Denny Hamlin takes issue with NASCAR's changes to Next Gen car for Talladega

NASCAR unveiled Tuesday several aerodynamic changes to the Next Gen car for this Sunday’s Round of 12 race at Talladega, changes Denny Hamlin isn’t necessarily in favor of.

Among the changes: an extended-height roof rail, extended rocker panel skirt and fabric beneath the right-side roof flap. The changes to the Next Gen car are intended to “reduce the chances and effects of a vehicle getting airborne in the event of an on-track, high-speed incident,” per Alejandro Alvarez of NASCAR Digital Media.

Hamlin, speaking on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast, said that drivers are not a fan of the extended-height roof rail, explaining that it hurts visibility from inside the racecar.

“We got briefed by NASCAR on changes that they’re proposing for Talladega. Which is running that roof rail over our front windshield. And obviously the drivers were not in favor of that,” Hamlin said. “For one, it looks like ass. And second, it hurts visibility… The problem is, is that we take tear offs off of our front windshield. And superspeedways are one of the worst tracks for debris on the front windshield. So, we need to get those tear offs off.

“But this block is probably 15% of the windshield, and especially the right front corner when we’re side drafting. We are constantly looking out at the right front corner of the windshield to gage how close we are to each other and others. And there’s just not a really good solution.”

Denny Hamlin opines on changes to Next Gen car for Talladega

NASCAR announced changes to the ahead of Talladega to “to increase the liftoff speed of the cars.”

Right-side roof rails, rocker skirt and new fabric on the roof flap pic.twitter.com/rFprYrPDoB

— Alan Cavanna (@AlanCavanna) October 1, 2024

Keeping cars on the ground has been a major point of emphasis for NASCAR this season. That’s why, ultimately, these changes are being put in place. In the penultimate regular season race at Daytona last month, it was Michael McDowell who got airborne and slammed into the hood of Joey Logano. A few laps later, it was Josh Berry turning over on the backstretch and violently hitting the wall.

Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, acknowledged that additional work needs to be done to prevent cars from flipping over at superspeedways.

“It’s a complicated situation there when you’re running the speeds that we’re running. And you put multiple cars close together and how they affect each other,” Sawyer said last month. “Our guys in the back, I know they’ve been working since Saturday night to kind of recreate all that. And still some additional work on our side to be done.”