Next Gen Superspeedway Racing Has Cup Drivers Shifting Focus – Motorsports Tribune

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

TALLADEGA, Ala. – It appears the days of just riding around at superspeedways and biding your time until the end of the race are over.

In the Next Gen era, track position has become even more important at the majority of the tracks on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, especially on superspeedways, where it now takes an aggressive, concerted team-based effort to move forward in the pack instead of a driver being able to take the race into his own hands and power to the front of the field.

Ahead of Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, drivers explained how they have to race with the aerodynamics of the Next Gen car fighting against their efforts to return to three and four-wide racing at the 2.66-mile track.

Polesitter Denny Hamlin was very thorough in his explanation of how the Next Gen car has handicapped his style of racing that had helped him to two previous wins at Talladega and three wins in the Daytona 500.

“I struggle because this type of racing does not fit my skill set at superspeedways,” Hamlin said. “It’s two-by-two and I want to be the Dale Earnhardt who can go from 18^th to first in three laps or whatever it is. With it being such a teammate type of race or manufacturer type race, I’ve always pushed to just let me do my own thing or be on my own, but it’s very hard in this climate and this type of racing for that to be successful.

“You have to have people behind you that you know are committed to going wherever you’re going. At times, if you get told that you have to run with this car or that car, you just put handcuffs on my skill set, but it’s a different type of racing and I have to convert my type of racing into working with teammates and that type of strategy because it’s been what’s most successful.”

Hamlin added that instead of being selfish and running his own race, he has had to adjust his driving style to conform with the new norm that is superspeedway racing with the Next Gen car.

“Being selfish was beneficial until Next Gen – for sure, absolutely. My independence and not wanting to work with teammates, not because I didn’t want to, but they made moves I didn’t necessarily agree with so I just would go rogue and go on my own. I just feel like this Next Gen era in two-by-two racing, you can’t pull out and pass like you used to, by yourself so you have to rely on teammates. We’ve converted our style and I’ve had to change…