NASCAR influencer fuels ‘fix the cars’ talk amid slumping fan ratings post Talladega

After this past weekend's Talladega Superspeedway NASCAR Cup Series event, journalist Jeff Gluck asked his followers on X (formerly Twitter) if they thought the race was good. While 39% voted positively towards the 'Jack Link's 500' event, 61% found the race to be a bad one. The results of this poll prompted the influencer, Taylor Kitchen, host of the 'Above The Yellow Line' show on YouTube, to suggest considering the poor fan reception as a part of the conversation around fixing the race cars.

Sharing her thoughts on her X account, the NASCAR influencer quoted Gluck's tweet that included a summary of the results of his poll, which showed that the last four races, Martinsville, Darlington, Bristol, and Talladega, all had favorability below 51%.

"Was Talladega a good race? 39% of you said Yes. -- Lowest of 19 Talladega races in the poll. Previous low: 42%, Talladega fall 2018. -- Second-lowest of 45 superspeedway races in the poll. Only the 2019 Clash at Daytona was lower (20.9%). -- As @_DanielCespedes notes, this is the first time in poll history that four consecutive races have earned less than 51% Yes (Martinsville 50.9%, Darlington 45.9%, Bristol 21.1%, Talladega 39%)," the journalist shared.

Kitchen, in response, also emphasized the fans' dropping opinion on the quality of the past few Cup Series events.

"I never thought we’d see the day when Talladega got this low of a rating from the fans, but here we are. That’s four races in a row below 50%. Something to ponder as the “should we fix these cars” / “how to fix these cars” debate continues"

The next race on the NASCAR Cup Series calendar is the Würth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY, which will take place at the Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 4th, at 3:30 p.m. ET

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Which NASCAR event had the highest favorability, according to fan polls

Based on the results of NASCAR journalist Jeff Gluck's polls this past season, the event that achieved the maximum percentage of voters who felt that it was a good race was the Las Vegas Motor Speedway event that took place in mid-March. The Pennzoil 400 saw 87.2% of voters answer 'Yes' to the question asking if the race was good.

The Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray, the races at Atlanta, COTA, Las Vegas, and Homestead, all ranked in the 80%-plus range, but it was after the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at the Miami track where numbers started dipping.

"Season vibes were high after Homestead. “Hasn’t been a bad race all year!” Save us, Texas…"

Possible reasons why NASCAR fans enjoyed the race at Las Vegas include the seven-car wreck, the 32 lead changes among 13 drivers, and Josh Berry securing his first-ever Cup Series victory.