Former NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. has hit back at Kyle Petty for supporting the current Next Gen car, arguing that it fails to produce high-quality racing. Petty had praised the current car, emphasizing that NASCAR must adjust to it.
There has been much debate about the Next Gen car, with most current drivers speaking against it. Denny Hamlin recently targeted NASCAR for reducing the horsepower when it was introduced in 2022, describing it as a “horrible” business decision. The main argument is that the current car makes overtaking more difficult.
Petty, who raced from 1979 to 2008, called out Dale Jr. earlier for his criticism of the Next Gen car, stating that cars have always attracted criticism every time they’ve undergone major changes. Speaking on the Performance Racing Network, he said:
“We had one of our prominent members of the NASCAR community, Dale Jr., criticize the Next Gen car the other day. I don’t think that criticism is deserved in a lot of ways. We have not raced stock cars since about 1958. We don’t race stock cars, we race NASCARs. This is the NASCAR car that we have today. People complained in the 70s when they went to tubular chassis. They complained when we went to radial tires. They’ve complained all along as the progression of the cars.
“We were still racing cars with carburetors when you couldn’t go to your local auto parts store and buy a carburetor. It was an antiquated car that we were racing and people seemed to want to have that antiquated car. This car jumped leap years ahead. We have to adjust to it.”
Now, Dale Jr. has responded to Petty, stating that the Next Gen car does not produce the kind of racing he expects. He said on the Dale Jr. Download:
“I really, really respect Kyle, I think the world of him, and I appreciate his opinion. But I would just disagree that the car doesn’t produce what I expect.
“Again, going back 75 years, I know Kyle’s been around a long time, the car doesn’t produce the kind of racing that I know we are capable of at road courses and short tracks.
“The car does not produce the type of racing that I think should be our standard, and I know what we’re capable of at road courses and short tracks; and I would not stop at trying to achieve f****** amazing great racing at those style tracks.”
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