A second-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway wasn’t what NASCAR veteran Denny Hamlin envisioned when he set out for Sunday’s Food City 500. In his way stood his friend/rival Kyle Larson, who came in like a firestorm, dominating most of the race.
Following the high-speed short track action, Hamlin was back in his studio room at “Actions Detrimental” with a startling revelation about NASCAR and its Next Gen cars.
Denny Hamlin Exposes NASCAR’s Next Gen Problem
NASCAR’s Next Gen platform has undergone multiple adjustments and revisions ever since its official introduction in 2022. What came out as a successor to the Gen-6 platform of race cars received ambivalent reactions – veterans have been vocal about the Next Gen’s lack of power.
Capped at 670 horsepower, the current cars don’t create opportunities for wheel spins or other mistakes. Ultimately, this brings about one-sided races. Remember when Hamlin dominated the field at Martinsville or when William Byron did the same at Darlington?
Reflecting on this glaring issue, Hamlin, during this week’s podcast, doubled down, saying, “We didn’t actually have multiple cars on the racetrack testing this car until two months before the very first race. And at that moment is when we all realized, ‘Holy s**t, you cannot pass.’ It was really, really bad.”
Prior to this, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver went back in time, citing how the sanctioning body supposedly tricked the team owners. He said, “The very first team owner meeting that I was ever in, I just bought a charter. I said, ‘Are you sure this car is ready to race at all types of different racetracks?’ Are we sure we’ve got it right? Yes (NASCAR responded). I said, ‘Okay, I believe you. I have no reason not to.”
Address The Fundamental Issue
For the uneducated, Hamlin co-owns 23XI Racing with his business partner and NBA legend Michael Jordan. The veteran is basically asking the organization to get their act together and acknowledge the fundamental issue – the Next Gen car – instead of band-aiding it with softer tires.
The Next Gen cars are mostly built using identical, single-source parts that teams cannot modify. While this sounds spectacular – NASCAR leveling the playing field – this setup exerts pressure on drivers like never before.
In fact, now, even the best drivers with the fastest cars aren’t able to make a move. Furthermore, if a driver falls behind, the chances of him getting back track position are extremely low unless you’re Larson.
Next Gen races have become pure track position battles with drivers and teams forced to capitalize on pit stops and cautions.