As NASCAR enters the 2024 season with a lot of pressure from the audience building, time is ticking for the officials to smoothen the rough edges of the sport that might put off some in the community. The drawbacks of racing with the Next Gen car are proving to be a thorn in some drivers’ rosy futures on the track. However, while drivers like Kyle Busch have spoken out against the “air blocking” techniques that allowed Kyle Larson to keep Tyler Reddick at bay in Vegas, Denny Hamlin believes drivers just need to adjust to the “different” and “new” style of racing.

Denny Hamlin remains indifferent to the Next Gen car’s air-blocking ability

When Kyle Larson sealed victory over Tyler Reddick at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, HMS fans couldn’t help but rejoice at the brilliant start to the season. But, on the other hand, those supporting Tyler Reddick felt that the main reason Larson could win was because of the air-blocking ability. The next-gen cars depend heavily on aerodynamics and the draft from the car in front. So, a car out in front can leave behind immense dirty air by swerving, which ultimately slows down the car behind.

Earlier, drivers had to put their cars on the line by physically blocking the car behind, but now they can do so with the dirty air itself. This makes following the lead car all the more difficult. Pointing this out, Kyle Busch felt NASCAR had failed to make the car ‘better’, causing many in the media to ask other drivers about their opinions on the same. While Busch was fairly critical, as we shall see later, Denny Hamlin felt drivers were only now warming up to the technique, and at the end of the day, it was a part of motorsport.

Hamlin shared during the pre-race conference, “Yeah I think everyone is just getting educated on it a little better. I think that it’s been a part of our sport for a few years now and there was kind of Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick going around the internet probably that everyone got fed in their algorithms this week but yeah. It’s back when Kevin was just miles faster than Joey and he was just swerving through the corner trying to stay in his mirror and we still have that today, for sure.”

Taking the example of the time Logano could block a much faster Kevin Harvick, Hamlin believed racing today wasn’t too different from the last few generations. While the package now was different in terms of horsepower, the aerodynamic principles largely remained constant. The only difference? The cars now had a lot more downforce and traction, allowing drivers to implement those principles to a higher magnitude.

He added, “If you look back at when we had 900 horsepower like you weren’t able to do that. You had to hold when, pick a line, and guess there, but now with us having so much grip and so little horsepower, you’re able to swerve through the middle of the corners because of how much grip the cars have, so it’s just a new type of racing, right. So it’s not better or worse, depends on your point of view but it’s just different.”

The 23XI racer was rather neutral on the benefits and downsides of air blocking, feeling that it was just a part of how the sport had developed, and just like how F1 drivers have to adjust to slip-stream principles, NASCAR drivers now have to keep in mind the various technicalities that come with air blocking.

On the other hand, even though Kyle Busch also felt that ultimately, the leader will do everything it takes to stay in that position, he also revealed how the Cup car is the worst (technically, the best) of the lot when it comes to how easy the maneuver is to execute.

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Kyle Busch believes the Cup car suffers the most from air-blocking shenanigans

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During the pre-race conference ahead of the Phoenix Raceway, Kyle Busch was asked about his thoughts about air blocking, seeing how Larson had won over Reddick. While Denny Hamlin was indifferent toward the whole technique, Busch had a more harsh approach. The Richard Childress Racing star shared how the new car was a much bigger challenge when it came to fighting the air-blocking and also felt NASCAR has failed to make the car better on that front.

Busch stated, “This car is 30% worse, they were supposed to make it 30% better, that didn’t happen.” Just like Hamlin, Busch pointed to Harvick and Logano’s battle at Kansas, sharing how Logano kept behind Harvick’s much faster car by air-blocking him. So while Busch too felt it had always happened, now, it was much worse. He reflected on how he faced similar techniques in the Truck Series as well, but nothing as intense as the air blocking with the Cup car.

He added, “So I mean it happens always, in anything, trucks are that way, those guys are doing it somewhat you know, but these Cup cars are really bad for that, you literally just, you go off in the corner and if you can watch your mirror and drive out front well enough, then you can kind of like just let your car go where it needs to go in order to air block the guy behind you.” While Busch also revealed that he would try to throw Larson off guard and somewhat did the same, it was owing to how easy it was to air block that drivers would use it to stay in the lead at any costs.

Although Denny Hamlin believes drivers must learn how to both deal with and use the air-blocking maneuver to its best ability, Kyle Busch felt it was way too strong to not pose a problem to anyone running in second. With that said, do you think air blocking is fair, or should NASCAR bring in some changes?

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