Does simply upping horsepower on the Next Gen car fix anything?
On Oct. 8, word from NASCAR came down that on all tracks shorter than 1.5 miles and all road courses, horsepower for the Next Gen car will be upped to 750 horsepower for 2026 and beyond.
This is a wonderful thing, and in theory should lead to better racing, but by now I’m sure you caught the caveat.
This package will only be present for short tracks and road courses, which makes sense in a vacuum, but without any horsepower increases on other tracks, some of the most highly valued races on the calendar are going to offer the same thing they’ve been offering for the past few seasons: absolutely nothing other than pitiful racing.
I’m excited to watch short track racing again, which is a plus, but would it be asking for too much to see a smaller increase on larger tracks? Cars barely reach 200 mph on the biggest ovals on the circuit today, and while the Next Gen car is no mile marker when it comes to how well it takes heavy contact, it can withstand more than that.
I would encourage fans, though, to not miss the forest for the trees. If there’s not at least a small part of you that doesn’t see the reality that this could all be smoke and mirrors to attempt and plug a leaking ship, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s almost like NASCAR waited a season or two too late in making these changes, and the fans who have made their minds up already refuse to have them changed.
And who could blame them? With everything else going on in the sport right now, it’s not an easy time to be a NASCAR fan. I’m not so sure that this actually does fix anything except add the potential for short track and road course racing to be a bit more intriguing. For the sport’s sake, I hope it does, and maybe we could see a horsepower increase on tracks where the cars achieve real speed in the near future.
Will the majority of Cup drivers ever get behind one postseason format?
Both the previous question and this one came from the most recent episode of the Dale Jr. Download in which NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell detailed the sanctioning body’s plans for 2026 and beyond. The horsepower was a large announcement, but just as big was the fact that a change is coming to the postseason format.
Many assume that it will shift toward a more season-long format, satisfying the wishes of a loud portion of the NASCAR fan base. Let me be clear here: I agree that something needs to change, and if a season-long points champion is what the series wants to crown, I can get behind that.
None of that was the eye-popping part of O’Donnell’s words on the postseason format, though. The most intriguing part was that he said NASCAR needs all the drivers to buy in no matter what the system looks like.
Dear reader, you and I’ve got about the same chance of winning the lottery tomorrow as that actually happening. One of the things fans (drivers especially included) like to do is complain. Up to this point, you’d be forgiven for thinking that’s all I was doing in this column this week. That isn’t the case, but my goodness, let’s be a bit realistic here.
If you think Team Penske wants to move away from the current championship format, you’re off your rocker. It’s benefited from it more than anyone else. And if you also think that there’s not real power in that team from a series-wide standpoint, you’re yet again off your rocker. It’ll be vocal in its displeasure of any new format, you can guarantee it.
I’ll even make a bet right here and now. Go ahead and bookmark this story, set a reminder on your phone for one year out, and let’s see if that actually happens. NASCAR can’t get its drivers to agree on something as small as where the numbers should be on a racecar or the correct circumference for a given tire, and it’s living in a fantasy world if anyone at the company actually believes the majority of drivers will like whatever change they make, whether it’s to a season-long points format or any version of the sort.
What does Xfinity leaving the NASCAR Xfinity Series really say about the state of the sport?
Speaking of things that will be happening one year out, we won’t be referring to NASCAR’s second (and best, from a racing standpoint) series by that title sponsor. Instead, it will be the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, as Xfinity leaves its title sponsor spot after more than a decade in the same role.
Allow me to paint the scene. In February of this year, NASCAR announced an extended partnership with Xfinity that made sure to include being the title sponsor of the series. Now, after one of the series’ best years overall but a general decline in favorability for the sport to a national audience, Xfinity is out. What gives, then?
In February, Comcast VP of Branded Partnerships & Amplification Matt Lederer said that Comcast could not wait to get started with “fresh energy.” Now, less than a year later, Comcast feels that someone else should “take up the mantle” and “grow the series to heights that we can’t even consider at this point.”
That sounds like PR speak for “we’re getting out of the title sponsorship spot of this sport as quickly as we can.”
It’s not like the money isn’t there from Comcast’s side. For instance, it’s been intertwined with an impressive startup 3-on-3 women’s basketball league in Unrivaled. Additionally, if the partnership is going so well, there’s absolutely no reason to end it. Something stinks here, even if no one will say what it is.
Sure, the company is still remaining on in a prominent Cup sponsorship role, and that’s more than noble. However, this doesn’t exactly say nothing, does it?
Xfinity leaving as a title sponsor says that while Xfinity is still the best racing on track every weekend, it is still the No. 2 series. On top of that, it’s still a smaller show in a sport that is losing viewership by the week. Only time will tell if NASCAR is able to plug all of those holes, but the final point this week surely isn’t helping.
Is the upcoming settlement conference smoke and mirrors, or could both sides actually agree for once?
We haven’t discussed NAScourt in this column for a bit now, but there really is no time like the present with a settlement conference coming up later this month on Oct. 21. The two sides (NASCAR and the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports teams) will meet with the same mediator who oversaw another mediation conference between the two sides in August.
The big question coming into this meeting is obvious: Will there actually be a settlement?
It’s highly unlikely that we’ll see one reached during the actual conference. What we might see, though, is the judge in the case intervening at his own discretion to nudge different sides into a particular direction. He’s been vocal about the fact that he does not want to rule on the case but has also said he will if he must.
The biggest takeaway here is NASCAR’s shift in tone. 23XI and company have been adamant from the start that a settlement was very much a goal of theirs, while NASCAR hasn’t been as open regarding the question. However, like with just about any situation, when the group chats got leaked, everything hit the fan. Things got ugly, which draws things out in the public eye.
Only one thing happens when a case involving a high-powered organization and its employee plays out in public: The little man starts gaining momentum. Why do you think every case involving large entities vs. individuals or much smaller ones end up getting settled out of court? There’s not a lot of conspiracy to this stance, it’s just what actually happens.
Not everything will be solved on Oct. 21. However, if the judge in the case decides to involve himself in the discussion more than not, it could give both sides a clearer idea of where he stands on the issues as the sit. Then a settlement could come shortly after.
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.