After Saturday’s practice session shredded tires, much was made of the effect the tire wear could have on the race. Goodyear even brought extra sets for the teams to use for the event.

However, mother nature had other plans and if you thought The Master’s would deliver a Sunday nap of historical proportions, it turns out this Bristol race was the premier place to be.

It became obvious only 40 laps into the race that due to high track temps the racing surface was taking rubber and Hendrick Motorsports star Kyle Larson was the first to jump on it. Larson’s #5 looked as if it had an extra gear in it, almost instantly grabbing a second lead of his teammate and pole-sitter Alex Bowman.

That concluded much of the action for the race which saw Larson run away, eventually leading over 400 laps, sweeping the stages and winning the race. It was an emotional win for the #5 team who dedicated the victory to their beloved Communications Director Jon Edwards who passed this week.

Save for Bowman’s car immidating a volcano, blowing smoke for 30 odd laps, and Shane Van Gisbergen running out of talent for 36th there wasn’t much intrigue to this one. Much like last week, cars struggled to pass and the field spread out very quickly.

Denny Hamlin was the lone car that had anything for Larson and even then, it wasn’t much only catching Larson as he struggled with lapped traffic. Hamlin, who was seeking a record-setting third straight victory for Joe Gibbs Racing, finished the day in second.

JGR as a whole looked to finally return to form, with all cars finishing in the top 10 and three in the top five. Ty Gibbs had the best run of his season, running up front for most of the day and finishing third.

While they don’t have the results to show it, Spire Motorsports impressed for the early portion of today’s race. Justin Haley and Carson Hocevar ran in the top five for most of stage one, but both of their days ended without a top 10 finish.

What this race highlighted is how much work NASCAR needs on the Next Gen car and Goodyear tire to make short track races better. Bristol is one of the best tracks on the schedule, but without sub 70 degree temperatures the Next Gen feels incapable of putting on good racing at the Last Great Colosseum.

It’s disheartening to see how these classic tracks like Darlington and Bristol feel like an afterthought in the minds of the sport’s leadership. The cars look too easy to drive, drivers aren’t on the edge of wrecking and fans aren’t close to the edge of their seats.

That isn’t to say there isn’t a place in the sport for dominating win here or there, but there just cannot be a world where the only pit stops needed at Bristol are every 80 laps for fuel. Even in those old races drivers could make headway with strategy or saving their stuff for the end, but that’s all gone.

What’s left is an uninteresting product that isn’t made better by the lackluster production by FOX Sports. Today’s race is a prime example of what’s failing modern NASCAR, mediocre product, no changes in sight and boring or broken production (shoutout those Max Driver Cams).

The NASCAR Cup Series is off for Easter next weekend, the Cup cars get back to it at Talladega Superspeedway on April 27. The green flag is set for 12:00 p.m.