Brad Keselowski Argues Extra Horsepower Makes Next-Gen Car Slower

NASCAR give in to one of the biggest demands from the racing community in 2026, as they increased the Next-Gen cars horsepower top 750 for road course and ovals. The drivers have asking for the increase since 2022, claiming it will make racing better by providing more overtaking opportunities. The Phoenix race on last Sunday saw the additional HP in actions and it was an eventful race.

2012 Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski though had a different opinion about the change after the race. On his latest appearance on the Dale Jr. Download podcast, the RFK Racing owner driver admitted that increasing hp doesn’t really guarantee extra speed and he made the argument that the cars were actually slower in the long-run.

Horsepower is great. The crazy thing about adding more horsepower at Phoenix is cars really don’t go faster. In fact, there’s an argument to be made that they go slower with more horsepower.

Brad Keselowski said.

At the start of the race, the cars had the pace advantage owing to the freshness of the tore. But once around 60 laps are done, the racing become slower. It was an observation many in the community didn’t expect. One thing to keep in mind though is the fact that the teams made some bold choices regarding tire pressure at Phoenix that raised eyebrows.

If you look at it, the cars are maybe a tenth or two faster at most at the beginning of brand-new tires with more horsepower. But at the end of the run, let’s say we’re talking 60-plus laps, they’re like three to four tenths slower with more horsepower.

Brad Keselowski added via Dale Jr. Download.

Brad Keselowski explains reasoning for his argument

Further talking about the point, Brad Keselowski pointed out that the discrepancy in pace at the with fresh and old tires opens more opportunities to pass on the track. It was on show Phoenix where there was more overtakes than usual.  

I think that’s part of what the drivers were trying to say to NASCAR and to the key stakeholders of the sport. When you have a discrepancy where the cars are a little bit faster at the start of the run and slower on the longer run, that just opens up opportunities for more passing. You saw more passing at Phoenix than you’ve seen in a long time because of that

Brad Keselowski asserted.

He highlighted that if the tier wear remains as significant as it was at Phoenix, a valid argument can be made about the HP increase slowing cars down. But with the right pressure and strategies, this can be managed.

If I just said, ‘Run the 60 fastest laps you can run all by yourself,’ there’s an argument to be made that having more horsepower, you actually go slower. Because you wear the tires more, you do all kinds of things, and by the end of the run, that really hurts you.

Brad Keselowski added.

The drivers were asking for more hp and tire wear before the 2026 season. They got exactly that with the new rules and now has to find ways to work around to find a pace advantage. It would interesting to see how everything is going to playout for the garage is the coming races.

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