Insider Blows Whistle on NASCAR’s Darkest Team Owner Secret, Reveals Gen-7 Was Never About Racing

When NASCAR unveiled the Next Gen car in 2022, the garage was buzzing. Officials hailed it as a revolution. “It’s the future of racing,” some team owners claimed. NASCAR’s vision was bold: one car, one standard, one dream. The goal was simple: tighter racing, fairer chances, and cost control. For decades, the bigger teams dominated, backed by deeper pockets and faster cars. The Next Gen car, or Gen-7, promised to level the field and, at the same time, reduce the expenditure for the team owners.

The Gen-7 car was supposed to give underfunded teams a shot and let top teams focus less on stockpiles and more on strategy. NASCAR told fans this car would bring back balance to the sport. Jim France was so proud of the project that he handed out cigars when the first prototype ran at Richmond. “It was for his new baby. So, he gave out cigars for the first Next Gen test, and I feel proud of that, that RCR basically birthed the first one,” said Andy Petree, then VP of Competition at RCR. NASCAR further praised the model’s new tech: composite bodies, independent rear suspension, and larger wheels.

Team owners loved the idea. “This will save us money,” they said. The shared parts would reduce cost and increase competition. But what looked like salvation has slowly turned into resentment. Almost three years in, many fans hate the Gen-7 car. Drivers have criticized it. And now, in a stunning twist, a veteran insider has come forward with the truth. According to Kenny Wallace, the car was never really about racing. It was a desperate attempt by team owners to save themselves, not the sport.

Kenny Wallace reveals the real motive behind Gen-7!

The Gen-7 car was meant to unify NASCAR’s approach. But it did more than that, it removed much of what made racing exciting. Every car looks the same. Real-time SMT data is open and shared by the entire garage. Innovation is restricted. Fans and drivers miss the edge, the unpredictability. NASCAR took a step toward uniformity, but in doing so, many believe it lost its soul. The car has become the villain, especially on short tracks like Martinsville, where passing is rare and grip is limited. And on superspeedway, it has led to fuel mileage practice, which makes the races a tough watch. And now Kenny Wallace has ripped the curtain wide open

He claims Gen-7 was never about better racing. It was about saving the richest teams from drowning in their own success. The former Cup Series driver on Wednesday said, “So for all these years to create a car good for that racetrack, we made a Daytona-Talladega car, a superspeedway car. Sleek… we would go to the wind tunnel… put some downforce in this baby… we want short little A-frames… big brakes… chassis offset…” Wallace walked fans through how teams once built purpose-built cars for different configurations of racetracks.

It was expensive, yes, but it gave teams the ability to optimize for each circuit. Then came the ask. “The NASCAR car owners—they went to NASCAR and said, “Save us. We’re going broke building all these cars… So, here’s the moral of the story: The Gen 7 car was created by all the NASCAR car owners: Roger Penske, Jack Roush, Richard Childress. “Let’s build one car to save ourselves. We need one car that we can go from Daytona to Martinsville with.” And that, my friends, that’s the rest of the story,” he added.

Wallace’s words sting because they’re backed by cold facts. Each driver used to have up to 20 cars. Warehouses were filled with race-ready builds. Now? There’s one car. But it isn’t cheaper. The savings never materialized. In fact, costs spiked. Parts are more expensive. Repairs are more frequent. The very owners who demanded a cost-cutting car now regret it. “It’s not cheaper. It’s just a different expense-line item… we’re crashing it a lot… It’s very, very expensive to fix,” Justin Marks of TrackHouse Racing said in July 2022.

Later, RCR boss Richard Childress echoed the sentiments and revealed how Gen 7 ended up being more expensive than it was supposed to be. “You know, with this new car, it ended up costing all of us a lot more than we ever thought it would. There were different costs, and the saving points haven’t happened. So, we’ve got some challenges. But it’s like everything when you have a challenge; you’ve got to find the fix for it,” Richard Childress admitted earlier this year.

Teams thought Gen-7 would be a budget miracle. Instead, they got a financial migraine with tighter margins and no room for error. According to reports, teams spend as much as $20 million on a car per year. However, the quality of short-track racing has dropped. Side-by-side battles at Bristol or Martinsville are rare. Passing is down, and complaints are up. NASCAR has tried to patch the issues, but drivers like Hamlin keep pressing for more.

However, Wallace doesn’t believe the Gen-7 car is a lost cause. He sees one potential fix: power. “Let’s try some more f—— horsepower, okay?” he said. And he is not alone. 23XI Racing co-owner and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin has been very vocal about the increase in horsepower. “Yes, the engine manufacturers will have to tweak a few things. But those, such as Doug Yates, say going back to 750 isn’t a big deal for us,” he had said earlier this year. While NASCAR continues to build up on its Gen 7 car, it is hard to see them make major changes to the product that was demanded by the team owners.

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Wallace asks fans to get a life!

In his latest “Coffee with Kenny” episode, Wallace didn’t hold back. He didn’t mince words in calling out the fans who have been relentlessly bashing the Gen-7 car. Despite changes, improvements, and even good races, he thinks that the negativity has reached toxic levels. “You could have a great race, and I see a lot of you doing it — have a great race, Richard Petty says it was a great race, Jeff Gluck says it was a great race, and you guys are like, ‘Yeah, but there’s still something wrong with the car,’” Wallace said.

His tone shifted from analytical to sharp. “It’s like, for [expletive] sake, people. I mean, it’s like you’re trying to constantly talk about how negative the car is.” Wallace doesn’t mind constructive feedback. But he’s frustrated with the repetitive griping. “That’s fine. Yeah, but every [expletive] week. Have three good races in a row and three races in a row and you’re going, ‘Yeah, but the car’s still no good.’”

Then came the zinger. “This cliche is what I think works in this situation: get a [expletive] life.” Wallace’s rant isn’t just rage—it’s a reflection of a deeper divide. Some fans want the Gen-6 days back. Others demand that NASCAR fix the Gen-7 car immediately. Wallace is caught in the middle. He sees the flaws, but also the purpose. He wants everyone, drivers, teams, and especially fans, to stop sulking and start working toward solutions.