Tyler Reddick claims NASCAR needs to make Next-Gen cars ‘above 1000HP’ to fix short-track racing

Tyler Reddick doesn’t see increasing Horsepower as the solution to poor short-track racing.

Tyler Reddick claims NASCAR needs to make Next-Gen cars ‘above 1000HP’ to fix short-track racing

Bubba Wallace and Tyler ReddicK (Via IMAGO)

Poor racing out-put in the short tracks has been a major issue  NASCAR has been facing in the Next-Gen era. There have been many proposals made by individuals around the sport including aero and engine fixes to solve the issue. One of the major demands from the driver’s side has been increasing the Horsepower.

But 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick sees this as the wrong path to take as he believes going down that road to solve the issue will be an expensive trip. In his recent Dirty Mo Media Podcast appearance he pointed out that the current car’s issues regarding horsepower can only be solved if the HP is increased beyond 1000. That is over 350HP jump with the current engines having a 670HP.

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He revealed that he has tested the Next-Gen cars in the simulator of 23XI Racing adding 150 HP and saw no significant changes in the race. The issues around drag persisted and there were no positive takeaways from the experiment. If Reddick’s points are legit, it would be yet another fix like the aero and tire compound fixes NASCAR has tested that was destined to fail.

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A couple of months ago, in the sim, just for fun, I asked the guys at 23XI, there was a weird knob we could work on to increase the power of the car by 150 horsepower and it didn’t change much. The amount of off-throttle time was so marginally different. The drag of the car, the car has a lot of scrub. A lot, I think we need to be above 1000HP to move the needle and that’s a big jump.
Reddick said via Door Bumper Clear podcast.

NASCAR doesn’t want to increase the Next-Gen cars’ Horsepower

Steve Phelps, the NASCAR president, has recently confirmed that the sanctioning body doesn’t see increasing the Horse Power of Next-Gen cars isn’t the solution. He had a similar answer that Reddick gave, which is the cost of increasing HP will be too much.

NASCAR Truck Series race at Talladega
NASCAR Truck Series race at Talladega (Via IMAGO)
I don’t think the answer is more horsepower because more horsepower is expensive. If you ask a driver what’s going to solve it, they’re always going to say ‘Give me more horsepower.’ It’s a thing. I’m not a driver, but I’ve listened to enough drivers and that’s their solution.

NASCAR is continuing with the path of solving the issue with new tire compounds and aerodynamic changes. If Reddick’s points are right NASCAR is on the right track to fix the issue as they have to keep the financial burden on teams when addressing such issues.

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