NASCAR Next Gen Racing is Falling Short. Let’s Address It.
Last weekend at Watkins Glen, every issue with NASCAR’s Next Gen car was seemingly exposed at once, leading to the worst race I’ve seen at that track in 30 years.
Let’s call it what it was: a parade. It resembled the worst races from Formula 1.
At least the parade at Monaco has celebrities and yachts.
After a series of blowouts at Bristol and Texas in late 2022, Goodyear has since only brought tires to the track that are so hard they come with an 80,000-mile warranty. I heard Bill Byron plans to start the race this week on the same set he finished on at the Glen (I guess the Next Gen car really is promoting cost savings).
Braking points didn’t change Sunday because the tires didn’t wear and the new stock sports car brake packages allow everyone to brake late. The wider tires are also providing more cornering grip and significantly increasing corner speeds at most tracks — where cars use to make passes.
In early 2022, we were told that the Next Gen’s underbody was supposed to allow cars to better run in its wake. It actually creates a giant aerodynamic bubble behind it and makes it nearly impossible to pass the leader, which we saw at Michigan and Pocono. The fastest car — by a decent margin — was forced to run second, at least until Denny Hamlin took matters into his own hands.
Hamlin nudging Larson out of the racing groove and into the wall is one of the defining moments of the NASCAR Cup season, but the factors that led to it are nothing to celebrate. And the race itself stunk. With a much faster car, Hamlin’s only chance to make a move was to clear Larson after the first turn on the restart, leading to a desperate move and the fireworks that ensued.
We were all too distracted by Hamlin’s post-race comments to focus on the sad reality that once cars were through Turn 1 on a restart, NASCAR Cup racing at far too many tracks is a procession.
At the end of 2022, many in the industry gave the Next Gen car rave reviews and the intermediate track racing was worthy of praise. NASCAR seemed to enter 2023 with two worthy focus areas: decreasing the car’s rigidity to promote safety and improving short track racing by unveiling a package with a lower spoiler.
But as we head into the 2023 playoffs, it’s clear that to achieve the kind of racing we expect, just adding a smaller spoiler for short track races isn’t going to cut it. There is so much work to do.
At short tracks, we’ve seen some improvement, but less downforce has led to less tire wear and tire wear is the most important factor in producing comers and goers.
At superspeedways, the lower horsepower, larger spoiler package has just created two-wide pushfests where the leader is completely reliant on the driver behind them, instead of what we see in Xfinity where the driver can play more of a factor.
And we’ve already chronicled high speed ovals and road courses.
We’ve seen great races, too. At New Hampshire, for example, cars were somehow running three-wide and developing lanes out by the wall. Charlotte produced lots of passing. But these examples have been few and far between.
With the playoffs set to begin, improving the racing in 2023 is a lost cause. Now is the time for NASCAR to figure out how to make the racing better in 2024. More than a year and a half into the Next Gen era, the governing body hasn’t done enough.
Experimenting during playoff races isn’t appropriate, but multiple tests should be put in place before the 2024 season. If cost is a concern, there are enough organizations that they can each be called on once.
Solutions exist. Softer tires will alleviate many of these other issues. NASCAR can experiment with several changes to the underbody, gear changes that disincentivize shifting, and so much more.
Fans are going to grow increasingly tired of the status quo, especially if we see more repeats of Sunday. Let’s admit there is a problem and strategize to fix it.
