I want to hate it.
On paper, there’s very little to like about NASCAR’s Next Gen Cup Series racecar. There’s virtually nowhere for teams to work on their chassis. Just about every part and piece comes from a single source, with only some variation in engine manufacturers to differentiate one car from another.
Teams can’t fix damaged panels for fear of massive penalties, but there aren’t enough new ones to go around. For most intents and purposes, it’s a spec car.
There, I said it.
That IROC mentality goes against everything that made NASCAR what it is today. It’s a sport built on innovation, on teams finding an edge and also trying to bend the rules. It flies in the face of everything I love about NASCAR competition. I want to hate it and I should.
Except I don’t.
I entered the 2022 season fully prepared to hate every second of it… and I haven’t. Whether it’s the car itself or the process of teams learning it, the season has produced something I had thought was gone from the sport forever.
2022 has been… unpredictable.
Even as Hendrick Motorsports has reasserted itself as the team to beat, they’ve been beatable. Even as 23XI Racing was supposed to have a breakout year, they’ve been overshadowed by Trackhouse Racing Team, another upstart that was almost completely overlooked last year. Richard Childress Racing and its affiliates have been surprisingly strong. Joe Gibbs Racing looks shockingly weak.
There have been 10 different winners through 12 races, yet four former series champions haven’t been among them. And the two repeat winners? One is William Byron, who’s kind of Hendrick’s low man on the totem pole while the other is Ross Chastain, who went from a winless watermelon farmer with untapped potential to one of the hottest rising talents in racing.
Young drivers are winning, veterans are struggling. Martin Truex Jr. hasn’t won. Ditto Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch. Kyle Busch eked out a victory but even…
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