If NASCAR fans think they can change Kyle Petty’s mind and his feelings about the Next Generation/Gen 7 car, they would be wrong.
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Petty caused somewhat of a stir last week when he totally supported the Next Generation/Gen 7 car, essentially going in the opposite direction of what many fans and even some Cup drivers feel: that is, they complain about it.
Here’s the initial firestorm Petty set off last week: “This (Next Gen) car jumped leap years ahead. One of the prominent members of the NASCAR community, Dale (Earnhardt) Jr., criticized the Next Gen car the other day. I don’t think that criticism is deserved, in a lot of ways.
“We have not raced stock cars since 1958. We don’t race stock cars, we race NASCARs. This is the NASCAR car that we have today. People complained in the ’70s when we went to the tubular chassis, they complained when we went to radial tires, they’ve complained all along as the progression of the cars.
“We were still racing cars with carburetors when you couldn’t go to your local auto parts store to buy a carburetor. It was an antiquated car that we were racing and people seemed to want to have that antiquated car.
“This car jumped leap years ahead; we have to adjust to it. This is the racing we have, embrace it, enjoy it, and we’re seeing some spectacular stuff on the racetrack and I think it’s only going to get better.”
The innovation train was in the past
Many fans disagreed with Petty, particularly on social media, prompting him to take to X/Twitter and further back up his original statement when fans particularly criticized that the Next Gen does not have the “wiggle room” for innovation and pushing the envelope that NASCAR cars of the past had.
Petty wrote, “You’re right, innovation in the past was driven by teams, NASCAR was reactive. NASCAR has taken a proactive position in everything since February 2001. The car is a product of that. A racecar, as you know from history, is a constantly changing and evolving piece of equipment. In time it can and will change. The problem right now is we live in a world of instant gratification. No one wants to wait.”
Has Petty changed his mind?
So after a full week’s time went by, and even with all the fans who reached out to Petty on social media and the like, did the mind of the son of NASCAR’s King change?
“You responded with a passion and adamantly,” Petty said about how fans responded to him on X. “At the same time, you haven’t changed my mind… We have a bolt-together car, this Next Gen car. It’s what we have. It is a NAS-Car, it is not a stock car. It is a NAS-Car. That’s what it should be called. Not Next Gen, just NAS-Car. Just like a Formula One car is a Formula One car.
“And it’s not the entire problem. Although everybody in the grandstands wants to point a finger and say it’s the Next Gen’s fault, it’s not the Next Gen’s fault. There’s a lot of issues that need to be addressed, not only the car.
“If drivers complain, and rightly so, they should have a voice and they should complain. But at the same time, they’re still putting on racing every Sunday. And they’re putting on some pretty dang good racing every Sunday, if you ask me. There’s been some close finishes, some great racing towards the end, towards the green-white-checkers. There’s been some solid moments in this sport with the Next Gen car.
“I know that’s hard to believe, as bad as you guys say it is. But at the same time, again, I’m going to stand behind what I say. We’re moving forward. If you guys want to go back to 1964, 1982 or 1999, go back to 1964, 1982 and 1999. This sport is moving forward, as evidenced by the new Amazon deal, by the Turner deal, by the TV packages we have, by SVG (Shane van Gisbergen) and drivers coming from all over the world, the sport is moving forward.
“We need to keep the sport moving forward and complaining about everything without giving answers to the problems — critique is one thing — but we have to be able to critique positively and say what we would do to fix it.”
