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Cup drivers want NASCAR to make All-Star package harder to drive

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - MAY 19: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Jimmy John’s Ford, and Daniel Suarez, driver of the #19 ARRIS Toyota, lead the field during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 19, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

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Some Cup drivers say that they anticipate the package run in the All-Star Race to be used again but say changes need to be made to make the cars more difficult to drive.

“If you had the need for the speed and had decent car control, anybody could have drove it,” Bubba Wallace said Friday at Pocono Raceway. “It shouldn’t be like that. You shouldn’t get up to the big leagues and (think) I can play with LeBron (James) and match him.

“It just felt like you were at like a carnival ride and everybody was along for the ride. Aside from that it was cool how we were at Charlotte driving like a speedway, controlling both lanes. … That aspect was cool. We’ve got to figure how to give us more motor and get the aero platform to where we can still race like that and not have to worry so much about the dirty air.”

MORE: NASCAR official says discussion ongoing to use All-Star package again in 2018

MORE: Hall of Fame car owners want NASCAR to run All-Star package again in 2018
Ryan Blaney also noted that changes needed to be made to the package.

“It is something that I applaud NASCAR for always trying to do something different,” he said Friday at Pocono. “They put a lot of hard work into that and trying to get these 1.5-mile packages where we are a little closer and able to race a little bit more.

“I wouldn’t mind seeing something like that. I think you can still tweak it and make it better and put it back into kind of making it a little harder to drive. To be honest, they were a little easy to drive, and I like it to be more difficult. You kind of take away a little bit of car handling when they are that locked down on the race track. Whether it is a little more horsepower or a little bit of that downforce off of them. I am sure we will see it a couple more times this year at a couple race tracks just to see how it does.”

Alex Bowman admits he has “pretty mixed views” on the All-Star package.

“There is my view as a race car driver, and then there is my view as a member of the sport,” Bowman said Friday at Pocono. “I think for the fans, the racing was great. There is no denying that. It was a great race and the fans are why we are here and why we are allowed to get paid to be a race car driver. From that side of things, I loved it. I think it worked very well. I think the fact that NASCAR is always trying to make the racing better is very good. You could always tweak it and see how it works and see how it works at different race tracks.

“As a race car driver, it’s pretty easy to drive and we are the premier stock car series in the world, so obviously you would like it to be a little more difficult to drive. You don’t want to just go everywhere and be wide open, but I still managed to crash it all by myself, so I can’t really say it was too easy. But you know I think really you have to look at what is best for the sport and making the race fans happy is what is best for not only me, but everybody in this room. I think it was a great race and something that definitely has to be looked at for the future.”

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