NASCAR has been trying to improve the superspeedway racing in the Cup cars for a long time now, but the attempts seem to be feeble. Despite the changes introduced at Talladega, the racing was more or less similar to Daytona earlier, as Denny Hamlin pointed out the fuel saving. The authorities came up with a change in format to restrict drivers from attempting fuel-saving maneuvers during the race, but it didn’t exactly help, and Hamlin now has an alternate solution.

Denny Hamlin urges a change in the car

“I hope next time they try something different. My first recommendation is, please cut the spoiler off this car,” Hamlin said, speaking on the Actions Detrimental podcast. The spoilers have been a huge part of the Gen 7 or the ‘Next Gen’ cars. When racing at superspeedways, like the Talladega race earlier, the sport uses a different configuration of the same spoiler, reducing top speed and promoting pack racing.

However, it is exactly this that seems to be hampering the cars’ overall racing performance, as drivers prefer to lift off the throttle and drop behind other cars. This was noticed as Hamlin led a huge portion of the 1 stage, with the top 7 seemingly stuck in a train of aero drag.

But Hamlin feels that even if this small change is made in the cars, they would be able to perform way better, with less fuel-saving: “Please get some drag out of this car. It’s got hundreds of counts more than our Gen 6 car. If you let us pull out of line and know that we can come out of our pit stop in 10th and still have a chance to win, we’re going to pull out of the line and make runs, and we won’t care about the fuel savings. I promise you that.”

After noticing a huge part of the field packing up and saving fuel for most of the race at Daytona, NASCAR decided to flip the stages around at the Talladega Superspeedway. The first stage was the longest with a whopping 98 laps of the 2.6-mile track, and the final stage was the shortest. This was done in an attempt to improve the racing; however, the teams ended up tweaking their strategies, with minimal lead changes in the first stage.

Most of the major changes came through the ‘big one’ during stage 2, and other cautions. Moreover, the most exciting part for most fans was the final lap, when Carson Hocevar clinched his maiden win. It seems quite apparent at this point that the lack of racecraft witnessed in the Cup Series is not because of the format but because of the Gen 7 car, and NASCAR is knocking on the wrong door, as Hamlin suggested.

Why the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series is something that NASCAR could learn from

Although the race on Sunday was not as entertaining for the most part, fans enjoyed a different level of racing on Saturday, as NASCAR’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series conquered Talladega in their decade-old cars.

The racing was over-the-top exciting for both the drivers and the fans. While the Cup Series barely witnessed any lead changes early in the race, the leaders in the NOAPS struggled to maintain position, no matter how hard they tried. Cars were swapping places all the time, and the overall control actually looked a lot more nimble compared to the downforce-creating machinery that the Cup cars are using.

A lot of this was blamed on the current design of the Cup car. Up until the last generation, the cars generated most of their downforce from the spoiler, but the Gen 7 car has many other elements, including the rear diffuser, that help generate downforce. So when the spoiler’s value is also added, the overall downforce is a lot more, making it difficult to make moves and attempt overtakes on Superspeedways.

This is exactly what Denny Hamlin seems to suggest the changes should be. At the same time, while the NOAPS does prove to be a lot more successful on these tracks, it wouldn’t be surprising to see NASCAR introduce new regulations or a new generation of cars. It has been close to two decades since they had a major revamp, and the time seems to be inching closer.