Yikes. Let’s throw that one away and never talk about it again, OK?All right. Let’s try not to be too dramatic here. Not every single race is going to be a home run (happy baseball season!), and, to be fair, there haven’t been very many (if any) strikeouts this season. But when Dale Earnhardt Jr. tweets out a picture of a dumpster immediately after the race … yeah, there might be an issue. “I don’t think the racing was bad, but it was definitely harder to pass,” said an (overly) optimistic Joey Logano. “If you’re directly behind them it’s no secret this car is worse in dirty air. You couldn’t move up the racetrack and stern across or do anything to try to pass them. You really just got stuck.”BOOGITY, BOOGITY, BOOGITY!: Darrell Waltrip returning to Fox NASCAR booth for Bristol Motor Speedway raceNEXT GEN: NASCAR makes sweeping changes to Next Gen cars, including bigger wheels with one lug nut eachHAILIE DEEGAN: ‘Our lives are being threatened’: NASCAR driver Hailie Deegan skips race, tells shocking story on YouTubeDale Earnhardt Jr., others discuss Next Gen issues at short tracksLogano finished second to race-winner William Byron, who, along with Chase Elliott, combined to lead 397 of the 403 laps. Let me say that again … the two Hendrick drivers led all but six laps Saturday night at Martinsville. There were only two “natural” cautions (NASCAR was quick with the trigger on those, too), five “lead changes” (although there were no real passes for the lead), and a whole lot of … well, nothing. I think Clint Bowyer spoke for all of us when he shouted “caution!” with six to go. “More horsepower definitely wouldn’t hurt, but I don’t think it’s the whole issue,” said Ryan Blaney, who finished fourth. Denny Hamlin: ‘No idea’ how to fix latest Next Gen bugSo … what is the issue? Because it’s something NASCAR probably needs to (and will) fix before returning to Martinsville in the fall.A bad race happens, but we saw similar things at Richmond last week, so it’s fairly obvious the new Next Gen has impacted the racing on short tracks, which is NASCAR’s bread and butter. More horsepower, like Blaney said, could help. Warmer weather wouldn’t hurt, and Goodyear stepping in to tweak the tires — “the left sides just don’t wear on this car,” Blaney admitted — may do the trick, too. The bigger concern, it seems, is the shifting. There was a lot of shifting at Martinsville.Probably too much, said Kevin Harvick. “The gear ratios are way wrong,” he told NBC Sports. All right, Denny Hamlin. Your turn. Tell us what happened out there, because you finished 28th. Yep. The five-time Martinsville winner finished 28th!“The wake is big,” he told NBC of the new car. “We just don’t have the ability to have the mechanical grip right now to pass. It’s a combination of the car, track and tire. It’s those things put all together that equal what we have.”We’re learning, we’re trying to get better, but no idea of how you fix this thing right now.”Gulp. Boogity, boogity, boogity! Darrell Waltrip returns to Fox boothOK. Enough about the car (for now). Nothing an Easter Sunday primetime race on the Bristol Dirt can’t fix, right?!Speaking of this week’s return to the dirt …Boogity, boogity, boogity!Yep. Darrell Waltrip is next up in Fox’s cycle of guest analysts in the booth. “I’m thrilled to have the chance to drop in and call the Bristol Dirt race,” said Waltrip, who has 12 Bristol wins. “When Fox first asked me, I was super excited because Bristol is, by far, my favorite track. If I could pick just one race to call, it would be Bristol. The track is honoring Easter with a special celebration service, and we’ll top it off with a great race that evening.”DW (DW-yah, as Larry McReynolds would say), retired from the booth back in 2019 after calling races alongside Mike Joy for nearly two decades. Now 75, Waltrip will become the sixth guest analyst to call a race this year, joining Tony Stewart, Danica Patrick, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon and Chad Knaus. So we’re getting Waltrip AND Bowyer — who, by the way, has been fantastic in his second season — in the same booth together?An early ‘good luck’ to Mike Joy this week!NASCAR heads to Bristol for … Easter?Speaking of the Bristol Dirt …A second ‘good luck’ to anyone trying to predict how this is gonna look. Last year was tough enough, but now we’re coming back for a second time with a new car and running it at night?Daniel Suarez, Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano were the main players last season, so I suppose we start with them. The track itself will also be under the microscope, too. Remember, we dealt with several issues last year, including dust and visibility problems that led to eventual single-file restarts. Running this one at night should help, so perhaps Mother Nature will give us a break. Alex Bowman is certainly rooting for it!”I’d like to be able to see where my race car is traveling,” Bowman boldly said. “But other than that, I’m really looking forward to it.”
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