NASCAR’s Next Gen Car Faces Driver Revolt
NASCAR’s Gen-7 “Next Gen” car, since its 2022 debut, has ignited considerable controversy. Though intended to boost safety, ensure parity and cut costs, it’s also triggered substantial driver dissatisfaction regarding handling and safety.
Drivers Decry Handling, Safety Issues
The car’s underbody downforce generates turbulent air, hindering trailing cars and complicating overtaking, frequently turning races into monotonous processions unless accidents occur. Denny Hamlin has been particularly outspoken, pinpointing a “fundamental problem”
and criticizing NASCAR for hasty development. He mentioned the limited testing of multiple cars together, only “two months before the very first race,”
leading to the stark realization that “holy s—-, you cannot pass.”
Kyle Busch echoed this sentiment, depicting the Gen-7 as “a different beast”
difficult to master. Its stiff frame can cause wrist injuries during crashes because of its rigid steering rack.
Safety concerns peaked with at least seven “blowovers” since 2022, including Ryan Preece’s alarming airborne flip at Daytona in 2025, where the car’s diffuser acted like a parachute. Even with NASCAR’s addition of a rear wind deflector, Josh Berry’s flip demonstrated the inadequacy of the implemented fix.
Van Gisbergen’s Supercars Parallel
Drawing parallels, Shane van Gisbergen recently criticized a similar issue from his Supercars experience, denouncing the Gen3 car in ways echoing NASCAR’s Next Gen challenges. The Kiwi, now a NASCAR road course expert, didn’t mince words reflecting on his final season, providing a frank view mirroring current Cup Series frustrations.
In a recent New York Times interview, when asked, “What is the most miserable you’ve ever been inside of a race car?”
Shane van Gisbergen stated, “Probably my last year of Supercars, every time I had to drive that car. (Laughs.) I hated that car. It was just a s—box, boring car. You had to drive it 40 percent every time you drove, and if you tried to drive hard, you’d go backward or slower. It was just mind-numbing to drive. And the racing, everyone would be in a line just driving around at 40 percent, and I found it so boring. The generation (of car) before in Supercars were like 400 percent driving. They were awesome. So I don’t miss that car,”
he said.
His dissatisfaction with the 2023 Gen3 Supercars era was evident. The platform, intended to lower costs and enhance parity, compelled drivers to conserve tires at 30–40 percent effort to remain competitive, transforming races into “mind-numbing”
processions. SVG’s description of cars lining up mirrors NASCAR’s dirty air problems.
SVG Pushes for Enhanced Safety Tech
Fresh from his Chicago Street Race victory in 2025, Shane van Gisbergen focused on a crucial safety concern after Cody Ware’s frightening crash during the event. Ware collided with a tire barrier at nearly 93 mph in Turn 6 due to brake rotor failure. NASCAR’s caution flag was delayed for 35 seconds, raising questions. Speaking with reporter Claire B. Lang, SVG noted, “I don’t think they saw the severity of the crash, or thought he could drive out.”
He referenced Supercars’ approach, adding, “I’m pretty sure in V8 Supercars, when I left, the cars had like a G-sensor, or if you had a crash that was big enough, it would trigger that G-sensor to, you know, medical and probably race control.”
SVG described footage of Ware’s wreck as “sickening,”
stressing, “If the crash is big enough, you need someone to… obviously looking at that fan version of the car passing by, it’s sickening to watch that.”
According to a recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, G-sensors have reduced accident response times by an average of 15 seconds IIHS 2024.
The delay, preventing an overtime finish, raised concerns as NASCAR later admitted lacking a live feed of the impact. SVG’s advocacy for G-sensors stems from his experience in Supercars, where such tech was standard by 2023.
