It appears scoring pylons might be an endangered archaic species in the modern NASCAR as the fixture has been removed in advance of consecutive race weekends at Texas Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
Last weekend, it seemed like a disappointing one-off when the pylon wasn’t visible at Texas, being replaced by an extra video board that only showed the top-eight in the running order, but the one in Alabama being removed makes it a theme.
Bristol and Watkins Glen have also lost scoring pylons in recent years.
Seemingly the entire industry has expressed disappointment over the decision. First, Denny Hamlin made a practical argument for scoring pylons during his Actions Detrimental podcast on Monday morning.
Hamlin spun racing Chase Elliott for the win late in the race, and his natural instinct from 20 years of racing in NASCAR kicked in.
“After I wrecked, first of all, I was looking for the scoring tower to see who was running where,” said Hamlin on the podcast. “I couldn’t find the damn thing. They took it out. I don’t know what the obsession is with taking out scoring pylons now.
“So, Bristol we used to have, we used to have, so they had the big video thing right? But they used to have a round video board on the bottom of that centerpiece – the ticker of who’s running where. Now you only see like the top eight. We also used to have video boards up on the suites at Bristol, they took those down. Watkins Glen we took out the scoreboard on the frontstretch. I can’t make sense why they’re taking out the scoring pylons at these tracks.”
Hamlin is a stick and ball sports enthusiast and he says in an era where other league and facilities are adding sporting amenities, NASCAR tracks are losing a key amenity.
“That’s my whole point,” Hamlin said. “I guess I heard that they put a new video board on the back on Big Hoss they have new screens. Which it’s very clear, great job by the way. But that being your only source of scoring, well you only see the top eight. Then when they scroll you might see where your driver is running every five minutes. … And this is just me, if you’re sitting in the stands, you’ve got to have pretty good eyesight to see the running order, no?
“I mean I’ve got good eyesight so I feel like I can see it but even in my bus, like I can see the video board, but even with my really really good vision, it’s not clear as day and I’m halfway to the screen compared to where the people sitting in the stands are. So, I don’t know why we’re taking out video boards?”
That was almost a full week ago and then people started arriving to Talladega on Friday for the next Cup and Xfinity Series weekend and were greeted by the absence of another pylon.
That didn’t go over well.
NASCAR responded to media questions with a statement that the Talladega scoring pylon was old and outdated and that the running order is on the big screen and that fans are encouraged use track wifi to access the NASCAR app.
That didn’t go over well, either.
Of course, both Indianapolis Motor Speedway and North Wilkesboro Speedway, the latter owned by Speedway Motorsports, have constructed LED scoring pylons that replicated the old models but also can be used for activation purposes.
“The scoring pylon at Texas became a pickle ball court,” Xfinity Series driver Justin Allgaier said during a media scrum on Friday at Talladega.
He said it drove him nuts during the race last week, because he used the pylon to count laps and who is running where, as a point of reference.
“I’m hopeful this isn’t a thing,” he said. “I hope we go back to pylons. Indianapolis, with what they’ve done with theirs, preserving and modernizing, I feel like everyone else can follow suit.”
Xfinity Series pole winner Austin Hill echoed those sentiments.
“I actually noticed right away that the pylon was gone at Texas,” hill said. “I’m one of those drivers, under green and especially under caution, look up at the pylon to see what lap it is and what lap it is.
“I had to radio to my guys and ask ‘what lap are we on’ so it was a little bit of a weird instance. You have the big screen on the backstretch (at Texas) but you can’t see a ton from the car going down the backstretch.
“It was a little awkward but it is what it is.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.