At 1.5 miles in length, Texas Motor Speedway fits into the intermediate category, but NASCAR drivers view it quite differently than other tracks due to a 2017 reconfiguration that completely changed the feel.
"I think it really comes down to how the track was designed," Chase Elliott told AltDriver ahead of the tripleheader weekend in Texas. "And they... instead of making chicken salad, I think they went the other way.
"It was a shame to see what it was and how good it was."
The reconfiguration took place in 2017 as track owners sought to address persistent drainage issues. The process included adding fresh pavement and a French drainage system.
The crews also reduced the banking in Turns 1 and 2 from 24 degrees to 20 while widening the racing surface. These changes made one side of the track drastically different than the other. Teams had to make setups built to split the differences between each side.
"Texas, it's a challenging racetrack," Kyle Busch said, per Chevrolet. "Turns 1 and 2 being as flat as they are and as wide as they are, there's a lot of room for where you can go.
"But there's probably about six inches of that racetrack that feels really good. And that's the groove that you want to be in, and stay in, in order to get that grip."
While other intermediate tracks have widened out over the years, Texas has not. The 1.5-mile track favors one lane. The rest of the racing surface, according to many drivers, is as slick as ice, as the racing surface seemingly does not age.
The result has been that numerous drivers have spun out while trying to make passes outside of the preferred groove.
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"Will it ever widen out?" Elliott asked. "I don't know. I could see (Turns) 3 and 4 maybe widening out some, but it's just so fast. You're still running a lot of throttle on that end. So I don't know."
What causes this lack of aging on the racing surface? Why isn't the surface wearing like other intermediates? After all, the repave featured an asphalt mix similar to those used at Kentucky Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Kentucky -- may it someday return -- and Las Vegas were not particularly treacherous after their repaves. Texas is different.
"Yeah, there are no beaches around," Noah Gragson said in response to a question from AltDriver. "That's why the place doesn't age, in my opinion.
"You look at Darlington and Homestead, I don't know if they're using asphalt from around those places, but it seems like the sand peels away, and then you've got those sharp, jagged rocks that stick out of the surface and that is what, in my opinion, caused the tire wear.
"I don't really think it's too sandy out in the middle of Texas, so with that being said, I don't know where they get their asphalt, but it certainly is a one, maybe two-lane track, and it definitely feels like ice out there."
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Elliott pushed back against the beaches theory while pointing to Kansas Speedway, a track that has become one of the best on the circuit. He focused more on the differences between the two tracks and their designs.
Regardless of the reason, drivers agree that the lack of aging has made Texas Motor Speedway treacherous. They just can't find the grip they need outside of the preferred groove at the bottom of the track, something they have also seen in NTT IndyCar Series races at the 1.5-mile facility.
"No one has really experimented with moving around," John Hunter Nemechek told AltDriver at Talladega. "There's just no grip up top.
"I don't know if you remember when they first went there and tested right after the repave, everyone was super slow, and it took a while for the oil to get pulled out of the asphalt and actually take rubber and gain grip."
As Nemechek explained, NASCAR and IndyCar drivers never venture to other areas of the track. They run at the bottom where the surface takes rubber.
He noted that NASCAR put traction compound near the top in the past, but it remained slick for a considerable amount of time. The area with the compound ultimately became dominant and took drivers away from the bottom, so the race still took place in one groove.
Will this weekend's race follow this trend, or will the drivers finally see the surface start to age? They certainly will not have the answer until Saturday morning's practice session at the earliest, but they hope to see some changes.
After all, the Gen 7 car has delivered exciting races at other intermediate tracks. They want this to be the case in a major market like Texas.
"As much as I talk bad about it, I want it to be good," Elliott said. "You know, I want it to be successful. I want it to widen out. I want it to be fun.
"I used to love going to Texas. Just what went on with it has not been the most fun track. I hope that at some point down the road, it will widen out."