With good races at Richmond and Daytona, have NASCAR fans, and even Dale Earnhardt Jr., been overreacting to the Next Gen car? The Cup Series put on perhaps the best short track race and superspeedway race in back-to-back weeks of the Next Gen era. So, are we starting to see this car change for the better?
Each week in NASCAR, there is a new debate. Typically, it cycles through the playoffs, Next Gen car, and rules officiating during races. Those are the big three. Lately, the car has been taking a lot of heat for how it raced at a number of tracks this season.
The Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona was a good superspeedway race. Ryan Blaney was able to make calculated, subtle moves to go from 13th to 1st in the final two laps. That has Dale Earnhardt Jr. rethinking his prior criticisms of the car.
“Indeed,” Dale Jr. said, responding to Toby Christie of Racing America. “A couple weeks of criticism (guilty as charged) followed by two really solid races at two configurations of concern.
“Was last night different because we weren’t in extreme fuel saving mode? An honest question. Richmond seemed much improved. Is this mostly due to the tire? I’d say it was a big help. I hear Richmond tire is going to New Hampshire also.”
Is the track at Daytona finally aging to the point that it helps the Next Gen car with how it races? Or did we see a different race in the 400 than the 500 earlier this season because the circumstances were different?
Drivers are risking it all to make the playoffs in the summer Daytona race. In the Daytona 500, we don’t see that as much. Teams are more willing to play the game, find the mathematically best strategy and let it play out. Even if it is a fuel-saving race.
There was fuel saving going on last night. But as Dale Earnhardt Jr. pointed out, it wasn’t extreme. Someone was pushing the pace the entire time, it felt like. Besides, the finish gave NSACAR fans everything they could have wanted and more.
Let’s see how the race at Darlington goes. An intermediate track, yes, but a narrow one. The Next Gen has issues passing at that track. In the Goodyear 400, William Byron dominated, just for Denny Hamlin to win the race thanks to making a great final pit stop.
So, we will see what happens. If we see the same Darlington race that we’ve seen before, it might not be all that exciting. Then again, the win-and-advance system might push drivers and teams to get creative, push the limits, and make things more interesting than we see in the regular season.
Read the full article here
