Much has been spoken of how NASCAR’s Next-Gen car is unable to put on a racing product as entertaining as its predecessor. Denny Hamlin recently delved deeper into how the same is down to the car’s concept after the sport’s recent visit to Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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The Joe Gibbs Racing driver elaborated on how the Next-Gen car reacts in traffic, in stark comparison to the junior Xfinity Series. Whereas Saturday’s race was hailed for its exciting finish, the Cup Series race was plagued with overtaking difficulties for the drivers.
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“We could always get the guy in front of us loose. Now you can’t do that because they’re not making overbody aerodynamics, and it’s all underbody,” he said on his podcast. “We got a physics problem. I wish they would just let us come up with our own package for that track just one time and let us decide what we’re going to run.”
Hamlin touches on the phenomenon that has come to be with the Next Gen car and its peculiar behavior, different from cars of the past. The seventh generation racer makes majority of its downforce via the use of a diffuser, otherwise called an ‘underwing’.
This makes it susceptible to dirty air whereas previous cars used to make downforce via the use of their bodies in conjunction with the front splitters and rear spoilers.
Hamlin as a result did not seem to enjoy his time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, coupled with a wreck that put an end to his chances of victory. He will be hoping to win at least one more race before the playoffs to carry momentum into the last 16 this season.
Hamlin sounds off on NASCAR finishing Indy race under yellow
The car was not the only thing that disappointed the 43-year-old at Indianapolis, NASCAR’s officiating did as well. The race ended under the yellow flag as Kyle Larson drove unchallenged to the finish line irked the veteran driver. Ryan Preece’s spin and the eventual delay in throwing the caution by NASCAR became a hotly contested topic for the fraternity after the event.
“I was like there’s going to be a caution,” the 43-year-old said. “He (Preece) was not moving when they were coming off turn 4. He had resigned to sitting there. Through turn 4, he stops. He says, “Alright, I’m not gonna go anywhere.” So they had roughly eight seconds to make a call there and they didn’t.”
Larson ultimately benefitted from the decision, driving to victory under yellow flag conditions and winning on his second appearance at Indianapolis this year.
