Which side is right about the Next Gen car, Kyle Petty or Dale Earnhardt Jr.?
The generationally transcendent meme that is now “What the $%#! does Kyle Petty got to do with this?” has made its way back around this week in spectacular fashion following a difference in expressed opinions from NASCAR legends Kyle Petty and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The discourse that was started earlier this week comes after a series of what can only be described as abysmal flop races for the Next Gen car, which Denny Hamlin says is reaching winged Car of Tomorrow levels of hate from not only the drivers but the fans as well. If you think that you’ve seen even remotely all of the Next Gen hate videos coming out of Dirty Mo Media this week, just buckle up.
The reality of the situation is this that we are stuck with this car for quite some time. NASCAR poured a lot of money into the development of the Next Gen platform, and it’s not going to let it go. While the majority of the fan base understands that, even the minority has to come to grips with the fact that we’re not ever going to see a Gen 6 car take the track ever again.
Therefore, NASCAR needs to do everything in its power to make this Next Gen platform just remotely entertaining to watch. At this point, the drivers hate it. The fans hate it. The sport’s most iconic figures hate it. That should tell you something.
I appreciate what Petty is saying in that we need to look forward for the sake of the sport, but if forward means abysmal racing, snooze-fest events and empty racetracks for the foreseeable future, you can’t blame people for wanting to live in the past.
Earnhardt and what is essentially the rest of the sport is right: This car is horrible in its current state. Only time will tell if NASCAR pulls the trigger on making some adjustments, whether that means less downforce, more horsepower or a mixture of the two. However, it’s not going to be until the end of the 2025 season at least, and they might even view 2026 as too soon to make changes.
That’s a reality that most fans of the sport are going to have to come to grips with, and unfortunately, it’s a sad one. Not all stories are happy ones, folks.
Is turnover coming for the Ty Gibbs camp?
It only takes someone with hearing to go back and listen to Ty Gibbs‘ radio chatter with Joe Gibbs Racing competition director Chris Gabehart to know that last weekend was not what the No. 54 team, or Gibbs for that matter, had in mind. He finished 33rd on the day, which was his worst mark since earning 34th at Circuit of the Americas earlier this season, and was another chapter in what has been a rough past three races.
In those past three races, Gibbs has finished outside the top 20 all three times. Gabehart has taken a more hands-on approach with Gibbs this season, citing that the 22-year-old still has a lot to learn in the NASCAR Cup Series. That might be true, but as someone who covered Gibbs in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for a full season, I’ll tell you this: There’s not one soul at that team that its owner wants to see win more than Gibbs.
And that’s not to say he isn’t a good driver. He is, and we can’t choose our family. The last name he bears is not only one of his biggest assets, but also his biggest burden, as is the case with most children of legends within the sport. Gibbs might still have plenty to learn in a Cup car, but Joe Gibbs would sooner let him drive for Chevrolet than see him finish poorly.
If we reach season’s end and tensions within the No. 54 team are still at a suboptimal level, you can bet your bottom dollar change is coming, whether it’s on top of the pit box, on pit road or within the competition division of JGR itself. Because one thing is for certain: Joe Gibbs isn’t going to allow any of his drivers to be made to look like they’re a step behind the competition, especially if that driver shares a last name with him.
Should NASCAR pay more attention to victory lane celebrations?
After Connor Zilisch suffered a broken collarbone following his Xfinity Series win last weekend, some around the sport thought that NASCAR would do a very NASCAR thing and begin policing victory lane celebrations, with some even hinting at the fact that Shane van Gisbergen‘s slow step out of the car following his win on Sunday was just that.
However, that wasn’t the case, as van Gisbergen did get out and celebrate on the roof of his car, just not in victory lane.
The question of whether NASCAR actually will start policing victory lane celebrations or changing up its format has already been answered in a statement released by NASCAR earlier this week, and it was a resounding “no.”
And wouldn’t you believe it, NASCAR got this one right.
I think what happened to Zilisch is awful, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. After building so much momentum since returning from his first injury of the season, it’s upsetting to see him sidelined with another, especially one that took place in the fashion that this one did.
However, some things are just freak accidents, and that’s exactly what this was. If Zilisch had simply gotten a bit of a bruised ego and dusted up, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. After all, people have done more daring things off the roof of their cars before (see Carl Edwards, for reference).
Thankfully, both Zilisch and his family have been quick with the jokes following this incident. Everyone is alright, and Zilisch will be back to racing sooner rather than later. And who knows? By then, maybe he’ll have quite the announcement to make regarding his plans for 2026.
Will Austin Hill ever be ready for a Cup ride?
Austin Hill returned from his one-race suspension after blatantly wrecking Aric Almirola at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to, again, wreck someone else in a bad spot of the racetrack, even if it wasn’t as clearly intentional as the first incident.
Hill’s spin of Michael McDowell last weekend might not have been nearly as intentional, but what a way to return from a one-race suspension which was only levied because you wrecked another driver. While in all honesty this played out as a rotten stroke of luck for Hill, it raises a whole other question entirely: Will he ever be able to be trusted with a Cup ride?
At this point, some think that Jesse Love is the prize-winning driver in the Richard Childress Racing pipeline, when just a few short seasons ago, many were clamoring for Hill to jump straight up to the Cup level. What if, right now, we’re seeing in real time why that didn’t happen?
At a certain point, no matter what Hill does, any time that he’s involved in any sort of accident is going to be viewed as either intentional or just a byproduct of him hopping in a racecar. That kind of image is one that’s hard to recover from, and one that Cup teams especially don’t want racing on Sundays.
We’ll see Hill in the Cup ranks sooner than later. However, whereas a few years ago we thought he would be stepping into an already fast ride, that may not be the case any more. Hill might have to spend some time turning laps for a team trying to get its wheels underneath itself, and nothing feels worse as a driver than feeling as though you’re wasting time and years in the sport at the back of the pack, waiting for the odd superspeedway race for just one chance at coming home a winner.
Tanner Marlar is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated’s OnSI Network, a contributor for TopSpeed.com, an AP Wire reporter, an award-winning sports columnist and talk show host and master's student at Mississippi State University. Soon, Tanner will be pursuing a PhD. in Mass Media Studies. Tanner began working with Frontstretch as an Xfinity Series columnist in 2022.