NASCAR is a sport that has a lot of history and tradition. Everyone involved with the sport from the fans to the drivers is quite passionate and protective of that tradition but the organisers, for the second weekend in a row, decided to infringe upon that and nobody is happy. The nature of the infringement? The removal of the scoring pylon from Talladega Superspeedway. They did the same thing in Texas but this time around, there was a lot of backlash from the likes of Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick, too.

Kevin Harvick is not a fan of recent scoring pylon removals

Earlier, Denny Hamlin had expressed his dissatisfaction with the removal of the pylon and even said that it was important for everyone involved with the sport. And Kevin Harvick echoed those sentiments as he explained their significance. The former Cup Series champion also said that he “did not care” how much it cost if it was in his hands on a recent episode of his Happy Hour podcast. Harvick had been in the sport for several years and understands tradition very well, much like his Joe Gibbs Racing counterpart.

“I wanna see the pylon back up in the infield. When it blows down, put it back up. Insure that baby, something, insure that baby, I don’t know. The pylon needs to go back up. Everybody likes to look at the pylon. How can you have a race track that when you leave, doesn’t have a pylon full of numbers on the finishing order? I can think back as to many of the races where you won where you just take a picture…it’s iconic,” he said.

For fans, the giant scoring structure is most helpful when it comes to qualifying. At the racetrack, you don’t really have an idea about what times drivers are doing while they are on their qualifying run. The pylon is the first thing that gives them that information. When the driver records the fastest time and his number pops at P1, that never fails to excite the crowd and makes for a fantastic reaction.

The fact that the pylon was removed for the second race in a row seems to be concerning for both drivers and fans. Earlier, Denny Hamlin had also spoken about the importance of maintaining years of tradition and urged NASCAR to not continue doing this.

Denny Hamlin is worried about a tradition-breaking trend in NASCAR

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Whether NASCAR will listen to the 43-year-old is a separate matter, but fans are with him on this one. As has been told, one of the most personal moments a driver will have is when he looks up at the pylon after he’s done celebrating winning a race. The quiet and serene environment of the track under the night sky makes for a fantastic memory, but that is being impeded upon by the organisers.

“That’s what a race track is. I think taking these down it’s just not as good. Every time I go through a tunnel, and it might be just me, first thing I do is look at a scoring pylon to figure who’s where and what. So it’s a, I don’t know, maybe more of a sentimental thing from a purist like myself. But every track has its own ideas and we’ve seen it over time. It started with Bristol taking some out, then it was Watkins Glen, I noticed, obviously last week, and now this week. So, hopefully, it’s not a trend,” Hamlin had said earlier as per On3.

One can only hope that NASCAR keeps its tradition intact because that’s a big part of the sport. Will they listen to drivers’ and fans’ demands on this matter? We can only wait and see.