What do you think the reaction would be for an unknown songwriter pitching a song like “you’re beautiful” on music row?

Not every song has to be the “be all, end all” song. It’s ok for a song to just be a song. “Unfamiliar territory”, what’s that? We all live on the same planet. Did Led Zeppelin have to live through a flood to come up “When the Levee Breaks”?

Why do you believe your “NASCAR allusions” song sucked? I hope not just because someone else told you so. And even if you came to the conclusion that the song did not meet up to your own standards that does not mean that there is not something to be gained from it. Maybe parts of it can be put with other ideas later on. Or maybe a small change would take it where you want it.

The way I see it, if someone doesn’t have something specific to contribute to the betterment of a song, I am not really interested in their critique, because everyone has an opinion. If I wrote the song, I obviously must think it has some merit, and I am not going to change that opinion based on some nebulous criteria. Any given song pitched on music row has a virtually infinitesimal chance of charting. Not every song that doesn’t get cut “sucks”.

Inspiration is not quantifiable. If you “try to write a hit” it will probably sound contrived, like most of the bullshit on the radio. That may work for established writers, but probably won’t help an unknown or less known writer. Probably the best way of increasing one’s chances is just to write a lot of songs. IIRC Lennon and McCartney reported that they wrote about nine throwaways for every song they cut.

Another good piece of advice would be to make sure you have family in the business.