The NASCAR Next Gen car has taken its fair share of criticism in recent weeks, but at least one critic is ready to offer a reprieve. Temporarily, at least.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has voiced his opinions on the car and some of the drawbacks. But when things are good for the vehicle, they’re really good. Daytona was one such instance.
“I think that what we learned, listen, here on this show we got really kind of critical, we got real critical of the sport over the last three or four weeks,” Earnhardt said on the Dale Jr. Download. “And I still feel a certain type of way about specific parts and pieces with the Next Gen car in terms of short tracks, road courses and so forth. And I, again, like I said several weeks ago, I would never rest on how things are going. I’ll always be trying to like, ‘all right, how can we make this better? How can we make this better?’ And I still feel that same way today.
“But we had what I would say is the expectation in terms of entertaining and what we should see every single week. We had that at Richmond and we had it again at Daytona.”
Concerns about passing were alleviated when Ryan Blaney raced from P13 to first in the span of just two laps at Daytona. It wasn’t an issue.
The car performed great and provided a scintillating spectacle for the viewers. Can that continue?
Earnhardt pointed to a track coming up in the next month that he thinks will really showcase the Next Gen car in a positive way. New Hampshire.
“Speaking about Richmond, the soft tire, they’re taking that same tire to New Hampshire,” Earnhardt said. “Good possibility that we’ll have some good results from that. We’ll see how that kind of works at New Hampshire. I’m excited about it. New Hampshire in the Next Gen car, actually, I’ve really liked.”
The Next Gen car is a definite departure from the previous iteration in NASCAR, Earnhardt explained. Specifically at New Hampshire, it was noticeable.
“In the car that we had before this at New Hampshire, they ran one specific line for the most part and if you got off that line and jumped the seams or tried to run low or whatever, it was pretty much a one-and-a-half groove track,” Earnhardt said. “In the Next Gen, dude, they’re running that son of a b**** all the way up into the third groove where the modifieds run. It’s wild.”
Earnhardt recalls the first time he saw the Next Gen car in that setting. It was unforgettable.
“Man, I remember being there and seeing that for the first time in the broadcast booth,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Holy s***, they’re in the third groove, way up there where there’s some really f****** old sealer.’ And I’m like, ‘Man, if they kick that sealer off and get that s*** hot and grippy it’s going to be awesome.’ Yeah, it was wild.
“You had guys way up the racetrack long, late in the run. I think with this tire you could probably see more of that. So I’m kind of bullish on New Hampshire just because I think the Next Gen car has kind of been fun to watch there no matter what.”
