(Photo: Aaron Bearden/Motorsports Beat)
By Aaron Bearden
When Ryan Preece rolled into the foggy Daytona International Speedway early on Wednesday morning for Daytona 500 Media Day, he had every right to be tired. After all, he was one of the few competitors in attendance that had raced the previous night.
But while Kyle Larson was stealing headlines as a winning dirt competitor in the All Star Circuit of Champions race at (track), Preece’s excursion largely flew under the radar.
That’s partially because Preece doesn’t quite have the NASCAR Cup Series star power of Larson, a six-time winner at the top level. He also didn’t win his race, spinning out in a battle with Patrick Emerling during a Tour-Type Modified race at New Smyrna Speedway and finishing fourth.
But at the core, there’s also been a larger focus shift to dirt racing in recent years. When New Smyrna filled a capacity crowd for the ARCA Menards Series East opener, it was a rare occasion that caught the eye of numerous people at the facility.
By comparison dirt tracks have filled their stands – and fields – often. There’s been observable growth in attention to the discipline on social media and elsewhere, while asphalt racing has had to fight for growth amid expensive races and low car counts.
“I think myself, at least from the dirt track side of things, Christopher Bell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart, everyone that’s involved in dirt racing and in NASCAR, bring a lot of fans and eyes to the sport,” Larson said on Wednesday. “I like feeling like we’re making an impact.”
NASCAR has fought to improve grassroots awareness over recent years, first launching the NASCAR Hometracks platform, and then changing it to NASCAR Roots ahead of the 2020 season. The sanctioning body hopes to re-engage with the lower levels of American motorsports, much as it’s recently begun engaging within the growing eSports realm.
The effort hasn’t gone unnoticed by drivers that observe to the grassroots level.
Ryan Blaney no longer competes in late model competition, but he ventured out to New Smyrna on Monday to watch the ARCA race. He arrived around 6:30 p.m., had to make his own parking spot and returned to a nasty letter on his car – one he joked that he deserved.
“It was great,” Blaney said of the attendance. “It really makes you feel good to see a crowd like that for that K&N race. I went out to Volusia Saturday night and it was the same, packed. More than I have ever seen it.
“The racing community is alive and well, especially at short tracks and our races too. The infield is probably more crowded than what I have seen early on in the week. Seeing New Smyrna and Volusia packed like that in the infield and the grandstands definitely makes you feel good and know that people really like the grass roots stuff and they put on a good show.”
Packed stands at New Smyrna provided a sign of hope for asphalt racing, but it may take a few changes to make it a more consistent presence.
Preece would like to see asphalt racing become more timely.
“The biggest thing I noticed at Volusia (Speedway Park), what they do at the dirt track compared to some of the stuff they do at asphalt tracks, is that they keep the show moving,” Preece said. “I think a lot of places can take note on how a show is done, a lot of people don’t want to be sitting at a race track from 5:00 in the afternoon to 11:00 at night.
“They want to get in there at 6-6:30 p.m. and be out of there by 9-9:30 p.m. I think if that’s something we can do on that side, it will probably help the attendance a little bit.”
The Tour-type Modifieds put on an entertaining show on the Tuesday before Daytona 500 Media Day, with a contact-filled lead change from eventual winner Craig Lutz in the closing laps and the aforementioned contact with Preece and Emerling. But the racing didn’t end until shortly after 9:30 p.m. ET.
And here’s the kicker – it wasn’t even the headline race. A 50-lap Super Late Model feature followed and didn’t wrap up until after 10:30 p.m. ET. Larson’s triumphant climb out of his No. 57 sprint car at East Bay was done by 9:30 p.m. ET, a full hour earlier.
“The shows are exciting, they are,” Preece said. “That modified race, even though I wasn’t battling for the lead, the race was won in the last six laps. I think you just have to work on the show of being less than three or four hours.”
Timeliness could help asphalt racing rise alongside dirt, as could the comparatively infeasible lessened expenses and bolstered purses.
But the major key may be star power.
Dirt racing’s recent rise in attention has coincided with a rise to stardom from many of the discipline’s top drivers. Larson and Bell have each won multiple NASCAR races while making the trips to dirt tracks. Stenhouse was a two-time Xfinity Series champion before he even went to dirt, and both Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne have been consistent presences at dirt tracks after highly-popular NASCAR careers.
Those drivers have paired with dirt racing’s iconic stars – Donny Schatz, Dave Darland, Brad Sweet and others – to provide a stiff test for local competitors wherever dirt’s top tours may race.
Asphalt races can at times be comparatively star-free, with fewer perceived top talents to go around.
“I think my best answer for you, coming from the dirt side and seeing the pavement side, is that they need more Bubba Pollards, maybe Matt Hirschmans, stuff like that, professional racecar drivers that compete with those guys week in, week out,” Christopher Bell said when asked to compare dirt with asphalt racing (Note: Bell ran pavement late models in his transition to NASCAR). “On the dirt side, you have a solid group of professional racers that race. Those professional racers have their fan bases.
“On the pavement side, it just doesn’t seem that way. Maybe if you get guys like Kyle (Busch) who grew up late model racing, Erik Jones, if they would go back and compete more, it would bring more of a fan base back to the pavement side of things.”
Only a handful of perceived top-tier drivers like Bubba Pollard and Josh Berry have stuck around in the late model scene, and the few tours that have numerous noteworthy veterans, like the Whelen Modified Tour, have few stars in NASCAR’s top levels that can come back to compete.
Preece runs his modified as time allows, and Ryan Newman has made occasional starts in a Modified. But outside of them, there are few former asphalt stars that venture back to the grassroots level. Kyle Busch competes in the occasional race for his own Kyle Busch Motorsports team, and often yields a large turnout as he does. But many of the other asphalt graduates don’t return.
Denny Hamlin previously held his own Short Track Showdown, but canceled the event in 2019. Former Snowball Derby champions Erik Jones, Chase Elliott and John Hunter Nemechek weren’t among the participants in December’s edition of Super Late Model racing’s star event.
A few NASCAR interlopers like Ty Majeski and Daniel Hemric ventured to asphalt tracks and even found success, but they don’t yet have the top-level wins to add star power like dirt’s biggest attractions.
That leaves asphalt tours largely dependent on the discipline’s current crop of stars, but that can be a tough prospect with the various tours across the United States and Canada competing for the pavement’s best talents. Most races have a veteran or two at a high level, whether it be a Pollard, Stephen Nasse or Lee Pulliam. But it’s rare to see a field with a double-digit number of potential contenders like can be found at many dirt tracks across the country.
It’ll take more than one person to build the asphalt side up to that level, but Preece has the potential to be the guy that leads the movement on the modified side should he be able to find his way to victory lane and playoff berths at the Cup level.
Whether it happens or not, Preece will continue to promote the style of racing he grew up in.
“I’m from asphalt, I didn’t quite necessarily come from sprint car racing,” Preece said. “So, I’m doing the best I can to really bring attention to asphalt racing, asphalt short track racing and asphalt modified racing. As long as people can help me do it, I’m all for it.”
He can only hope others from pavement do the same.
I agree with your article on every point especially the one about getting the show completed quickly.
A few other things to consider here.
Most of the dirt touring series (WoO Sprints, WoO LM, Lucas LM, USAC, etc.) race many more times in many more places than any asphalt touring series that I am aware of. That alone gives the dirt racers much more exposure than the pavement racers. Racing so frequently and in so many places allows drivers in those series to develop a following. It also provides more opportunity for NASCAR stars to participate in the dirt shows. Asphalt series race so infrequently compared to dirt series that it is very difficult for a star driver to find a race that is not conflicting with their main job.
Another thing that allows racers to compete professionally in dirt is that there are numerous high payout races. In the dirt late model world, most touring series races pay at least $10k to win and there are several that pay more than $50k, a few even $100k.
My observation of the dirt car world is that, for most drivers, the national touring series are a destination whereas in the asphalt world they are only a stepping stone on the way to NASCAR. Drivers don’t stay long enough in the asphalt series to develop a following. When I go to a asphalt late model show, I consider myself fortunate if I get to see Bubba Pollard or Ty Majeski. I know there are others but those are the two drivers that come to mind immediately and my opportunities to see them are few and far between. When I go to a dirt LM show, I know I’m going to get to see Johnathan Davenport, Jimmy Owens, Scott Bloomquist, Chris Madden, Brandon Sheppard, Josh Richards, Mike Marlar, and the list goes on. I can fill up a page with names of dirt car racers in Late Models, Winged and Non-Winged 410 Sprints and Midgets that I get excited to see racing.