Kyle Petty admits he HATES parity in the Cup Series brought in by Next-Gen cars

Kyle Petty never wants to see parity in NASCAR.

Kyle Petty admits he HATES parity in the Cup Series brought in by Next-Gen cars

Michael McDowell, Kyle Petty and Kevin Harvick (Via IMAGO)

One of the biggest reasons behind NASCAR introducing the Next-Gen cars in the 2022 season was to make the field as close as possible by giving them cars that were very similar. They successfully achieved it, but it came at a terrible cost, especially in short-tracks. The aero features and tiers of the car reduced the amount events, passing and total entertainment during the races.

It also deprived teams’ drivers the opportunity to become trend setters and dominant champions, like what Richard Petty, Jeff Gordon and Dale Sr. was in their peak years. Now Kyle Petty, ex-NASCAR racer who has won eight races in his career in the top-tier in his 30-year long career, has detailed the why he hates to see parity in the sport.

YouTube video

He pointed out that he would never support parity in the sport as it reduces the chance of having dominant champions and also reduce chance’s drivers have to measure them with the best. The current field everyone is measuring themselves with everyone and it doesn’t suit well according to him.

I will never ever applaud parity. I hate it. I hate it. I want somebody that I have to chase. I want everybody chasing me. I want Dale Earnhardt Sr. I want Richard Petty. I want Jeff Gordon. I want a guy out there that I got a chase that I can measure myself against. Right now, I measure myself against everybody. And everybody’s the same.
Kyle Petty said via Eric Estepp’s his YouTube channel.

Kyle Petty highlights how drivers were the actual difference makers in the 1970’s

Petty, with his seven times Cup championship winning father Richard Petty, was the guest on the recent episode of Dale Jr. Download. The host, NASCAR HOF Dale Earnhardt Jr. asked the duo about how the path towards parity has changed the sport and how the drivers were the actual difference makers in the past.

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Kyle Petty (Credits: imago)

Petty pointed out that in the 70’s there weren’t any special packages for different track as the drivers would learn their trade in the short tracks then tackle the challenges in the intermediates as well as Superspeedways. Unlike the aero packages of now days teams were more focused on changing some mechanical parts for such races and it made the race result more depended on the drivers than just car.

Before that, from a driver’s standpoint, you know, from a Richard Petty, from your dad, from Darrell and guys like that, you felt like everything you learned on a short track, you could take straight to Charlotte and Daytona and everything. It was all about springs, all about shocks, all about hooking up, it was mechanical…For me, I think that was a period when I think the driver could make a difference and a big difference.
Kyle Petty said.

The parity has brought in a lot of changes to the sport and has made it more competitive, but it also had a lot of drawbacks as well. If NASCAR can come up with some solution to make racing better and more entertaining, with a balanced parity, Next-Gen cars can be termed as the true difference maker.

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