In 2022, the Next Gen car debuted in the NASCAR Cup Series to considerable enthusiasm.
Fans were excited to see that the seventh-generation stock car bore a closer resemblance to its road-going inspirations produced by Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota. The launch of the new car meant an end to the low-horsepower aero packages that NASCAR used on the intermediate tracks for the past few years. Fans were also curious to see if requiring teams to purchase the Next Gen chassis and other components of the cars would help reduce costs and create a more level playing field.
Now, into the Next Gen’s fourth season, much of that optimism has faded. The promise of the new car producing better racing, at least at most tracks, has gone unfulfilled. Calls to increase the horsepower of the car from fans and drivers alike have returned, but NASCAR has yet to take that step. The sanctioning body has tried different tire combinations and aerodynamic modifications to improve short track racing, although neither strategy has consistently made a positive difference.
Dissatisfaction with the Next Gen has only grown louder after a stretch of races featuring some of NASCAR’s best tracks did not live up to the hype. With the summer quickly approaching, it feels like a black cloud is hanging over the 2025 season, and frustrations with the Next Gen car are only making the skies darker.
This year has often felt like the Next Gen does not race well at any type of track. Short tracks and road courses have been sore spots for this car for years. The Next Gen’s wider tires and bigger brakes make the cars grippier in tight corners compared to the Gen 6 or the Car of Tomorrow. This prevents the car from sliding around turns as much as its predecessors did, leading to less driver error and less opportunities to pass.
Some of the Next Gen’s aerodynamic features also appear to enhance the effect of dirty air on short tracks. It would have been ridiculous, in years past, to call aerodynamics important at a track like Martinsville Speedway, but the quality of racing at The Paperclip has nosedived since the Next Gen debuted. Bristol Motor Speedway has not suffered as much, though the Cup Series race there last month was lousy by Thunder Valley’s usual standards.
On the other hand, Sunday (May 18) night’s All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway was much better than the previous two iterations. The All-Star Race felt closer to the type of short track racing that the Gen 6 and Car of Tomorrow produced. Perhaps the sanctioning body can apply what worked at North Wilkesboro to the short track races later this year.
NASCAR has also been looking to improve the Next Gen car on road courses. Road racing became a trendy part of the schedule during the Gen 6 era when fans began to realize how much fun it was to watch their favorite drivers wrangle bulky stock cars around twisting tracks. The Gen 6 was such a fish out of water on road courses that it gave the Cup Series a frantic, highly physical style of road racing that motorsports fans could not find anywhere else. But with a new type of stock car that is effectively optimized for road racing, the fun is gone.
Most Next Gen road races have been lackluster events, with one notable exception being this season’s race at Circuit of the Americas. Using a shorter course layout seemed to work better for the Cup Series than the full Grand Prix Circuit. However, clearly this car does not fundamentally work the same way on road courses as the previous car. Too bad.
Even Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway did not produce compelling races this season. Certainly, the aero packages at drafting tracks are always a moving target, and the superspeedway package for the Gen 6 car was not great at first either. Yet passing has become so difficult with the current package that the optimal strategy now is to ride in formation and save fuel until the end of the race or stage. Although the cars may be close together on track, some fans have argued that the drivers are not competing with each other so much as trying to execute directions from their teams and manufacturers.
Atlanta Motor Speedway’s smaller design and increased dependency on good handling insulates that track from some of the problems, but it is easy to understand the current frustration with the state of superspeedway racing.
The one type of track where the Next Gen has significantly improved racing is the intermediates, but even that trend is up for debate in 2025. Homestead-Miami Speedway put on a good race earlier this year, but things have been rather ho-hum at the other intermediates. The events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway were not awful, but the only factor that seemed to matter 5-10 laps after every restart was track position. Darlington Raceway hosted its worst race in recent memory last month.
Even Kansas Speedway, the gold standard of good racing in the Next Gen era, did not meet expectations for its spring race on Mother’s Day. If NASCAR cannot even count on Darlington and Kansas for good races, it is a sign that the Next Gen car has serious flaws.
As for leveling the Cup Series playing field, things do not feel significantly different now compared to the end of the Gen 6 era. The first season or two of the Next Gen car shook up the field a bit, allowing organizations like Trackhouse Racing, Richard Childress Racing and RFK Racing opportunities to earn wins over the sport’s top teams.
But this year, all but one race have been won by a driver from Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske or Joe Gibbs Racing. Josh Berry and Wood Brothers Racing are the only outliers, and even they are a Penske satellite operation. Despite some initial uncertainty with the Next Gen, the same teams are back at the top of the heap.
Hopefully, NASCAR can come up with fixes to the Next Gen’s shortcomings. Both the Gen 6 and the Car of Tomorrow had ebbs and flows in the quality of racing that they produced at various tracks, and it is certainly possible that the Next Gen can follow the same path. However, it should be clear now that the Next Gen is not going to bring revolutionary changes to the Cup Series. Hendrick, Penske and Gibbs remain the best teams in the field, and “dirty air” is a reality of life that cannot be engineered away. But perhaps a fun All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro will inject some oomph into a racing season that could use a boost of energy.
Bryan began writing for Frontstretch in 2016. He has penned Up to Speed for the past eight years. A lifelong student of auto racing, Bryan is a published author and automotive historian. He is a native of Columbus, Ohio and currently resides in Southern Kentucky.