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BRISTOL, TENNESSEE – SEPTEMBER 17: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #45 MoneyLion Toyota, looks on in the garage area after mechanical issue during the NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on September 17, 2022 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

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BRISTOL, TENNESSEE – SEPTEMBER 17: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #45 MoneyLion Toyota, looks on in the garage area after mechanical issue during the NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on September 17, 2022 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
There was a lot of hope and promise that came with the Next Gen car. After all, NASCAR pitched it as a revolutionary evolution that will take the sport to a whole new level, but has it really? This was something that the spotter of Bubba Wallace recently raised.
“This car has ruined our best two avenues of racing: short tracks and superspeedways,” in a recent episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast.
“I’ll give you credit, it’s 100% better lately at the mile and a half but the racing that we’ve kind of been built on is short tracks and superspeedways, and they’re not good anymore.”
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Kraft then described how the Next Gen car has more or less taken away his driver’s key strength, the superspeedways, something which was on display at Talladega for everyone to see.
“In the past, in the last car, we could go to the top lane and be in the top five within three or four laps. We could make stuff happen, get that top lane, get that top lane rolling,” he continued.
“Yesterday I couldn’t do it.”
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The spotter of Bubba Wallace opens on why the Talladega race was odd this time around
One of the things which many people felt was odd about the recent race at Talladega was the fact that there was no ‘big one’. The race was largely clean and missing any big incidents, which is a good thing.
However, the reason, at least according to Freddie Kraft of that not happening, is a cause of concern.
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“You know why we didn’t have a big one? Because these guys are afraid to crash,” he said. “You can’t have a race when these guys are terrified of crashing because they don’t know what’s gonna happen.”

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KANSAS CITY, KANSAS – SEPTEMBER 10: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #45 ROOT Insurance Toyota, looks on during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on September 10, 2022 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
The spotter admitted that the aggression level wasn’t all the way down among the drivers, but it was certainly lower than what everyone is used to.
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“I think it was partly because these guys were afraid to crash yesterday,” Kraft added.
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