Ryan Blaney encourages NASCAR to keep working on short track package after North Wilkesboro All-Star Race

“Don’t get me wrong, it can definitely be better,” Blaney said. “I really do think it definitely needs to keep continuing to improve. And I hope NASCAR continues to keep looking at that — how we can get these cars a little bit better in dirty air. That’s across everywhere. … But I think it just shows up more on the short tracks because a lot of times there’s not as much room as the mile-and-a-half where it’s wide and things like that where you can search for clean air.

“I really wish this car — No. 1, we always want cars that follow better directly behind cars. You’re never going to be perfect whatever series it is, what year it is. The cars are always gonna be worse in dirty air directly following. With the old car, if somebody missed the bottom by three inches, it would do a lot for the trailing car. This car, it feels like they gotta miss the bottom by half a car width plus, two-thirds of a car width for it to do anything.”

Ryan Blaney: current short track package ‘frustrating’ for drivers

The 250-lap, $1 million exhibition featured 18 lead changes. Multiple lanes of racing created more passing opportunities. There was an exciting finish, in which Christopher Bell outdueled Joey Logano for the win.

North Wilkesboro had it all. Bell made quite a statement after his victory.

“North Wilkesboro — best short track on the schedule,” he told Jamie Little of FOX Sports.

It was all positive coming out of North Wilkesboro. The same can’t be said for this season’s races at Martinsville Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway. For as much as fans might be frustrated, Blaney said it’s far worse for the drivers.

“When you get to places like a Martinsville where it’s mainly around the bottom, no one’s gonna miss the corner by that much. I really wish it could get back to that,” Ryan Blaney said. “You just need three inches, a little bit of a gap from the bottom lane or to the apron and it really helps the rear car turn. I think if you do that, then you’ll be able to kind of get guys loose on the left rear quarter panel. You used to be able to do that a lot. Now, it’s really hard to get there in general.

“I hope they continue to look at it and get it better because hey, we don’t like it, either. The drivers don’t like it, either, just as much as people watching it don’t like it and get frustrated with it. I’m gonna tell you right now, it’s more frustrating for the drivers than you sitting and watching the race because you want to be able to run up behind a car, get them aero loose and be able to go on your way and finish the pass. I hope they continue to look at it and don’t just live with it. There’s still room for improvement, for sure.”