“Some Weak Spots in It”: Kyle Petty’s Honest Opinion on Current State of NASCAR and Next-Gen Car

Changes are always constant in a sport like NASCAR. Just last year, they introduced the Next-Gen car as a complete upgrade to the last Gen 6 cars. From the get-go, the car seemed to suffer from its fair share of problems. But over time NASCAR did bring in improvements to fix the majority of the problems endured by the drivers.

Moving on to its second year running, the Next Gen car still has some issues that need to be rectified with time in order to make for a better racing experience in general. Recently, while discussing the state of NASCAR and the Gen 7 cars, insider Kyle Petty shared his honest opinion on the subject.

Kyle Petty shares his thoughts on NASCAR and the Next Gen car

While speaking on the Kenny Wallace show, Petty stated, “I think this car, if they continue to do what they’re doing with this car, continue to be open to suggestions to tweak it, whether it be stiffness, whether it be aero, whatever, that they continue to stay open I think they’re heading in the right direction.”

“I think there’s still some weak spots in it. I don’t think they’re short-track program, they don’t put on great short-track races. That’s not a good thing for this car. The Speedway stuff is always going to be whatever it is. As long as we run those, the engines and try to restrict them. That’s always going to be what it is. ”

Petty concluded that while there are some challenges with NASCAR’s current state, but the intermediate tracks were performing well. He also noted that the leadership is receptive to making changes, which is a positive sign.

Moreover, he specifically mentioned that the Chairman of NASCAR, Jim France, has taken on a more active role. Additionally, he also praised the efforts of NASCAR President Steve Phelps, Vice Chairman of NASCAR Mike Helton, and NASCAR COO Steve O’Donnell in their positions. Overall, Petty believes that the leadership team is doing a good job.

NASCAR test for new short track packages produces poor results

Around the start of the previous month, NASCAR had taken a few drivers to participate in a test at the Richmond Raceway. However, after running the new aerodynamic packages they did not get the response they were hoping for.

According to Fox Sports, the changes were supposed to add more downforce to the cars so they could run tighter, especially in a short-track environment. Instead, the cars ran loose and NASCAR had to experiment with removing the diffusers and increasing the spoiler height. At the end of the day, the reception had been mixed across the participants and the improvements they had brought in were anything but extraordinary.

While the test wasn’t really successful for NASCAR, it was a good effort to try and find a solution toward improving their short-track packages for the future.