The Next-Gen car is one of the most controversial aspects of modern-day NASCAR racing. The primary objective behind this new car’s launch was to create a level playing field. In short, the teams were now unable to make those cheeky adjustments or work on their machine so that it stood out on race day. As a result, the teams now had to rely on a single source parts supplier rather than developing themselves.
Unfortunately, this parity racing experiment has instead become a major hurdle in providing the fans with the racing action they were accustomed to seeing. In theory, parity racing was expected to help the smaller teams compete against the top dogs. Well, they certainly have matched them in terms of speed, but the powerhouse teams still seem to have an edge when you look at the winner’s chart.
Moreover, the Next Gen car has been woeful on the short tracks, and the Superspeedway races have turned into fuel mileage competition rather than racing. So, the idea of parity has given the teams the comfort of competing in the races, essentially making the whole process easy. This certainly wasn’t the case back in the day, when engineers and crew chiefs had to grind hard to find the edge that could help their drivers.
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So, how does NASCAR overcome this obstacle they have created? Well, Denny Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gabheart, had a rather simple solution. “What we’ve got to do is make it harder. We simply have a horsepower-to-grip ratio imbalance. We knocked out 100 horsepower. We went to a wider tire, we went to independent rear suspension. We increased grip, decreased horsepower. That’s too easy for you, right? That’s too easy for race teams. Therefore, the physics disadvantage from however you line up on the track, given a scenario, is hard to overcome,” he said to Kevin Harvick on the Happy Hour podcast.
The message that Gabehart was trying to convey was to give the teams and drivers something to work on. Be it trying to find the sweet spot with the increased horsepower or work with a new tire. Even NASCAR fans who aren’t particularly known to support Hamlin or the #11 team agreed with Gabehart’s suggestion to overcome the failed experiment of parity racing.
Fans demand the return of the good old days of NASCAR racing
One of the biggest problems with the design of the Next-Gen car is that it’s an aero-heavy race car. While this is advantageous for the drivers leading the field, but not so much for the driver tailing the lead car. Agreeing with Gabehart’s explanation, a fan replied, “He is basically advocating for either more horsepower or less grip which are both great ideas but I think we also really need to look at the spoiler getting shortened as well (ie decreasing aero grip).”
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At this point, most of the fans know that NASCAR isn’t giving in to the demands for an increase in horsepower. But that doesn’t mean they should just continue with the mediocre output of this race car. Further backing Gabehart’s claims, a user added, “I feel like he really nailed it there. Not to mention, it’s pretty clear more HP isn’t happening, so might as well try something else.”
Comparing how easy it is to drive the Cup Series car compared to a late model stock car, a fan chimed in, stating, “The cup series car should be the most difficult car to drive and it simply isn’t. Late-model stocks slip and slide more than these things do. We need to either take away grip, or add a boat load of horsepower. Hell, do both.”
It feels like the JGR veteran chief was indeed speaking on behalf of the entire NASCAR community when he highlighted the discrepancies with the Gen-7 car. According to this fan, people like Gabehart should be the ones calling the shots on how to make races exciting. “There’s a reason this guy is a top of line crew chief. These are the people @NASCAR should be listening to. More power, narrow the tire, keep the tire fall off to up the off throttle time, and we’d probably have a hell of a show.”
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Crew chiefs, drivers, and even fans are an integral part of the NASCAR community. And it is about time that the governing council pays attention to their suggestions. “NASCAR just needs to listen to guys like Chris”.
Only time will tell if NASCAR takes notice of the community’s outcry to do away with the flawed idea of parity racing.