LEBANON, Tenn. — As a majority of the NASCAR Cup Series field made their rounds in the Nashville Superspeedway media center on Saturday, May 31, one of the major topics of discussion was the long-awaited increase of horsepower to the Next Gen car.
The topic manifested after NASCAR Senior Vice President Elton Sawyer said on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio that officials of the sport is “on the table and is being discussed daily.”
Since 2022, the Next Gen car has produced lackluster racing on the short tracks of the Cup calendar. The dilemma has sparked rules package changes and tire softening by Goodyear in an effort to make passing more possible. Alas, for the most part, it has come to no avail.
“You know, I think everything that we’ve done with this car from the old car is bigger tires, bigger brakes, less horsepower, and … it’s just not conducive to better racing in my opinion,” two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch said.
However, one of the hotly debated ideas is the increase of horsepower to the 650-horsepower Cup car — something NASCAR has not agreed to for fear of increasing costs for teams and engine builders.
But seeing Sawyer’s comments has seemed to reignite the debate, and almost every driver in the field agreed to a general consensus.
They want more speed.
“It’s definitely cool,” three-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano said. “I like it. I want to do it. Like, not just the engine, but the drive train. It’s got to be beefed up more. … You want to just make the racing better, right?”
As far as how much power is needed to see a difference, results vary. However, many long for the days of 950 and even up to 1,000 horses.
“I’d love it if we were back to the 1000,” 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Ryan Preece said. “If we’re at 1000 horsepower or whatever, I mean, for us as a racecar driver now, I don’t know the logistics. … I’m sure that gets expensive, but not only from the engine side, but also a lot of other pieces.
“But what I can say is from a racecar driver, it’s another tool. You can do things better than somebody else.”
For some, 750 horsepower seems to be enough for a change, even if it won’t make much of a difference. Surprisingly, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin, who has been one of the most vocal for more horsepower, was one of them.
“Truthfully, I’ll take whatever they give us and be happy with it,” Hamlin said to media. “Do I wish it was the big number we used to have? Absolutely, but I think that we need to be realistic and even if it’s 80 to 100, we need to just take it and shut up and be thankful that they’re willing to change.”
Kaulig Racing driver AJ Allmendinger agreed.
“I think you got to at least go 750,” Allmendinger told Frontstretch. “I think if you ask probably every driver in here, we wouldn’t be opposed to 800, 900.
“I know it won’t get back to that, but I think 750s at least a start there. I think that would probably be a good number, but it also has to go with what the motor side of it is, what they want. I don’t know if that’s the complete answer, but if it’s not, it’s not going to hurt.”
To others, it needs to be more or else it won’t be worth it.
“It probably needs to be pretty significant,” former late model racing champion Josh Berry said. “What I’d hate to happen is if we go up 100 horsepower and they don’t really look that different, and everybody’s like, ‘Oh, that wasn’t it,’ You know? So I mean it’s a combination of a lot of things, right?”
In the end, the overarching opinion of the Cup Series field seems to be a resounding want for more power to the Next Gen car. Many of the older veterans of the Cup Series agree that a return to the higher engine power days of the series would see a return to form for not only short tracks, but everywhere beyond.
“I don’t know how much would make a difference, but anything would be better,” 2021 champion Kyle Larson said. “Hopefully, it’s not something that they’re strictly only looking at short tracks for, you know? Our intermediate racing is good, right? But I still think with more horsepower it’d be even better.
“So, you know, if the teams and OEMs are on board, I wouldn’t be opposed to trying it on other style tracks too. I mean it’s cool. We’ll take whatever they give us.”
Yet despite the variations of opinion of how much horsepower is needed, almost everyone in the garage appears to agree in the need for more power to the Next Gen car.
Almost everyone.
“No, I don’t think it’ll help the product,” Spire Motorsports driver Michael McDowell told Frontstretch. “I think it’s just an illusion that some of the drivers and media are trying to paint.
“I don’t think it’ll make a lick of difference on any of those things. We just need to keep adding softer tires and having more tire wear and be fine. I think it’s going to be a lot of work for not much of a result on that.”
Yet if the majority opinion is any indication, an increase of speed and power would likely help the racing product that the Cup Series has been seemingly lacking in so far in 2025.
Why not give it a shot?
“Why don’t we all just show up somewhere wherever our next short track is and do 800 horsepower,” 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace suggested. ” If it’s a shit show, then go from there, but you’re going to get a 720 package and one driver is going to be like, ‘I thought it was pretty good! Oh, we’re done! Good job!’ But no, that’s not the case. I think we need a big step. What are we scared of?
“I mean we’ve been saying it for years. We want more horsepower, and we’ve always been told we’re waiting on other manufacturers to come in and they’re not in! So let’s do something.”
Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loud column, co-host of the Frontstretch Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.
Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT
Again, the horsepower increase will slightly improve the racing but these cars produce so much downforce with the underbody that unless changes are made to that, there won’t be much of an improvement. Plus if NASCAR goes to 800-900 HP, then Goodyear might be forced to make harder tires since I fear they would wear so quick in the rear they’ll be chewed up with 10 laps then everyone will bitch on the radio the rear has gone on their cars.
Except that is exactly what the drivers want.. control over their car and as such control over tire wear. If a driver blows his tires off in 20 laps, but others are doing similar lap times, but tires are wearing for 50 laps it’s not the HP it’s the driver.
Agreed. I believe that the target for a test session needs to be trying to achieve the same HP per square inch of contact patch as existed on the old car which produced desirable performance with wear. The contact parch has increased by ~20%. That can be cut in half at low risk to the load carrying capacity of the tire by adding three 3/8th of an inch grooves around the diameter of the tire (as was done on Formula 1 cars in the past for heat management). More could be possible, but I don’t have data on the tires in front of me. Coupling this with a 950 HP engine (or the maximum that prevents the entire redesign of the transmission and driveline) seems to be a logical step. The test is simple enough to do…that engine package exists and slick tires can be grooved.
Another variable would be to keep the same wheel, but increase the tire height to carry the load and narrow the tire. This would affect ride travel, but if you can get a little from this and a little from grooves you may be able to reduce the HP increase and come out with fewer costly changes. This would cause new tire molds to be made which is costly.
Yes to the tires grooves!!!! We got to see that not long ago when the race started on grooved rain tires. As the track dried there were several laps run on those rain tires, and the racing was pretty darn good. Increase to 750 hp and reduce the contact patch with grooves. Amount of grooving could be varied by track.