic dependence.
Racing on old tires after a two-tire gamble on is final pit stop, McDowell finally gave up the lead to Joey Logano shortly after the penultimate restart. Logano at that point had the better car and made a clean pass under green.
Ryan Blaney also passed McDowell to take over second, but as Blaney cleared the No. 71 and pulled in front of him, the wake from the No. 12 was enough to shake the No. 71 loose, and on worn left-side tires, McDowell couldn’t right the ship. He slammed the wall, which bunched up the field for an overtime finish.
The final caution was hardly the only one of the 10 for-cause cautions that happened because of aero dependence. Noah Gragson spun in the wake of another car. Kyle Busch got loose in a side draft and went around. There were a couple of tire issues, but the root of most of Sunday’s incidents was simply the air.
That isn’t a race that’s in the drivers’ hands. While it obviously take a talented driver to hang onto a car that’s aero loose all day long when others can’t, the ability to pass is still too limited by clean air. The days of a driver being able to carry a car to grind out a better finish than it was probably capable of are all but gone. The moves that thrilled fans for decades, the slingshot pass or the late-race bump-and-run? Dead and buried, or maybe just clinging to life support.
Did Texas have a good finish? Sure. It would have been better if McDowell had only lost to Logano and Blaney instead of to the air.
But a good finish doesn’t mean it was a good race.
And overall, it was pretty mediocre. There was no attrition due to teams being able to try something risky. There weren’t drivers really able to try different lines or strategies. The two-tire pit calls were the biggest gambles of the race, and except for McDowell, they didn’t really do much. Clean air was king.
Some drivers were able to make aggressive moves on pure tenacity. McDowell hung on for longer than he should have been able to with nothing more than raw determination. Logano made the winning pass stick when nobody else could. There were some movers and shakers in the field and there were some different faces in the top 10 when it was over.
The Next Gen has improved the racing on the intermediate tracks, but it’s done it at the cost of the racing at the tracks where the races should be in the drivers’ hands: the short tracks, flat tracks and road courses. It’s so bad there than the small improvements at most of the intermediates (and even the big ones at a very select few tracks like Kansas and Homestead) look pretty appealing in comparison.
But mostly, like Texas on Sunday, it’s lipstick on a pig. -Amy Henderson
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.
Tanner Marlar is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated’s OnSI Network, a contributor for TopSpeed.com, an AP Wire reporter, an award-winning sports columnist and talk show host and master's student at Mississippi State University. Soon, Tanner will be pursuing a PhD. in Mass Media Studies. Tanner began working with Frontstretch as an Xfinity Series columnist in 2022.