“They are cheating

,” said one viewer in the comment section, pointing out the ‘generational talent’ of NASCAR. Love him or hate him, Kyle Larson has proven that he is here to stay and has cast a long shadow on the grid! And lately, he has been on a fiery streak. On Saturday’s qualifying, the No. 5 car soared to the top and seized the pole position in Kansas. Clinching his third win of this season at the AdventHealth 400 has turned heads. “Great car, great execution today, too, for our team,” said happy Yung Money. But that ‘great car’ remark might get on the nerves of insiders.

With every passing day, the backlash for the next-gen cars is getting stronger. In this mix of an underpowered car with terrible track conditions, and bad officiating, add a dominating driver, and see disaster erupt! And it all started last year. Despite being the last driver on the grid, Larson comfortably grabbed pole with a flying lap of 29.391 seconds, knocking off Chris Beuscher’s Ford to second place in qualifying by a staggering 0.057 seconds. After that, Chris finished 2nd at Kansas to the Hendrick’s driver by just 0.001 seconds. Talking of things that hurt, this year, Buscher finished 8th. And the reason was evident.

Kyle Larson’s talent and the next-gen car are a backlash recipe

The next-gen cars have not been an easy thing to catch up with. Unlike other stock car generations, this underpowered kid is so slow that overtaking seems impractical. While it has made NASCAR a better ‘team sport’ where drivers help their teammates through drafting, the excitement is gone. Reflecting on this matter and defending Kyle Larson on PRN Live, Alexis Ericson had a conversation with veteran broadcaster Doug Rice and Brad Gilly. “And when Kyle Larson is on like that, it’s really hard to be the mouse chasing the cat,” said Ericson. But, hey! Does it not work the other way round with cats chasing mice?

Well, in the case of the next-gen cars, the car running behind is the mouse, as there is no chance to overtake your opponent without drafting! Amidst the very intense race, Kyle Larson, who was losing grip, still managed to hold off Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, and Joey Logano. “I was looking at the numbers from the Saturday practice and qualifying sessions, and nearly in every category, I felt like Kyle Larson was number one. Single fastest lap, 5 lap,10 lap, 20 lap average,” added Doug Rice. Larson didn’t just top the charts—he owned them. All thanks to rising to the front of the pack and then running his own race. But this does not sideline the fact that he is a talented driver.

Brad Gilly reflected on the sentiments of a driver whose record has been broken, saying, “But the Saturday performance… the one thing that stood out to me is how much Chris Buescher must have been crushed because he goes out there and lays down the fastest lap. Qualifying goes on and on and on, and Kyle Larson’s the last one to go out, and like he did a year before by 1/1000 of a second. Kyle Larson once again overtook Chris Buescher and ended up winning the pole.” And this hits home! This season is a complete mess for him. Buescher has just had 2 top-five finishes in this Cup Series so far, of which one is the 3rd place finish at the 2nd Duel of Daytona. But what about the brewing controversies associated with these cars?

Kyle Larson stepped forward to answer about the next-gen car controversy, and he does seem to have a point. “I don’t read the media a whole lot, but I would say us drivers were part of the controversy because we were b——- about it just as much as everybody else. I don’t know … it’s weird. Racing could totally flip this weekend. We could have the next three to five races be really exciting, and everybody’s forgotten about the boring races we’ve had before then. I’m not sure, but I think we all would love to see better racing at every track and all that. We’re all greedy people. We’re humans. But yeah, just finding that solution, I think, is always tough.” But not everyone is so kind about the next-gen cars.

Drivers go ballistic and pick sides over the next-gen cars

The fans still find themselves cribbing about the cars. Many drivers, including Denny Hamlin, have expressed their frustration with the car. Hamlin said, “We didn’t have multiple racecars on the track testing this vehicle until just two months before the inaugural race. That’s when it became clear that passing was extraordinarily difficult. It was quite problematic.” Hinting at not having enough car testing, many questions were raised about the lack of thrilling experience that the car has been providing. However, there are a few drivers who stand by this change and see much merit in this development.

Ryan Blaney goes against the grain and chooses to stand up for the new model car. He goes on to say, “I think everyone had to change their style up a little bit. I don’t know which one I prefer here. I feel like this place has gotten better with this (Gen 7) car with the soft tire. You’re able to move around more. I didn’t think with the old car, the second lane was there as much as it is with this car,” added Blaney.

Taking up the Kansas race as reference, Blaney said, “I don’t know why they were bad. Well, the guy kicked the a– with a race. They did that all the time back when people praised it.” Blaney speaks of races that serve as evidence of this car being good. He then broke down other tracks, saying, “I look at Darlington; that was a great race. Yeah, 24 led a lot of laps, but it was really dicey. Texas, you had a lot of comers and goers; you had a different group of people at the end of the race than what were there at the front.” 

However, not a lot of drivers agree with Blaney’s standpoint, and he has to join the majority for this one in Kansas. Which side do you pick? Would you like a new generation of cars to show up anytime soon? Let us know in the comments below.