The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs push drivers and teams to their limits, but instead of just thrilling competition, it’s become a battle of elbows-out, aggressive racing. While NASCAR encourages hard racing, this year drivers have pushed those boundaries further. Last weekend at Watkins Glen was a prime example, with even the most seasoned athletes going beyond just trading paint to secure results.

Martin Truex Jr., who has been an advocate for clean racing, was disappointed with the race at the Glen. “I just don’t really understand how guys can call themselves the best in the world when they just drive through everyone on restarts at the end of these races.”

And it is not just the veteran JGR driver; even Dale Earnhardt Jr. has now called out the style of racing the drivers have adopted.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. shares his concerns over respect

For a casual fan, last weekend’s Cup race at Watkins Glen was a good display of aggressive racing. One that touched multiple storylines and weaved new ones. It would be an understatement to say that the race was chaotic. From the drop of the green to the checkered, the only thing that persisted throughout the race was drivers taking each other out of commission.

Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney took a massive dent in their championship hopes at the very first lap. Meanwhile, William Byron found himself tangled on Brad Keselowksi’s window net, thanks to Joey Logano’s combative move to make a pass. Not to forget, the race also ended with Shane van Gisbergen and Chris Buescher getting into each other’s backs. While the race fan in Dale Jr. enjoyed the race, the series and team co-owner in him were disappointed with how racing’s going out of bounds recently.

“You don’t want it to continue to escalate; that’s what I think I’m only concerned about is that we’ve seen a lack of respect and guys just basically driving through each other at the ends of this race, and it seems to be ramping up.” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said this on the DJD podcast show. He even highlighted that it’s the drivers who are best positioned to rectify this growing trend of turning into a demolition derby type of event.

“It’s a little classless; it’s a little embarrassing. You want some of it, though. You want them to come into the series and get pushed around. But you don’t want the whole field going like a bunch of baffoons going into the corner, and just who comes out, it’s anyone’s guess. There’s no skill involved; it’s like, who doesn’t get wrecked?” Jr. added.

As it turns out, this new trend is only the by-product of NASCAR’s newest inventions. And the drivers themselves know that there won’t be any serious dent in terms of performance in case of contact or bumping into each other.

Next-gen race cars allow the drivers to push the boundaries

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After a lack of passing opportunities and power, the design of the Next Gen race is the recent edition to the criticism of this new race machine. This conversation picked up when cars started flipping into the air upside down after sliding down the racetrack. Josh Berry and Corey LaJoie were the two involved in those freak accidents. And now this abrasive style of racing has also raised questions as to how freakishly durable these race cars are.

“You got these guys knocking the sides off this car, and you’ve made the front and the back of the car more crushable…They beat the hell out of these cars because there’s less of a performance impact penalty.” Dale Jr. added further.

Despite taking significant damage to the front and back bumpers on the #11 Toyota Camry, Hamlin was able to continue the race. All it needed was a quick repair job on the pit road. “It sucks because I knew the damage was bad,” Hamlin said after the opening lap incident at the Glen. “I was really looking forward to this race, believe it or not, because we made some really good adjustments overnight to help with where I felt like we were going to be a little bit off. I wanted to just race and see what my car had. Just never had a chance.”

Xfinity and Truck drivers resorting to such a style of racing is understandable with them being young and inexperienced. But the same shouldn’t be the case with Cup Series drivers, who are believed to set an example for budding talents.