I’m sure I’m not the only NASCAR fan underwhelmed by the Phoenix Cup Series race. The new aero package was a bust, which was bad for a points race and will be even worse for the Championship 4. The inability to pass means the title will come down to the best pit stop with 40 laps left, barring Harrison Burton mucking things up with 15 laps to go again. (From A.R.)

The new aero package wasn’t a total failure, but there’s no way what we saw Sunday was the intended effect of putting more control in the hands of drivers.

The 10 lead changes represented the fewest at Phoenix since the 2019 playoff race, and Kyle Larson had runs of 55 and 126 laps out front. Larson and teammate William Byron led a combined 265 of 317 laps. Yes, the inability to pass translates into a potentially lethargic Championship 4 that will have viewers flipping over to the Bears-Oilers NFL game during the second stage.

Blame on NASCAR, which had all the time in the world to test the Next Gen car before introducing it. It was a bad omen when the cars got stuck repeatedly on the infield grass in the first couple of 2022 races, and NASCAR clearly didn’t do enough testing to determine how the car would handle various tracks. Most races on tracks a mile in length or shorter have been uninspiring.

So, barring a do-over of the new aero package, we’re going to be stuck with a championship race that comes down to the final pit stop, even as teams can’t be sure that will be the final pit stop.

It’s a reminder Phoenix shouldn’t be a permanent Championship 4 venue. It should alternate with at least one and perhaps two or three other tracks so that the final race doesn’t favor a manufacturer, team, or driver that has figured out Phoenix. As it stands now, the money wagered on Kevin Harvick and the Hendrick Motorsports cars in November will overwhelm the rest of the betting traffic.

The best thing that can happen now is for the new aero package to work well on short tracks and road courses, which would be an indictment of Phoenix Raceway and force NASCAR to move the Championship 4. If Phoenix is allowed to host two races per season, then why not Homestead-Miami instead?

The 23 or so minutes of interviews and fluff commentator content at the beginning of the broadcast is completely not important to me, the split-screen advertising during the race wouldn’t bother me much if I had a 105-inch screen, and the whole Danica Patrick thing was just pretty darn hard to handle. I will say the number of parents with children that the cameras catch during the race is a great marketing move. (From M.S.)

I remember liking Danica Patrick a lot in her first booth assignment last season, but she hasn’t shown much since. Clint Bowyer dominates the conversation with Mike Joy and tends to let her few comments over the three hours just sit there as he moves on to his own takes rather than adding to what Patrick says.

Patrick is better in the pre-race show and could probably be put to better use doing long-form interviews that elicit interesting answers from drivers.

As for the crowd shots, it’s been obvious the past two seasons that Fox Sports is trying to convince us that racing crowds are getting younger. I can’t remember the last time they showed someone like me – 60 years old with a beer in one hand and a hot dog in the other.

Got a question or observation about racing? Sportscasting’s John Moriello does a mailbag column each Friday. Write to him at [email protected].