23XI Racing owner Denny Hamlin recently opened up about how NASCAR would do everything to fix their short and intermediate-track racing but not make the long-awaited increase in horsepower. While the Next Gen cars have leveled up the field for every racer out there, the short-track and intermediate oval racing have become significantly less eventful with the new car.
Advertisement
Hence, it’s not unusual for the drivers to demand more horsepower.
But then again, NASCAR has come up with other solutions like revamping the gear ratios to bring down the frequency of gear shifting on short tracks, but according to Hamlin, nothing would work as effectively as cranking up the power levels.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver explained that the engine bills back when NASCAR flaunted about 700 or 800 HP on its stock cars were no different from what they are today. “So I don’t understand why going back and taking a 50-cent piece of aluminum that is a tapered spacer and opening that thing back up to 750… I can’t make sense of why we’re not doing it!” he told Dale Earnhardt Jr.
As an owner and driver, @dennyhamlin thinks more power is the answer for the short track package 📉📈
"I can't make sense of why we are not doing it." pic.twitter.com/eW9rGUyuzK
— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) December 14, 2023
Hamlin claimed he was not ready to give any credibility to the excuse of new manufacturers coming in. For him, unless a manufacturer comes in and sets a power limit on the cars, NASCAR should strive to make their cars better in terms of power.
Denny Hamlin’s demands are opposite to what NASCAR has in mind
Not long ago, NASCAR President Steve Phelps spoke to Dustin Long of NBC Sports about how, although it has been something that the drivers and fans have been demanding for a long time now, bringing up the horsepower might not be a plausible fix for NASCAR’s short-track and intermediate track racing. This is just because of the expense that comes with the increase in horsepower.
Phelps stated, “I don’t think the answer is more horsepower because more horsepower is expensive.” He admitted that every driver asks for more horsepower but added that he was done listening to the drivers. For him, more horsepower was not the solution.
Perhaps altering the gear-shifting side of things would work, he suggested.
