Ever since NASCAR introduced the Next Gen car to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2022, intermediate tracks have put on some of the best races. However, you’re not guaranteed an ultra-competitive race every time you go to one.
Sunday’s (Sept. 26) Hollywood Casino 400 was quite simply a stomping. Kyle Larson’s team hit the setup perfectly and spent much of the race hiding from everyone else.
NASCAR’s Loop Data more or less backs this up. There was an average of 10.7 passes per green flag lap Sunday. This is down slightly from the spring race, but down by nearly a third from last year’s race. It should be noted that last year’s fall race had nine cautions for an extra 22 laps.
USA Sports Pre-Race once again didn’t really preview the race all that much. A lot of the show was based around the whole post-race shenaniganry involving Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar from Bristol Motor Speedway. Apparently, the fanbase was really amped up about it. Did it make any kind of an impact outside of the sport? I doubt it. The only times I heard about it was on racing-related websites, social media and TV.
There really wasn’t much about what to look out for in the race on the show. That’s not good, especially for a race that had no practice or qualifying due to rain. Basically, no one knew what to expect, so they didn’t try. I don’t like that.
Now, once the race got going, they started talking about the possibility of tire issues while showing footage of unwound tires and nasty-looking flat spots. I came away from that thinking, “Why didn’t you talk about that before the race?” Granted, the fact that they finished the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race Saturday night after the race meant that the track wasn’t completely green, but this issue all but never came up during the race.
The focus seemed to be rehashing the fight and hoping that something happens to reignite it. Of course, that didn’t happen Sunday. It almost never does in these situations.
What did happen was that Hocevar got a tap from Brad Keselowski, which triggered the biggest incident of the day.
Of course, since there was some past beef there, we rehashed the coming together between Keselowski and Hocevar earlier this month at Darlington Raceway instead of Bristol. I really don’t think that this was intentional, especially knowing that it was on a restart and so many others (Ex: Josh Berry) had their days ruined because of it.
I wasn’t really expecting there to be a bunch of cautions Sunday, and there really weren’t many. Only two for cause (Noah Gragson’s blown engine/spin and the wreck on the restart from that).
Basically, a race like this puts a broadcaster in a situation where you have to go to your backup plans. Not a lot of action at the front of the field, yet there was only one round of green-flag pit stops all day (the final stops) due to the competition caution in stage one and Gragson’s blown engine in stage two.
The on-track product is going to carry the day for you. Unfortunately, Larson made sure that you weren’t getting much at the front of the field.
What do you do in this situation? Ideally, you’d search around to get some good stories for viewers to follow. To an extent, USA Sports did that. We got battles for position involving multiple drivers.
The coverage running up to the finish was pretty much what I expected it to be. You had Larson and Chase Briscoe fighting it out. That was pretty exciting. I was surprised that Briscoe was able to run Larson down and get the lead. At that point, I thought the race was over.
Then, Larson ran Briscoe back down and retook the lead with seven laps to go. But at what cost?
Briscoe effectively threw away a chance at winning by getting into the wall multiple times. Which, interestingly enough, is something that Larson has done multiple times in the past. I find it interesting that this was not broached on the broadcast since it was a real reversal of fortune.
Another thing that really wasn’t broached Sunday was just how much the battling brought Larson and Briscoe back to the field. The margin between Larson and Austin Cindric at the finish was just over a half-second. A couple of more laps and Cindric could have won this race. My best guess is that Larson ran his tires off trying to get back to and past Briscoe.
That said, what would have happened had Cindric successfully run down the leaders and won this thing outright? Would USA Sports been properly prepared to put that accomplishment into the proper context? I think so, but it would have been a substantial shift as compared to how he was covered all day.
This was by far Cindric’s best race of 2026. However, even when he was up front, you never heard much about him. I found that somewhat puzzling, knowing that he’s actually in The Chase. Ignoring him was to the broadcast’s detriment. I suppose even Team Penske wasn’t expecting much out of Cindric in The Chase knowing that they swapped out his pit crew at the start.
Post-race coverage was substantial. Leigh Diffey said on-air that they were going to be in Kansas until 7:30 p.m. ET, and they were. By the time they reached the start of USA Sports Post-Race’s slot, they had already conducted six post-race interviews.
There was plenty of analysis to be had here. Possibly too much for the race that we actually had. There were a total of 16 post-race interviews (including two with Larson). The only Chase drivers that weren’t interviewed were Ryan Preece and Joey Logano.
Overall, this was probably one of the more boring races this season. There didn’t appear to be all that much going, other than Larson kicking butt. I watched all 267 laps and didn’t feel anything. That’s rare.
Yes, the battles between Larson and Briscoe were pretty exciting towards the end of the race. For some fans, that might be enough to fully enjoy the event. For me, it was just another race. Didn’t put me to sleep, but it was just OK.
With the Chasers dominating the day (Brad Keselowski in 12th was the best non-Chaser), almost no one got much airtime outside of The Chase field. Hopefully, we’ll have a more exciting race next weekend.
That’s all for this week. Next weekend, NASCAR makes their second trip of the year to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The NASCAR Cup Series will headline, along with the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. In addition, ARCA Menards Series West will pay tribute to Kyle Busch with a memorial race. IMSA will wrap up their 2026 season with the Motul Petit Le Mans. TV listings can be seen here.
In next week’s edition of Couch Potato Tuesday, we will look at Sunday’s broadcast of the South Point 400 from Las Vegas. In the Critic’s Annex, we’ll look back at the mess known as the Menards 150. Jeepers creepers, it wasn’t as bad as the Craftsman 150 from a couple of years ago, but this was one of the worst championship races in recent memory.
If you have a gripe with me, or just want to say something about my critique, feel free to post in the comments below. Even though I can’t always respond, I do read your comments. Also, if you want to “like” me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, please click on the appropriate icons. If you would like to contact either of NASCAR’s media partners, click on either of the links below.
As always, if you choose to contact a network by email, do so in a courteous manner. Network representatives are far more likely to respond to emails that ask questions politely rather than emails full of rants and vitriol.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the Frontstretch email newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the Frontstretch Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
A name and email address are required to post a comment. The email address is not publicly visible or shared. Please keep in mind that comments are moderated according to our comment policy.
Comments are listed in order from oldest to newest. Leave a comment