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Hendrick Motorsport’s Kyle Larson led 92 percent of the 500-lap race on Monday, prompting a swathe of criticism.
Some corners pointed the blame squarely at the ‘Next Gen’ car, others blamed the lack of tyre fall-off. In any case, it’s cause for concern.
The Spring race paled in comparison to the Fall visit where tyre degradation was massive by comparison.
In March, there were 54 lead changes – the most in the Cup Series’ short track history. In a race of attrition, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin was victorious.
During the latest visit, there were just eight lead changes and three cautions for on-track incidents. There were seven cautions for on-track incidents in March.
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What the Spring race had that the Fall race didn’t was tyre wear. In the days after the race, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition said he was “baffled” by the lack of tyre wear.
For reasons unbeknownst to competitors or competition organisers, despite running the same tyre compound the degradation was minimal and meant there were no green flag pit stops.
It’s got NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. concerned about the future of short track racing.
The two-time Daytona 500 winner said tyres and the Next Gen car are often the focal point when trying to pinpoint blame.
In this case, he’s adamant the current car is not suited to short track racing and could spell the end of the niche circuit style.
“I’m guilty of this. We bounce back and forth between where we put the blame,” he said on the Dale Jr Download.
“Every time we have one of these bad races – ‘Oh, it’s the tyre. Man, I think the answer is in the tyre’ and then the next week ‘Oh, it’s a car thing’. And so no one is wrong, but I’m going to say this, that race car is a sports car. That is a sports car running ovals.”
Earnhardt Jr. noted the Supercars-inspired elements of the Next Gen car. NASCAR officials even visited a Supercars round in the early stages of research and development in 2018.
“It’s got a lot of technology from the Supercars in Australia that runs specifically road courses, it’s got a lot of components similar to what you might find in a GT3 car in IMSA,” Earnhardt said of the Next Gen car.
“It is a sports car. It’s got these wide-ass tyres on it, it’s got the diffuser, the underbody, all the aero, and they’re racing it on ovals.
“It is a big shift away from what we ran for over 50 years, which was basically a Chevrolet Camaro front clip with a 55 Chevrolet rear suspension pick-up truck. Not that that’s the greatest thing in the world but it worked, it was very imperfect.
“I think the good thing about a NASCAR race car from the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘and ‘90s was that it was very imperfect and flawed. The underbody was a mess. All of the things that car did poorly in a wind tunnel were actually producing some of the quality of racing that we saw.
“The car that we have today is an amazing vehicle, it really is. It’s an incredible car, but I don’t believe it’s going to be a good short track car. How did they get to where it would be? I don’t know that they can.”
Not just saying this bc we didn’t run well but can we all agree the only exciting part of the race was watching Owen celebrate w Kyle. Can’t remember a Bristol race being that blah in long time. Time to cancel this race car.
— Samantha Busch (@SamanthaBusch) September 22, 2024
So what is the solution? Earnhardt said the car needs a narrower tyre. He also suggested removing the underbody aero, however, he noted that has already been tested with little in the way of noticeable change, according to drivers he had spoken to.
NASCAR is ultimately invested to the point of no return with its current car. The stock car was fundamentally designed to bear a closer resemblance to a road car-going Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, or Toyota Camry – perhaps to its detriment.
The Next Gen car has been criticised for its entire existence, be it the car’s safety or its inability to produce close racing on certain circuits. That’s not to say the car is bad, overall. This year alone, NASCAR had its closest finish in history and a slew of all-time classics.
Nevertheless, Earnhardt Jr. is fearful about the future of short track races.
“This cannot be okay. I feel pretty confident that NASCAR is looking at this and saying the same thing – this can’t be okay,” he said.
“I don’t know what they’re going to do, I don’t know what they can do, I don’t know what levers they haven’t pulled, but I do not see short track racing surviving this if they don’t find some solution.
“We lost one [race at] Richmond and it’s not out of the question to think that in just a few years the Martinsvilles and the Bristols are going to be really hanging on by a thread to keep their two races.
“Just five years ago we were all begging for more short tracks,” he added. “It was a hashtag trending on social media. Now, nobody wants to go to one. Nobody wants to see on the schedule next week. What a travesty.”
