After the fuel-saving issue rose, NASCAR decided to flip the stages at Talladega, but it still didn't work. The move backfired almost immediately, as three-wide fuel-saving parades were visible as early as Lap 12. Now, Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief James Small revealed why these strategies will not work.

During his appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Small explained that the cars cannot get out of the line because of the nature of the Next Gen cars. He said, “It has a lot of drag. And we’re trying all these other ways to get around, maybe what’s not the greatest package on a superspeedway when it comes to racing."

James further spoke about the aero element that is preventing passing at the speedways. He also wondered if changing the cars meant going 220 mph at speedways like Daytona. 

However, the #19 crew chief is staying positive that NASCAR, in collaboration with the teams, will come up with a solution to the problem. In the meantime, the fuel-saving tactics will continue. 

“I just think the fuel-saving thing until you have the ability to maybe drive through the field or move around and make runs at people, it’s going to be hard to get rid of that because it just comes down to a track position race. We can’t unlearn what we’ve learned in a sense,” he added. 

Before this, Denny Hamlin also spoke about the Next Gen cars being drag-heavy, which leads to minimal passing on track. 

Hamlin's take on the Talladega race

Denny Hamlin broke down the issue of cars being unable to pass on track being drag-heavy.

“The way the draft works and these cars are so f****** draggy that it just lets you run 20% throttle and keep up with the pack. We’re running all out vs. guys that are running half throttle,” Hamlin said on Actions Detrimental.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver further added,  “Because they can use our draft. They don’t have to run that throttle. Again, the air that gets punched by this car is so massive and they’re so draggy that all it takes is a little bit of a sniff and you can just run half throttle right behind someone that’s running all out. That’s part of the problem. Then the other part is you cannot pull out of line because the drag.” 

If the issue is resolved, the drivers can go back to freely falling out of the line, pit under freely, and still be in contention to win.

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Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason