William Byron enjoyed his season’s second win on Sunday. However, the manner of his victory is overshadowed by controversy. While the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s fuel mileage run was impressive, it was logically not a match for his faster rivals.
Twin stage winner Brad Keselowski and polesitter Chase Briscoe could have easily toppled Byron. But the reason they could not do so was the Next-Gen car’s sputtering at Iowa Speedway. And that has irked Dale Earnhardt Jr immensely.
Dale Jr does not mince his words
“It does everything like a stock car, just better,” Dale Jr said back in 2021, after a Next-Gen car test. In just four years, his opinion has taken a 180-degree flip. With good reason, too. At the Iowa Corn 350 race, Brad Keselowski found it hard to pass despite his No. 6 Ford being the fastest trailing car. In the final stage, Byron had to back down to half throttle to save fuel, and even then, Keselowski or Chase Briscoe could not overtake him. This bizarre occurrence could be attributed to dirty air due to the Next-Gen car. So, Dale Jr did not hold back his emotions anymore.
On a recent episode of ‘Dale Jr Download,’ Dale Earnhardt Jr claimed the car was a travesty in the NASCAR world. “I don’t love the Next-Gen car. It’s an IMSA car, it’s a sports car. It’s got a diffuser, it’s got low-profile tires. It’s got big rims and big brakes. It’s a sports car. It’s not a NASCAR stock car,” he said. Truly, NASCAR officials even visited a Supercars round in the early stages of research and development in 2018.
Dale Jr continued with his rant, pointing out the glaring gap between drivers’ needs and NASCAR’s glamor. “I f—ing hate this car…Would I have ever built a NASCAR stock car that had a diffuser? No…I wouldn’t have put a low-profile tire on it and changed the side wall so the drivers can’t feel the f—ing tire…Because of the side wall, the tires are short. The brakes – what the f—? ….Now the braking zones are so f—ing short.” He added, “I’m disappointed that we have races like this, and the car’s just frustrating to watch. You know what the drivers are dealing with, you know what the drivers are struggling with…we’re worrying about being modern.”
Evidently, Dale Earnhardt Jr’s qualms about the Next-Gen have no bounds. It is well in tune with the rest of the NASCAR industry as well, so stay tuned for more updates!
The post “It’s Not a Stock Car:” Dale Jr. Lashes Out at NASCAR as Frustration Over Next Gen Boils appeared first on EssentiallySports.
