NASCAR’s Gen-7 “Next Gen” car, rolled out in 2022, has been a lightning rod for debate. Designed for safety, parity, and cost savings, it’s delivered on some fronts but sparked plenty of gripes from drivers. The car’s underbody downforce creates dirty air, choking trailing cars and making passing a nightmare, often turning races into single-file parades unless chaos intervenes. Denny Hamlin’s been vocal, calling it a “fundamental problem” and slamming NASCAR for rushed development, noting they only tested multiple cars together “two months before the very first race” and realized “holy s—-, you cannot pass.”

Even Kyle Busch echoed the frustration, describing the Gen-7 as “a different beast” that’s tough to master, with a stiff frame causing wrist injuries in crashes due to its rigid steering rack. Safety concerns hit a peak with at least seven “blowovers” since 2022, including Ryan Preece’s terrifying airborne flip at Daytona in 2025, where the car’s diffuser acted like a parachute. Even after NASCAR added a rear wind deflector, Josh Berry’s flip showed the fix wasn’t enough.

Veterans like Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, and Mark Martin have questioned the car’s handling and safety, while Kyle Larson called early Gen-7 races “stale,” blaming the low 670-horsepower cap and high grip for predictable outcomes dominated by clean air. Fans feel it too. Short tracks and road courses, once hotbeds of chaos, now often lack the aggression of old due to aerodynamics overpowering driver skill. The Gen-7’s impact-resistant chassis is safer in theory but brutal in crashes, flattening the driver-versus-driver battles that defined NASCAR’s thrill. The push is growing for NASCAR to tweak the design, balancing safety with the raw, competitive edge fans and drivers crave.

What Shane van Gisbergen said

Drawing a parallel, Shane van Gisbergen recently unloaded on a similar issue from his Supercars days, slamming the Gen3 car in a way that mirrors NASCAR’s Next Gen struggles. The Kiwi native, now a NASCAR road course ace, didn’t hold back when reflecting on his final season Down Under, offering a blunt take that resonates with the Cup Series’ current frustrations.

In a recent New York Times interview, when asked, “What is the most miserable you’ve ever been inside of a race car?” Shane van Gisbergen didn’t hesitate. “Probably my last year of Supercars, every time I had to drive that car. (Laughs.) I hated that car. It was just a s—box, boring car. You had to drive it 40 percent every time you drove, and if you tried to drive hard, you’d go backward or slower. It was just mind-numbing to drive. And the racing, everyone would be in a line just driving around at 40 percent, and I found it so boring. The generation (of car) before in Supercars were like 400 percent driving. They were awesome. So I don’t miss that car,” he said.

His frustration with the 2023 Gen3 Supercars era was palpable. The new platform, meant to cut costs and improve parity, forced drivers to baby their tires at 30–40 percent effort to stay competitive, turning races into “mind-numbing” processions. SVG’s description of cars lining up in a single file mirrors NASCAR’s dirty air woes, where trailing drivers struggle to close gaps. The Gen3’s identical parts, narrow setup windows, and 17 psi minimum tire pressure stifled creativity, making qualifying exciting but races “suck,” as he put it.

SVG’s love for the Gen2 V8s, which demanded “400 percent driving,” highlights the contrast. Those cars rewarded aggression, helping him rack up three championships and over 80 wins. But Gen3’s constraints drained his passion, pushing him toward NASCAR after his stunning 2023 Chicago Street Race win. His Townsville 500 press conference that year, where he bluntly said, “We can’t pass, so what do you do?” captured his growing discontent. The shift to NASCAR, where he’s found full-throttle racing again, was a lifeline, but his Gen3 gripes echo NASCAR drivers’ Next Gen complaints about cars that punish bold moves and sap the racing’s soul.

Shane van Gisbergen calls for smarter safety tech

Fresh off his Chicago Street Race win in 2025, Shane van Gisbergen turned his focus to a serious safety issue after Cody Ware’s terrifying crash during the event. Ware slammed into a tire barrier at nearly 93 mph in Turn 6 after a brake rotor failure, but NASCAR’s caution flag didn’t wave for 35 seconds, raising eyebrows. Speaking to reporter Claire B. Lang, SVG said, “I don’t think they saw the severity of the crash, or thought he could drive out.”

He pointed to Supercars’ approach, adding, “I’m pretty sure in V8 Supercars, when I left, the cars had like a G-sensor, or if you had a crash that was big enough, it would trigger that G-sensor to, you know, medical and probably race control.” SVG called the footage of Ware’s wreck “sickening,” stressing, “If the crash is big enough, you need someone to… obviously looking at that fan version of the car passing by, it’s sickening to watch that.” He urged NASCAR to adopt similar crash detection tech, noting, “So yeah, I guess there needs to be something to be improved, but I feel like NASCAR in general is fast moving with that stuff, so I’m sure it’ll be better.”

The delay, which prevented an overtime finish, sparked concern since NASCAR later admitted they lacked a live feed of the impact. SVG’s push for G-sensors, which automatically alert medical and race control in Supercars, stems from his experience in a series where such tech was standard by 2023. His own 2014 Gold Coast 600 crash, where he hit a concrete wall at high speed, likely benefited from similar systems, ensuring a quick response. His call for smarter safety tech aligns with NASCAR’s Next Gen safety critiques, like the blowovers and stiff chassis issues, showing his frustration isn’t just about racing dynamics but also about protecting drivers when things go wrong.