Freddie Kraft, the spotter for Bubba Wallace, was not a fan of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville. On the Door Bumper Clear podcast, Kraft was asked if Sunday’s race was a step in the right direction for Martinsville Speedway.

“That was a step in the right direction? I felt like that race was maybe as bad as we’ve ever had there,” Freddie Kraft said. “Unless you were an exceptional race car, I saw the 12 (Ryan Blaney) and the 22 (Joey Logano) able to make passes early, but I felt like you were kind of locked in. Wherever you kind of shook out on a restart, unless somebody really faded hard, you weren’t going to be able to pass them.”

Kraft later said, “That’s one race that should be better than what it was. I’ve seen [Jeff] Gluck’s poll was basically 50/50 of was it a good race. That’s what I had because that’s my favorite place to spot, one of my favorite places to go because it’s what we grew up doing, short-track racing.”

The final results of Gluck’s poll showed that 50. 8 percent of NASCAR fans didn’t think Martinsville was a good race. One fan wrote, “Martinsville has lost its luster. The modified race sucked, the NOAPS race sucked, and the cup race sucked. Once a year is all we need from Martinsville. Let’s try another track.”

Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott led nearly all the laps at the NASCAR Martinsville Cup race

“There was not enough passing in my opinion,” another fan added. “I don’t think it’s a tire problem either. I think the field as a whole has become so competitive that there are so many cars that can run the same speed, that passing has now become nearly impossible.”

Denny Hamlin led 292 of the 400 laps, and the winner, Chase Elliott, led 84 laps. It looked like Denny Hamlin was going to run away with the win since he won the first and second stages. But Elliott short-pitted on Lap 261 to gain track position and then moved his No. 9 car into the lead after a strong restart with 68 laps remaining.

Sunday’s race was the first of two NASCAR Cup Series races at Martinsville. The second will take place on Sunday, Nov. 1, and it will be the final race before the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Homestead.