Denny Hamlin believes NASCAR’s attempt to fix fuel saving at Talladega Superspeedway failed, saying on his Actions Detrimental podcast that the Next Gen car’s design is still the main problem for better racing.

To counter drivers saving fuel at half-throttle, NASCAR changed stage lengths to affect pit strategy, but the car still makes drafting and saving fuel easier than passing on track.

Hamlin was clear about why the changes didn’t work. “Fuel saving is not the issue; it’s the drag,” he said, adding that the car’s design makes it very hard to pull away or pass without help.

He compared the strategy tweaks to “rearranging chairs on the Titanic,” adding that while the end of the race was continuous, the lack of passing made the changes feel hollow. “I don’t think changing it did anything better for the race,” he said.

While he gave credit to the sanctioning body for acknowledging the problem, he insisted the solution lies in the car’s build rather than the rulebook. “I appreciate them trying to change it, though. It did not work… and I hope next time they try something different,” Hamlin stated.

Hamlin maintains that until aerodynamic drag is reduced, fuel-saving tactics will continue to dominate the race.

Denny Hamlin Suggests Reducing Drag to Fix the Racing Product

Instead of adjusting the clock, Denny Hamlin wants NASCAR to take a saw to the car itself.

He argues that high levels of aerodynamic drag are the real reason drivers are forced to save fuel rather than race for the lead. To Hamlin, the solution is simple: make the cars punch a smaller hole in the air so drivers can actually make a move.

“My first recommendation is: please cut the spoiler off this car. Please. Do whatever it takes,” Hamlin urged.

He is even willing to push the speed limits to fix the racing product. “If we’ve got to run 210, we’ll run 210. It’s fine. Please get some drag out of this car. It’s got hundreds of counts more than our Gen 6 car. Hundreds of counts more drag.”

Hamlin believes that if the car allowed for more independent movement, the obsession with gas mileage would vanish.

“If you let us pull out of line and know that we can come out of our pit stop in 10th and still have a chance to win… we won’t care about the fuel savings. I promise you that,” he stated.

For Hamlin, giving the power back to the drivers to make passes is the only way to truly fix the superspeedway experience.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Sanskriti Pastor

Edited by

Pulkit Prabhav