The Critic's Annex: Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500
by Phil Allaway
Wednesday night brought the NASCAR Cup Series back to Martinsville Speedway for the track's first Cup race at night. It was a big day for NASCAR for multiple reasons.
As you know by now, the big story of the day wasn't even the race. It was NASCAR
banning the Battle Flag of Northern Virginia (and any variation of it) from being displayed by anyone or anything at races, or on track properties.
The news of this came down just a couple of hours before the race. It was actually done after NASCAR RaceHub (which continues to serve as the pre-race show for Cup races for now) had already finished taping. Since they couldn't discuss an announcement that hadn't happened yet on RaceHub, FOX
Sports 1 had Mike Joy talk about the announcement in a separate piece that aired prior to the show (Shannon Spake noted in another separately taped segment that Joy's piece was taped after the show).
That said, there was plenty of discussion about the flag on RaceHub itself, That was based around Bubba Wallace's appearance on CNN from Monday night. They likely had an inkling that something might happen, but since it hadn't yet, they could only say so
much.
Outside of the discussion, there was some previewing of the race, but not much. Once the actual broadcast started, we got an interview with Wallace where Regan Smith asked for his thoughts on NASCAR banning the flag. As for the command, the less about that, the better. Maybe it would
have been less of a mess had it not been via Skype or Zoom, but jeepers. I understand FOX's desire for cross-promotion with Friday Night Smackdown, but this just didn't work. I just hope Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles enjoyed the race.
As compared to last year's races at Martinsville, Wednesday night's race was so much more enjoyable. The tire wear early on was wacky. It was borderline unraceable. If this were a day race, Goodyear would have had to bring a different tire. That led to people climbing up the order
and falling down the order like nothing I've seen at Martinsville for years.
There was a lot of racing for position and FOX Sports 1 did a decent job bringing viewers that action. Unlike a lot of the intermediate tracks, I thought that racing at night did not negatively affect the on-track product. If anything, it cut tire wear noticeably once the sun went down, but
it didn't make it harder to pass. Heck, some drivers were legitimately running in an upper groove and keeping pace (Ryan Newman was a great example of this). That's something that we really haven't seen since the track was last resurfaced in 2004.
If anything, the improvement in racing is down to the rules that required lower downforce for short tracks this season. I still don't understand requiring side windows on short tracks, though. I feel like that contributed to Austin Dillon having to pull out due to being
overheated.
There were some things in the race that went unexplained. For example, I first noticed Erik Jones' No. 20 with a smashed-in nose and hood on Lap 304. I have no idea how that happened. When it was finally referenced on the broadcast, Joy mentioned that it had happened about 150 laps
earlier. That seemed like a pretty big hit, but nothing? Maybe they didn't catch it on camera.
Early on when the sun was still up, tire wear was excessive. Much of the field was showing cords during the Competition Caution. We saw these tires. Had that kept up all night, the 10 sets that everyone was allocated for the race might not have been enough. We never saw how the
tires looked later in the race for comparison purposes once the track rubbered up.
Interestingly enough, this was the first NASCAR race broadcast in what seems like months that actually ended on time. Almost forgot what that was like since we've had so many issues with rain since the season resumed. All six races of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series failed to fit
in their timeslot and most of the non-Cup races since the resumption ran long.
That said, post-race coverage was relatively brief. Viewers got three post-race interviews after the race before the broadcast repeated itself.
I'll be really honest. I'm not a fan of Wednesday night racing. It's usually an exhausting day before you even get to the race. I really hope this isn't really the norm next year.
Overall, I enjoyed watching the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. We had a good race with decent action throughout the field. I think everyone at FOX Sports 1 was really surprised about how badly Joe Gibbs Racing (with the exception of race winner Martin Truex Jr.) struggled, since there was
a lot of focus given to that.
In regards to the cutting tool coming into play, as Cole Pearn described on Twitter, that is legal.
After the Pearn-led Furniture Row Racing team used a gas-powered circular saw at Talladega a couple of years ago, NASCAR banned those. Battery-powered saws are still legal though.
I actually looked them up after that race. In 2018, Furniture Row was using Stihl products and Stihl does not sell their products through their website. You can only buy them through licensed dealers (in my case, the local True Value that is legitimately around the corner from my
house). As you can expect, they're not cheap. I think the one that Furniture Row was using costs nearly $1800. The battery-operated one with the proper accessories is a little more than half that. Since Truex now drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, DeWalt cutting tools are in use here.
Pit-wise, the more I watch these races, the more you see where FOX Sports' pit reporters are. Regan Smith is the least experienced of their pit reporters and it shows. Perhaps it's just a lack of experience on his part, but you tend to get less pertinent information from him during races as
compared to Matt Yocum or Jamie Little. He needs more seasoning and it shows.
