Did You Notice?… The NASCAR Cup Series parity with the Next Gen car may be fading away? A car that has been hailed for its ability to increase competition on intermediate tracks and give underdogs a chance to win has instead seen its wealthiest, most-established teams rise to the top of the charts thus far in 2024.
Just two organizations, Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing, have combined to capture eight of the first nine events. The only outlier is Daniel Suarez of Trackhouse Racing, who earned a victory by inches in a pack race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which typically gives more drivers a chance to win.
That dominance by HMS and JGR extends out to laps led. Seven of the eight drivers who have led 120 laps or more this season are from those two organizations; Joey Logano, the lone outlier, is a two-time defending Cup champ from Team Penske.
Together, HMS and JGR make up half the 16 playoff spots on the grid. Penske is right behind those two, taking up two more positions with Ryan Blaney and Logano, respectively. 23XI Racing and Trackhouse take up four more spots, in playoff position with both of its full-time cars and drivers.
The final two postseason slots are currently with Stewart-Haas Racing (Chase Briscoe) and RFK Racing (Chris Buescher). That gives you a total of seven individualized teams currently in the postseason with no one else anywhere close. Legacy Motor Club, the first new team outside playoff position, sits 38 points behind in 19th with Erik Jones.
Denny Hamlin expanded on the evolution of the Next Gen competition this past weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.
“The day of the mid-tiers popping up and winning races,” he said, “it could happen, certainly. But it’s really down to six or seven guys that are really going to win most of the bulk of them.”
Is Hamlin right? How lopsided, really, are things right now in year three of the Next Gen era?
The answers are more mixed than you might think.
NASCAR Next Gen Stats
Through 9 Races
| Year | Different Winners |
Organizations In Playoff Position |
Drivers With 120+ Laps Led |
| 2022 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
| 2023 | 7 | 9 | 7 |
| 2024 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
As you can see, in the first year of the Next Gen, turns out the parity was even worse. People forget that early in 2022, HMS, JGR and Penske had all 11 of its drivers in playoff position – more than those teams have now. Just like in 2024, three of four HMS drivers had a victory and it looked like Hendrick was the most formidable team on the…
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