NASCAR has been pulling off some unthinkable moves right from the start of the 2026 season. But the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Daytona proved to be a testament to this. The control tower, for once, was extremely consistent with the decisions officials made during the race. This earned them long-awaited praise from the fans and insiders.

NOAPS season-opener at Daytona marked by consistent racing

NASCAR race officials have been targeted in recent years due to inconsistent caution-flag enforcement. However, the beginning of the 2026 season has had a major improvement, as insider Danielle Trotta pointed out: “I already like what I’m seeing out of the control tower this year, more so than in years past. Seems to be holding yellows in their pocket to allow racing to play out until it absolutely must be thrown.”

The officials can sometimes be overly cautious about stopping the race. There were moments in 2025 when caution was raised even for minor incidents. This not only interrupted green-flag racing but also hurt the momentum the drivers were building.

But the bigger issue was consistency. While some races witnessed caution for just a wall scrape, there was a moment when Cody Ware was stuck in the wall for over half a minute before the control tower paused the race in Chicago last year. These inconsistencies were regularly pointed out, as Brad Keselowski once said, “It doesn’t bother me when yellows don’t get thrown for me, or I get penalties that are questionable, IT MAKES ME MAD AS HELL when it’s not the same for others.”

But this seems to have changed this year. Insider Jeff Gluck also noted this.

News served to you like never before!

Prefer us on Google, To get latest news on feed

Prefer Us on Google

While seven cautions were thrown during the NOAPS race earlier at Daytona, they seemed more calculated than just instinctive yellows. The race was largely consistent.

The fans also quickly noticed this, appreciating the control tower and officials for their calculated decisions during the race. At the same time, however, they had some requests for the upcoming events.

Fans request more consistency from NASCAR officials

“Key word: CONSISTENT!” This appears to be NASCAR’s biggest issue recently, and it is understandable. Even the simplest caution forces teams to reset their strategies, and it can be difficult to develop new ones. Especially when there seems to be no guarantee of what the officials might consider caution-worthy.

This also ended Denny Hamlin’s title run in 2025 at Phoenix in the final moments. He lost the lead (in the Championship 4) to Kyle Larson after an abrupt caution. Fans were reminiscent of this: “3 months too late for Denny.”

The Truck Series race was also considerably impressive regarding the decisions made by the control tower, as the fans heaped praise, writing, “Agree on that. The 3 truck wreck last night, I could not tell who/how many were involved, and they threw it, others they let go.” At the same time, they demand a similar level of awareness during the Cup Series Daytona 500, like this comment read: “I don’t have a problem as long as they take the same approach tomorrow.”

The fans seem to have other demands as well with the sport’s changing format, “Now they just have to ELIMINATE STAGE RACING. Give the Drivers the points, But Why Stop a RACE ???” However, the sport is still working on several things simultaneously.

This includes the complete revamp of the championship format, removal of the Roval format at Charlotte, and now the race control decisions. How these decisions will impact the overall title race as the season nears its end remains to be seen.