Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a five-part series examining questions entering the 2024 NASCAR season.

Short tracks have long been the bread and butter for stock-car racing.

But lately, it’s left a bad taste in the mouths of all involved. Most importantly, NASCAR fans.

It was always going to be a process, introducing the Gen-7 car a couple of years ago and certainly, there would be bumps in the road. But all those bumps have seemingly come at tracks a mile or shorter or on tracks with left and right turns.

Yes, you can lump road courses in as well in terms of tracks that, by and large, left a lot to be desired in terms of the on-track product. While the Gen-7 has been a showstopper on intermediate tracks, particularly of the 1½-mile variety, and has been fair at least on superspeedways, short tracks and road courses were mostly about track position and little else in 2023.

DAYTONA INFO: When is the 2024 Daytona 500? Where can I get tickets? For how much?

And there are numbers to illustrate the difference. In 2023, races contested at tracks one mile long or shorter featured an average of 14.2 lead changes per race. In 2021, the last season with the Gen-6 car, that number was 17.9. That margin of difference is nearly identical to the uptick seen at tracks over at tracks over one mile but no longer than 1½ miles with events in 2023 featuring 21.5 lead changes compared to 17.7 in 2021.

But with aerodynamics being what they are, passing for the lead has been difficult for years. The struggle at short tracks and road courses can better be measured visually as passing has become near impossible throughout the field.

There are several possible explanations and to NASCAR’s credit, multiple test sessions have been held over the past calendar year in search of answers. That includes one at Phoenix just a few weeks ago with changes made to the splitter and diffuser.

And a good case could be made that racing at short tracks was at least marginally improved later in the year, compared to the beginning. But the same couldn’t be said at road courses, where only seven lead changes occurred at the Roval in the fall and races at the Indy Road Course and Watkins Glen were brutal watches.

In addition to aerodynamics, shifting at short tracks has been a talking point, as have tires. With the emergence of the Gen-7, Goodyear was forced to manufacture new, lower profile tires and the complaint is that they’re too good, meaning they don’t wear, minimizing the drop-off in lap times over long runs.

But the real hot-button issue seems to be horsepower. In the final short-track package in the Gen-6 era, Cup Series cars had 750 horsepower, 80 above the 670 limit of the Gen 7s.

While several drivers have been adamant that horsepower could be the cure-all, including Denny Hamlin on a recent appearance on the Dale Jr. Download, NASCAR’s brass claims added horsepower isn’t an easy, short-term fix and that all options are being explored.

"I think everything is up for consideration," NASCAR chief operating officer Steve O’Donnell said. "We've proven that. You have to factor in what are the costs involved as well, right? It's not as simple as just upping the horsepower.”

Whatever the answer, the sooner it can be found, the better. Next season will consist of 12 races on tracks of a mile or less, including the Cup Series debut at Iowa. And that doesn’t count the All-Star Race at recently repaved North Wilkesboro. Just a couple of weeks ago, NASCAR president Steve Phelps gave an update on Auto Club Speedway, confirming the plan to build a short track there is still in place with the 2-mile configuration still being demolished.

And there are also five road courses still on the slate even after the announcement that the Brickyard 400 would return to the Indianapolis oval.

But beyond just the aesthetics and competitive racing, short tracks are at the very heart of stock-car racing. Both on the national and local levels.

NASCAR’s ability to put on competitive, compelling races are imperative not only in terms of TV ratings, but to the core of its fanbase.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR set on improving short track, road course racing. Will it work?