Horsepower Advocate Dale Jr Makes Shocking Heel Turn On Denny Hamlin’s Short-Track Package Demands

While Toyota Racing Development found great reason for celebration at the Shiners Children’s 500 with Bell’s dominant win, it’s safe to say not every driver from JGR is as happy with the Next Gen car and its current overtaking capabilities on short tracks. Denny Hamlin has long been vocal about the Next Gen’s drawbacks, with the media picking up on his wishes as he revealed that NASCAR could make significant horsepower changes as soon as next week if they actually wanted to. However, that decision isn’t as easy as Hamlin makes it out to be, with Dale Earnhardt Jr highlighting NASCAR’s reservations surrounding the proposition.

Dale Earnhardt Jr believes there are reasons why NASCAR hasn’t heard out Hamlin’s horsepower concerns

Over the weekend at the Phoenix Raceway, there had been intense debates surrounding the impact of the package brought in by NASCAR to improve racing on short tracks. Back then, Hamlin was one of the few drivers who wanted to wait and see what changes it could bring. But that would all change as the 23XI co-owner struggled to fight his way back through the grid after a late spin. This made Hamlin’s comments surrounding the horsepower debate pick up traction not just from the media, but also from fans.

Naturally, the Joe Gibbs Racing star had to clarify things further, sharing that he was going off of reports and didn’t know complete details surrounding what was possible regarding the timeframe. So when Dale Earnhardt Jr went over Hamlin’s wishes on the latest episode of the Dale Jr Download, the veteran who has long advocated for more horsepower, commended Hamlin on sticking to his stance. Jr stated, “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.”

However, Earnhardt Jr had one major doubt about the whole scenario. He added,

“I can’t be sure that just adding horsepower is gonna make a big difference. But Denny drives the cars and I’d trust his feedback on that. And I’d certainly trust his feedback if he’s telling us about the cost being pretty much flat.” Being the team owner of 23XI racing, it is true that Hamlin would know just how different costs would be, but at the same time, Junior pointed out there were reasons why NASCAR hadn’t done so.

With talks of a fourth OEM entering the world of NASCAR heating up, increasing the benchmark for engine development to somewhere around 750 HP would add excessive pressure on the newcomer, with concerns of sustainability also entering the picture. Junior added, “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 Phelps and all those guys in the off-season and at Daytona, there was a lot of conversation around this.”

Going over all the complexities surrounding NASCAR’s conversations around alternative fuel sources and more, Earnhardt Jr felt it just couldn’t be so easy. Still, Junior was interested to see how far Hamlin’s determination would take this idea. He shared his expectations, ”Denny makes it sound like there are no hurdles to getting there. Doug Yates, who builds the Fords, and all the Toyota guys, they all say they can go to 750 with no issue. And it can be before next weekend, right? It can be done overnight. And it wouldn’t change durability or anything, or cost any additional money. I would love to see them give that a try at Martinsville.”

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But that’s not all. While Junior was curious to know if Hamlin’s wishes for more horsepower would materialise, the Hall of Famer also shared what he believes is the true factor holding back the Next Gen car on The Oval.

If more horsepower isn’t the answer, what is? – Earnhardt Jr reveals his take

Although it is worth mentioning that Earnhardt Jr too believed more horsepower could help the Next Gen get better at overtaking, what the JR Motorsports owner believes should be NASCAR’s main focus is to eliminate gears and shifting. While shifting between gears does allow the driver greater control over the torque, this problem would be eradicated by the introduction of a single-speed transmission, believes Earnhardt Jr.

Junior went on to explain, “I’m telling you even with all of that (horsepower talk) I still want them to try and work on getting rid of the shifting. I do not think that even though they are getting to where it’s second nature to them to shift, having to drive into a corner and downshift and then do another shift on the next straightaway, doing that for every single corner, for 500 laps at Martinsville, right. That takes away from your processing on how to set the corner up, how to set up the car in front of you, how to make a difference in the corner.”

The JR Motorsports owner felt shifting through the corners was more of a “distraction” than anything, as it took away from the driver’s focus on the apex and his lines. Junior also brought up how Hamlin and other drivers have been vocal about how shifting takes attention away from the real deal.

Junior concluded, “It’s such a distraction from what they really would love to be focusing on. And that is getting the car into the corner deeper and differently or trying to figure out a way to drive the corner uniquely to be able to set up a pass for the car in front of them. And so I would love for them to continue to try and figure out a way to get the shifting out of the Ovals.”

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After taking a look at the contrasting opinions of Junior and Hamlin as to what the solution is when it comes to overtaking around the Oval, do you think more horsepower or a single-speed transmission is the answer?