Back in October, NASCAR announced that it plans increase the horsepower of its Cup Series cars on select tracks to 750 horsepower for this season.
To many, this news was heralded as a step in the right direction, but just how much of a difference will the jump make? That’s a question that begs for some number crunching.
The increase will be in effect at 18 different tracks this season, including every road course and any oval shorter than 1.5 miles. That means five of the first eight races of the season will see the horsepower bump and new accompanying package, giving an early glimpse into just how much difference the increase can make.
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The increase is substantial, to say the least. The old package only put out 670 hp, and on a car as light as the Next Gen, that sort of increase can make a world of difference in lap times.
Will the drivers feel a very significant change? Probably not initially. The Next Gen car isn’t the rattling, shaking machines many fans grew up with. However, during a preliminary test session at North Wilkesboro Speedway earlier this month, drivers provided insight into an issue that has thus far plagued the Next Gen platform: inconsistent tire wear.
“At 10 o’clock this morning, if you would have told me there was a difference in motor changes, that’s the only way I would have known,” Josh Berry said. “There’s just a lot of grip, and it’s hard to tell [a difference].”
Those aren’t encouraging words from one of the sport’s most revered short-track savants.
NASCAR’s biggest issue at short tracks thus far has been due to a litany of factors, with horsepower being one of them, but not the end all, be all. Horses under the hood don’t always automatically lead to great short-track racing. I’ve seen everything from micro sprints to 410 non-wings run excellent short-track races.
The biggest issue limiting NASCAR’s short-track package in the Next Gen era remains the platform itself. While it is still light enough that 750 hp will make a stark difference, the car’s overreliance on aerodynamics, weight and independent rear suspension remains unchanged to this point.
The fans have never once griped that the car is too slow on short tracks (superspeedways is an argument for another day). Instead, they’ve said all along that the cars simply cannot pass on short tracks without having to forcibly move another driver out of the way.
When it comes to the aerodynamics of the Next Gen, they actually work quite well when the cars have the necessary space between them to make a difference. On short tracks, though, this space is nonexistent. This causes the cars to stall out behind one another (in an aerodynamic sense) and allows the aerodynamics to have too much influence on cornering, even at low speeds.
In the playoff era, no less, this created a short-track experience that relied on restarts and bump-and-runs to gain positions, rather than on long-run race craft. Inconsistent tire falloff didn’t help matters by any stretch of the imagination, but that’s easily remedied by Goodyear simply bringing a better tire, and it can be done.
Now, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I have all the answers. However, if there was one thing I wished fans could see during offseason testing, it was a Next Gen car with a solid rear axle and the 750-hp package.
Am I asking for too much? Probably. However, if NASCAR wants to fix its short-track problem, getting rid of independent rear suspension is an excellent next step. It would increase tire load variation, require drivers to pedal the car a bit more carefully and offer a bit narrower sweet spot, necessitating teams to choose between long- and short-run speeds.
That being said, this story is about the 750-hp package itself. I’ve done a lot of talking up to this point, but the reality is this: the package alone will not and cannot be a silver bullet to fix NASCAR’s short-track issue. Can it potentially make the racing better? Sure. However, with the state of the Next Gen, extra horsepower is neither going to feel that different nor race that differently, as far as the drivers are concerned.
A lot of good things have happened for the sport this offseason, and there are some exciting moments on the horizon. The 750-hp package is a step in the right direction, but it might require a leap for NASCAR to fix one of its staples in short-track racing.
Tanner Marlar is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated’s OnSI Network, a contributor for multiple automotive news outlets, an award-winning sports columnist and talk show host, and a PhD. student at a premier college of media and mass communication. Tanner began working with Frontstretch in 2022, covering the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Thanks as always for a great read, Tanner.
“In the playoff era, no less, this created a short-track experience that relied on restarts and bump-and-runs to gain positions, rather than on long-run race craft. Inconsistent tire falloff didn’t help matters by any stretch of the imagination, but that’s easily remedied by Goodyear simply bringing a better tire, and it can be done.”
Whether 670hp or 750hp, it seems NASCAR has put Goodyear in a position of trying to balance on a razor blade with short tracks.
If Goodyear builds a tire which doesn’t fall off, team and driver skill of managing tires goes out the window, and people malign that no one can pass, because everyone is running qualifying laps every lap. Shorter braking distances and equal traction leaving the turn provide few opportunities to get along side the car ahead.
If Goodyear builds a tire which falls off after 80 laps, scheduled cautions mean unless a stage runs green start to finish, again, tire fall off doesn’t happen, and passing is a problem.
If Goodyear builds a tire which does fall off after 30-50 laps, but then fails, teams and fans will malign Goodyear for poor quality tires.
So, Goodyear would have to make a tire which wears to the point it’s slow after 30-50 laps, the softer layers don’t cord, and there are harder compounds beneath, which can last the rare 80+ lap stint.
Someone, please enlighten me how stage racing makes any sense!
Agree that I think Goodyear gets put in a tough position with this car, and the stages don’t help them at all. I just think the issues run deeper than the rubber, so to speak. Independent rear suspension, the aero package, etc., are all making Goodyear’s job much harder than it needs to be. I have confidence they can build a good tire, because they usually get it right in the end, but I think the biggest thing slowing that process down is the car itself, not the stages.
That being said, stages could go away tomorrow, and I wouldn’t mind a bit. The overreliance on the restarts is still part of the underlying issues with the car itself, imo.
I wonder how much the sidewall height impacts the consistency of tire wear? Perhaps the old, taller sidewall tires were more forgiving, especially on more aggressive (for lack of a better word) setups? I don’t know, just speculating.
I still think at this level the HP should be >850, and the nose needs to be opened up to reduce front downforce and make front grip on the leading car closer to the front grip on the trailing car. This, IMO, would be a big step toward making passing under green a thing again.
So I’ve thought about this myself and have talked to several of my engineering friends. The older sidewalls obviously had more give, but less surface area on the track. It’s a bit of a give-and-take. They had more give in the corners due to those sidewalls and could be driven much harder as a result. Hence why we saw (and still see the O’Reilly cars) get into a bit deeper of an angle when they’re set up to run loose in the corners. I mention in the story that I don’t believe any HP increase will be the magic bullet they hope for, but I do think 800-850 would be more of a challenge to the drivers than the old package, for sure, and even the new one, too. I do like your aero ideas, too. There are a lot of issues with how this car races on a short track, and aero is a huge factor.
I don’t know enough about suspension to know how much solid-rear vs independent rear suspension makes a difference. But I am smart enough to know its better on road courses vs ovals, and also almost every new car today has an independent rear.
I never would have thought of going back to a solid rear end, or that it would help.
Also, since stage racing was mentioned, I like it. It gives teams a chance to earn points throughout the event, rather than just coasting until the end. But I don’t like the cautions (TV time-outs) they cause, and it throws pit strategy out the window.
Totally agree with you on stages. Keep ’em, but eliminate the cautions. Honestly, every broadcast is scheduled for “X” amount of commercial breaks, and I don’t even care if they choose to go to commercials after the end of each stage. Just stop artificially packing the field back up with cautions.
To me the difference in the independent suspension is the ability to hit the wall and break parts. The solid rear end could bounce off a wall and not need parts replaced on pit road. The law of unintended consequences bites the NA$CAR brain trust again.