The last time NASCAR Cup Series drivers raced at Talladega Superspeedway, Corey LaJoie finished the race with his car upside down. Drafting tracks are notorious for the big ones and the wrecks; it’s not a new feature. But the scary flips and Next-Gen cars being tossed in the air have got NASCAR concerned.

NASCAR did bring the shark fin, the air deflector, on the right side window of the race cars for the fall Daytona race. The purpose of these fins was to keep the cars grounded when turned sideways. But that didn’t work as Josh Berry was sent flying in the air, and this has now forced NASCAR to look for an alternative. However, Chase Elliott has his reservation about these changes and how they’ve been implemented.

What’s the new change by NASCAR to the Next Gen car?

All the race cars entering the Round of 12 race at Talladega Superspeedway will have an extended height of the roof rails, an extended rocker panel skirt, and a right-side fabric roof flap. The right-side roof flap will feature a triangular piece on the edge, which will act as a parachute, catching air to slow down the race car.

Unlike the previous iterations, the Next Gen car features a box-type design, and the bottom is just a flat and packed sheet. This was seen as a big concern, as once the air penetrated the bottom of the car, they were flipping upside down on the racetrack. In order to curb this issue, NASCAR has added an aluminum extension to eliminate the space between the car and the track.

However, Chase Elliott wasn’t too sure about these changes and asked NASCAR to find a permanent fix rather than making tweaks multiple times. “I don’t think you can necessarily completely eliminate that; hopefully there are ways to make it better, and hopefully this is a step in the right direction. Hopefully, it’s an improvement, and hopefully nobody finds out whether it works or it doesn’t work.” 

“But I’m sure there will be a circumstance at some point down the road that it’s tested, and we’ll all see for ourselves. And there’s a better process of implementing these things and finding a better way to do it trying to tacking on these little pieces here and there in the middle of the season,” Chase Elliott said this ahead during the media availability before the Yellawood 500 race.

Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin, who has been outspoken about his criticism of the Next Gen car, referred to this as a band-aid treatment.

Denny Hamlin and others rejected the initial aerodynamic changes to the car

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The Gen 7 car has often been in the news for all the wrong reasons. And the aero features once again are in the limelight ahead of the Talladega race. Before announcing this new adjustment, the teams and drivers were asked to share their opinions on the tweaks made by NASCAR. And the proposed changes were roof rails extended right up to the windshields. These changes was disregarded by the majority of drivers and teams.

“This weekend we got briefed from NASCAR on changes that they’re proposing for Talladega, which include running that roof rail over our front windshield. And obviously, the drivers were not in favor of that. For one, it looks like a**. And second, you know, it hurts visibility. But the problem is that, you know, we take tear-offs off our front windshield, and superspeedways are some of the worst tracks for debris on the front windshield. So we need to get those tear-offs off.” Hamlin said this on the Actions Detrimental podcast.

It is indeed hard to gauge or predict whether or not these new aero features will be a success at Dega. Now the superspeedway races are known for big ones. And this just might allow the fans to see if these new changes were a success or a gimmick to hide the bigger issues with the Next Gen car.