Kansas Had Passing — The Broadcast Made It Feel Like It Didn't

Kyle Larson's domination made the front of the field look frozen, but the finishing results tell a different story. Plenty of drivers moved forward. Most of it just wasn't where the cameras were looking.

Our biggest complaint about Kansas wasn't actually that nobody could pass.

It was that watching the race made it feel like nobody could pass.

That's an important difference.

Kyle Larson led 235 of 267 laps. When one driver leads nearly 90 percent of the race, the television product is naturally going to feel less competitive at the front.

There wasn't much NASCAR could do about that.

Larson was simply that good.

But there was racing happening behind him.

Austin Cindric started 11th and finished second.

Chase Briscoe started 23rd and finished fourth.

Ryan Blaney started 25th and finished fifth.

Chase Elliott went from 18th to eighth.

Alex Bowman went from 33rd to 18th.

John Hunter Nemechek started 26th and finished 13th.

Those aren't the results of a track where nobody can physically move forward.

Somebody had to pass somebody.

That's why our frustration during the race became increasingly focused on what we were being shown rather than simply what the Next Gen car was capable of doing.

The HFTS crew repeatedly noticed battles deeper in the field while the television broadcast remained focused on Larson's advantage or returned to the ongoing Carson Hocevar storylines with Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski.

Those are legitimate stories.

The problem is we've heard them.

A lot.

When Hocevar and Blaney were near one another, the fight from Bristol came back up. When Hocevar and Keselowski were near each other, Darlington came back up.

Meanwhile, we're watching drivers gain 15 or 20 positions without really seeing how they're doing it.

That's not a Kansas problem.

That's a storytelling problem.

There were legitimate issues with the racing product too.

Clean air clearly mattered. Briscoe's own description of his late battle with Larson was essentially an aero lesson. He said his car actually behaved better behind Larson because the dirty air tightened his loose Toyota. Once Briscoe moved into clean air, the car became increasingly free.

Larson was also aggressively managing the air once Briscoe caught him.

That's Next Gen racing.

Drivers understand the aerodynamic wake better than they did when this car debuted. Teams understand where to position the car. Spotters understand how to use the rearview camera to help their driver block air rather than simply block the physical lane.

Kansas hasn't necessarily become impossible to race.

Everyone has become much better at racing this particular car.

That's an important distinction.

The track produced an entirely different race in April.

That afternoon ended in overtime after Cody Ware's late spin. Tyler Reddick, Larson, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell were all involved in the fight at the front, and Reddick ultimately passed Larson on the final lap to win by 0.118 seconds.

Same track.

Same season.

Very different race.

Part of that is circumstances.

Late cautions manufacture close finishes whether fans want to admit it or not.

Sunday's race didn't get the caution it needed to reset Larson's advantage during the closing laps. Instead, we got a long green-flag run where the best car eventually won.

There's nothing inherently wrong with that.

Not every NASCAR race needs three overtimes and a fight on pit road.

But if the race at the front becomes predictable, the broadcast has to become more willing to leave the leader.

Show us Briscoe coming from 23rd.

Show us Blaney carving from 25th into the top five.

Show us Cindric trying to overcome another lost position on pit road.

Show us Reddick climbing from the 30s after looking completely lost in Stage 1.

Those become the race.

Our ratings reflected that frustration.

One member of the show gave Kansas a green flag.

Two landed on yellow.

One gave the second Kansas date a black flag and argued NASCAR doesn't need to visit the track twice.

We aren't ready to declare Kansas broken.

The spring race is way too recent for that.

But Sunday proved something NASCAR broadcasters should remember when a driver like Larson shows up with a car nobody can touch.

If the leader isn't giving you a story, go find one.

There were 35 other cars out there.

Several of them were doing something worth watching.