Superspeedway racing has had a real problem over the last few years. Instead of the chaotic pack racing fans expect at Daytona and Talladega, races have turned into fuel-saving strategy sessions, with drivers riding around well off the throttle until the final pit stop. NASCAR’s answer was to bring a lower-downforce, reduced-horsepower package to Daytona in an attempt to break that pattern.
That decision made a lot of people nervous. Teams are heading into the race with zero practice laps on the new package, which means nobody really knows what to expect in one of the most unpredictable races on the schedule. Not everyone is worried, though. Kyle “Yung Money” Larson is one of the few drivers who actually likes where this is headed.
Kyle Larson would rather have unpredictable than ‘boring’
Larson has always had mixed feelings about racing at Daytona and Talladega. He believes superspeedway races can feel more like a lottery, where luck plays as much of a role as driver skill. But when asked about the new setup, he pointed out something the garage doesn’t like to admit.
Drivers have spent years complaining that these races are too chaotic, and now that NASCAR is changing things up, people are suddenly nervous about the opposite problem.
Speaking to the media ahead of the Coke Zero Sugar 400, Kyle Larson said, “Yeah, I think, I don’t know. I feel like it’s weird because we, a lot of us, complain that Daytona and Talladega and tracks are like too chaotic and there’s crashing and all this stuff. It’s like it got so boring. It’s like we want the chaos. So that’s why we’re in this point of changing the package.”
For Larson, the bigger issue is that the Next Gen car has made most tracks feel the same week to week. If a new aero package shakes things up, even if it brings less certainty, he sees that as a worthwhile trade-off.
Larson, who will start 10th on the grid, admitted that he’s looking forward to trying something new. In this Next Gen era, which began in 2022, there has been little to make him feel this way. He even hinted that if NASCAR comes up with these track-specific package shake-ups every year, he’d be down for it.
That said, optimism can only go so far when nobody has actually driven the new package in race conditions. There’s no practice session this week, something insiders like Dale Earnhardt Jr. have sounded caution about. And considering it’s a crucial race for many, with the playoffs just around the corner, not everyone is willing to embrace the chaos the same way Larson is.
Bubba Wallace not looking forward to Daytona uncertainty
23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace, who will start 26th on the grid, knows firsthand how quickly things can go wrong at Daytona. Earlier this year, during the Duel in February, Wallace was leading when a bump-drafting chain reaction saw Austin Dillon get pushed into his car. Wallace spun from the lead and triggered a multi-car crash. Considering that experience, along with the package change, he is a lot more cautious heading into the weekend.
In Daytona ahead of the race, when asked how long it might take drivers to get a handle on the new package, Wallace didn’t pretend to have an answer. “I don’t know. Joey [Logano] said a couple of races. I think it’s whoever’s aero group did the best research. I think we brought the best package. I don’t know. I really hope it’s not a debacle, because it’s going to look really bad that we didn’t get practice with something so drastic.”
Asked what a “debacle” would actually look like, Wallace said the worst-case scenario would be drivers crashing on the opening lap because they simply can’t handle how the cars behave with the new package. He stressed that qualifying offered no real indication of how the cars would feel in race conditions, leaving teams with virtually no idea what to expect.
Even so, Wallace agrees with what NASCAR is trying to fix. The fuel-saving style of racing that took over recent Daytona 500s has drained a lot of the intensity out of what’s supposed to be one of the most aggressive tracks on the schedule. “I’m not exactly sure what they’re trying to chase. Maybe like an Atlanta-esque, right? Get away from the fuel saving stuff. Get into where you can create runs and make passes while you’re driving hard. I think the intent’s there.”
Nobody really knows how this will play out until the green flag drops. It could be the pass-heavy race NASCAR is hoping for, or it could go about as badly as Wallace is bracing for. Either way, teams are about to find out in real time, with no practice data to fall back on.