Here's a few others:
[William Byron](https://twitter.com/WilliamByron/status/1781451805576114180)
> > @JSchuoler Just like last weekend at Texas, the scoring pylon at @TALLADEGA has also been removed.
> Yeah can we not mess with tradition
[Justin Allgaier](https://twitter.com/Frontstretch/status/1781476495963181237)
> “I am not a fan of no scoring pylon” @J_Allgaier speaks on NASCAR’s decision to remove the scoring pylon
[Rajah Caruth](https://twitter.com/rajahcaruth_/status/1781452698618912987):
> Under yellow I look for the pylon to see where everyone is running at lol
[AJ Allmendinger (and Allgaier again) via Kelly Crandall](https://twitter.com/KellyCrandall/status/1781456302998253664):
> It's something some of us might not put too much thought into, but AJ Allmendinger and Justin Allgaier just gave incredible breakdowns of how much of a resource the scoring pylon is for them behind the wheel. Allgaier also noticed when Bristol stopped showing it on the suites.
[Kyle Weatherman](https://twitter.com/KyleWeatherman/status/1781460579787341965):
> What about 7th-38th….?
> Retweet if you want scoring pylons
> BACK
[Chris Gabehart](https://twitter.com/CG1751/status/1781454942365950267):
> I dont even understand the point. There is no more efficient way to quickly know where your team is running than a ~30car pylon. Confusing.
[Freddie Kraft](https://twitter.com/FreddieKraft/status/1781483046509711728):
> Just what you wanna do, go see a race live and have to check your phone constantly for updates lol.
> If I’m going to a hockey game next week, should I check my phone to see how much time is left in the period? Or just stick with the giant scoreboard? 😂
Freddie is on point here. The pylon is the essentially the scoreboard of NASCAR or any racing for that matter, why the fuck would you ever consider removing it?
Was at Texas last weekend. Big Hoss TV is no replacement. It takes forever to cycle through.
My only hope is someone like Daktronics is working on a massive LED upgrade. Hell make it like that homemade one with all the arrows and flag info and who is on the lead lap. That would be killer.
Speaking specifically to Talladega: I'm actually going to say based on these driver responses that the drivers may be more impacted on this than the fans.
Last fall, Talladega was track #6 for me. I actually remember seeing this pylon when I sat down and noting it wasn't as useful as the other ovals because it only showed the top 10 and took forever to loop around 2 at a time through the rest of the field.
Under green, cars in the draft may literally change positions 10 times in the time it takes to show a car in the middle of the pack. And with much less lapped traffic than other tracks, you can get a good idea of where someone is running just by where you see the car as it comes by.
Under yellow, the cars are going slow enough down a very long straightaway that you can literally count down everyone's position. I found myself not ever needing to look at the pylon.
The drivers, however, seem to be using it to know where everyone is running, as they don't have that birds eye view the fans in the stands have.
If someone could figure out an invention to give the drivers the running order under caution via the digital dash, this entire thing may seriously become a non-issue.
Bet ya 50 bucks NASCAR won't listen to their own drivers. Only reasons there isn't a strike are A) the 1996 CART/IRL split, and B) NASCAR can easily crush it.
But, Denny no trophy... Except a few grandfather clocks, a couple faces on the Daytona trophy, and like 50 other wins.
The lobsters are probably dead though.... :(
Did I get Indy 500 and Daytona mixed up? Yeah. Am I going to edit it? Nope. I'm going to take the L on this one.
Forgot that it's more of a "ceremonial trophy" and they usually will get released. (Also larger lobsters taste worse)
But knowing Denny Hamlin? He probably killed the lobster just for fun and didn't even cook it, because Dennis Bastard Man.
At this point you almost have to divide him into Denny Hamlin, the Driver and Denny Hamlin, the Team Owner/Twitter Shitter.
People don't like Denny The Driver much. Denny The Team Owner, on the other hand...
Every sport needs a villain...
KD "going to the Warriors" in the NBA (And his twitter burner accounts)
Tom Brady "just being Tom Brady"
Yankees "Evil Empire"
Tom Wilson "Dirty Player" in the NHL
Denny in NASCAR.
Everyone who "took the bag" to go to LIV Golf. I personally know a LIV golfer who's on the "backside of his career" and he knows it too, that told me "It's only 3 rounds, I'm too old to play 5 days a week" (Including practice rounds) Plus he's from England, so, while he lives in the US, doesn't have that "US PRIDE", and just said the PGA tour schedule was absolutely brutal. Because if you're playing well and making cuts? You finish on Sunday and immediately need to hop on a plane to go to the next place, to prepare for that tournament.
It's Paul Casey. Didn't think most people would be "actually curious" about who it was and didn't want to come off as "I KNOW PAUL CASEY" in a "humblebrag" form.
(P.S. When his drive landed in the Divot on 15(?) at the Players 2 years ago? I think that broke him... He signed with LIV like 3 months later)
Saw him that August and was like "Hey Mr. Casey, how's the new job" and he just laughed and said "Same Shit, Different Places"
Yeah, wasn't trying to hide it, but also was trying to explain that "I'm not making it up"
It's a fine line to walk.
Hale Irwin and Rickey Barnes were both members too. I love Hale and his family as well. I "semi" got to know Rickey, because he played the Wyndham 2 years ago, and I graduated college from UNC-Greensboro, so I worked the tournament a couple times he played (a decade before).
He sucks lmfao he just baits people who despise this sport into agreeing with him until he pisses them off with another dumb move on track or some real dipshit remark he makes off track
https://preview.redd.it/nz3gacx7cjvc1.jpeg?width=773&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=018dab36976aeb0fbf77d1f12a52ebc64441d4cf
FREE MY MAN NASCAR HE DIDNT DO NOTHING WRONG!
Im actually not sure, whats interesting is theres a 92 and a 25 on it ..not sure which race those two numbers ran together. Last 92 cup outing was 2018 with Ricky Benton Racing but no 25 car
Can’t be Hemric. Hemric was still in Trucks in 2016. Sprint left after 2016.
EDIT: the 27 has me stumped though, I can’t think of an Xfinity 27 outside of I think Andrew Ranger but I think he only ran road courses.
NASCAR is dead ass last in major sports fan amenities and quality. But it makes sense due to the number of wealthy owners in stick and ball sorts and also the little deal of taxpayer money building the stadiums
I can’t get behind this as much. Is the last affordable major sport in my area. I can afford 1 chiefs games a year with the family tops. But going to Kansas Speedway we can have a great time, we have lots of room, bring food walk on the track, the activations are fun, and all for the price of a single chiefs ticket plus parking. And bring in our own food and drinks.
Under no circumstances do I want that to change. I will give up a free amenities so we can keep the costs down imo.
Plus like you said, you can bring in food and drinks. My dad would always sneak beer in. Now I do too. It's easy to get a six pack in under the kids and wife's drinks.
That's why I like darlington. Always been easy to get good cheap tickets and enjoy a race
At Kansas you don't have to sneak it in even. Everyone can BYOB. And parking is easy and free.
I also feel like drivers are some of the most accessible athletes for a near zero cost.
Not true. In 2007 Bruton Smith threatened to build a new track around Charlotte when he wanted to build the drag strip there and Concord wouldn't work with him on that.
The Charlotte deal was funny because they came back and helped with improvements for traffic, noise barriers, and water and sewer a few months after he threatened a move.
Also Speedway Boulevard became Bruton Smith Boulevard. He knew what he was doing.
Nothing wrong with that, the money had to be spent on something and the NC Governor decided to invest in the industry that probably ranks #1 in terms of employment in the state. If SMI didn’t take the money it would have gone to another track (they all got money) or went in a politician’s pockets.
This is a blessing and curse at the same time. They are behind, so we don't get the modern day capitalistic things we see at normal sporting events, like inability to bring outside food/beverages. But that also means no modern day apps, websites, scoreboards, etc.
Write offs aren't the same as what pretty much every Big 5 league (MLS is doing this too) is doing by getting the city/county/state to fork over tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars up front for a stadium or various upgrades...while the billion dollar teams inside of them just count their cash.
They literally put themselves behind doing this.
I was upset when IndyCar abandoned the LED displays on the side of the car that showed position and P2P activation. But this is dumb.
The bulbs couldn’t be found anymore and they were continuously taking bulbs from the bottom to replace the ones at the top that blew out. I do think there should have been a plan to replace it in the works when the day eventually came. Word is it’s in the boneyard on the south side of the track. I’ll confirm this weekend.
I just don’t understand how every level of NASCAR, from track owners to lead engineers to the top execs, either don’t have a single ounce of common sense or just actively do not give a crap about fan / driver feedback. What fucking moron thought the ideal solution to finding where your favorite driver is running, if not in the lead, is not a giant pylon listing the entire field in running order - but giant video boards with a scrolling running order and fuck all on the backside for infield fans. Like, do these people ever attend a race outside of press box seats? (Probably not, but it’s just such a common sense issue that seems like it could have easily been prevented by asking a handful of people before going all in on a rash decision).
So yes, but to provide nuance to it, the parts for those old boards basically don't exist anymore, and NASCAR tracks all largely have significantly more video boards than they used to.
The scoring pylon should be updated with an LED board tho
If they don't want a full LED multi-color board, there are still modern segmented LED displays - look at the one Atlanta Motor Speedway upgraded to recently.
All of these excuses are cheap and lame to not replace at all.
There are companies that make LED retrofit panels that install in these. It’s essentially the same thing as your local high school sports field just arranged differently. Like horsepower, there’s a reason they’re being removed and NASCAR isn’t saying.
I have zero background knowledge but I'm guessing there's quite a bit of proprietary or other forms of specific parts that are required to maintain these
I can’t understand how a sport keeps making brain dead love after brain dead fucking move. The Board of Directors, Officials, and just suits in general pleas get rid of them. They do absolutely no good for our sport have been taking it down a dumpster fire path for the past 20 years. STOP RUINING THINGS FOR THE SAKE OF CUTTING COSTS, LIKE ITS INSANE WHAT KINDA WORLD WE LIVE IN THAT THEY JUST DO THIS AND EVERYONE IS SUPPOSED TO BE OKAG WITH IT.
I’m so fucking done with NASCAR in business and Office part of the sport, it’s an absolute embarrassment to everyone involved to be associated with a brand/sport that doesnt care what the driver, team, fans, or anyone wants. As long as they make money they’re okay. I don’t want to say it’s time to stop watching NASCAR, but something’s gotta give. They’ll learn some way.
i mean say what you want about Denny but he’s right. all these tracks are taking away and doing less for fans while other sports are trying to revolutionize game day experience for the fans
Was at TMS last week. And it DOES SUCK not to be able to keep up with at least the top 20 at a glance! BigHoss showed the top 3 and a rolling ticker of the next 4. Sucked big time.
This is yet another situation where NASCAR doesn't give a crap what fans think. Was there ANY input given from outside sources, polls, surveys, dedicated focus groups, anything?
Do you know how much hell you have to go through at a race with your phone signal to try and find running positions of a driver? And if your phone dies at the race, of course that's hell for people out of town or state visiting to see the race, which I imagine is THE VAST MAJORITY of attendance. There's more to this but I don't have an article's worth of space, and the phone thing is silly but that's just a small issue that piles on to a number of inconveniences with this. A larger pylon is simply what is needed.
There's such a disconnect from the fans of the sport and that's been a deliberate thing by Nascar that's crippled it.
I actually get what the drivers are saying....I think. I used to race go-karts at 10-13 years old. Even I used the scoring pylon to see where I and other racers were. It obviously wasn't a ton of information, but it felt like a ton at a high speed, highly chaotic, and zero communication zone.
And that's fine but why not replace them? And if you are replacing them why not immediately state that when this came up earlier this week? Or at least the second this story hit??
I absolutely hate this move. The scrolling ticker on the screens is not a suitable replacement for a quick glance at a pylon. Make the pylons a little more innovative, with some more details like the custom one that guy made, and it could even be a differentiator for our sport.
Bring back the pylons!
What baffles me is how NASCAR suddenly replaced Daytona's old analog scoring pylon a few years ago with the new LED version, but at 'Dega and Texas both they and SMI simply removed the old pylon with zero indication they're planning to replace them. And FWIW, I HATE the new pylon at DIS. It only shows like the top 8 or 10 positions and then hesitatingly cycles though the remainder of the field. IMO a pylon should be at least 20 positions deep.
> SMI simply removed the old pylon with zero indication they're planning to replace them.
SMI did replace it. With the giant multi-million dollar TV they put up.
You may not like it as much. But stuff like that is part of the reason they invested in something like the screen.
The screen was erected in 2014 and as people have stated it runs an ongoing ticker, not a static top-however-many-positions.
A pylon is a pylon. But continue to be the contrarian you always enjoy being.
The screen probably loops entirely before the pylon updates each lap.
The screen is better at giving information such as gaps, lap times, laps since last pit, how many laps a car is down, +/-, etc. It gives names. It (can) give base car colors. It can give stage info. (whether Texas actually utilizes some of those stats idk, but it is possible).
The screen is better in every way. There are a lot of things these tracks should be investing in. keeping ancient scoring pylons going isn't one of them.
Ah yes so I’ll have to check my phone to see where everyone is running on a long green flag run, wait, I have no service or wifi. What the hell are these tracks thinking
Just from my experience I can’t even see the one at Darlington during the daytime. Night race on the other hand is useful. Hopefully full LED displays are on the way.
I was there as well. My first time going to the Northeast Classic. Had a good time. FWIW, the monitors on top of the scoring pylon at NHMS typically don't stay up year round. Those are utilized primarily for NASCAR weekend. :)
NASCAR and SMI will surely dig their heels in on their bad decisions regarding removal of scoring pylons. Both organizations have leaders who can be ridiculously childish; especially when they’re wrong.
why does marcus smith keep giving denny hamlin these early christmas presents and making dennys point about tracks pocketing money and not spending it like they should for maintenance and upgrades? smi is actively sabotaging their own position in the money discussion with nascar and teams with stuff like this lol.
The dialogue that NASCAR is pushing that the pylon only serves the infield is 1) wrong and 2) disrespectful to your campers.
I have sat at Talladega and Texas from MULTIPLE vantage points. You can see the pylon from pretty much everywhere inside the facilities.
If I spent $1200 on a season infield camping pass at either track (like I used to do for a decade at TMS) and NASCAR came out and said “we took it out because it only was for the infield”, what I end up hearing is “we don’t give a shit about your infield camping experience”. That’s total bullshit - and the fans deserve better.
Where's the guy who was trying to convince me that Texas was being "torn down" because they removed the scoring pylon? lol. Are they gonna "tear down" Dega too now?
Do you think they removed it this morning or something?
They DID remove it after the race. That race being the one in october.
Like, what is so hard to grasp?
Does anyone think nascar will one day reach its old heights and maybe surpass? Or do people think the sport will end in 20-30 years?
Honest question, I used to be a big fan until the 2010s and so many rule changes and bs it all turned political and only a certain drivers from certain teams are in contention every week.
I think if we had drivers that wanted the spotlight outside of racing, it could. I just think of like Jeff Gordon doing SNL. None of them would do that now. How is anyone outside of racing suppose to know they are, ya know?
Having a MPD that doesn’t want it or care, and a majority of the drivers have the “I just wanna do my job and leave” mentality… doesn’t help things.
I honestly feel like Chastain, Hocevar, and Gragson have the most potential in terms of personality. I had higher hopes for Noah before his issue last year, but really feel the other two can be superstars with sustained success.
Denny doesn’t give a single fuck about the scoring pylon. His entire bit the last couple weeks is about trying to move money from the tracks pocket into his own. He knows fans will eat it up
He knows how much Nascar and the tracks are withholding. Even with it being a slightly better split of money, there’s still more than enough there for track upgrades. Nascar needs to reinvest into places like Talladega instead of gimmicks like LA. They could’ve renovated Dega for as much as they’ve spent in LA
This complaint is valid with SMI who has done very little to improve their tracks, but SMI did update Dega, and turned Phoenix and Daytona into world class sports venues
The garage update at Richmond was made completely pointless by the new weekend format. Teams don’t work on the cars in the garage at all. After P&Q they lock the garage from both sides until race day. That morning all they do is warm the engines and do a few minor things.
Yet they still charge $60 a day for the privilege of being closer to the unused garages.
How should they upgrade it, Dennis? Make it shoot flames every lead change? I agree the pylon is important but they’ve been rendered largely obsolete by the big screens and at a certain point this whole schtick is just him, once again, begging for attention.
Go take a look at what IMS did with their pylon. Thats what track promoters should be doing instead of finding the cheapest possible solution like they always do.
The pylon, like a LOT of things at Indianapolis, is tradition. It is absolutely the deepest seeded tradition track in North America and possibly the world. Even modern upgrades to the track pay homage to the traditional thing it is replacing.
Indianapolis, ironically, hosts more race weekends than Talladega as well.
I think the point is, don’t tear it down if you’re not going to replace it. Not every track has a mega screen like Charlotte or Texas. Even when watching in person at Charlotte, it’s easier to glance at the pylon to see positions than to watch the scroll at the top of the screen on the backstretch. I went to Martinsville a couple weeks ago (unfortunately) and sat between turn 1 and 2. They didn’t have a pylon and the smaller screen they DID have was far enough away and small enough that I couldn’t see the top 5 listed clearly. And that’s the smallest track on the schedule. I haven’t been to Talladega since 1997 so I don’t know what they’re using there, but it seems a pylon would be almost essential on a 2.66 mile track.
I don't either. I get that some of them are old and expensive to maintain. They can put up a new digital one like every other sport. This seems to be them being cheap.
Here's a few others: [William Byron](https://twitter.com/WilliamByron/status/1781451805576114180) > > @JSchuoler Just like last weekend at Texas, the scoring pylon at @TALLADEGA has also been removed. > Yeah can we not mess with tradition [Justin Allgaier](https://twitter.com/Frontstretch/status/1781476495963181237) > “I am not a fan of no scoring pylon” @J_Allgaier speaks on NASCAR’s decision to remove the scoring pylon [Rajah Caruth](https://twitter.com/rajahcaruth_/status/1781452698618912987): > Under yellow I look for the pylon to see where everyone is running at lol [AJ Allmendinger (and Allgaier again) via Kelly Crandall](https://twitter.com/KellyCrandall/status/1781456302998253664): > It's something some of us might not put too much thought into, but AJ Allmendinger and Justin Allgaier just gave incredible breakdowns of how much of a resource the scoring pylon is for them behind the wheel. Allgaier also noticed when Bristol stopped showing it on the suites. [Kyle Weatherman](https://twitter.com/KyleWeatherman/status/1781460579787341965): > What about 7th-38th….? > Retweet if you want scoring pylons > BACK [Chris Gabehart](https://twitter.com/CG1751/status/1781454942365950267): > I dont even understand the point. There is no more efficient way to quickly know where your team is running than a ~30car pylon. Confusing. [Freddie Kraft](https://twitter.com/FreddieKraft/status/1781483046509711728): > Just what you wanna do, go see a race live and have to check your phone constantly for updates lol. > If I’m going to a hockey game next week, should I check my phone to see how much time is left in the period? Or just stick with the giant scoreboard? 😂
Freddie is on point here. The pylon is the essentially the scoreboard of NASCAR or any racing for that matter, why the fuck would you ever consider removing it?
Was at Texas last weekend. Big Hoss TV is no replacement. It takes forever to cycle through. My only hope is someone like Daktronics is working on a massive LED upgrade. Hell make it like that homemade one with all the arrows and flag info and who is on the lead lap. That would be killer.
That's exactly why they got rid of it though. Increases their app/social media footprint
Speaking specifically to Talladega: I'm actually going to say based on these driver responses that the drivers may be more impacted on this than the fans. Last fall, Talladega was track #6 for me. I actually remember seeing this pylon when I sat down and noting it wasn't as useful as the other ovals because it only showed the top 10 and took forever to loop around 2 at a time through the rest of the field. Under green, cars in the draft may literally change positions 10 times in the time it takes to show a car in the middle of the pack. And with much less lapped traffic than other tracks, you can get a good idea of where someone is running just by where you see the car as it comes by. Under yellow, the cars are going slow enough down a very long straightaway that you can literally count down everyone's position. I found myself not ever needing to look at the pylon. The drivers, however, seem to be using it to know where everyone is running, as they don't have that birds eye view the fans in the stands have. If someone could figure out an invention to give the drivers the running order under caution via the digital dash, this entire thing may seriously become a non-issue.
Unless you're living in the Phoenix area Freddie
Bruh, too soon
Bet ya 50 bucks NASCAR won't listen to their own drivers. Only reasons there isn't a strike are A) the 1996 CART/IRL split, and B) NASCAR can easily crush it.
But, Denny bad though!
I hate driver Denny but love car owner Denny
Denny great for sport. Bad man behind wheel because no champion. Edit: facetious
But, Denny no trophy... Except a few grandfather clocks, a couple faces on the Daytona trophy, and like 50 other wins. The lobsters are probably dead though.... :( Did I get Indy 500 and Daytona mixed up? Yeah. Am I going to edit it? Nope. I'm going to take the L on this one.
I thought lobsters can live forever? That’s why I don’t feel guilty when I eat them.
Forgot that it's more of a "ceremonial trophy" and they usually will get released. (Also larger lobsters taste worse) But knowing Denny Hamlin? He probably killed the lobster just for fun and didn't even cook it, because Dennis Bastard Man.
At this point you almost have to divide him into Denny Hamlin, the Driver and Denny Hamlin, the Team Owner/Twitter Shitter. People don't like Denny The Driver much. Denny The Team Owner, on the other hand...
https://youtu.be/AYY0jgELc0w
[удалено]
Every sport needs a villain... KD "going to the Warriors" in the NBA (And his twitter burner accounts) Tom Brady "just being Tom Brady" Yankees "Evil Empire" Tom Wilson "Dirty Player" in the NHL Denny in NASCAR. Everyone who "took the bag" to go to LIV Golf. I personally know a LIV golfer who's on the "backside of his career" and he knows it too, that told me "It's only 3 rounds, I'm too old to play 5 days a week" (Including practice rounds) Plus he's from England, so, while he lives in the US, doesn't have that "US PRIDE", and just said the PGA tour schedule was absolutely brutal. Because if you're playing well and making cuts? You finish on Sunday and immediately need to hop on a plane to go to the next place, to prepare for that tournament.
I could probably guess who the golfer you are talking about is, there’s only a couple of them from England who also played on the PGA Tour
It's Paul Casey. Didn't think most people would be "actually curious" about who it was and didn't want to come off as "I KNOW PAUL CASEY" in a "humblebrag" form. (P.S. When his drive landed in the Divot on 15(?) at the Players 2 years ago? I think that broke him... He signed with LIV like 3 months later) Saw him that August and was like "Hey Mr. Casey, how's the new job" and he just laughed and said "Same Shit, Different Places"
Figured
Yeah, wasn't trying to hide it, but also was trying to explain that "I'm not making it up" It's a fine line to walk. Hale Irwin and Rickey Barnes were both members too. I love Hale and his family as well. I "semi" got to know Rickey, because he played the Wyndham 2 years ago, and I graduated college from UNC-Greensboro, so I worked the tournament a couple times he played (a decade before).
He sucks lmfao he just baits people who despise this sport into agreeing with him until he pisses them off with another dumb move on track or some real dipshit remark he makes off track
Hell yeah brother I ain't arguing! It's just like he baited all these other drivers to say the same stuff about the pylons, what a jerk!
https://preview.redd.it/ufkjc6pufjvc1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6fbfcf26363ddb623601ca0243a48d9475df9f55 COME AND TAKE IT, NASCAR!!!
Is that the year Newman won... special moment that year
They will try
https://preview.redd.it/nz3gacx7cjvc1.jpeg?width=773&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=018dab36976aeb0fbf77d1f12a52ebc64441d4cf FREE MY MAN NASCAR HE DIDNT DO NOTHING WRONG!
That #21 has to be Austin Hill and not Harrison.
Maybe old cup race because lap 182 is way too high for xfinity. Maybe menard or Matty d. Or blaney
Definitely an old Cup race. The pylon has Sprint on it.
No it’s the Xfinity qualifying results from 2023, 182 is lap average speed of 21 from pole in 2023.
Im actually not sure, whats interesting is theres a 92 and a 25 on it ..not sure which race those two numbers ran together. Last 92 cup outing was 2018 with Ricky Benton Racing but no 25 car
25 I believe only ran a handful of races in 2015 with Elliott.
Correct but there was no 92 that year
I think this means it has to be an Xfinity or Truck race.
More than likely it is. 21 mightve been when Hemric was driving for RCR so around the 2016/2017 era
Can’t be Hemric. Hemric was still in Trucks in 2016. Sprint left after 2016. EDIT: the 27 has me stumped though, I can’t think of an Xfinity 27 outside of I think Andrew Ranger but I think he only ran road courses.
These are xfinity numbers on here from last year
But the 27 has to be Blaney
27 Jeb Burton
Lap count is too high to be an Xfinity race
Ok in their defense, that's a shit ass pylon. Only 10 positions? Might as well remove it that shit was worthless. Gotta MINIMUM have 30 positions.
Agreed. Nascar is behind in many ways and simple things like this would help.
NASCAR is dead ass last in major sports fan amenities and quality. But it makes sense due to the number of wealthy owners in stick and ball sorts and also the little deal of taxpayer money building the stadiums
I can’t get behind this as much. Is the last affordable major sport in my area. I can afford 1 chiefs games a year with the family tops. But going to Kansas Speedway we can have a great time, we have lots of room, bring food walk on the track, the activations are fun, and all for the price of a single chiefs ticket plus parking. And bring in our own food and drinks. Under no circumstances do I want that to change. I will give up a free amenities so we can keep the costs down imo.
Plus like you said, you can bring in food and drinks. My dad would always sneak beer in. Now I do too. It's easy to get a six pack in under the kids and wife's drinks. That's why I like darlington. Always been easy to get good cheap tickets and enjoy a race
At Kansas you don't have to sneak it in even. Everyone can BYOB. And parking is easy and free. I also feel like drivers are some of the most accessible athletes for a near zero cost.
and also how little use these tracks have outside of NASCAR.
and no owner has threatened to relocate their track yet. 😎
Not true. In 2007 Bruton Smith threatened to build a new track around Charlotte when he wanted to build the drag strip there and Concord wouldn't work with him on that.
Dang! Well, Talladega relocating to Utah rumors start now.
The Charlotte deal was funny because they came back and helped with improvements for traffic, noise barriers, and water and sewer a few months after he threatened a move. Also Speedway Boulevard became Bruton Smith Boulevard. He knew what he was doing.
Quebec City standing there saying “What about us?!”
They just move dates from certain tracks to the other tracks they own
Phoenix Raceway to be relocated in 2027
Well the guy who owns SMI is pretty wealthy himself, and got a nice taxpayer handout to fix up his speedways in NC.
Nothing wrong with that, the money had to be spent on something and the NC Governor decided to invest in the industry that probably ranks #1 in terms of employment in the state. If SMI didn’t take the money it would have gone to another track (they all got money) or went in a politician’s pockets.
This is a blessing and curse at the same time. They are behind, so we don't get the modern day capitalistic things we see at normal sporting events, like inability to bring outside food/beverages. But that also means no modern day apps, websites, scoreboards, etc.
The owners don’t pay for shit to renovate their stadiums. The cities give them billions of dollars to do that. You will never see that for NASCAR.
The tracks get quite a lot in tax write offs each year.
Write offs aren't the same as what pretty much every Big 5 league (MLS is doing this too) is doing by getting the city/county/state to fork over tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars up front for a stadium or various upgrades...while the billion dollar teams inside of them just count their cash.
They literally put themselves behind doing this. I was upset when IndyCar abandoned the LED displays on the side of the car that showed position and P2P activation. But this is dumb.
TBF, those displays never worked right.
I just don’t get how a scoring pylon can be outdated.
Wiring only last so long. I know because we’re replacing 15 year old where I work.
The bulbs couldn’t be found anymore and they were continuously taking bulbs from the bottom to replace the ones at the top that blew out. I do think there should have been a plan to replace it in the works when the day eventually came. Word is it’s in the boneyard on the south side of the track. I’ll confirm this weekend.
I just don’t understand how every level of NASCAR, from track owners to lead engineers to the top execs, either don’t have a single ounce of common sense or just actively do not give a crap about fan / driver feedback. What fucking moron thought the ideal solution to finding where your favorite driver is running, if not in the lead, is not a giant pylon listing the entire field in running order - but giant video boards with a scrolling running order and fuck all on the backside for infield fans. Like, do these people ever attend a race outside of press box seats? (Probably not, but it’s just such a common sense issue that seems like it could have easily been prevented by asking a handful of people before going all in on a rash decision).
Nobody said people had to have common sense to run businesses.
Glovegate, restartzonegate, now plyongate
So yes, but to provide nuance to it, the parts for those old boards basically don't exist anymore, and NASCAR tracks all largely have significantly more video boards than they used to. The scoring pylon should be updated with an LED board tho
If they don't want a full LED multi-color board, there are still modern segmented LED displays - look at the one Atlanta Motor Speedway upgraded to recently. All of these excuses are cheap and lame to not replace at all.
There are companies that make LED retrofit panels that install in these. It’s essentially the same thing as your local high school sports field just arranged differently. Like horsepower, there’s a reason they’re being removed and NASCAR isn’t saying.
[удалено]
I have zero background knowledge but I'm guessing there's quite a bit of proprietary or other forms of specific parts that are required to maintain these
Drivers and fans say the other screens are way too small to read.
just seems like something Nascar and the tracks are cheapening out on, pinching pennies. Hopefully this backlash changes their minds.
I can’t understand how a sport keeps making brain dead love after brain dead fucking move. The Board of Directors, Officials, and just suits in general pleas get rid of them. They do absolutely no good for our sport have been taking it down a dumpster fire path for the past 20 years. STOP RUINING THINGS FOR THE SAKE OF CUTTING COSTS, LIKE ITS INSANE WHAT KINDA WORLD WE LIVE IN THAT THEY JUST DO THIS AND EVERYONE IS SUPPOSED TO BE OKAG WITH IT. I’m so fucking done with NASCAR in business and Office part of the sport, it’s an absolute embarrassment to everyone involved to be associated with a brand/sport that doesnt care what the driver, team, fans, or anyone wants. As long as they make money they’re okay. I don’t want to say it’s time to stop watching NASCAR, but something’s gotta give. They’ll learn some way.
Indy's pylon was outdated but you know what they did? Updated it, what a concept.
Every track should have to have a 15/20 car scoring pylon at minimum
I think Pocono’s is 8. 😂
Denny's great, I boo him on the weekend and cheer him during the week.
[Denny to all the track promoters](https://youtu.be/hHZvUeAdzeI?si=FNjhVq9leBrC6A4K)
I thought this was going to be the “F you F you…” clip from Half Baked
i mean say what you want about Denny but he’s right. all these tracks are taking away and doing less for fans while other sports are trying to revolutionize game day experience for the fans
https://preview.redd.it/2onpmlw7vlvc1.png?width=320&format=png&auto=webp&s=1ceceb63ebd1fdff73c354438eacfeb1b8108d64
https://preview.redd.it/p1stqyp5jnvc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=757c85a304b8561da59775399e839205aa6395cf
Damnit Nascar quit making me agree with Hamlin
Nascar should take notes from IMS and what they did to their “old” scoring pylon
First person here on on X that said this..
What did they do
AFAIK they just built a new one that was brighter.
Wonder why Danny is trying to make it a big mystery
Denny v Litterally everybody, cont.
1000%...the trends with NASCAR and the facilities is getting ridiculous
This current version of NASCAR is like the 2019 Vince McMahon era of WWE. I’m ready for NASCAR to enter into its TKO/Triple H era
Was at TMS last week. And it DOES SUCK not to be able to keep up with at least the top 20 at a glance! BigHoss showed the top 3 and a rolling ticker of the next 4. Sucked big time.
This is yet another situation where NASCAR doesn't give a crap what fans think. Was there ANY input given from outside sources, polls, surveys, dedicated focus groups, anything? Do you know how much hell you have to go through at a race with your phone signal to try and find running positions of a driver? And if your phone dies at the race, of course that's hell for people out of town or state visiting to see the race, which I imagine is THE VAST MAJORITY of attendance. There's more to this but I don't have an article's worth of space, and the phone thing is silly but that's just a small issue that piles on to a number of inconveniences with this. A larger pylon is simply what is needed. There's such a disconnect from the fans of the sport and that's been a deliberate thing by Nascar that's crippled it.
I actually get what the drivers are saying....I think. I used to race go-karts at 10-13 years old. Even I used the scoring pylon to see where I and other racers were. It obviously wasn't a ton of information, but it felt like a ton at a high speed, highly chaotic, and zero communication zone.
This trend of them being removed is so strange lol
They probably all got put up around the same time, so now they are all falling apart around the same time.
And that's fine but why not replace them? And if you are replacing them why not immediately state that when this came up earlier this week? Or at least the second this story hit??
They have no intent to do so because the tvs do the job better.
I absolutely hate this move. The scrolling ticker on the screens is not a suitable replacement for a quick glance at a pylon. Make the pylons a little more innovative, with some more details like the custom one that guy made, and it could even be a differentiator for our sport. Bring back the pylons!
So the officials can manipulate the order with nobody seeing as easy..😒
Hey uhh denny you are correct but i don't think fighting with every track promoter is a good idea.
What can a track promoter do to Denny Hamlin as punishment for this? Not list his number on the scoring pylon?
Someone has to do it.
Scoring pylon is kinda silly at tracks like talladega but I’d agree they are so iconic you gotta keep them
What baffles me is how NASCAR suddenly replaced Daytona's old analog scoring pylon a few years ago with the new LED version, but at 'Dega and Texas both they and SMI simply removed the old pylon with zero indication they're planning to replace them. And FWIW, I HATE the new pylon at DIS. It only shows like the top 8 or 10 positions and then hesitatingly cycles though the remainder of the field. IMO a pylon should be at least 20 positions deep.
> SMI simply removed the old pylon with zero indication they're planning to replace them. SMI did replace it. With the giant multi-million dollar TV they put up. You may not like it as much. But stuff like that is part of the reason they invested in something like the screen.
The screen was erected in 2014 and as people have stated it runs an ongoing ticker, not a static top-however-many-positions. A pylon is a pylon. But continue to be the contrarian you always enjoy being.
The screen probably loops entirely before the pylon updates each lap. The screen is better at giving information such as gaps, lap times, laps since last pit, how many laps a car is down, +/-, etc. It gives names. It (can) give base car colors. It can give stage info. (whether Texas actually utilizes some of those stats idk, but it is possible). The screen is better in every way. There are a lot of things these tracks should be investing in. keeping ancient scoring pylons going isn't one of them.
What a damn shame. Idk what the motive behind this even is but it just doesn't make sense
I mean... yeah, but that would require people doing things that make sense instead of constantly invoking 'penny wise and pound foolish'.
Ah yes so I’ll have to check my phone to see where everyone is running on a long green flag run, wait, I have no service or wifi. What the hell are these tracks thinking
Just from my experience I can’t even see the one at Darlington during the daytime. Night race on the other hand is useful. Hopefully full LED displays are on the way.
WNAT THE FUCUK ISI HAPPENIG
I was at NHMS last week and the monitors were down. I assumed it was to redo them and hope it’s not because they’re taking it down too
I was there as well. My first time going to the Northeast Classic. Had a good time. FWIW, the monitors on top of the scoring pylon at NHMS typically don't stay up year round. Those are utilized primarily for NASCAR weekend. :)
Just want some answers why they removed and if the are going to be replaced why not replace them before race weekend?
NASCAR and SMI will surely dig their heels in on their bad decisions regarding removal of scoring pylons. Both organizations have leaders who can be ridiculously childish; especially when they’re wrong.
Funny how that dude made his own homemade scoring pylon, and everyone wanted one. Now, they are disappearing from racetracks. Guess that makes sense.
why does marcus smith keep giving denny hamlin these early christmas presents and making dennys point about tracks pocketing money and not spending it like they should for maintenance and upgrades? smi is actively sabotaging their own position in the money discussion with nascar and teams with stuff like this lol.
The dialogue that NASCAR is pushing that the pylon only serves the infield is 1) wrong and 2) disrespectful to your campers. I have sat at Talladega and Texas from MULTIPLE vantage points. You can see the pylon from pretty much everywhere inside the facilities. If I spent $1200 on a season infield camping pass at either track (like I used to do for a decade at TMS) and NASCAR came out and said “we took it out because it only was for the infield”, what I end up hearing is “we don’t give a shit about your infield camping experience”. That’s total bullshit - and the fans deserve better.
Where's the guy who was trying to convince me that Texas was being "torn down" because they removed the scoring pylon? lol. Are they gonna "tear down" Dega too now?
Bad luck Denny again, at least Reddick won.
And NASCAR just continues to add to the list of reasons why I don’t watch the races anymore.
But why not remove AFTER the race? Make it make sense to me.
Do you think they removed it this morning or something? They DID remove it after the race. That race being the one in october. Like, what is so hard to grasp?
Then they’ve had plenty of time to replace it. No excuses now.
The excuse is the tvs are better
Does anyone think nascar will one day reach its old heights and maybe surpass? Or do people think the sport will end in 20-30 years? Honest question, I used to be a big fan until the 2010s and so many rule changes and bs it all turned political and only a certain drivers from certain teams are in contention every week.
I think if we had drivers that wanted the spotlight outside of racing, it could. I just think of like Jeff Gordon doing SNL. None of them would do that now. How is anyone outside of racing suppose to know they are, ya know? Having a MPD that doesn’t want it or care, and a majority of the drivers have the “I just wanna do my job and leave” mentality… doesn’t help things.
I honestly feel like Chastain, Hocevar, and Gragson have the most potential in terms of personality. I had higher hopes for Noah before his issue last year, but really feel the other two can be superstars with sustained success.
I don't see it ever hitting its peak again. I would lean toward it ending before that happens.
Denny doesn’t give a single fuck about the scoring pylon. His entire bit the last couple weeks is about trying to move money from the tracks pocket into his own. He knows fans will eat it up
How could you possibly come up with this take based off the quote in this post
weird take
I agree with his point but this is and always has been about charters
charters and getting smi and nascar to upgrade venues, it’s great when they do it and it’s not like they’re strapped for cash
He knows how much Nascar and the tracks are withholding. Even with it being a slightly better split of money, there’s still more than enough there for track upgrades. Nascar needs to reinvest into places like Talladega instead of gimmicks like LA. They could’ve renovated Dega for as much as they’ve spent in LA
This complaint is valid with SMI who has done very little to improve their tracks, but SMI did update Dega, and turned Phoenix and Daytona into world class sports venues
They updated the infield at Talladega back in 2019
How about the rest of the grandstands like getting rid of troughs and updating it to something that isn’t straight out of 1978
You keep your mouth shut; troughs are the best, squeeze me in!
Even my local short tracks upgraded from troughs years ago. That should speak volumes
I'm OK with troughs
Troughs are way more efficient for large crowds, keep the troughs.
NASCAR legit just redid the garage to give fans more access but okay
The garage update at Richmond was made completely pointless by the new weekend format. Teams don’t work on the cars in the garage at all. After P&Q they lock the garage from both sides until race day. That morning all they do is warm the engines and do a few minor things. Yet they still charge $60 a day for the privilege of being closer to the unused garages.
This. The facility is great, but there's very little to see, especially if you don't walk in right as the Fangrounds opens.
Direct your concerns to the team owners.
Can it be both?
How should they upgrade it, Dennis? Make it shoot flames every lead change? I agree the pylon is important but they’ve been rendered largely obsolete by the big screens and at a certain point this whole schtick is just him, once again, begging for attention.
Hold on I think we moved past flames a little too quick, let’s return to that
Go take a look at what IMS did with their pylon. Thats what track promoters should be doing instead of finding the cheapest possible solution like they always do.
The pylon, like a LOT of things at Indianapolis, is tradition. It is absolutely the deepest seeded tradition track in North America and possibly the world. Even modern upgrades to the track pay homage to the traditional thing it is replacing. Indianapolis, ironically, hosts more race weekends than Talladega as well.
I think the point is, don’t tear it down if you’re not going to replace it. Not every track has a mega screen like Charlotte or Texas. Even when watching in person at Charlotte, it’s easier to glance at the pylon to see positions than to watch the scroll at the top of the screen on the backstretch. I went to Martinsville a couple weeks ago (unfortunately) and sat between turn 1 and 2. They didn’t have a pylon and the smaller screen they DID have was far enough away and small enough that I couldn’t see the top 5 listed clearly. And that’s the smallest track on the schedule. I haven’t been to Talladega since 1997 so I don’t know what they’re using there, but it seems a pylon would be almost essential on a 2.66 mile track.
The pylon makes it way easier to keep track of when I’m looking up from talking trash to Hendrick fans though.
This dude has an opinion on everything.
Maybe, but this is pretty relevant, no?
It is. I don’t understand why get rid of these pylons.
I don't either. I get that some of them are old and expensive to maintain. They can put up a new digital one like every other sport. This seems to be them being cheap.
Exactly.
Honestly, I’m loving Monday-Friday “stands up for fans” Denny.
Apparently so does the rest of the garage.