DARLINGTON, S.C. — One of the main critiques about the Next Gen car since its debut in 2022 has been that it is a spec car, with some even referring to it as a giant LEGO kit.
Drivers over the last several seasons have felt that the car does not allow them to show off their skills and talents as a driver due to the limited room to work with on setups and how tall of an order passing has been.
This season, NASCAR introduced the 750-horsepower package for road courses and short tracks — adding Darlington Raceway to that list — to hopefully improve the on-track product. This Sunday, March 22, at Darlington, tire falloff is expected to be high when paired with the horsepower, meaning the “Lady in Black” may once again be claiming victims over the course of the race. If this is the case, it will put it back into the hands of the driver on a weekend that has historically been about honoring the sport’s history.
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The NASCAR Cup Series drivers expressed differing views on if this race will get to showcase that or if Darlington will still be Darlington. Winner of the past two Southern 500s, Chase Briscoe, was optimistic.
“It’s just going to be amplified,” Briscoe said. “I think you’re going to see more guys who are coming and going. I think there will be a bigger discrepancy. Nobody has a notebook on anything right now.”
Kyle Busch offered a mixed bag on if the race will be more in the drivers’ hands or not.
“I think you’ll see more of that with green flag pit stops than on restarts,” Busch said. “You have to race your competition — yet still have to race the racetrack. If you want to make up lap times and run a certain number, well, you can’t.”
The Richard Childress Racing driver has experienced various forms of Cup racing through several generations of cars and packages over the years. When it comes to tire falloff, he is one who is not in support of it after last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he repeatedly wore the tires out.
“Vegas, I was running as fast as the other guys were onn the front side of runs,” Busch said. “I was paying for it on the backside. If it was the other way around, I would have answered that differently.”
Bubba Wallace, who qualified second for Sunday’s Goodyear 400, expressed support for controlling his destiny before heading out on the track for his qualifying run.
“I think that’s what we want,” Wallace said. “That’s what we all want, right? We want it to be in our control and have it upon our shoulders for the next 400 miles.”
Joey Logano was part of the group of drivers who feel like Darlington is still the same regardless of the tires.
“I think it’s [Darlington] has always been this way,” Logano said. “The last five or six years, as the track has gotten older, it’s more of a cheese grater than it used to be.”
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Kyle Larson echoed Logano’s sentiment.
“We’re always driving the car, they’re never driving us,” Larson said. “This track is hard to get around regardless of the aero package or horsepower package. It’s always difficult.”
Pole-sitter Tyler Reddick spoke after winning the pole on Saturday and was asked about the unknowns of the Goodyear 400 and if his runs in practice or qualifying could give some insight.
“I think there was a little less falloff than what we thought there would be,” Reddick said. “We will discuss where we go directionally with our racecar.”
Reddick was also on the side that the track has always been in the hands of the driver.
“It always has been in my opinion,” Reddick said. “How you run the race, take care of your tires, that’s totally in the drivers’ hands. I feel no matter what era we have and how challenging the two corners are, it’s always been in the hands of the drivers.”
When the unknowns rear their heads in places of familiarity, that can make something you know so different. That is true even at a place like Darlington. The date with the Lady in Black on Sunday will not be a picnic in the Southern spring weather, but rather a proving that forever and always, she will be “Too Tough to Tame.”
In the words of the late Tim Richmond, “I like a driver’s racetrack. I like the ones where the driver actually makes the difference. I like the tougher tracks, obviously. That’s why Darlington is my favorite.”
Drivers thinking they have control is a mere illusion.
