Denny Hamlin: NASCAR had a 'panic moment' before rolling out Next Gen car

As always, we can count on Denny Hamlin to have something to say each week after a race. This time, he’s talking NASCAR Next Gen problems. Bristol was another display of just how stuck in traffic this Gen-7 car gets. But what’s the solution?

This week on social media, podcasts, and elsewhere the NASCAR world has been in a tizzy. Everybody has a solution or multiple for this Next Gen car and short track racing. But is it all so simple?

Of course, we shouldn’t just trust anyone. But Denny Hamlin knows this car. He is a team owner and driver, getting the full experience of buying the cars and also racing them on Sunday.

On Actions Detrimental, Hamlin expressed frustration. He believes NASCAR panicked in early 2022 when the Next Gen did not perform as well in traffic as they had hoped.

“Me, as a car owner, I do not want to buy any more parts or pieces for this Next Gen car. We already have a tough enough time keeping up with all the changes that we’ve had to do to this thing,” Hamlin said. “I said years ago we’ve just gotta design a Next Gen 2.0. Take that off the record because it’s just going to be way too expensive. We just didn’t do a great job with design from the get-go and this is what we got.”

As Denny said, if you start with a bad design, there is only so much that you can do. Maybe NASCAR doesn’t have many solutions here.

Denny Hamlin points out when NASCAR panicked

The part where Denny Hamlin seemed most frustrated was when he thought back to 2021 and 2022. It was right before the Next Gen car was to debut for the first time on track.

Hamlin spoke to NASCAR and was not convinced by their assurances.

“I tried to ask NASCAR eight months, ten months before this car was released. ‘Are you sure you have it driving correctly in traffic? All types of race tracks? This is our opportunity to build a car that is good on all different types of tracks.’ They’re like, ‘Yep, we’re sure.’ Then they had a panic moment one month before the season or two months before the season when they actually put it in traffic and realized, you can’t pass in it,” the driver recalled. “So, that was um, it’s unfortunate. We’ve just been trying to wind this ball of yarn ever since trying to get it fixed. It’s gotten better at some tracks and it seems that the tire is something certainly that shows fruit to better racing.”

Denny Hamlin has been a harsh critic and also a supporter of NASCAR. When it comes to the Next Gen car, it is one topic he has a hard time grappling with. This is a car that has given us some of the most memorable finishes of all-time at Kansas, Darlington, Pocono, Atlanta, and even COTA in 2022 and other tracks.

When it comes to short tracks, the lifeblood of NASCAR, it just stinks.