The race in COTA was anticipated to be a treat for fans as multiple drivers were in contention for the victory ahead of the weekend. Despite such expectations, the race was filled with bits of action around the track but was mediocre at best according to multiple drivers. However, the race was not up to the mark in the views of Seven-time Cup champion Richard Petty , who later stated that the race was pretty bad in terms of entertainment.
The 68-lap race at COTA was a caution-free race since 2019. Moreover, William Byron started from the pole and led about two-thirds of the race in a dominating fashion at COTA. This insisted Richard Petty voice his opinion regarding the bummer of a race that COTA was and was much worse to experience the race in real than on television.
I guess if you’d have been there, it’d have been worse than what it was on TV... That track does not lend itself to a good cup race. The track’s too long. If they shortened it up a little bit, it might be a little bit better, but you know like you said, we get to go back to Richmond [this Sunday]. At least if you are sitting in the grandstands, you’ll be able to see all the cars. Richard Petty said in his Petty Race Recap on YouTube.
The double-centurion elaborated that the track layout at COTA is not very exciting. Moreover, the track is quite long compared to short tracks like Bristol, Richmond, etc., which reduces the driver’s ability to focus on a single section of the track and makes the racing quite stale.
Denny Hamlin joins Richard Petty in the backlash of COTA
Denny Hamlin was considered as one of the drivers to be in contention for the victory in COTA. Moreover, the JGR driver won stage 2 of the race ahead of the eventual race winner Byron. Despite this success, he finished 14th by the end and deemed the race uninteresting.
Hamlin said that the race was not exciting overall despite having multiple clashes with drivers up and down the field, the lead remained with one person since the start who was in control since the lights went out. This made the race a bore fest and lacked the thrill that generally NASCAR races have.
Not the most exciting, but I thought it was still a compelling race. I thought that you had many stories, right? In the sense of, you know, the No. 24. Obviously, they start up front, and they led early on. And at that point, you know, when I rewatched the race, I’m thinking, you know, let’s just pretend I didn’t know the result Denny Hamlin said in his Actions Detrimental podcast.
Apart from this, Hamlin would be focused on performing well at his home race at Richmond this week. Moreover, the 52-time Cup race winner has a fair bit of experience standing on the podium at his native track throughout the years and would hope that the racing would be exciting this time, unlike COTA.
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