Motorsports is the Mecca of innovation. For years these garages have been incubation hot spots for otherworldly technology. From Disc brakes to shock absorption zones to ethanol blends, all came out of NASCAR. Speed and innovation have always been at the forefront of NASCAR, but that was at the helm of pure engineering freedom. That doesn’t seem to be the case with the Next Gen cars. And Dale Earnhardt Jr. was one to agree with that in absolution, as he feels there is a grave overcompensation for cost-effectiveness.

“Too Tough”: Dale Earnhardt Jr’s concerns with the Next-Gen cars

The ‘Next-Gen’ car was initially proposed as the ‘only way going forward’ in an attempt to make the sport more competitive and cost-effective. This attempt at modernization of the sport was at first appreciated on paper. Even Dale Earnhardt Jr. seemed to acknowledge the possible impact of the move going forward. “The car does everything better” he stated, during a test run with NASCAR before the 2022 season. However, the 2022 season saw a lot of criticism towards the Next-Gen car, which prompted a discussion between NASCAR and the drivers.

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Kurt Busch suffered a concussion at Pocono and subsequently retired. Hendrick Motorsports #48 Alex Bowman was also concussed after an accident at Texas Motor Speedway. The drivers had a meeting in October 2022 to discuss the feedback on the safety of the cars. Cup Sophomore driver at the time, Chase Briscoe said, “The (car) needs to be as safe as it could possibly be. There’s no reason it shouldn’t be.” He added, “With the old car, you felt invincible, right? You could make these huge crashes and you’d get out and you’d be OK. And with this car you haven’t had this same feeling.” This was the overarching feeling.

NASCAR then introduced safety changes for the 2023 season, which included increased durability and new rear clips to better absorb impact, among other changes. After seeing these cars run for a few months, Dale Jr. seemed to have flipped on his words from 2022. As this move cost the very thing that had made the sport great: ‘Speed’. If it hadn’t been for Dale Earnhardt Jr., no one at NASCAR would have begun to listen to fans’ concerns regarding the Next-Gen cars.

The NASCAR legend has become a significant if not the loudest critic of the Next Gen car. And it resonates with what the core fans have been complaining about. “This is my own opinion. NASCAR wanted to make a car that could handle impacts and so forth. But these pieces would relatively survive so that the owners wouldn’t be afforded the cost of replacing all these pieces week after week after week and so maybe in that attempt to try to make a car that’s more cost-effective and more durable. You know these pieces have been made too too tough” Dale Earnhardt Jr. stated. The argument being that it sacrifices innovation at the price of safety and cost-effectiveness. And all of this comes at the sacrifice of speed and engineering prowess.

Historically, NASCAR has always been a place for engineers to flex their creativity, whether it was tweaking aerodynamics, testing new engines, or designing some crazy chassis. This experimentation was not just about achieving the fastest car—it was about constantly improving the safety and performance of the machines. Legendary engineers like 2-time NASCAR mechanic of the year Smokey Yunick thrived in this environment, creating cars that were both innovative and fast.

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This shift can be traced back to the safety changes that followed tragic events, like the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. in 2001, which led to the introduction of the ‘Car of Tomorrow’. While these changes were necessary and have undeniably made NASCAR safer, they’ve also laid the foundation for an environment where NASCAR is more focused on keeping the playing field level through strict regulations than on fostering innovation. The Next-Gen car, in many ways, embodies the end of NASCAR’s golden age of engineering genius, where manufacturers and teams were given the space to develop unique cars that were as much about innovation as they were about speed.

What’s next for the ‘Next-Gen’ car?

Despite his criticisms, Dale Jr. and many fans remain hopeful that NASCAR can change this for the good. There’s still room to improve the Next Gen car, and the key lies in finding a balance between safety, cost control, and performance. Loosening some of the weight and durability restrictions, while maintaining its safety features, could reintroduce a level of creative engineering that is currently missing from the sport. NASCAR’s future should be about more than just making cars tough enough to survive impacts—it should be about making cars that drivers can truly race, innovate with, and push to their limits.

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For Dale Jr., the sport’s legacy of innovation is too important to let it slip away. NASCAR’s engineers need the freedom to experiment once more, to take risks that can push the cars—and the sport—forward. The Next-Gen car may be here to stay, but with some adjustments, it could be re-engineered into the high-performance machine that NASCAR’s fans and drivers deserve.

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