The Next-Gen is the 7th iteration of a NASCAR stock car since the sport’s advent in 1948. While it is considered to be the pinnacle of engineering and safety, the vehicle doesn’t come without issues. Two full-time seasons and 13 races in the third season later, the car still struggles to provide proper handling balance to its drivers according to 2X Cup Series champion Kyle Busch.
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The Richard Childress Racing star articulated his issues with the Next Gen last weekend in Darlington. He said, “It seems when you lead into the corner and the right front is outside the right rear, the car is much tighter. When you get to the center off of the corner and the right front is inside the right rear coming downhill, it’s much looser. And so trying to find the balance of that has been difficult, trying to get that right.”
Continuing, he noted that the old 6th Gen car wasn’t this sensitive around corners. “It was easy to just make a smooth corner and have the balance stay the same the whole time, where now I feel like I’m fighting many more balance issues.” Put together with the problems in aerodynamics that the cars experience on short tracks, drivers are left utterly confused, he feels.
Considering how closely the Next Gen cars contest each other, the tiniest tenth of a second is all that separates the winner from the rest of the field. In such a racing model, having a car that doesn’t react exactly as a driver expects is an impalpable issue.
Kyle Busch finds himself in a new realm of confusion with the Next Gen car
Busch currently sits 13th in the points table with five top-10 finishes to his name. Detailing his struggles with his #8 Chevrolet Camaro, he compared it to when the old Cup Series car had a high downforce package. He remembered how the field had been confused over whether the cars needed to have more downforce or less drag on different race tracks.
“I think that was the last time I was confused,” he said, as reported by NBC Sports. “But that’s just car build stuff, not even lap-to-lap as you’re going through the turns with your balance issues and aero issues that you have.”
Busch finished Sunday’s race in Darlington in 27th place. A race winner in 2023, he will be amongst the field that races for $1 million in the All-Star race this weekend at North Wilkesboro.
