NASCAR Already Working on Changes to Lackluster Superspeedway Racing

What’s Happening?

After another disappointing showing from NASCAR’s Next Gen car this past weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, one NASCAR official says the gears are already in motion to find a fix for the aerodynamic problems facing the car.

The first race at Talladega for the 2026 season was met with less-than-stellar reviews.

While Carson Hocevar served as a popular winner for the sport, the race itself, once again, showed major flaws in NASCAR’s Next Gen car on tracks 2.5 miles long or larger.

This came despite plans from NASCAR to introduce a dramatically different stage breakdown, aiming to address the fuel saving often seen at these tracks.

Still, despite the shakeup, teams still saved fuel, and, even when they were going all-out, drivers still struggled to pass one another on track.

During the latest episode of NASCAR’s Hauler Talk podcast, NASCAR Managing Director for Racing Communications Mike Forde said that the team at NASCAR is already in motion on changes that could happen as soon as later this year.

Change by August?

One of the most outspoken drivers this past weekend about such changes was Denny Hamlin, who went on a lengthy rant on his podcast where he suggested, among other ideas, cutting off the spoiler.

Forde says that after the race, Hamlin, who will be part of a committee working on changes to the car, texted NASCAR COO Steve O’Donnell in a proactive manner to get the ball rolling, further adding that Hamlin wants to be a leader in fixing the current superspeedway product.

“What Denny said on his podcast, he also relayed to Steve O’Donnell via text, and Steve got with John Probst to share those thoughts. Denny did say that he wants to help be a leader in this particular area. I think he wants to front-burner it, to have changes, by Daytona in the end of August.” — Mike Forde

While there are no promises that these changes could come before then, as testing, with what Forde says could be up to the very latest 15 cars, will be difficult to plan.

Still, he did note that NASCAR Senior VP of Racing Development John Probst was already looking into changes to the cars on his computer when he visited prior to filming the podcast.

“I went up right before we started taping this podcast to talk to Probst about this topic, and he literally had up on his screen, the work, the start of the work,” Forde said.

As of right now, Forde says that NASCAR is working on changes, with factors such as driver and fan safety working as a boundary for such changes.

Even if NASCAR cannot schedule a test to get the changes out for this season, Probst already announced the return of Pre-Season Thunder testing at Daytona International Speedway next season.

Furthermore, if the sport wanted to test any changes for next season in a race environment, there are rumors that NASCAR could return the pre-season clash to Daytona for 2027 as well.

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