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The Texas Motor Speedway is one of the most hated facilities in not only all of motorsports but possibly with sports in general. The track started on rocky terms, was generally seen as very bland, and now with its current drab reconfiguration has a racing product to match the bad reputation. With that all being said I want to argue that it was not always as bad as people complain about it being, because pre 2017 Texas Motor Speedway was good, and this is why it can be again. It may seem odd or downright wrong but with the way that NASCAR and the Next gen car have gone, it may just be what is needed.
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37 comments
Do you think Texas Motor Speedway can be redeemed?
It absolutely can if they add more banking
I think so. Just increase the banking back to 24 or two more degrees.
yes if they:
A. increase the banking
or
B. remake it into an superspeedway
I really don’t know.
Yes. Go Back To The Original 2000’s Pre-2016 Configuration
Hopefully when they reconfigure the track, it’ll be great again. Let’s hope it’s the 1999-2016 version (there’s a reason why I say 1999-2016 instead of 1997-1998)
Fingers crossed, folks!
I am one of the fans who still likes Texas. Plus, the races April 2017 and the fall were good in the Cup Series. 2018 was great. So was the Xfinity Series race in November that year. The March race for the Cup, Xfinity, and Craftsman Truck Series were great. The fall Xfinity and Cup races were decent. The 2020 July races for all 3 Series were good. The Xfinity fall race with Harrison Burton pass on the last lap was great. And despite the Cup race was dealing with weather for 2 days, that race was good imo. The only Texas race I didn’t care for was the fall 2021 due to Larson kicking everyone’s butt
1997-1998 Texas Motor Speedway was the same as 1999-2016 Texas Motor Speedway man.
@Travis Glanton The FH-324 Savior nah I think in 97 it was a one groove track
@Fye Andretti okay. I don’t even remember Texas Motor Speedway being a one groove track in 1997.
Thank you! I am so glad that I am not the only one that feels this way
I miss pre 2017 Texas it had some really good moments it’s a shame they got rid of that configuration
Same!! It had a lot of character to it and I wish Atlanta would be returned to its old self.
If they can get the 1999-2016 Configuration back, then yes
Man i used to love texas, the racing used to be so good especially the battles between brad and jimmie in the 2010s
the 1999-2016 track, was absolutely a reputable, fun track. Just go watch some of the “high horsepower” videos, and half the clips within the video were battles from that time period. It really shined with high horsepower. A few that instantly come to mind, would be he 2001 Harrah’s 500…(i suggest yall go back and watch the last 25 laps of that race…its every bit as good as harvick’s atlanta race, except jarrett finished off the pass a lap early). Others include: Brad vs Jimmie in 2012, where they bounced off each other on the strait, Jeff vs brad in 2014 (the fight) Bothe 2007 races were epic (burton vs kenseth, then Jimmie vs kenseth). the 2010 spring race was epic (one with a big one style wreck, but racing was great in general), And of course the 2004 photo finish where Elliot Sadler held off a rookie Kasey Kahne. Sure, there were some stinkers along the way as well, but thats true of literally every track on the circuit, and inherent of any racing series. I think that old texas, with high horsepower, and the worn pavement/running multi grooves, was on par with the best of them in terms of racing, if not better. They absolutely ruined it in 2017 by removing the banking. They should just admit their loss, reconfigure to what it was, and let the surface wear from there.
People forget how good Texas really once was.
note- i typed this all out before i finished the video, so its good to see that he covered alot of the things i mentioned haha. E
The only reason why I love TMS is because its the only speedway oval track close to home. You got COTA as the road course, and you got this track as the oval; NASCAR races both of them and I enjoy every moment of it. Now I understand why everybody hates it and it shows, but that won’t stop me from having a hell of a good time. i cherish every moment of NASCAR every time i go see it live in person.
it’s kinda crazy considering how broken texas is for nascar, it is perfect for indycar… even with the stained pj1
Especially considering how dangerous the track was for Indycar especially in the early 2000’s where we had incidents like the crash that basically ended Kenny Brack’s career in 2003 & Davey Hamilton’s massive flip in 2001 not to mention the disaster that was CART’s attempt to race there that same year.
So what does IndyCar have that NASCAR doesn’t?
@RUSH no.
I really appreciate you bringing up that 2015 finish. Tense mult-groove racing amongst three drivers fighting it out
Bring back old Texas Marcus Smith
I’d leave the track as it is. As the surface ages, we’ll get good racing at Texas again. But if they want to change it, I’m fine with it.
My 2 oppions on what to do with Texas is
A: leave it as it is, as it wears out and they get rid of stuff they put down the racing will get better and it will become one of the better tracks in 5-10 years.
B: if they have to change it, go extreme on what they did in turn 1-2 all the way around, have little to no apron (think like Pocono) and maybe even shrink the infield a bit so they can make it even wider. and make the corners much flatter. They can advertise it as the widest track in NASCAR because everything is bigger in Texas and try to advertise it like a Pocono restart but all the way around the track. Could you imagine “5-6-7 wide not going into turn one” but “5-6-7 wide IN turn 1” that would be how you market it.
personally, I like A more but if they have to change it, do something completely different than what is around, as Larry mac said “if you’re going follow the leader, you’re going to follow the leader”
I know rumors were it would be a short track, but I would like it to be reconfigured to a 2 mile similar to Michigan.
short track? i’ve never heard that rumor (not sure its possible)
but a quad-oval Michigan sounds interesting
I still think a 3 Mile Super-Duper Speedway with 35* turn banking and 20* straight and trioval banking is the way to go for TX. Everything is bigger in TX so let’s make it bigger! Hell, let’s put a road course in the center shaped like the TX state borders for the Trucks and maybe ARCA to run on.
As someone who lives only 20 minutes from there and went to an IndyCar race there this past April, it was fun. IMHO, it’s the package that NASCAR has on the intermediate tracks nowadays that caused the track to become bad in most people’s eyes
How I personally would improve the track if given the opportunity:
1. Increase the banking
2. Maybe make the frontstretch or backstretch curved (like Chicagoland)
You guys have any other suggestions?
What would be interesting is a curved frontstretch that isn’t banked…
As an Indycar fan in addition to NASCAR, current TMS is ideal for that series as old TMS was way too dangerous for Indycar. Kenny Brack’s massive crash there in 2003 & the absolute disaster that was CART’s attempt to race there in 2001 (where drivers were blacking out due to the G’s in the corners) are just two examples of this. In my view any changes to TMS to help NASCAR will likely result in Indycar having to drop Texas from the schedule because the changes would likely result in the track producing much worse Indycar races or make the track dangerous again to the point where it would end up like Pocono where the drivers refuse to race there.
I remember that every time the caution comes out, the catchfence lights up. I thought it looks cool, at least on TV. IDK why they don’t do that anymore.
I like TMS, but I think I needs to adapt if it wants to stay on schedule. Atlanta already got turned into a super-speedway so maybe instead of that, We make it a .75 mile track? People wanted more short tracks (until the gen 7 made the racing real boring), and It would be in a decent spot away from the Virginia cluster of short tracks. It could be a western colosseum something like that. To me that’s a better idea them giving it the Atlanta treatment, or worse, junking it.
I got to drive in the track in June and I think the racing is probably gonna be a bit single file. The banking just seems like you’d get way too lose if you run higher on the track than the bottom to bottom middle. The car I got to drive was limited to 150 and made the track feel super grippy but just from entering the corners it seems like it’s gotten more to the point of having one entry point and one lane. I hope I’m wrong because I actually get to be in the garage area and pit road this weekend but I’m not really holding too much hope for pure racing this weekend
As a loyal TMS fan until the reconfiguration … seeing guys ride the wall and get massive runs coming off the corners made racing at that track incredible