The Next Gen car is not gaining any new fans in the 2025 Cup Series season. Following the race at Iowa Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. went on the Dale Jr. Download and thrashed the car for its flaws. More than a slew of complaints, his words were a record of frustration that no change is going to come. Making his position more delicate and tricky was his role as a broadcaster.
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First off, Junior doesn’t think that the Next Gen is a proper stock car. The diffuser, the low-profile tires, and the big brakes make it more of a sports car than a stock, and Junior doesn’t like that one bit. He ranted about how he tries his best to showcase the racing product in a good light when he is in the booth commenting on races, but his hate for the car just takes over at times.
He said, “Would I have ever built a NASCAR stock car that had a diffuser? No. I wouldn’t have put a low-profile tire on it and changed the sidewall so drivers can’t feel the tire, don’t know where the limited grip is, and can’t trust it.” The icon explained his issue with the brakes by stating how they don’t fade any longer with short zones. This prevents them from strategizing to make passes.
At the end of it all, Junior was only left broken and defeated. He continued, “But it’s all here. It’s here. It’s bought and paid for. There’s no change coming. So, if you know that nothing’s going to change, they ain’t taking the diffuser off. They’re not changing the tire, they’re not changing the brakes. And if you know that, then what good is it to sit here on this podcast and **** about it?”
Denny Hamlin joins Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s fight against the Next Gen
So, what is the solution to make this sport that he cares about so much better? He wants NASCAR to bring in a couple of people who can potentially advise them on the right path and steer things in a different direction. Quite naturally, it is already a given that the sanctioning body will not like this suggestion. To instigate it further, Denny Hamlin has criticized the Next Gen car this week as well.
The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran believes that the nature of Iowa Speedway, combined with the character of the Next Gen car, made for an underwhelming event on Sunday. Calling for major changes to be made to the car, he detailed, “How in the world do you expect us to put on a good race when everyone’s gonna run the same speed, and they’re gonna run the same speed from the beginning of the run to the end of the run?
“It just makes it extremely difficult. Really, the only time you see those passes is when chaos breaks out, either on restarts or when the leader catches the back of the pack. That’s what we as drivers are most frustrated about.”
As Junior pointed out, what’s the point of seething over the car’s issues on a regular basis when the sanctioning body is going to be least concerned about change?
