With four well-known drivers among those who will get an increase, NASCAR has stated that it is “serious” about boosting the Next Gen car’s horsepower. Renowned stock car drivers Richard Petty and Kevin Harvick have both endorsed raising horsepower as a way to make NASCAR more thrilling, as have current Cup Series drivers Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson. Currently, NASCAR has 670 horsepower, but that number might rise to 750. Increasing the car’s horsepower has been discussed at driver meetings and is being given “serious” consideration by the governing body, according to Mike Forde of NASCAR’s Racing Communications.
On the Hauler Talk podcast, Forde revealed that NASCAR’s Next Gen car is already being questioned. “Yeah, well, I’m sure that’ll come up this weekend and that’s something that we’re going to look at seriously,” he replied. “I believe that you, you hear me, have horsepower levels of 900 or 1,000. You know, there’s some discussion about whether you can go up to 750, but I’m not sure if it will be on [the table] because of the price alone. And we’ll definitely talk about that with the drivers as well. I don’t want to raise anyone’s expectations or make any promises, but we do pay attention to the drivers and their feedback and we’ll see what we can do there.”
Forde’s disclosure comes after four well-known NASCAR officials urged the organization to boost the vehicles’ horsepower. Because reporters keep asking [Steve] O’Donnell, ‘The drivers overwhelmingly want this,’ you hear him talk about it. Why not? The supporters appear to desire this. “Hamlin said.” “They [NASCAR] usually have a reason, but sometimes it’s, ‘Hey, we’re looking at all options, we’re not ruling it out, we’re not saying we are,’ right?” Larson stated, “At least try it,” in reference to the possibility of reaching 1000 horsepower, on the “Dale Jr. Download” podcast. “Just take us to, I don’t know, Richmond or wherever, and go test.” Visit Martinsville. shot it out and give it a shot. ‘We’re’ trying to keep the horsepower to where other manufacturers might want to come in’ seems to be their go-to excuse.
Legendary NASCAR drivers Harvick and Petty have also supported Larson and Hamlin. Given NASCAR’s Next Gen car’s wow factor issues, both have questioned why there hasn’t been an increase. Harvick added, “It’s just absurd that we just went to an unrestricted mile-and-a-half and they qualified wide open.” “What on earth must we do to increase our horsepower? I think this screams horsepower. This is not a favorable situation. “Giving them more horsepower will make it more thrilling. Let them run more quickly. The driver has to be more alert the faster they go, according to Petty. “And all the drivers aren’t able to run that speed that’s so close to each other when you have cars racing at 200 miles per hour instead of 185.”