At least from a short track and road course standpoint, Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants to reset the NextGen car, or at least simplify it.
He issued some commentary about the state of the seventh-generation Cup Series platform on Tuesday during the latest episode of his Dale Jr. Download podcast. This was following the race on Sunday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, which featured a tremendous amount of tire degradation and improved racing because of it.
“I do like the tire, the falloff. That’s like one little thing, but there’s so many little things that I wish were different,” Earnhardt said. “The tire this weekend — so good. More of that, please. I’ll be honest, this car — I’ve talked in length about this car on this show. Things about the car physically that I just don’t think belongs on the car.
“The underbody and all of that stuff. I would really tear this car apart and strip it down, get rid of some shit. I would not touch it in its current form for the mile-and-a-half and stuff.”
By underbody, Earnhardt is referencing the fact that the NextGen is completely sealed off under the car in ways that previous generation of Cup Series racing machines were not. Teams got really creative in trying to maximize downforce beneath their cars so in the interest of parity, NASCAR sealed the underbody.
But that’s only especially problematic on short tracks and road courses and not the intermediate tracks, where racing has drastically improved from previous generation of cars.
To that point, NASCAR announced this week an increase in horsepower on short tracks and road courses from 670 to 750.
But in addition to that, Earnhardt wants to get rid of the sealed underbody and strip the car of elements like the rear diffuser as well.
“But for the car I’m gonna take to Martinsville, it would be like the unplugged version instead of the full band,” Earnhardt said. “It would be the unplugged version of the Next Gen. You don’t need all that shit. It’d be so basic and dull, you’d beat the shit out of it.
“Go out there and beat the shit out of it. It could look the same to you on TV, but underneath the shell, it would be a much, much simpler, leaner version.”
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