Why does NASCAR persist with racing on Easter Sunday? Insider sheds light on the rationale

NASCAR's Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway was held on Easter this Sunday, making it the third time in the last three years that a race has been held on the holiday.

While it has been rare for NASCAR to race on Easter because it is a time of holiday for families, it has happened frequently in recent years. The race at Bristol in 2022 and 2023 was held on the holiday, and so was the Richmond race this year.

Discussing the same on The Teardown, insiders Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi gave their opinions. The former stated that the races were never held on Easter in the early days, while the latter did not completely understand the issue of racing on the holiday.

He argued, giving various examples, that multiple sports are held on the day of Easter without any issues. While it is a family holiday, the NASCAR race is held at a time when most of the viewers are done with the celebrations, he added.

"Why is it a bad thing? Well, I'm dead serious. The NCAA The tournament today was going on today. I didn't hear anybody complaining about those great games going on people like oh my god That's an Easter. I'm not gonna watch. Why is that happening?"

"At least NASCAR does it at night where, by the way, most times Easter is done with. You've had your church service. You've had your brunch. You've had your family time. You're home using on Sunday night... Like I don't, I understand it's a holiday. It's a it's a religious holiday."

"There is zero issue with running on Easter. I am sorry. You are professional sport. professional sports compete on holidays."

While this does not settle the debate about whether the race should be held on a public holiday, it provides a different perspective. The 2024 Toyota Owners 400 was the 14th NASCAR race in history to be held on Easter. The first time it happened was back in 1953 when the race in Charlotte was held on April 5th.

Denny Hamlin emerged victorious in the race after a late caution. However, his restart was controversial amongst the fans as they suspected he jumped the start.

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Denny Hamlin explains his controversial NASCAR race restart at Richmond

With two laps left in the NASCAR race, a late caution was waved. This gave the top runners an opportunity for a late pit stop. For Denny Hamlin, who was running in third place, it was a chance to overtake.

His pit crew managed to put him out early and he was level with Joey Logano. When the race restarted for the final two laps under a green-white-checkered, Hamlin took an easy lead and won. However, many felt that he had jumped the start.

Explaining the situation on the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin stated that Logano was falling back on him and that was the reason he had to push all the way once the race restarted.

“Clearly Joey is laying back and you know if we really want to get into technicalities, you should not be laying back but he laid back enough to where I could see him start to creep towards me.”

“Now at that point, I'm thinkng in my head, ‘I'm not going to let him roll to me’ and then as soon as the gap closes, take off because then he's got an advantage he's going to be pushing me. He's going to pull out of line, you know, he dictated the restart not me, and the same with the 19. I saw him he was back on my right around my door and I saw him creeping forward.”

Joey Logano finished the race in second position and Kyle Larson was third after overtaking Martin Truex Jr.

Denny Hamlin now stands third in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings, just 18 points shy of the lead.