A Black Eye for the Sport

I am exhausted. For over a year now, NASCAR fans, drivers, and team owners have been expressing their concerns and frustrations with the new car. It has felt like it has largely fallen on deaf ears. So, I am once again voicing my opinions, and I encourage anyone reading this to do the same. 

We are at Texas Motor Speedway. There are SIX RACES left. We’ve had 30 points paying races and several exhibition events, and we still haven’t figured out some of this stuff. It is ridiculous. It all started well before we saw the final version of the NASCAR Next Gen. There was a crash test at Talladega where it was rumored the test dummy didn’t survive the impact. Drivers immediately started voicing their concerns in the media, and NASCAR was quick to say the rumors were being exaggerated. 

Fast forward to 2022, and we have a seasoned veteran sidelined due to a concussion in Kurt Busch. Cody Ware suffered a major accident that landed him in the infield care center. Countless drivers have said these cars hurt. Denny Hamlin skipped an Xfinity race because of lingering pain. Just one of these incidents should have been enough to realize something has to change, but all of them combined to make one thing clear – these cars have serious safety issues. 

Then there’s the common part supplier issue. It started with parts shortages. Then it became part failures. And in the last handful of races, it has been ridiculous. Harvick and Truex were both most recently critical of the parts, but the reality is this entire year these parts ruined what should have been good days. 

Then there are the tires. I’ve lost track of how many tire failures there has been this year. And it isn’t because the tires wear out, they just fail. Outside of Darlington, tire strategy hasn’t come into play this year. So if Goodyear isn’t being aggressive with the compound, why in the world are there so many failures? 

I like the idea of testing man and machine in races. I do. But when every 30 laps in some races another car takes a big hit, almost randomly, how is that entertaining? How is that rewarding? 

Then there are the aerodynamic issues. These cars suck this year on road courses and short tracks. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but it’s the truth. And for a car that was specifically built with more similarities to GT3 cars, it’s crazy to think the racing has been worse this year on road courses. 

The composite bodies are a plus, but why are there so many suspension issues? The Xfinity series has had composite bodies for years and not nearly as many suspension issues. It does no good to have a durable body if a hit to the wall still takes you out of the race.

This isn’t what I want to see from the sport I love. When you have young guys like Noah Gragson and Ty Gibbs say they are scared to push in these cars, we have serious issues. Established veterans like Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick saying these parts suck, they probably do. When popular drivers like Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott say they think things need to change, maybe we should listen. When team owners like Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski say there isn’t enough transparency, there likely isn’t enough transparency. 

There is nothing wrong with saying things can improve. Why is NASCAR so afraid to admit they got something wrong? Without drivers, there is no sport. Listen to them! I don’t like being so negative, but at times it seems like the same damn things keep happening week after week, and it is so enjoyable as a race fan. The fans want this sport to succeed and they want to see great racing. But right now, there are too many issues for me to be content. 

Texas was my breaking point, but my frustration built for a whole season. 

I will give credit to NASCAR for waiting to go green today at Texas because of rain. They learned and listened from Daytona, and this is what I’d like to see more of. I also hope Cody Ware is okay and we can see Kurt Busch back in a racecar soon. They also allowed teams to change air pressures because of a Goodyear recommendation to hopefully cause fewer tire issues. 

“I just hope nobody else gets hurt, outside of that I really don’t care.” – CHASE ELLIOTT

Now, for some fan input:

“Well for one thing these race cars are unsafe the tires are blowing so what’s it going to take to make changes before someone gets hurt bad”

• • • • @stormchaserchi1 on Twitter

“Unsafe/dangerous car and TMS needs a full demo and rebuild” 

• • • • @BloodPawWolf on Twitter

“Cars need to be reevaluated for better safety in 2023 

Goodyear and NASCAR need to figure out the flat tire issues 

Texas does not need to be a 500 mile race.”

• • • • @NLE_MAYER23 on Twitter

“The race was trash all the way around.   More tire issues,  big wrecks showing the vulnerability of the NextGen race car and Nascar yet again allowing for this to occur instead of addressing the issues promptly.”

• • • • Josh, via our form

“I am gonna say this, we need to go back to the Gen 6 …Multiple tries have blown and multiple drivers have been hurt BADLY! If this keeps going NASCAR is gonna have to go back to the Gen 6 or make MULTIPLE more safety features in the next gen man. This is totally unacceptable by NASCAR, at first the cautions weren’t much but then it went from having a tire go DOWN and FLAT too Truex, Busch, Bowman, Ware and Elliott too having MASSIVE hard hits like Cody Ware, you can even SEE in the replay that something SNAPPED in his car and from there on, Ware hit the inside wall at 180+ MPH, sliding against that wall and then nearly do a recreation of Mark Martin back in 2011 or 2012 when they raced at Michigan!”

• • • • Wyatt, via our form