Drivers, teams, and the sanctioning body seldom get along with each other in the chaotic world of NASCAR. One of the longest-running issues between them is that of the demand for an increase in engine horsepower. The NextGen car currently runs on engines that max out at 670 HP. As far as the defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney is concerned, this is nearly not enough.
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The Team Penske star was on the Dale Jr. Download podcast when he spoke about the matter. He told Dale Jr., “The horsepower fight is a never-ending war. I don’t know if it’s a winnable war at this point but we are going to keep fighting for more horsepower because to me that’s like easy help.” The prime reason behind the demand for more HP is to improve the racing product on short tracks.
“I don’t know if it’s [horsepower] a winnable war at this point – but we are going to keep fighting!” pic.twitter.com/eMX3W1EWDJ
— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) June 19, 2024
Blaney continued, “Maybe it’s not easy, right? You got to rebuild some motors. But take some plates off of them and you’re going to get a couple of hundred horsepower pretty easy. I just think that’s like what you need on short tracks.”
NASCAR’s solution or rather, alternative, to the lack of horsepower was to create tires that would wear off more. Unfortunately, that hasn’t proven to be a foolproof strategy with tire bursts becoming more frequent.
Where do Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott stand in the horsepower saga?
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Hamlin has been pitching for the horsepower to be increased for a long time now. He reasoned the demand back in March by citing that more horsepower increases the time that drivers get to be off-throttle thereby enabling passing, changing lanes, more braking, and so on. He used the words of Chase Elliott to back his thoughts.
He said, “I think Chase Elliott summed this up perfectly … Chase said, ‘We’ve all been forced to drive the same. We have no power so we drive in really deep. We slam on the brakes. Then we slam back on the gas. And since we don’t have any power, we have to run right around the bottom, and no one is able to venture anywhere else because that’s just the shortest distance.”
Despite the demand coming from multiple drivers, NASCAR is quite adamant in its stand. Steve Phelps said last year, “If you ask a driver what’s going to solve it, they’re always going to say ‘Give me more horsepower.’ It’s a thing. I’m not a driver, but I’ve listened to enough drivers, and that’s their solution. So the question is, is that really what it is? I don’t know.” As justifiable as his words are, it ultimately falls on him to figure out a solution at the earliest.
