NASCAR’s original plan with the Next Gen race car was to make the playing level for all. Be it a single-car team or new race teams entering the Cup Series. The idea of parity racing was to allow smaller teams to contest against the mighty HMS, JGR, and Penske drivers. Although the invention is still rough around the edges, it has delivered some promising results. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s win at Talladega last weekend proves that NASCAR certainly is making ground in making races more competitive.

However, there’s also been a lot of criticism towards the superspeedway package, and how it’s leading to more aggressive racing. Teams often bank on fuel strategies, which makes pit stops ever more important. The #11 team in particular has been vocal about the issues with the Gen-7 car and its impact on speedway racing. But Stenhouse Jr.’s crew chief, Mike Kelley, had a rather interesting rebuttal to this argument. And this might ruffle a few feathers given a crew chief from a single-car team is out in support of the Next-Gen machine.

Smart engineers and crew chiefs responsible for the current trend of speedway racing

The Next-Gen car has been successful in bringing the pack together, especially with its superspeedway race package. It allows the drivers to push three and four wide while running half throttle and saving fuel at the same time. Less time on the pit road equals more gains in the track position; that’s Gen-7 speedway racing in a nutshell. And by the looks of it, the upcoming and smaller teams have certainly made the most of this opportunity.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. historically has been good on tracks like Daytona and Talladega. His first win in the Next Gen era came with a Daytona 500 triumph in 2023. Before that, Austin Cindric from Team Penske won the 2022 edition. Moreover, Denny Hamlin’s very own team 23XI Racing grabbed a Talladega win this year with Tyler Reddick. With wins spread across the board, teams constantly try to find that extra edge in the garage. And for the smaller teams, these six superspeedway configuration races are their best shot at grabbing the win.

Asked about his take on superspeedway racing in the Next Gen car on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Mike Kelley opined, “I love it Dave, and I’m being honest with you. Not because we won; we didn’t win the other 5 speedway races this year, but maybe we had shots at them… I want people to understand that it isn’t a Gen 7 car thing or this particular car thing; it’s all the engineers and crew chiefs just getting smarter every single year.”

He even went on to share the story behind how the fuel mileage racing started. Surprisingly, it was the #47 team that kicked off this trend back in 2021, when Brain Pattie used to call the shots in the pit box. “I was at the track, and they ran the second stage of the dry Daytona race without pitting, and hardly anyone ever noticed that but a few guys. And Brain then realized, Hey, if we get Ricky just not to run wide open but run back around 25th, we think we’re close enough, we can make it in some of these stages,” he added.

The essential part of fuel mileage racing involves drivers not using the full acceleration capabilities of the car. This keeps them from pushing on for track position, leaving fans with a less exciting race. The whole idea is based on the principle that drivers save on refueling time during pit stops, letting them gain track position when other cars pit. However, it’s not just fuel mileage racing that contributed to the #47 Chevy’s success.

Even before the fuel mileage racing of the Next Gen car came into the picture, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. bagged two career wins on superspeedways. His recent Talladega win was a testament to his skills on the drafting tracks and making the most of these limited opportunities to contest for wins.

Stenhouse Jr. played his part in spoiling the playoffs

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The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs have proven to be a tough nut to crack for drivers contending for the championship. Chris Buescher started playing spoiler at Watkins Glen, Ross Chastain followed suit at Kansas, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. from JTG Daugherty Racing pulled off a big upset at Talladega Superspeedway. Talladega marked the third race during the ongoing playoffs fight where a driver not fighting for the championship took the top spot. And it wasn’t a fluke or a lucky break. The driver of the #47 team was the deserving winner based on his performance throughout the day.

He led 19 of the 195 laps, including the all-important last ones battling against six-time Talladega winner Brad Keselowski and William Byron. He was one of the two cars leading the field when Austin Cindric checked up and led to the biggest crash in NASCAR history. 28 cars were involved in the chaos, but Stenhouse kept his nose clean and bagged his first win of the season in a photo finish, beating the #6 Ford by just 0.006 seconds.

This was indeed a huge win for Stenhouse and the entire JTG Racing team. There has been a lot of speculation surrounding the future of Kroger as the primary sponsor, as well as co-owner Tad Geshickter, rumored to be exiting the team by the end of 2024. “Man, this team has put a lot of hard work in, and obviously we haven’t won since the Daytona 500 in ’23. It’s been an up-and-down season; a lot of hard work this season trying to find a little bit of speed, but we knew this track is one of ours to come get it,” he said to NBC Sports after the race.

Superspeedway racing has changed a lot in recent years, and while there has been criticism about it, the teams are always going to find a way to get an advantage. This practice, in turn, could lead to a more entertaining and competitive style of racing in the coming years.