Kyle Larson, often hailed as one of the most naturally gifted talents in NASCAR, has one glaring chink in his armor. Superspeedways. The 2021 Cup Series champion is yet to pick up a superspeedway win in the Cup Series. Entering the Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega, many touted Larson as an underdog, and he embraced it, saying, “I probably have the worst average finish here of guys with more than three years of Cup experience. So I’ll take being the underdog.” However, after a solid run which culminated in a P3 finish, his best at a superspeedway, Larson lamented the one thing fans and drivers have been criticizing for the last four years. The Next-Gen car.

Ever since the Next Gen car was introduced in 2022, Larson and many besides him have had to contend against not just competitors on the track, but the car itself! Larson’s on-track rival and close friend, Denny Hamlin, has gone on record multiple times about how little time was given to design and test whether the car was suitable for the sport. “We didn’t have multiple racecars on the racetrack testing this car until two months before the very first race. And at that moment is when we all realized holy s—, you cannot pass. It was really, really bad,” Denny Hamlin echoed the sentiment most garages felt about the Next Gen car. After Larson’s outing at Talladega, he let out some qualms he has with the car, and it’s not too different from what Hamlin has said.

Next Gen or next problem?

When the Next Gen car was introduced to racing, it was a revolution. It promised equality in competitive racing. Every Cup Series driver, Kyle Larson being one of them, had to readjust to the beast that they had created, which was radically different. However, in chasing equality, NASCAR may have built an obstacle. The problem lies deeply coded within the car’s DNA. The Next Gen chassis’s symmetrical body design and underbody aero reduce dirty air but also deny outside cars the ability to build passing runs. Its 670-horsepower engines, while restricted, have carried the load into tight, rigid packs and hardly allow the accumulation of momentum without chaos.

Speaking to the media after the Jack Link’s 500, Larson was asked if it was difficult to pass, and he said, “Yeah, yeah, very, very, very difficult to pass. I mean, I started the race in the back and couldn’t go anywhere. Some things got jumbled up… You need moments like that for the field to get kind of choked up and fanned out.” While bringing parity was a move that was ignited by Jimmie Johnson’s five consecutive championships in the 2000s, it has now turned the field so equal that if there isn’t a wreck or a bump, no one is passing. And while Talladega is known for its wrecks, Sunday’s race saw a green flag run from stage 2 to the checkered flag!

These sentiments were echoed by Larson’s crew chief Cliff Daniels, who said after the race, “Typically, the stage one and stage two, you know, completion isn’t very, you know, exciting or, you know, it’s not a lot of trouble that happens along the way. So those play out more straightforward, and today I think the difference with stage three played out really straightforward.” 

Reflecting on how the race ended and his victory in stage 1, Larson also added, “I was a bit surprised at the end of the first stage we were able to get the top lane and get clear… It’s just confusing sometimes when runs happen… At the end, it’s really just two guys in the front row who have a shot to win it.” In stage three, when Ryan Preece and Austin Cindric were going wheel-to-wheel, it was Kyle Larson right behind Cindric, trying to bump him and get past, but the aero of the car just did not allow him to get close enough to move the #2. This is what irked Larson at what was the best superspeedway run of his career.

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Kyle Larson’s criticism is yet another in a long list of complaints

It’s not just the competition that suffers, but it is also a safety problem. Early in the Next Gen era, drivers, including Denny Hamlin, said the crashes felt way, way more intense than they had been in earlier cars. More energy is directed to the driver at impact in the new chassis because of its stiffness during the kind of wreck that takes place at superspeedways, where speed and pack density are at their highest.

“I feel like my jaw was like one of those boxers that gets his whole face demolished,” said Hamlin in 2022, after the 13-car wreck in Daytona. With growing numbers, NASCAR undertook a very thorough examination of the crash data and made mid-season changes, but still, some skepticism is left among the garage veterans. And while the crashes hurt more, the lack of horsepower doesn’t allow drivers to take control of such dangerous situations and avoid the crashes.

Most of the drivers have been calling for more horsepower of up to 750. Drivers’ capabilities in throttle response and control to race competitively and safely would be enhanced through this. But NASCAR just stands there. Officials seem to be content in prioritizing the optics of massive, glued-together packs over the actual quality and safety of the race itself. While 30 cars nose-to-tail at a breakneck speed of 190 mph may seem thrilling on TV, it handcuffs the very stars whom fans tune in to watch, all while walking on a tightrope between entertainment and disaster.

Most promises given by NASCAR in this regard to solve the problems with a Next Gen car have gone unfulfilled amid persistent driver complaints and multiple worrying crashes. Denny Hamlin has emerged as a very vocal critic on aspects of the car’s performance and safety, saying, “These cars are horrendous. They’re the worst car by far in traffic than what we’ve ever had.”

The main concern for every driver is the sanctioning body, who seem to be reluctant to step in and implement serious changes. Do you think the Next-Gen car has ruined superspeedway racing? Let us know in the comments!