Another day, another Next-Gen bashing. NASCAR probably dug its own grave in 2022, as waves of criticism have not ceased since. Criticisms, for what used to first referred to as the “Strictly Stock” division when NASCAR first emerged on the scene in 1949, have stemmed from lived truths: safety issues, single-source parts to raise parity on racetracks, and the difficulty of passing due to low horsepower.

Veteran driver Mark Martin, who has witnessed the evolution of NASCAR Cup cars over a (Cup) career spanning 882 starts in more than three decades, is one of them and has jumped aboard a fresh round of Next Gen criticism. He vehemently calls for a fashion revolution.

In 2020, the sport experimented with the Cup car’s number placement. The All-Star Race is the testing ground for all of NASCAR’s quirks, just as how Goodyear tested its tires this year. But just like the tire experiment was a terrible failure, moving car numbers from the middle of the door to the rear quarter panel also failed to attract public approval. So, what happened instead?

The car number was moved forward from the center of the door towards the front wheel well, a move that was partly influenced by race teams as it gave sponsors more surface area of the car’s side to increase visibility and value. Part of this was out of necessity, Next Gen car featured smaller quarter panels that would have meant reduced space for sponsorship.

In a recent interview, the NASCAR Hall of Famer was aggressively clear about his demands, starting with the number placement. “Move the numbers to the middle of the door. I don’t care who likes it, or who don’t like it… It’s ugly! It doesn’t look like a race car. It looks stupid.”

NASCAR’s objective was to make space for sponsorship, but Martin would have none of that. “The sponsors were there…and they’re still there on the Xfinity cars, still there on ARCA cars. The sponsors are there. It doesn’t make that much difference. They spoiled them by giving ’em what they gave. Put the number back where it’s supposed to be.

Then Mark Martin had some more inputs: “Somebody smarter than me can raise the back of the car. If nothing else, mandate a longer rear shock so that they run bottom down… It looks stupid squatting in the back like it does all the time. Third, get rid of the damn underbody – they don’t need that stuff.”

For context, Next-Gen car featured an evolved bumpers—energy-absorbing foam bumpers in front and back—one that promised driver safety. In fact, during a test in Feb 2022, Austin Dillon’s car, that crashed into the outer wall in Turn 2 with a major impact on left front before sliding down the track into the inside wall, was back on-track the very same day. However, it doesn’t take away the fact that it is not a full-proof evidence for drivers’ safety. Take Kurt Busch’s case for example.

Busch was forced to retire prematurely after sustaining lingering effects after suffering a concussion owing to a rear impact on his Next Gen car at Pocono Raceway in 2022. According to Busch, the rear hit registered at a brain-rattling 30 G’s and the front smacked the wall at 18 G’s. As a point of reference, modern fighter pilots pull a G-force of about nine, stats that raised concerns about safety in the Next Gen cars. And Martin too wasn’t one to fray away from addressing his annoyance with the narrow bumper.

He fiercely declared: “Then, widen the back bumper out some…It looks stupid – doesn’t look like a race car. ARCA cars…Xfinity cars look like race cars…Too narrow, sucks in behind the tires. And by the way, that would make the drivers drive a little bit better if they widen that out. Then when they take the downforce off, maybe they wouldn’t cry as much about it.”

However, even before the Next Gen car was a thing of reality, NASCAR’s back bumpers were not so popular.

Bumper trouble was a big thing

The early 2000s marked a time when NASCAR revolutionized safety in the sport, but it also marked a time of huge risks and high-impact crashes. Many of them were caused by rubbing bumpers—when a driver uses their car to move an opponent out of the way at dangerously high speeds. Dale Earnhardt was an expert at this but tragically lost his life in the 2001 Daytona 500 race. Tracks like Bristol Motor Speedway posed even greater risks. In 2005, Jimmie Johnson bumped Jeff Burton, who narrowly escaped neck injury when he was hit head-on by Kurt Busch soon after.

These bumper accidents occurred well before the Next Gen car’s introduction, but Jeff Burton pointed out the track’s notoriety as a factor: “If you want to talk about how close the cars are, how competitive they are, put 43 cars at Bristol, separate them by three-tenths of a second, you’re going to have wrecks.” He also bashed inexperienced drivers (although Jimmie Johnson went on to become a 7-time Cup champion) as the cause. “At the end of the day, what we do is competitive, and what we do is exciting to watch, and what we do borders on craziness, and that’s why it’s fun to watch.”

Yet that fun characteristic has evaporated with the Next Gen car’s arrival. Let us see if NASCAR moves towards some positive changes to appease fuming veterans and fans.