One of the biggest rivalries in recent NASCAR Cup Series history is set to resume this weekend and it’s not a conventional one.
Martinsville Speedway versus the Seventh-Generation Race Car.
The first two seasons of short track racing under the NextGen platform were not particularly compelling. There was also no shortage of excuses made for it at the Virginia half-mile from temperatures to conservative driving standards — anything but the underpowered, overweight Sports Car on four rubber bricks.
It took some time but NASCAR eventually conceded there was a problem on these tracks and after trying a variety of aerodynamic adjustments, concluded that tires were the key to unlocking the best NextGen racing product on short tracks.
This took some encouragement in the form of an extreme tire wear Bristol race last spring that no one still seems to be able to understand.
Goodyear and NASCAR then began to experiment with even softer short track tire compounds, occasionally even pursuing dual compound races at North Wilkesboro, Richmond and Phoenix.
The latter was designed to test, under legitimate racing conditions, a compound that the manufacturer hopes will improve the racing at the one-mile track in Arizona that currently hosts the championship race.
Be it the dual compound strategy or just a race on two softer tire compounds, the race in Avondale earlier in the month was a hit. The race at Martinsville last October was the best yet at that track on this platform but it’s still a matter of mixed opinions how much progress has been made in advance of the return this this weekend.
For example, Denny Hamlin says the biggest challenge in producing compelling short track racing right now is that the cars are too identical and there is only one line around the track. It creates a conveyor belt of everyone running the same lap tires.
Increased fall off opens up a degree of disparity.
“I think that the tire has helped quite a bit,” Hamlin said. “Now it’s been an evolution though because like I talked about when the disparity from the fastest car to the slowest car was much bigger when we started NextGen.
“It was still tighter than what it was with the Gen 6 car. Over time, it has tightened up, but what the tire is doing is starting to spread that back out in the long run. So, it’s certainly bringing a lot of positives.”
Chase Elliott echoed that sentiment.
“Seems like it’s better, for sure,” Elliott said when asked about recent race quality. “And it seems like it’s large in part to the tire, truthfully. And the more I kind of look at it, the more I kind of just feel like, man, maybe this tire thing is really we’re onto something there.
“But, if there’s one thing I’ve learned throughout my course of doing this is that just when you think you start to figure something out, you didn’t and you don’t. And whatever you think you know you probably didn’t to begin with. I certainly don’t act like I have the answers but I do think the tire thing, seemingly from the gains that we’ve made, is pretty important considering it’s what touches the ground.”
Consider Kyle Busch the contrarian amongst the ranks, once again citing the parity generated by a single source supplied racing platform.
“No, the racing has definitely not gotten better with the NextGen at short tracks,” Busch said. “Why that is? I don’t know. We’ve tried different aero packages. We’ve tried different tires. I think it’s just the similarity in all the parts and pieces and everybody being the same.
“Eventually everybody’s going to figure out how to attack this car and what makes it go fast. And we’ve got a (crew chief in Richard) Boswell from another team from last year and our Vegas setup from last year to this year with their Vegas setup that they had was really close. You know what I mean?”
What Busch is trying to say is that even as Goodyear continues to go softer and softer, there may be a bounce back in competition, but it will be short lived as everyone migrates back to the same optimal set-up.
“We’re within a couple hundred pounds on each spring rate and some other stuff. When everybody figures out what the best way is to skin the cat, there’s only one way to skin the cat.
“So, I feel like the more we go, it’s going get even tougher with guys being just good at these tracks and passing becoming even harder.”
Of course, that is just the history of a track like Martinsville, no matter the era of competition. The difference now from before is that a driver running largely the same lap times could stay on the gas longer and run into the back of a leading car and move it off the bottom.
That is getting better with the softer tire direction but the NextGen still allows drivers to grab a gear on exit and settle down a car and drive off even after being hit.
The current Xfinity Series platform, like the Cup Series platform prior to the 2022, allowed for that kind of racing but Ryan Preece actually says he believes the status quo at the highest level is actually more legitimate because there isn’t as much bumper cars.
“I don’t even think the Xfinity Series racing at Martinsville is that great, I just see guys knocking each other out of the way,” Preece said. “That’s it. I don’t think that’s racing. I can go to a local go kart track and knock a guy out of the way and do the same damn thing. I find that the NextGen car if you smash a guy, you can’t stick your nose under the guy like you can in those cars.”
Thus, the concerns about single file racing, but Preece does believe Goodyear is taking these cars in a direction where they will lose grip over the course of a long run and create passing without the theatrics.
“I know there’s some louder voices that talked about the NextGen car and the aero and inefficiencies or some of those things, but what I truly believe is the fact that Goodyear has really been working hard on softening this tire and wearing this tire,” Preece said.
Preece is especially positive about this car, with its wider tires, to be able to stick on the outside and allow for prolonged side-by-side battles and even for the outside lane to prevail on occasion.
To Busch’s point, Preece agrees that teams will continue to find the optimal set-ups, but that is also why Goodyear is able to continue going softer on compounds a year after manufacturer officials suggested it couldn’t go any softer.
“But as far as what you were talking about with Goodyear saying that we’re getting to a point and maybe we are, but at the same time in the early 2000’s when we had right height rules and guys started to figure out coil binding and how to put the car on the ground and have an aero advantage once you go on the racetrack, those are all things that we thought weren’t possible until we figure out that they are,” Preece said. “So that’s the thing about racing. It’s constant innovation and progression and figuring out things that you didn’t think were possible, so that’s the exciting thing that we have to look forward to in our sport.”
