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Watkins Glen was the 100th points-paying race in the Next Gen-Gen 7 car. Those first 100 NASCAR Cup Series events have produced a variety of storylines, including safety and concussions, parity, quality racing on 1.5-mile tracks, and much more. What do the ones who drive the cars every Sunday think about the vehicle in its first 100 races?
Six playoff drivers, including Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, and William Byron shared their thoughts on the topic. Byron’s front-tire changer Jeff Cordero also provided his perspective on pit road changes. The responses have been organized by subject because multiple drivers said the same thing or something similar.
Improved Racing on 1.5-Mile Tracks in Next Gen’s First 100 Races
“It’s been different almost three years now, but I’d say a few of my favorites about it are I think the race-ability on mile-and-a-halves has gotten better, which is great,” Ryan Blaney said. “We put on some good shows.”
“I think it’s put on really good races in the mile-and-a-half category,” Harrison Burton said. “It’s been a lot of fun being three-, four-wide at places like Kansas or other similar racetracks where you have a lot of options.”
“There’s been some great racing,” Alex Bowman said. “Obviously the intermediate racing has been great.”
Produced Parity in the Sport
“I think kind of the parity you see is good between larger teams, smaller teams,” the 2023 Cup champion said. “You see all that, so I think that’s definitely got better with the Next Gen.”
“I think we’ve all learned that the biggest thing is the parity that we see with this car,” Blaney’s Penske teammate Joey Logano noted. “It’s really brought all the teams really close in speed.”
“I think it’s just brought the field so close together,” Austin Cindric said. “The separation between the best cars and the worst cars is probably the closest it’s ever been. So it’s been fun and it’s been interesting to watch the evolution.”
“For me, number one of the three would be how close and competitive the field is,” Burton said. “Everyone is within a certain small lap time amount. So it really makes execution matter in the races. So that’s always stuck out.”
Unique Thoughts on Next Gen Car’s First 100 Races
“Being stuck with flat tires,” Bowman said, joking about the issues with cars getting stuck on the ground with flat tires and having to wait to be towed. “It’s like P1 top of the board.”
“I think about a big change in the sport,” William Byron noted. “Definitely much different on the technology side, the way the car drives. And then just different strategy. The way the races play out is much different than it used to be.”
“Three things that come to mind with the Next Gen car for a hundred races, the first of which has to be the pit stops,” Cindric said. “That’s really changed kind of our athletic department and what pit roads looked like and what it takes to do a fast stop.”
Jeff Cordero is a veteran front tire changer for William Byron. He agrees.
“Pit stops have changed a lot over the years. One of the biggest things that we had to learn how to do was change a one-lug tire,” Cordero said. “Before it was always five-lug and we always changed everything, we had a right-hand trigger. Everything was pretty similar. Everyone did it the same way.
“Well, once we went to one lug, everyone had to relearn how to change tires because we’re all fighting for tenths of seconds because that matters the most. So pit stops used to be about 11 and a half, 12 seconds, and now we’re down in the low eights, flirting with the nines. You know, we live in that range, so a lot has changed in a hundred races. It’s been a lot of us to adjust, but it’s definitely been a challenge. We’ve definitely overcome it and can’t wait to look and see what the next 100 races has to come with the Next Gen car.”
If it’s as interesting as the first 100, there will be plenty to talk about.
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