Associated Press

FORT WORTH, Texas -- A race that featured 58 lead changes boring? Two cars upside down in the final laps and the talk is about single-file racing earlier in the event? NASCAR faces a dilemma about its racing.

Complaints by some fans about last week's Talladega race points to a deeper issue about competition. What is good racing and are fans seeing it this season? Only each fan can answer if they're happy with what they've seen this Sprint Cup season.

While opinions vary, here's a way to examine what has happened on the track heading into today's race at Texas Motor Speedway.

The finishes aren't as good as before

FICTION

The margin of victory for the Cup races this season is 1.13 seconds. It's never been that low since NASCAR began using electronic scoring in 1993. Just two years ago, the average margin of victory was nearly a second greater.

Go deeper, though. Of the 33 races run this season, six have ended under caution. Of the remaining 27 races, 14 of them have had cautions in the last 15 laps that could help keep the competition close. Before one jumps to conclusions, only one debris caution was among those in the final 15 laps.

The racing has been lackluster this season

FICTION

At least according to Tony Stewart, although he asked his crew over his radio to tell him something interesting during last weekend's race, "so I don't fall asleep out here."

Still, Stewart took issue with a question this week about if Talladega was a boring race.

"The hard part is, we got you guys saying they're boring, so when you guys say that, all you do is keep reinforcing to everybody that it's boring,'' Stewart said, referring to the media. "The races are exciting. It's like everybody wants the perfect race every time. You can't do that. The drivers think about how they can be smart all day. The race is so long that you can fight your guts out to try to get to the front in the first hundred miles, but what have you accomplished? You haven't accomplished anything, ... until those last 10 or 15 laps. That's when you got to start working your way to the front if you're not already up there.''

The quality of racing was better years ago

FACT AND FICTION

If one compares to 25 years ago, no way. Statistics back that up. The 14 different winners this season are more than last season's 12 but less than the 2007 total of 16.

Technology, though, plays a big part in what fans think these days.

"The difference is in the access that the population has in the ability to comment on it with the Internet and everything else,'' said Lee White, president and general manager of Toyota Racing Development.

Carl Edwards, although winless this year, admits he sees a difference in the competition level compared to past years.

"If I had a really good race car five years ago ... I might have two or three other guys, maybe only one we had to beat,'' he said.

"Right now, if you've got a perfect car and everything is good, there are six or seven guys -- maybe 10 or 12 at a given track -- that you've got to beat. It makes the strategy on pit road, driver input, changes on the car by the crew chief, it puts all of that at a real premium."