In terms of NASCAR fan sentiment, Jeff Gluck of The Athletic believes it’s been “pretty low” throughout the 2025 Cup Series season. That being said, the last two weeks of racing at Richmond Raceway and Daytona International Speedway were well received by the fanbase. It’s shown Gluck that so much of the fanbase’s feeling on […]
In terms of NASCAR fan sentiment, Jeff Gluck of The Athletic believes it’s been “pretty low” throughout the 2025 Cup Series season. That being said, the last two weeks of racing at Richmond Raceway and Daytona International Speedway were well received by the fanbase.
It’s shown Gluck that so much of the fanbase’s feeling on the current state of NASCAR is driven by the on-track product, he said on Monday’s “Door Bumper Clear” podcast. When it’s good, fans are happy. When it’s bad, fans often call for change.
“It’s gone in spurts. I think a lot of the mood has been pretty bad this year. The fan sentiment has been pretty low, but I think what the last two weeks have shown, oddly enough, is that so much is about the on-track product,” Gluck said. “When the races are good and people are satisfied or just even mildly satisfied with what they see, all the other stuff seems [to go away]. Like, you haven’t even seen too much playoff angst and talk and here we are, about to go into the playoffs, but it was after Watkins Glen that everything was at such a fever pitch because everybody was so unhappy with the product and what they were seeing out of the races.
“A few weeks in a row, everyone was like, ‘Everything sucks.’ This industry, this fanbase seems to go in these waves where if you get a couple weeks of good racing, everybody’s in this good mood again. If it’s three weeks in a row of like ‘Ah, that race wasn’t any good,’ everything is like ‘What needs to change? What are we doing wrong? Where did this industry take a dive?’ After Watkins Glen, it was like ‘Man, this sucks. Richmond is gonna be a bad race, a short track race and we’re gonna see the same crap at Daytona we’ve always seen — stuck in line, can’t do anything.’ … The last two weeks have been so refreshing because I didn’t expect it, and I don’t know if the playoffs can keep it up.”
NASCAR playoffs begin with Southern 500 at Darlington
Tire wear was the story at Richmond, and the end result was one of the better short track races in recent memory. Daytona, meanwhile, was lauded as perhaps the best superspeedway race of the Next Gen era.
With the playoffs getting underway this Sunday at Darlington Raceway, there’s renewed hope that the stellar on-track product can continue. The 10-week postseason should provide some excitement, with 16 drivers chasing a Cup championship.
Category: General Sports
