Cup Series drivers can do a whole lot with the Next Gen car. It is advanced on many engineering and safety fronts to truly be a one-of-a-kind racing machine. But what they seemingly can’t do is overtake their opponents easily. The complaints about how hard it is to pass with the car have only been mounting since it was introduced in 2022.
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Speaking to the press in Kansas, ahead of Sunday’s race, Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson explained how the Kansas Speedway overcomes this shortcoming of the car. By many accounts, the 1.5-mile intermediate speedway is one of the best destinations for the Next Gen car. The most crucial factor that makes it so is the progressive banking it has.
The track is an asphalt oval with 17-20 degrees of banking in the turns and 9-11 degrees of banking on the frontstretch. Additionally, the banking on the backstretch is 5 degrees. So, what does this do for drivers?
Larson said, “I feel like when you have progressive banking, it just allows more options, I think. I think that’s why it helps the racing here because you can catch somebody and move to a different lane; get inside of them, work them over, and pass them.”
He also highlighted why the absence of progressive banking hurts drivers’ chances of passing. He said, “When you go to other tracks and do all this work to get to them, and they’re still running the same line that you have to run, and you can’t pass.”
He stated that the Kansas Speedway is his third favorite track behind Homestead-Miami and Bristol. Notably, RFK Racing driver Chris Buescher gave similar reasons on a recent NASCAR: Inside The Race segment when asked by Steve Letarte what made Kansas such a good track for the Next Gen car to race on.
The psychology behind the criticisms placed on the Next Gen car
More volatile than any driver’s performance this season is the criticism against the Next Gen car. Fans and drivers, in general, aren’t comfortable with how it races and how inferior it is in providing entertainment when compared to the Xfinity Series car.
But all it takes for the tide to change is a few weeks of good racing. Larson detailed this psychological element in the press conference, saying, “Racing could totally flip this weekend. We could have the next three to five races be really exciting, and everybody’s forgotten about the boring races we’ve had before then.
“I’m not sure, but I think we all would love to see better racing at every track and all that. We’re all greedy people. We’re humans. But yeah, just finding that solution, I think, is always tough.”
It’s not a crime for fans to expect NASCAR to find lasting improvements — especially when the room for growth is so clear.
