“The track can’t change fast enough.” Dale Earnhardt Jr sounded hopeless about Atlanta after carnage broke out at Daytona. This year’s Daytona 500 race demonstrated the glaring defects of superspeedway racing, where chaotic unpredictability replaces skilled decisions. Denny Hamlin, a three-time winner of the Great American Race, was caught in the thick of the wreck fest. And so, he could not agree more with Dale Jr.

Superspeedway racing has changed significantly with the Next-Gen car and the revamped aero packages in Daytona or Talladega. Instead of being able to maneuver one’s way through public, drivers end up racing in packs. This has left a frustrated Denny Hamlin scrambling for possible solutions after discussions with Dale Jr.

Denny Hamlin dons a woeful face

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has struck a rough patch several times on superspeedways. In 2021, Denny Hamlin led the pack for 98 laps until an untimely pit stop trapped him mid-traffic. He could never recover as a last-lap wreck engulfed him and Michael McDowell soared to victory. In 2022, as well, a shove from Brad Keselowski on lap 63 sent Denny Hamlin into a ‘Big One.’ Talladega in 2022 was no different as yet another wreck fest thwarted his chances for glory. So after Cole Custer’s antics led to the same fate for Hamlin in Daytona in 2025, the JGR driver feels a little hopeless.

Denny Hamlin tried to rack his brains in a recent ‘Actions Detrimental’ episode. “At Daytona or Talladega, maybe we could soften the tire or harden the tire…What do we do to fix the drafting tracks?”

Yet echoing Dale Jr.’s sentiment, he felt no hope in one regard. “I think from an entertainment standpoint it probably can’t get a lot better.”

Hamlin continued, “There’s a balance there of entertainment and there’s a balance of sport where the drivers who are the superstars can really feel like they have a legit changing of the outcome based off of what decisions they make and whatnot, and the teams get a bigger role.”

At superspeedways like Daytona, drivers resort to fuel-saving. This remains the only way to get track position as cars run too closely and cannot pass each other.

Denny Hamlin outlined the problems: “I know that NASCAR doesn’t want the cars to flip over or anything like that, but in the pack, we’re running the same speed that we have been running for 7-8 years. But we’re 50 miles an hour slower…which is why we have to like, run into each other so hard to get these cars moving. It’s also why we can’t pull out of line at Daytona or Talladega…because they have so much of drag.”

However, the JGR driver also suggested a solution for this issue. Why not tweak just one part of the vehicle for superspeedways?

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All in order to get more control

Back in the day, drivers could do so much more in Daytona. That is how Dale Earnhardt Jr acquired two Daytona 500 wins and Denny Hamlin three – including consecutive ones in 2019-20. But in the present day, drivers are gridlocked into place because the car has so much drag. It kills the momentum and results in the car going backward.

In that situation, a driver cannot pass unless a line forms behind him, which remains longer than the line being passed. This dilemma has left drivers scratching their heads at superspeedways, but Hamlin has a solution. He pointed it out in October 2024: “The car makes too much drag, way too big of a spoiler.”

A NASCAR Cup car uses a 510 horsepower configuration with a 7” spoiler at Daytona, Talladega, and Atlanta. So Denny Hamlin reiterated his position recently, as well, suggesting officials tweak the size of the spoiler. However, he sounded hopeless even in this regard, “I’m wondering if we can’t do a test of some sort to just take half the spoiler off and see, does it really change the pack speed that much? My guess is it probably wouldn’t. Maybe that creates a little bit of space between the cars…Let’s try taking drag out of the Daytona-Talladega package and see if it makes it better.”

Evidently, Denny Hamlin and Dale Jr are some of the people frustrated with NASCAR’s superspeedway racing. This discontent will persist unless officials get on a war footing to bring change.