The Next Gen car was introduced by NASCAR with the promise to make the racing more competitive and bring the field closer. Safe to say, after 18 months, the experiment is proving to be successful. This is something Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman and 4-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon alluded to after the race at Watkins Glen.
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Even with William Byron picking up his fifth win of the season, the fact that there is no clear-cut favorite is a testament to the unpredictability that the Next Gen car has brought to the track. An unpredictability that, according to Gordon, forces teams to stay extra focused, given that one bad weekend can ruin the chances in the playoffs.
Jeff Gordon does not feel Hendrick Motorsports is a clear favorite
At the media briefing after Watkins Glen, Gordon was asked about the outlook ahead of the playoffs, considering there is no definitive favorite even as we head into the playoffs next week. The Hendrick legend said, “Yeah, you know, as soon as you think, oh, man, they’re hot, and watch out for them, it seems like two weeks later, you’re saying what happened to them. It’s crazy.”
While the regular season standings might lead some to claim the dominance of Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports, almost every weekend has sprung a surprise on the track, something that Gordon is wary of.
“I’m not in as much on the engineering side and everything that these guys are doing, but I hear the debriefs and I get enough of the information to realize that you can be — it looks like you can be way off and it’s just the tiniest little thing that you adjust or change and all of a sudden you’re right back into it. You can see every team is trying to hit on that every weekend and it doesn’t matter how good they are.”
“I think that’s what’s going to be critical as you get into the Playoffs is just making sure that you hit it more times than the other guys and then get yourself to Phoenix and then make sure that you do it one last time.”
Jeff Gordon names Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin as threats for the Cup
Even though William Byron took home his fifth win of the season, he is still third in the regular season standings. Ahead of the #24 driver are Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin, who have been the most consistent drivers so far this season. Even Gordon considers the JGR pair to be best positioned to take control of the playoffs on the back of strong results over the past weeks.
“I feel like the Toyotas, in particular Truex and Hamlin, have gained a lot of momentum lately, and we’re coming into the critical time of the year where it all counts, the championship and the Playoffs.”
With two drivers out of the playoffs going into the last race at Daytona, Gordon and Hendrick Motorsports hope that Byron and Larson build some momentum of their own to make a final dash for the chip.
