I see lots of people saying, they will fix it in the patch, or it will be
addressed in the patch. My experience with EA games in the past is that
their patches typically deal with uniform changes or roster changes
instead of actual changes to the game. EA's patches to game mechanics
usually arrive as next years model.

I've got NT04 and have heard enough of NSR to believe it didn't address
most of the problems I had with that version. Is there some 'patch
knowledge' I haven't found on Google?

Otherwise, I would expect any EA patch to address the length of Dale Jr's
razor stubble before it would address any game issues. Or perhaps a more
in depth detail on Mark Martin's wrinkles. Just as their NFL games
advertise more celebratory butt shaking on the box covers instead of
trying to simulate football.