Denny Hamlin and William Byron respond to Talladega's scoring pylon removal ahead of Sunday's Cup race

Denny Hamlin and William Byron expressed their disappointment as Talladega authorities removed the scoring pylon from the track, following the trend from Texas.

Scoring pylons add a classy look to the traditional NASCAR circuits along with fulfilling their purpose; to keep viewers updated on the drivers' track positions. However, the authorities recently seem to be taking the next step in modernizing the sport. During the race in Texas earlier, the pylon was removed, and that is now also the case with Talladega.

Ahead of this year's GEICO 500, NASCAR removed the scoring pylon from the 2.6-mile circuit. It is suspected to be replaced by another screen, the same way it was done in Texas.

While it is an attempt at bringing change to the sport, drivers such as Denny Hamlin and William Byron were not quite happy with the decision. Hamlin wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) account:

"Well upgrade it then, like every other sporting facility in the world is doing. No-one is taking visual displays away."

Moreover, William Byron felt that getting rid of the pylons was not traditional.

"Yeah can we not mess with tradition," he wrote.

Texas Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway are not the only tracks that have suffered due to modernization. Watkins Glen and Bristol also lost their scoring pylons recently.

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Denny Hamlin speaks on the importance of having scoring pylons on tracks

The main purpose of a scoring pylon, as mentioned, is to keep spectators updated on the drivers' positions during a race or qualifying session. When there are over 30 cars present on a track, it can be rather difficult for a fan to spot the driver they support from the stands. This is where the large scoring pylon assists them, revealing the exact location of all the drivers at a given time.

The authorities faced backlash both from fans and a few drivers upon the removal of the pylons. Denny Hamlin told the media the importance of the same at Talladega. He said:

"I mean listen they're so important they put them on TV for you. So, it's important, I mean if you look at there, I don't know that's what we'd see, you don't have any idea where we qualified. If you're #11 fan or #42 fan, or someone like that so, I think it's important for sure."

NASCAR earlier mentioned that the scoring pylons were outdated because the status of the drivers is shown on the big screens.