“I felt disgraceful.” In 2024, Kyle Busch’s frustration at Daytona was clear. He had just been beaten on the line by Harrison Burton. To make matters worse, his winless streak continued. But such was the magic of the track. For years, Daytona has been the crown jewel of NASCAR. Legends built their legacies hereby mastering the art of drafting and strategic overtakes. But in recent years, competition at Daytona has gone upside down. The introduction of Next Gen cars has made passing nearly impossible, forcing drivers to prioritize survival over aggressive racing. Busch’s disappointment echoes the growing issue of fuel-saving strategies around the superspeedways. For true NASCAR fans, superspeedway racing was about skill, drafting, and making the right moves at the right time.

But with the Next Gen car, strategy has been reduced to survival instead of aggressive maneuvers. Amid NASCAR’s push to build a young audience base, NASCAR Hall of Fame Dale Earnhardt Jr. has questioned their silence on the growing issue. After the 2025 Daytona 500, he raised serious concerns about NASCAR’s approach.

Dale Jr. echoes Denny Hamlin’s sentiments!

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is one of the most respected voices in NASCAR. The two-time Daytona 500 winner recently questioned NASCAR’s intentions behind the fuel-saving tactics. On the latest episode of his Dale Jr. Download podcast, he argued that NASCAR’s current approach has created a situation where cars are too slow on their own.

“The core of the issue I have with the way the cars race at Daytona and Talladega. We have slowed them down to try to keep them from flipping up into the air. They have a ton of drag with the spoilers and the way the bodies are, and the motors don’t have enough power. I believe we need to reimagine the way we’re doing this. We have to get away from fuel saving,” Dale Jr. explained.

Dale Jr.’s comments reflect the biggest problem of NASCAR’s desire to use a one-size-fits-all approach to engine power. Instead of creating a separate superspeedway package, they want the same engine rules across all tracks to control costs. This decision has severely affected Daytona and Talladega, as the cars now lack the power to break away from the draft. And as fans saw during last weekend’s spectacle, overreliance on the high drag package led to Ryan Preece going airborne. There’s a clear issue at hand. In turn, it causes drivers to adopt unconventional strategies like fuel saving. This has also affected NASCAR’s TV ratings and lack of a young audience base.

Speaking about it, Dale Jr. said, “It’s like fooling the new fans tuning in for Daytona. I don’t want to say that while the race is happening because I don’t want to ruin that fan’s experience. But on a Monday or Tuesday, we can sit here and tell you the field spent 450 miles of that race riding at half throttle on purpose to save fuel. There was very minimal, “Hey man, I’m going to drive up through here and try to get the lead.” It was almost impossible to do.”

Dale Jr. is not the only one to question NASCAR’s approach. Three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin also echoed the sentiments. Speaking on his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin criticized how the cars are too easy to drive and offer too much grip. “The cars are way too easy to drive, they have way too much grip, way too much drag and what it does is it creates a great optic on TV that these cars are two by two, three by three, but ain’t nobody passing nobody. We’re out there just riding and saving fuel throughout the greater part of the race,” Hamlin said.

Notably, Hamlin’s comments reflect a bigger issue. Unlike Formula 1 or IndyCar, NASCAR Cup Series cars as very much identical to each other. A few horsepower here and there are only differences and that has made things difficult for passing on a track like Daytona. Traditionally, NASCAR fans had loved the hard racing and winning mindset, but recent changes have made racing a game of survival.

The unpredictability of the race has also led to surprise winners like Michael McDowell, Austin Cindric, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and William Byron. While underdog victories are part of the sport’s charm, the fact that many of these winners failed to contend consistently raises a bigger question: Is NASCAR’s most prestigious race losing its significance? As veterans like Hamlin and Dale Jr. voice their concerns, NASCAR will need to figure out something soon. While Dale Jr joined Hamlin on the Daytona issue, he also fired him for his comments on ARCA drivers.

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Denny Hamlin faces criticism for his ARCA comments!

The 2025 ARCA season opener at Daytona was nothing less than a wreck-fest. Almost half the grid crashed within the first 30 laps. This raised serious questions about the safety and competitive level of ARCA. Denny Hamlin joined the fans in criticizing the junior series drivers. “Can we get those guys off that track? Inexperienced drivers should not be running 190 miles an hour at Daytona. It’s just not — it’s unsafe for all,” Hamlin wrote on X.

While Hamlin’s concerns stemmed from safety, his blunt delivery didn’t sit well with Dale Earnhardt Jr. On the Dale Jr. Download, Junior pushed back against Hamlin’s stance. “All of the series, no matter what—ARCA, Trucks, Xfinity, or Cup—they all suffer from this. A good car can’t drive away from a bad car. An experienced driver can’t distance himself from a driver who doesn’t have the experience. I was mad about it 10-15 years ago, you know, the things that I hear Denny saying today. But that’s probably unnecessary.”

Though Dale Jr. didn’t mince Hamlin’s words, his concerns echo what the JGR driver said. They both, along with many more racing fans, are looking for some serious changes that can make Daytona a more competitive field. What do you think is the Daytona 500 losing its charm?