Associated Press

A road that leads to Lowe's Motor Speedway was named after owner Bruton Smith, CEO of Speedway Motorsports, on Tuesday.

CONCORD, N.C. -- Track owner Bruton Smith says he worried last winter that NASCAR's new car would create sub-par racing at the bigger tracks and admits his fears have been realized.

Although the Car of Tomorrow debuted last season, it did not run on the 1.5 and 2-mile tracks until this season.

Smith's company, Speedway Motorsports Inc., owns four 1.5-mile tracks -- Las Vegas, Atlanta, Texas and Lowe's Motor Speedway.

The last three events at those tracks, Atlanta, Texas and Saturday's all-star race at Lowe's Motor Speedway, have had drivers and fans complaining about the racing. The all-star race featured minimal excitement and predictions from some drivers that this weekend's Coca-Cola 600 could be similar.

Smith wasn't as dour Tuesday, saying he thought a recent test session would help this weekend. Still, Smith says NASCAR has work to do.

He blames the cars the recent woes. Smith says NASCAR's decision to change the cars reminds him of when Coca-Cola created new Coke.

"It didn't take them long to say, 'Whoa, wait a minute we made a mistake' and go back to the original Coca-Cola,'' Smith said Tuesday after a ceremony renaming a road that leads to the Lowe's Motor Speedway in his honor.

"Seems like that's kind of what we did here, and I brought this up in New York back in December. I was hoping that somebody would be paying attention but maybe they didn't.''

Asked if his fears had been realized by the recent events, Smith said: "I hate to say that but it seems that because I talk to the drivers and they'll tell me ... they don't like the car.''

Smith also said that the all-star race needs to be changed after Saturday's 100-lap event, broken into four segments, went caution free.

"I think we've got to maybe revamp that a bit for next year,'' Smith said. "I think that last [segment] has to be inverted to get some excitement. In that event, if you're not wrecking, you're not racing.''

A portion of the field used to be inverted for the final segment but that was dropped before last year's race.

The order for the final segment is now based on how teams exited pit road after a mandatory stop.

Wheeler to retire

Humpy Wheeler, the "P.T. Barnum" of NASCAR promotions, will retire and step down as president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway, The Associated Press has learned.

This weekend's Coca-Cola 600 will be Wheeler's last race for Lowe's Motor Speedway, two people familiar with the decision told the AP. They requested anonymity because an official announcement, which could come as early as today, has not yet been made.

Confidence boost

Although he didn't win the $1 million, Matt Kenseth was pleased with his third-place finish in the all-star race.

It followed his sixth-place finish at Darlington.

That ended a three-race stretch where he finished no better than 38th and fell nine spots to 22nd at the time.

Number crunching

Kevin Harvick has been running at the finish of 55 consecutive Cup races. He holds the modern era mark of running at the finish in 58 consecutive races.

Pit Stops

Chris Osborne, a High Point, N.C., native, debuted as Kurt Busch's spotter during last weekend's all-star race. Osborne formerly served as spotter for Jimmie Johnson. ... Speed Channel's rating for the all-star race was 6 percent better than last year's event.