NASCAR just gave teams something they have been asking for a long time. Starting at New Hampshire on August 22, practice goes from 25 minutes to 50. One session, all cars on track together, two sets of tires. Every race for the rest of the year gets this, except Daytona and Talladega. Simple enough. But when journalist Jordan Bianchi started asking drivers about it, Denny Hamlin didn’t give the idea much merit and scoffed at the news: “Come on. You really think this is going to make that big of a difference?”

Here is the thing though: Denny Hamlin was not the one who asked for this. And that is the real story. Right now, a race weekend gives every team 25 minutes of practice, split into two groups. One set of tires. A few laps, and that is it. But Bianchi revealed who he believes pushed for this change.

“This was really a push from the mid-sized teams and those further back in the garage,” Bianchi said on The Teardown. “Basically, we’re talking about everyone outside the traditional powerhouse organizations like 23XI Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, Team Penske, and Hendrick Motorsports.

Those other teams are saying, ‘Listen, those organizations already have every advantage. They have the resources, the simulator programs, manufacturer support, and everything else. They arrive at the racetrack ready to go, and there’s really no opportunity for us to close the gap.’ They believe they have smart people who know how to improve a race car, but the current practice format doesn’t give them enough time to make meaningful adjustments.

“This longer session gives them a chance to close some of that competitive gap. If you’ve got a really smart crew chief who can make adjustments after seeing the car on track, or an experienced driver who can give detailed feedback, they’ll be able to use that extra time to improve the car. So my understanding is that this was largely driven by those teams as a way to reduce some of the competitive advantage the biggest organizations have.”

These are not bad teams. Some have good crew chiefs. Some have experienced drivers who know exactly what they need from a car. The problem is 25 minutes is not enough time to make a change, get back out, and see if it worked. So the gap just stays there, race after race.

Paul Wolfe, the crew chief currently working with Joey Logano, is an example of someone who would genuinely know what to do with an extra 25 minutes, if only the format allowed it. Now, the new rule allows fifty minutes, one block, every car on track at the same time. Two tire sets instead of one. With one set, a team gets one proper run. With two, they can try something, run it for several laps, come back in, make an adjustment, and go again. That is how you actually learn something about a race car. There is one catch, though.

Cars still cannot go back to the garage during the session. Everything happens from pit road: tire pressures, spring rubbers, wedge, small stuff. That restriction was not an accident. Without it, the richest teams would turn practice into a second shop day, and the whole point of the change falls apart.

The split-group format disappearing is also a bigger deal than it gets credit for. Under the old system, teams drew randomly for groups. One group might run on a cooler track, the other on a rubbered-up surface, completely different conditions, same 25 minutes. Now everyone runs together. Same track, same time, no luck of the draw.

Denny Hamlin’s skepticism is not entirely wrong. The top teams will benefit from the extra time too; better people tend to get more out of more opportunity.

But the smaller teams are not looking to beat Hendrick in the simulator. They are looking for a chance to find something real, on real pavement, in real time. For the first time in a while, they actually have one.