Dale Earnhardt Jr. ‘isn’t sure’ increasing horsepower would fix Next-Gen cars short track racing issue

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has given his verdict on the horsepower debate.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. ‘isn’t sure’ increasing horsepower would fix Next-Gen cars short track racing issue

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Via IMAGO)

Since the introduction of Next-Gen cars in the 2022 season, NASCAR has been struggling with producing solid races in the short tracks. Many updates were introduced over the years to fix the issue and none turned out to be a massive success. The most recent aero package used at Phoenix didn’t yield favorable results as well.

This caused the resumption of demands from drivers to increase the horsepower from 650 to 670 and make it 750 or more. NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. has responded to these demands via his podcast. Though he wants to see this happen he isn’t 100 percent sure this move would make racing better as many drivers claim 

YouTube video
I mean I love Denny’s honesty and I’m glad. If this is important to him and he believes that it will make a difference, I’d hope that he’d continue this argument. I can’t be sure that just adding horsepower is gonna make a big difference. But Denny drives the cars, and I would trust his feedback on that. And I’d certainly trust his feedback if he’s telling us about the cost being pretty much flat if you were to move from one horsepower to another — it wouldn’t change anything.
Junior said via Dale Jr Download.

Though Dale Jr. isn’t sure about the offered solution, he is convinced that at the end of the day NASCAR should be listening to the drivers as they are the one driving the cars. He wants to see his friend Denny Hamlin‘s demands getting heard and horsepower getting increased. 

FS Video

Dale Earnhardt Jr. explains why NASCAR might not be interested in increasing horsepower

The two times Xfinity Series Champion went on to detail why the NASCAR might not be interested in increasing the horsepower. He pointed out that there might be some reasons that NASCAR has been hesitant to make public that have forced them to ignore the consistent demands from the drivers. 

Josh Berry and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Josh Berry and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Via IMAGO)
Maybe there are some good reasons why NASCAR hasn’t done that, and maybe NASCAR has told us what those are, if we had to go back and dive into those comments from [NASCAR president Steve] Phelps and all those guys in the off-season and at Daytona, there was a lot of conversation around this
Junior said. 

It would be interesting to see what next steps NASCAR would be taking in the upcoming seasons over the HP debate as the short-track racing issue is something that needs an immediate fix. The best way to do it would be to listen to the drivers of the current projects to fix it are not working. 

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