NASCAR fans arguing? Now that’s a tale as old as restrictor plates. Whether it’s debates over the best driver of all time, the right paint scheme shade of Petty Blue, or whether stages ruined racing forever, this fanbase loves a good split. Remember the uproar when the Next Gen car debuted? Half the crowd called it the sport’s savior, the other half claimed it was the end of NASCAR as we knew it.

Fast-forward to Bristol 2025, and here we are again. Only this time, it’s not about who won, but whether the race was even worth watching. The fanbase fired up their keyboards, insiders weighed in, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. found himself caught right in the middle of it. And what he noticed had nothing to do with checkered flags.

A race that split the sport in two, Dale Jr. caught in the middle

The 2025 Bristol Night Race was meant to be a short-track showdown. Instead, it became a lightning rod for NASCAR’s divided fan base. Kyle Larson absolutely dominated, leading 411 of 500 laps, leaving the rest of the field in his rearview mirror. But while the stats were impressive, the drama many expected never arrived.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. summed it up perfectly on his podcast: “There’s a battle between the ‘that was terrible’ crowd and the ‘it’s not that bad’ crowd.” Social media lit up post-race, with insiders defending the event’s nuances and fans calling it one of the dullest Bristol races in memory. And both sides are right in their opinions. Hear us out.

‘That was terrible’ camp – Fans in this camp tuned in hoping for vintage Bristol: tempers flaring, paint trading, and leaders getting caught in heavy traffic. But what they got was a marathon of single-file racing. Even Dale Jr. saw it, citing Josh Berry’s example. “They just sat there stuck behind the guy. They were stuck behind, and the guy behind them was stuck behind them.” No real comers and goers, no wild restarts. It was just a long, uneventful slog for positions outside the top five.

‘It’s not that bad’ camp — Meanwhile, industry insiders and some fans argued it was a clean, disciplined race, and those have their place too. There was strategy at play, with teams managing tire wear and pit sequences. “I mean that’s part of becoming a great driver is managing the tire and being smart with it,” Dale Jr. explained. Plus, as some pointed out, it’s rare and remarkable for one driver to dominate like Larson did without wrecks or cautions to reset the field. For purists, that’s skill.

Still, at the heart of this debate lies a bigger conversation about what fans truly want from modern motorsports. Is it chaos and unpredictability, or precision and strategy? Dale Jr. hinted at the clash of eras: “Some races, that’s fine, but in some races, I do want some tire management.” And it’s not just Junior talking about the racing debate. Hamlin thinks it’s a long-term problem, dealing with the way the cars are built.

Speaking about it, he said, “When we did lower the nose in that test, it made traffic better. But what we found is when you ran out front, the thing was just uncontrollably loose. which is because it was not feeding the rear down force, you know, because the front end was pinching it off. But it was significantly better in traffic. So we can fix this car. The teams can fix this car. They just got to get with the drivers, get in a room and figure out what do you fight.”

The truth is, this isn’t a NASCAR-only dilemma. Formula 1, too, faced harsh criticism after a processional Japanese Grand Prix recently. And if the world’s fastest open-wheel series can’t escape it, maybe it’s a symptom of where racing itself is headed.

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Even F1 can’t escape the ‘Processional parade’ problem

The frustration fans felt at Bristol isn’t isolated to stock car racing. Formula 1, often hailed as the pinnacle of motorsport, faced similar heat after the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix. Despite Max Verstappen’s flawless drive, the action behind him was scarce. Just 15 overtakes after the first lap, a dramatic drop from 48 the previous year, left fans and drivers unimpressed.

Nico Hulkenberg didn’t mince words either. “Long, dull, not much happening,” he declared after finishing 16th, stuck behind cars with no chance to move forward. Sound familiar? Just like Josh Berry at Bristol, F1’s midfield slog was a train of frustrated racers staring at rear wings in dirty air. No strategy, no chaos. Just a clean, but dull, procession.

Williams driver Carlos Sainz likened Suzuka’s overtaking difficulty to Monaco, traditionally known for its ‘no-overtakes’ races. “You need to be 0.7 to 0.8 seconds quicker to pass,” he admitted. An impossible ask in today’s tightly matched midfield. NASCAR faced the same issue at Bristol, where cars couldn’t gain ground unless the guy ahead made a mistake on pit road.

F1’s current regulations, much like NASCAR’s Next Gen car, aimed to fix this exact problem. A rule overhaul in 2022 promised to reduce dirty air and improve overtaking. And while it worked initially, the field has closed back up. Whether it’s an F1 car or a stock car, aerodynamics and parity often trade chaos for consistency, and not everyone’s thrilled about it.

It’s a tough balancing act for any motorsport series and deliver a fair, competitive product without losing the unpredictability and drama that makes fans fall in love with racing in the first place. As Dale Jr. pointed out, sometimes you need races where drivers manage tires, dodge traffic, and fight for every inch. Other times, a dominant run or clean race has its place too. The challenge is making sure the scales don’t tip too far one way for too long.