While it was a feast for Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, Denny Hamlin didn’t quite have the best day at Talladega last Sunday after he failed to secure a top-10 finish. Clearly frustrated with NASCAR’s product, the veteran took to his podcast studio to voice his grievances, aiming at NASCAR’s Next-Gen equipment.
Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t alone. NXS team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. soon echoed his concerns, standing in solidarity as both drivers called for critical revisions to the sport.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Comes in Support of Denny Hamlin After Frustrating Race at Talladega
Starting his day from the 13th spot, Denny Hamlin had a mountain to climb if he were to contend for the win in Sunday’s superspeedway action. Once the race got underway, Hamlin steadily worked his way up. But the pace of the Next-Gen and the drafting nature of the 2.6-mile Alabama speedway made passing a tall order even for a seasoned veteran like Hamlin.
Soon, one section of fans backed the organization, believing that the Cup Series race was a great spectacle with 67 lead changes among 23 drivers. The other section found Saturday’s Xfinity Series more engaging and a far better showing.
Hamlin stuck to the latter section. Following the race, the 44-year-old voiced his frustrations. He pointed out that the Next-Gen was inadequate for short tracks and drafting tracks like Talladega – something “Junior” was very vocal about.
Reflecting on Hamlin’s thoughts, Earnhardt said, “The f**king car is another problem. I mean, you saw it at the end of the race, when it was like, we’re all f**king going, they can’t do nothing but run two by two, and Denny (Hamlin) explains it on his show.”
Divulging the facts of the argument with his co-host TJ Majors, the 50-year-old said, “The car has way too much drag on it… If they took some rag off this thing, it’d make racing look completely different. There’s some glaring problems with the racing at Daytona, Talladega with the Next-Gen, and there’s some issues with the car. They need to work on them. They need to fix them.”
According to Earnhardt, the cars have too much downforce, making passing a hard nut to crack, particularly on high-speed drafting tracks like Daytona or Talladega. With restrictor plates already limiting horsepower, the combination of low power and high downforce in the Next-Gen machine has led to professional racing that, in his view, falls short of delivering the excitement fans expect from NASCAR’s marquee speedways.