Daytona’s new superspeedway package may have delivered a step in the right direction, but NASCAR still has another problem to solve. Fuel-saving once again dominated large portions of the Coke Zero Sugar 400, leaving fans and drivers questioning how much the racing can truly improve. Now, veteran reporter Jordan Bianchi has offered a blunt reality check. According to him, NASCAR can tweak the format, but one frustrating element of superspeedway racing may never completely disappear.

“But let’s fix the stages and that kind of thing, and maybe that will help kind of negate at least to some degree, because I don’t think you’re ever going to get rid of it. I really don’t. I mean, that’s just fuel strategy is part of fundamentally part of racing,” Jordan Bianchi said on The Teardown podcast.

Bianchi’s comments came after NASCAR’s latest attempt to reshape superspeedway racing at Daytona International Speedway. For the Coke Zero Sugar 400, NASCAR introduced a major change to the Cup Series package, shortening the rear spoiler from seven inches to four inches.

The smaller spoiler was designed to reduce drag and give drivers more freedom to make moves around the track. NASCAR also reduced horsepower from 510 to 465 to account for the lower downforce. Officials expected single-car qualifying speeds to increase by roughly 3 mph, while speeds in the race pack were expected to remain relatively similar.

The bigger objective was to address a familiar problem with the Next Gen car at superspeedways. Drivers had increasingly struggled to move through traffic, with track position and fuel-saving strategies often becoming more important than making aggressive passes.

Daytona offered NASCAR a useful testing ground because the race was the final event of the regular season. However, teams had no practice session before qualifying, meaning drivers had to learn the new package under race conditions.

The changes did appear to improve the racing in some respects. Drivers were able to create more movement across the track, while the middle lane became a more viable option during portions of the event.

But fuel strategy remained a major obstacle.

Despite the package changes, drivers such as Joey Logano still had to manage fuel carefully during the chaotic overtime finish. The situation highlighted how difficult it is to separate superspeedway racing from fuel conservation when stage lengths and fuel windows dictate strategy.

That lead-change total also showed that the race was not dramatically different statistically from recent Daytona summer races. The 41 lead swaps landed between the 40 recorded in 2024 and the 44 produced in 2025.

Still, several drivers remained unconvinced that NASCAR had solved the underlying problem.

“I really thought we were going to see a drastically different race. Arguably, it was worse because of the lower pace,” Christopher Bell said.

“It was still super hard to pass,” said Erik Jones.

“Honestly, I could not tell a difference,” Keselowski said.

Those comments contrast with drivers who felt the package was directionally better, creating a mixed verdict after NASCAR’s experiment.

That may be the biggest takeaway from Daytona. The package can create more opportunities to move around the track, but NASCAR still has to determine whether changes to stage lengths or fuel capacity can prevent conservation from overshadowing the racing.

As Bianchi noted, fuel strategy may never disappear entirely. The challenge is making sure it does not become the defining factor when NASCAR’s goal is to create more aggressive superspeedway racing.

When NASCAR tried fixing fuel saving before

NASCAR has already experimented with the race format to address the same problem that resurfaced at Daytona. Back in April, the sanctioning body adjusted the stage lengths for the spring Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. Instead of splitting the 188-lap event into three equal segments, NASCAR made the opening stage significantly longer.

Stage 1 ended on Lap 98, while Stage 2 concluded on Lap 143. The final stage then ran for another 45 laps. The thinking was simple. By making the final two stages 45 laps each, both could fit inside a single tank of fuel. That would theoretically remove the need for green-flag pit stops during those segments and encourage drivers to run harder.

The experiment worked to an extent, but it did not completely eliminate fuel saving. The unusually long opening stage created its own strategic problem. Drivers spent significant portions of those 98 laps saving fuel, knowing that doing so could reduce the amount of time they needed to spend on pit road later.

That left NASCAR with a familiar dilemma. Fix one part of the fuel equation and another strategic opportunity appears somewhere else. Now, with the Daytona package producing similar concerns, the conversation could return to stage lengths once again.

The bigger issue, however, may extend beyond the stage structure. As long as the Next Gen car carries significant aerodynamic drag and passing remains difficult, teams will have an incentive to conserve fuel whenever the strategy rewards it.

That makes Bianchi’s warning particularly relevant. NASCAR can alter the stages, adjust the package and change fuel capacity, but completely eliminating fuel strategy may be unrealistic.

The real goal may simply be to make sure fuel saving does not overwhelm the racing itself.