“I would like them to demolish this place and then start over from scratch.” Kyle Larson said these words in May 2022, shortly after the Texas All-Star Race. That might give you an idea about how long the Texas Motor Speedway has faced backlash from the Cup Series garage. The same frustration prevailed in 2025 as well. With two different ends, the 1.5-mile Fort Worth venue has been the most unique intermediate track in NASCAR. Yet Joey Logano prefers this uniqueness.
The Team Penske star won the Würth 400 presented by Liqui Moly on Sunday. Like his wildcard 2024 championship after narrowly avoiding elimination, Joey Logano again surged in a totally unexpected manner. And he upholds the chaotic circumstances under which he could win.
Joey Logano tries to glean the positives
Well, the positives were hard to see when NASCAR reconfigured the track in 2017. The repaving procedure was inconsistent: while the first two corners were flattened out a bit with the banking lowered from 24 degrees to 20 degrees, turns 3 and 4 were the same. A nasty bump also appeared above the tunnel in the latter turns. As a result, passing became extremely difficult. Pouring a traction compound in the upper grooves did not help, as it made the track more treacherous, and it felt icy and slimy to drivers. The decline in the quality of racing has led to a lot of backlash from drivers. Texas lost one of its Cup dates, and over 40,000 seats have been removed. The 2024 race featured 16 cautions, while the previous four saw 11 or more. Similarly, the 2025 race was no different as it witnessed 12 cautions. Yet Joey Logano prefers to be optimistic.
In a post-race press conference, Joey Logano sat down to break down the race. From Jesse Love crashing on his second Cup Series debut to Bubba Wallace setting off a ‘Big One’, many mishappen wrecks unfolded. So Logano candidly admitted to the track’s treachery at first. He also assigned some of the blame to the Next-Gen car. “I think there was definitely…it was hard to pass. There’s no doubt. But it’s going to be hard to pass no matter where we go. All the cars are the same. What I mean is, how do you pass the car that’s going the same speed as you, right? That’s why everyone’s willing to do something different to try to position ourselves up to the front to get clean air. And there’s a lot of two-tire calls today.”
However, Joey Logano also stressed that drivers could still make moves. The pass that Michael McDowell made on Kyle Larson was probably the highlight of the day. Logano said, “But there was room to race. There were moments where the top lane in 1 and 2 was the dominant lane. You can go to the bottom and try that for a few laps. You can go back and forth and try different things. 3 and 4, there were some cars that were able to run high. We were not one of them.”
The Craftsman Truck Series race saw 11 cautions, the Xfinity saw the same number, and the Cup Series saw 12. Despite the chaotic nature of these Texas events, Joey Logano conceded that it was still exciting. “So I really thought it became kind of pretty racy there at the end. You know, especially the second half of the race. I mean, I would say, the majority of the races this weekend had a lot of big moments in them. So, I’d say it was ultimately a pretty good race weekend for Texas. I wouldn’t take anything away from that.”
Despite Joey Logano’s positive outlook, the NASCAR garage may not listen to him. But they would listen to the track head’s words, though.
Better times ahead?
Due to its bizarre reconfiguration, Texas Motor Speedway has been the butt of jokes in the NASCAR garage for a long time. The 2022 Texas All-Star Race was probably one of the worst-received races in NASCAR history. Only 11 percent of fans voted ‘Yes’ on Jeff Gluck’s Good Race Poll. Even Ryan Blaney, who won that race, commented, “You ask anyone in the garage and they’re going to tell you the exact same thing. This place used to be amazing.” However, Texas has seen some improvement, as is evident in recent ratings. After the 2024 spring race, the Good Race Poll got a 70% approval rating – a surefire sign that things are improving. So as fans clamor for an even better Texas race, TMS executive vice president and general manager Mark Faber dropped an optimistic hint.
Kyle Larson demanded a complete repave back in 2022. Finally, his dream may come to reality. In early April, a rumor leaked on social media claiming that a popular intermediate track is up for a revamp. Although Faber did not slip out any hint, his words in a recent Athletic interview seem a little better than neutral. “Yeah, I mean, that’s just a rumor. That’s just the best way to put it,” he said. What is more, Faber spoke highly of Texas racing prior to NASCAR’s visit in 2025. He said, “The racing has gotten better, and fans want to see exciting races. They want to see lead changes, they want to see close finishes…We analyze this all the time, and we think we’re moving in the right direction. We’ll take a look at it after the race weekend.”
Evidently, Joey Logano may not be far off from his conclusion that something is good in Texas. Let us see how far this rumor rolls and when it turns into reality.
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