Should NASCAR Crack Down on Rough Driving in 2025?
As the 2024 NASCAR season fades into the rearview mirror, the sport is already buzzing with discussions about what changes the 2025 season might bring. One major topic of debate revolves around the level of officiating in races, with fans and insiders weighing in on whether NASCAR should tighten its grip on rough driving.
On a recent episode of The Teardown podcast, NASCAR journalists Jordan Bianchi and Jeff Gluck dissected this contentious issue. Bianchi, a staunch advocate for the sport’s gritty, old-school spirit, declared, "I want less officiating, not more. I want NASCAR to make fewer calls that are in the gray and not in the black and white because I don’t want officiating to dictate things."
Bianchi argued that NASCAR has always been synonymous with hard-fought battles on the track. "That’s the ethos of NASCAR. Going back to its foreign foundation, guys moved each other out of the way on the last lap for wins. It happens. That’s what NASCAR is all about," Bianchi maintained.
While Bianchi emphasized the need for minimal intervention, Gluck presented a slightly more nuanced perspective. “I don’t want anybody to think that I’m advocating for no contact, I’m not advocating for FI or Indy Car unavoidable contact type standards," Gluck clarified.
“I want there to be contact. NASCAR is a physical form of racing,” he continued, acknowledging the inherent bump-and-run nature of the sport. However, Gluck drew a line in the sand when discussing the controversial Martinsville Xfinity race incident between Ty Gibbs and Brandon Jones.
"That’s another one where I would have said, I’m sorry, no. You cannot win the race that way, we will not have that. That’s not two cars, that’s one car. " Gluck stated unequivocally, suggesting that there are instances where NASCAR officials need to step in and ensure fair play.
The debate over officiating comes on the heels of a tumultuous 2024 season marked by criticism from former driver and current Fox Sports announcer Kevin Harvick. Harvick publicly chastised NASCAR, calling officiating "awful in certain situations" and stressing the need for improvement.
As NASCAR gears up for 2025, the question of whether to embrace a more hands-on approach to officiating or maintain the sport’s traditional "anything goes" mentality remains a topic of intense debate. Only time will tell which direction NASCAR ultimately chooses to chart.
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