Denny Hamlin Exposes “F***ing Draggy” Next-Gen Cars’ Superspeedway Weakness
Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin has shared his thoughts on the major design issues with the current iteration of Next-Gen car.
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Denny Hamlin (Via @JoeGibbsRacing/X)
The NASCAR Cup Series race last Sunday at Talladega was wild, as it featured a multiple chaotic moment, including the 25-car wreck that determined the fate of some big names. Most of the drivers were furious with the race product, with the likes of Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney urging the management to step up, as well as fix the design issues.
Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin in the latest episode of his podcast, shared his thoughts on the situation. He admitted that at the draft track the drivers in the draft can easily save fuel by using significantly less throttle than the leaders because of the draggy character of the car. This forces front-runners to take fuel saving measures, ruining the entertainment value.
The way the draft works and these cars are so f*cking draggy that it just lets you run 20% throttle and keep up with the pack.
Denny Hamlin said on his podcast.
The drivers running upfront is in a disadvantage that needs to fix, as the drafting has become less entertaining and more of a hindrance. Denny Hamlin pointed out that the aero of the cars also makes the situation tough to handle for the drivers. The racers have been calling NASCAR to make changes since 2022.
We’re running all out vs. guys that are running half throttle. Because they can use our draft. They don’t have to run that throttle. Again, the air that gets punched by this car is so massive and they’re so draggy that all it takes is a little bit of a sniff and you can just run half throttle right behind someone that’s running all out. That’s part of the problem.
Denny Hamlin added via Actions Detrimental.
Fuel saving measures not only make racing slower but also creating moments that could lead to more chaos, as the field is much closer than they should have if the drafting charter of the cars were different. Sometimes it leads to impressive finishes like the Chris Buescher–Carson Hocevar battle, but it’s not gives as the possibility of last lap wrecks are significantly high.
Then the other part is you cannot pull out of line because the drag. And that’s why these races have become fuel mileage saving, is because you saw it in the last stage. Even when everyone wanted to go 100% it’s 2×2 … there’s nowhere to go.
Denny Hamlin asserted.
Denny Hamlin how Next-Gen car has changed the mindset of racers
Further talking about the point, the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran pointed out that the teams are now more focussed on getting out of the pits faster as they can’t afford to miss out on opportunities to cycle to the front. The cars being bad at pulling out of lines is also a major issue.
That’s why the teams have switched their mentality to shortest time on pit road. We want to make sure we cycle to the front, because we know that’s where we’re going to finish as long as we don’t wreck. The lack of ability to pull out of line in this car is what has caused fuel mileage racing to happen.
Denny Hamlin said.
Going into the 2027 season, NASCAR needs to listen to the drivers like they did with the 2026 horsepower increase. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout in the sport regarding potential redesigning of the Next-Gen cars.
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