Over the 76 years of its stock car racing history, NASCAR has undergone tumultuous changes. Most drivers have adapted to these, except for one pressing factor. Soon after corporate businessmen got attracted to NASCAR like magnets in the 1980s, the creativity in racing declined. Parity was introduced to all race cars as drivers started receiving steady salaries.

Many veteran drivers have called out the sanctioning body for going overboard with maintaining parity. They include Geoff Bodine who was nostalgic about racing back in the day. Denny Hamlin also joined the lot, referring to parity troubles most recently at Richmond Raceway.

Denny Hamlin is fed up with excessive equality on tracks

NASCAR checking for disparities down to the last nut and bolt has led to pack racing. This factor is why Denny Hamlin loaded his guns at the upper echelons in his recent episode of ‘Actions Detrimental’.

Hamlin referred to a tweet by Toby Christie to make his point. “I saw a stat on X that says, ‘This is the closest finish in NASCAR history’, you know that? First to last. Do you wanna know why? You can’t even pass f**king lap cars. Like everyone runs the same speed.”

Denny Hamlin further talked about his encounter with his JGR teammate, Martin Truex Jr, on the track. He said he got close to the No. 22 car, trying to push it, but then his strategy did not work out. “Everything got hot, and then it was over. The run stopped. We all equalized in the same lap time.”

Concluding his rant about NASCAR’s obsession with parity, Hamlin looked up to Goodyear for changing the situation. “So if you had more tire wear, it’s been proven, we’ve seen what tire wear does at Bristol. It creates huge disparities in speeds. I think that Goodyear’s trying, they keep coming back with more gage, more heat…They need to get way more aggressive than what they’ve got. This Phoenix/Richmond tire needs to be considerably more softer than what it is.”

This is not the first time Hamlin has called out NASCAR on their equal racing policy. Just a few weeks back, he pointed out that nobody was passing as they were running the same lap time in Phoenix. Besides Hamlin, RCR’s driver Kyle Busch also harped on similar lines earlier this year. 

18-time Cup winner Geoff Bodine drew a parallel with his younger days in racing to emphasize the pitfalls of more parity.

Bodine linked monetary pursuits to more wrecks

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Veteran racer Geoff Bodine has been around in the racing scene for over 30 years. He recalled last year that as soon as NASCAR came under a corporate chokehold in the 1980s, things changed. Besides having more similar cars, drivers started getting steady salaries and no longer depended on their finishing positions for take-home pay. This apparently led to more aggressive driving.

“We’d still bump, but we didn’t wreck,” Bodine said. “As soon as we got the salaries, then the wrecking started. You made more money out of a salary than racing. They still all want to finish, but they’ve been told to drive it as hard as it will go. They’re good and they drive hard. I wouldn’t want to be out there with them. They’re crazy.”

In line with Bodine’s concerns, the most gifted racers like Denny Hamlin are worried about excessive parity. Hopefully, Goodyear tires will out more performances that rely on tire management like they did in Bristol.

Read More: Denny Hamlin & His Crew Chief Hit back at Dirt Racing Legend: “Quit Crying Already”