“Don’t Give Up on Us”- Kyle Larson’s Crew Chief Publicly Defends NASCAR’s Next-Gen Despite Pointing Out Major Flaw

Since its introduction in 2022, the Next-Gen car has polarized opinions in the NASCAR community. While some have hailed its performance on intermediate tracks and superspeedways, others believe it leaves much to be desired, especially on short tracks and road courses. The robustness of the Generation 7 car has tremendously improved safety standards, but has it come at the expense of entertaining races at Bristol Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, and Darlington Raceway?

According to Kyle Larson’s crew chief Cliff Daniels, there are plenty of positives in the Next-Gen car that make it a long-term solution for NASCAR, despite the sanctioning body needing to iron out the kinks. Daniels via social media joined the debate about the car, patiently responding to fans’ queries one at a time.

Kyle Larson’s crew chief urges fans to have faith

Cliff Daniels and Kyle Larson make quite a pair, don’t they? The duo has won 21 races together in their careers so far, including 12 poles. What makes their partnership even more impressive is that five of those wins have come this season alone, with the latest being at Bristol Motor Speedway. Larson led 462 of 500 laps at the 2024 Bass Pro Shops Night Race, the most at the short track in 47 years. As expected, fans hold Daniels in high regard, believing he is up there with Chris Gabehart and Rodney Childers as one of the most accomplished crew chiefs in the Cup Series at the moment.

Ahead of the opening Round of 12 playoff race, a fan suggested to Daniels that Cup Series drivers should compete in Xfinity Series cars to improve the quality of the competition. In response, the Hendrick Motorsports crew chief replied, “That’s not my point. NG7 platform is here to stay and bear in mind it’s producing some of the best INT (intermediate) and SSW (superspeedway) races the sport has had in a while. Some RC (road course) races also. ST (short track) races need help, we’re all on the same page. It can be done. Keep watching, keep supporting, and don’t give up on us. Also, tune in this weekend. Kansas will be a great race.”

However, the 36-year-old didn’t hesitate to point out a significant flaw in the Next-Gen car as well, going on to say, “Chew on this. Old car and current Xfinity, the trailing car can move the leading car with air. Nose down and back up. G7 racing is nose up and back down and the trailing car cannot scoop or pack air toward the leading car bumper. We can work on this to allow the trailing car to “move that guy”. Yes tires and HP are in the equation, but we have lost that dynamic in the G7 car.”

Cliff Daniels’ perspective on increasing horsepower for the Next-Gen cars holds some weight. Many believe it could improve tire wear and make racing more exciting, particularly on short tracks where overtaking is difficult. Although the Xfinity Series cars don’t face the same issues, a fix for the Cup Series is needed soon before the criticism grows.

Despite these challenges, races at intermediate tracks and superspeedways have seen a boost in excitement, a big step up from the Gen-6 era. Daniels is optimistic that a solution will be found, but applying the Xfinity setup to Cup races isn’t feasible and could have long-term repercussions for NASCAR.

Cliff Daniels reacts to backlash after Bristol’s lack of chaos

Expectations were high going into the final Round of 16 playoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Why wouldn’t there be? After all, ‘The World’s Fastest Half-Mile’ featured an entertaining short track race in spring earlier this year, where drivers experienced high tire falloff. Even though Goodyear chose to use the same compound for the 2024 Bass Pro Shops Night Race, the result wasn’t the same this time around. Kyle Larson utterly dominated the short track, prompting plenty of NASCAR fans to call the race boring.

However, Cliff Daniels had a contrasting opinion. Speaking to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, the crew chief expressed his belief that the lack of tire reliability brought ‘chaos’ in the race, something NASCAR doesn’t need to keep fans entertained. He said, “The Bristol race, everyone wants to say was so amazing in the spring because of the tire coming apart. Well, no, it was the tire coming apart that created chaos. It wasn’t a good race. The chaos was fun for the moment. But that’s not sustainable like that. That type of chaos is not what our sport needs on a weekly basis. We don’t, we don’t need chaos and calamity, you know, we need good, pure racing.”

Unsurprisingly, Kyle Larson also echoed that sentiment, going on to say that Bristol has never been a track where overtaking was easy. The 32-year-old racing driver went on to claim that the spring race at ‘The Last Great Colosseum’ was an anomaly, not a norm. He also took to social media to urge fans not to blame Goodyear for the lack of tire wear on the track, concluding his views by saying, “Temper your expectations. We’re driving spec race cars.” Victory at Bristol increased Larson’s lead at the top of the driver standings, and he is currently 15 points above Christopher Bell going into the race at Kansas Speedway.