“The horsepower is really, really necessary. I would love to, you know, keep bumping it up. It just really puts it in the driver’s hands and the team’s hands…the cream is able to rise to the top. So, it’s more horsepower is definitely a lot better,” an elated Christopher Bell said when NASCAR bumped the Next Gen package up to 750 hp for short tracks and road courses. On paper, it sounded like the fix fans had been begging for. But when the green flag dropped at Martinsville NASCAR race, the reality told a very different story and its now raising serious questions about whether NASCAR’s latest short-track solution actually solved anything at all.

Tire falloff fails to deliver at Martinsville NASCAR race

“There wasn’t as much tire fall off. The tires were wearing, but yeah, there’s no fall off then. Like what? A second?” “Yeah, it wasn’t much. It wasn’t disparity. We heard all about the comers and goers. We didn’t really have any comers and goers today. Didn’t have anybody come really from the back. It was kind of where you restarted you were kind of in that area where you were going to be.”

That blunt assessment from insiders like Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi pretty much summed up the biggest issue with NASCAR’s latest short-track experiment. It just didn’t create the racing everyone expected!

This new package, featuring reduced downforce and increased horsepower up to 750 hp, wasn’t randomly introduced. It had already been tested at tracks like Bowman Gray Stadium, Phoenix Raceway, and Darlington Raceway. But more than anything, it was tailored specifically with Martinsville Speedway in mind. As you know, it is a place where tire wear and braking zones should, in theory, create chaos and opportunity.

And yet, that chaos never came. Yes, Goodyear has made real progress in reducing overall grip in the Next Gen car over the past few years. Tires are wearing more than before, forcing drivers to manage their runs. But here’s the catch. Wear alone isn’t enough. What truly creates passing is falloff, the lap-time drop that separates cars on old tires from those on fresh rubber.

At Martinsville, that gap simply wasn’t big enough. Without significant falloff, strategy became predictable. Track position ruled everything. If you restarted up front, you stayed there. If you were buried mid-pack, there was little you could do to claw forward, even with fresher tires or better pace.

In the end, despite the added horsepower and ongoing tire tweaks, the racing still lacked the “comers and goers” fans were promised. And that leaves NASCAR in a familiar spot. They are still searching for the right formula to truly fix short-track racing.

Elliott finds a way as strategy trumps the package

While the package itself left plenty to be desired, Chase Elliott proved that races can still be won not just with speed, but with timing and execution.

At Martinsville Speedway, Elliott wasn’t the dominant car for most of the day. That honor clearly belonged to Denny Hamlin, who controlled the race from the front, sweeping both stages and leading a massive chunk of laps. If anything, the lack of tire falloff only made Hamlin’s job easier, allowing him to dictate the pace without worrying about challengers charging through the field.

But this is where strategy stepped in. Crew chief Alan Gustafson made the defining call of the race, bringing Elliott to pit road earlier than the rest of the frontrunners in the final stage. It was a bold undercut, and that forced others to react and opened the door for track position to swing.

Then came the turning point. A late caution reset the field at just the right moment, putting Elliott in position to capitalize. On the restart, he executed perfectly, jumping ahead and finally breaking Hamlin’s stranglehold on the race. From there, with clean air and control of the pace, Elliott did exactly what the package encouraged. He held his position.

That’s the irony. In a race where passing was limited and movement through the field was nearly nonexistent, the win ultimately came down to being in the right place at the right time. Elliott led just 84 laps compared to Hamlin’s dominance, but they were the only laps that mattered.

And in a package where track position is king, that was enough to seal the deal.