It’s the new NASCAR Cup Series season, but the same old debate about horsepower is still raging. After Sunday’s race at Phoenix Raceway, JGR driver Denny Hamlin once again advocated for increased horsepower for the new Cup car. But so far, NASCAR seems to stay reluctant on the topic and chooses to run with their current setup.

A majority of drivers, teams, and even fans have been calling for a bump in horsepower for a while now. The Next Gen car, with its design, package, and features, does level out the playing field. In theory, the argument made for an increase in horsepower was that it would allow drivers to make the pass and put on a competitive display of racing. However, there’s a flip side to this theory, and this was well explained by Kaulig Racing President Chris Rice during the SiriusXM radio show.

Chris Rice shares a contrasting opinion to Hamlin’s demand for an increase in horsepower

It’s not that the power of the engine is not enough for running races. But given how Next Gen cars are so identical to each other, it hardly makes for a racing contest among the drivers. However, sharing his thoughts on the raging debate, Rice suggested that an increase in horsepower will only lead to spreading out the field along with unstable handling of the race car.

“If we give them horsepower, the field is going to be spread out. Because the handling is going to be so much worse. The field of handling is going to be spread right because you are going to run through the corner; your car might not handle it as well or your car might handle it better.” Rice said during an interview on SiriusXM NASCAR radio show.

Making his case, he went on to add, “My personal opinion is that if we get horsepower, the cars are going to be separated further apart… So I look at it a different way, still like the tire needs to fall off more. If we had more horsepower, we would probably make the tire fall off more. So I think that’s what most of the guys feel. I look at it a different way; as far as racing goes, I wouldn’t put my name saying that it would be better or worse.”

Surprisingly, after Hamlin’s comments about the increase in horsepower, Dale Earnhardt Jr also shared similar views as Rice. Suggesting that bumping the horsepower isn’t the only solution to make the cars run better.

Dale Earnhardt explains why NASCAR won’t budge on Hamlin’s request

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It’s not that Dale Jr and Denny Hamlin are at odds because of the horsepower debate. In fact, Jr has supported Hamlin’s stance for a long time. But Jr had doubts about the impact of the additional engine power on the Next Gen car. Speaking on his podcast show, Jr said, “I can’t be sure that just adding the horsepower is gonna make a difference. But Denny driver the cars and I’d trust his feedback. If he’s telling us about the cost being pretty much flat.”

Going by Hamlin’s argument that the increase in horsepower is a change that can be made overnight, Jr further added, “Denny makes it sound like there are no hurdles to getting there. Doug Yates who builds the Fords, and all the Toyota guys, they all say they can go to 750 with no issue. And it can be done before next weekend, right? It can be done overnight, and it wouldn’t change durability or anything or cost any additional money.”

The NASCAR community seems to be divided on the raging debate about the increase in horsepower. Where do you stand in this discussion, and do you think increasing the horsepower will bring about any major change for the races?

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