Marcus Smith has a habit of doing things NASCAR said could not be done. He turned Bristol Motor Speedway into a dirt track. He revived North Wilkesboro Speedway from decades of closure to host the NASCAR All-Star Race. As CEO of Speedway Motorsports, he has ownership of 11 that will host Cup Series races. On Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s podcast, he outlined what he wants to try next, and it starts with getting the track wet on purpose.

“I’d love to see, let’s take the whole field, in the All-Star Race, and it could be at any track. It could be at Wilkesboro, it could be Dover, it could be New Hampshire, and have a full-field race in the wet. And let’s see what it’s like,” Smith said.

The sport already runs a wet-weather tire package. When a storm passes and leaves a track damp, NASCAR can outfit cars with treaded tires, windshield wipers, defogging systems, and rear rain lights. It has been used at Phoenix, Martinsville, Richmond, and North Wilkesboro. The problem is the moment a track starts to dry, teams have to switch back to slicks. Nobody has ever run a full race in controlled wet conditions.

Smith wants to change that with sprinklers. The wet tire uses an ultra-soft compound that needs surface moisture to survive. Without it, the rubber overheats, blisters, and fails. Track-side sprinklers would maintain that moisture throughout the race, making a full wet-weather event actually workable.

He was not alone in the thinking. During the podcast, it came up that former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone once tried to push sprinklers at a grand prix. His teams shot it down. Smith’s reaction was immediate: Bernie and I would get along. Wet racing is only part of the pitch. The bigger idea is about what the All-Star Race actually is.

“I know it’s called all-star race, but I also think about it as the innovation race,” Smith said. “Testing only goes so far. You got to have a trophy and a purse to really see things happen.”

The NASCAR All-Star Race doesn’t pay points, which means no impact on overall season standings. It is a winner-take-all million-dollar event. Because nothing is at stake in the standings. NASCAR has used it as a live testing ground for decades. Stage racing started here. Double-file restarts debuted here. The choose rule was refined here. All three became permanent rules because the format worked. Smith wants to push further by giving engineers real freedom with their cars.

“Same parts and pieces, but just take away, add. There are some really smart people in these race shops that have some ideas, and let them do their thing, see what happens,” Smith said. “What are we going to find out? I don’t know, but we’re going to learn some stuff. That’s the big deal.”

NASCAR even offered the path to innovation via the ‘run what you brung’ concept. The idea was teams could experiment with their race cars that wouldn’t go under the normal tech inspection scrutiny. But, the teams weren’t sold on the idea, citing higher costs and just like that, fans never got to see the new product.

As things stand, Smith’s proposal could reshape what the All-Star Race becomes. Dover deserves a points race, and Smith hopes teams will embrace making the All-Star event special again.