Dale Earnhardt Jr Joins the Next Gen Conversation: “It’s Not a NASCAR Stock Car, but It’s Here”
What’s Happening? Following a “frustrating” race weekend at Iowa Speedway, NASCAR Hall of Famer and TV analyst Dale Earnhardt Jr. aired…
Kyle Petty does not think Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s recent criticism of NASCAR’s Generation Seven Race car is “deserved,” saying that NASCAR has not “raced stock cars since about 1958.”
As the NASCAR Cup Series season rolls forward, controversy has grown around NASCAR’s Next Gen, or Generation Seven, race car. The rather untraditional car has had its opponents since its 2022 introduction, though that opposition has continued to grow with every disappointing race.
This debate reignited two weekends ago at Iowa Speedway, when the car, which struggles to produce competitive racing on short tracks and road courses, put on yet another poor showing.
This led to another week of drivers and industry members voicing their frustrations with the car, including NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr, who said, “It’s a sports car. It’s not a NASCAR stock car,” during a lengthy rant on his podcast The Dale Jr Download.
Now, another former second-generation driver, Kyle Petty, is firing back at Earnhardt, saying in response to Earnhardt’s criticism of the car, “I don’t think that criticism is deserved in a lot of ways.”
What’s Happening? Following a “frustrating” race weekend at Iowa Speedway, NASCAR Hall of Famer and TV analyst Dale Earnhardt Jr. aired…
During his appearance on the Aug. 11 episode of PRN’s Fast Talk, Petty fired back at Earnhardt, saying the car is “not a NASCAR stock car,” saying that technically, NASCAR has not raced true stock cars since the late 1950s. “We have not raced stock cars since about 1958,” Petty said. “We don’t race stock cars. We race NASCARs.”
The 65-year-old, who raced in NASCAR’s top division from 1979 to 2008, insinuated that complaining about changes to the build of a NASCAR stock car is part of the sport’s history, citing other instances of these complaints from his time in the sport.
“People complained in the ’70s when they went to tubular chassis, they complained when we went to radial tires. They’ve complained all along as the progression of the cars.” — Kyle Petty
In his opinion, NASCAR raced “antiquated” cars in the past, and “people seemed to want to have that antiquated car.” Petty then said that the NASCAR Next Gen Car jumped the sport’s car “leap years ahead.”
Aside from changes like the addition of a rear diffuser, single lug-nut wheel, and better brakes, all things Earnhardt complained about in his rant, one of the most common criticisms of the NASCAR Generation Seven car, at least on track, is how it reacts in dirty air.
But, in response to these complaints, Petty says aero problems have existed since the 1980s and that “I don’t want to hear about them anymore.”
Closing out his comments, Petty asks fans to accept the car and its racing, saying that it produces “spectacular stuff.”
“This is the car we have, this is the racing we have,” Petty said. “Embrace it, enjoy it. We’re seeing some spectacular stuff on the racetrack, and I think it’s only gonna get better.”
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