NASCAR drivers voice frustrations after Talladega Superspeedway
At the start of the 2022 season, NASCAR launched an all-new stock car to the series. Packages for the car have been tweaked but in large, the car has created issues for the product on short tracks, road courses and in the eyes of many, Superspeedways as well.
Kyle Busch finished stage one in the top 10. A quick pit stop put him at the front for stage two.
The first two stages saw a lot of drivers saving fuel. That allowed the race to appear far more compelling because at any point, a group of drivers could decide to lineup and go to the front due to everyone else saving fuel in that moment.
In stage three, the fuel saving game was no longer in play. With everyone’s foot to the floor, Busch was buried in the pack with no way to the front of the field.
In the final stage, pole sitter Michael McDowell was able to stay up front, controlling both lanes. Until the final lap when a block sent him into the wall.
Behind him, drivers were frustrated with their lack of ability in the car.
NASCAR driver transported following Talladega crash (Video)
Kyle Busch comments on the Next Gen car
After the race, Kyle Busch took his frustrations to X:
“Ride in line=finish where u r”
“TRY to race for win=finish last”
“I hate these (####!!!) cars!!!”
Busch has never been a fan of the Next Gen car. That dates all the way back to 2021, before the official launch.
Kyle Busch doesn’t like the Next Gen car (2021)
Denny Hamlin agrees
“He’s so right though,” Hamlin said via his Actions Detrimental podcast.
“And that’s the tough part about it, is that when you look at the final restart, it looks like the last lap. The two cars that controlled the outside line and the inside line were the same cars the entire last thirty laps.”
“Because you cannot afford to get out of line. If you get out of line, it’s over. The reason that is, is because these cars have a ton of drag. That’s basically how far the car can go down the straightaway.”
“On top of that, we’ve changed to a common engine because we want to save costs… so we now we have more horsepower than we’ve ever had on a superspeedway.”
“But we’ve had to put a giant spoiler on the back of the car to slow them down. And we’ve slowed them down even more because cars have flipped over in the last few years and NASCAR wants to limit liability there, so they keep slowing the cars down more and more and more.”
“What happens is, when you get in a line, the drag of your car reduces by a huge amount. So, the air is divided up over not one car, but ten cars in a line. But the drag is divided up between all of them. And it really varies based on how close you are to the front and back of the car in front of you and behind you. And you can keep going faster and faster the closer you get to those cars.”
“The negative is when you go to pull out of line and actually pass. It is a parachute, exactly right, it’s like pulling a dragster parachute when you’re done with your run. The car stops immediately because it’s so heavy on drag.”
Talladega Results: April 21, 2024 (NASCAR Cup Series)
Links
Kyle Busch | Denny Hamlin | Talladega SuperSpeedway | NASCAR
