After weeks of criticism, NASCAR’s Next Gen car may be saved by a new tire

At the start of the 2025 season, drivers bemoaned NASCAR's Next Gen cars for restricting them to fuel-saving strategies. However, with Goodyear putting forward a new tire set that allowed the car's right and left sides to have different levels of grip, the racing seems to have recovered.

The Next Gen cars have often been lamented for their massive weight, and even led NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. to slam the cars' aero dependency a few weeks earlier. While the Next Gen cars did produce stellar racing, the field was usually refined down to single-file racing on multiple tracks.

Dirty air troubled the cars following behind and made racing even difficult. To resolve the racing, Goodyear got down to work. They arrived with a different set of tires for short ovals that included increased degradation, down to the tires essentially being softer.

Moreover, the tire's performance arrived as a major tax for drivers who aimed at staying out and reducing pit stops. So, this urged them to go on aggressive strategies to burn gas and rubber, leading to a surge in on-track passes, with reluctant drivers being so slow with the falloff, which provided the guys on the fresher tires enough of an offset to overcome the turbulent air's effect and get past them.

On the other hand, the regular season finale at Daytona was marked with better on-track racing, partly due to the changed construction of the right tire introduced earlier in the year at the same circuit. There were 44 lead changes among 19 drivers as traditional superspeedway drafting returned.

At the end, this set up the field for an impressive photo finish as Ryan Blaney edged out Daniel Suarez for the race win by a mere 31 one-thousandths of a second, further gaining the Next Gen car praise.

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The Next Gen car has received applause from revered figures within the NASCAR sphere lately

Austin Dillon doing doughnuts after winning the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Race at Richmond - Source: Imagn

The last two NASCAR race weekends at Richmond and Daytona presented great racing spectacles. First of all, Austin Dillon made a redemption drive around the short oval to seal off a playoff spot for himself after starting 11th on the road.

While the superspeedway race went on, a different narrative of four-wide slipstream fest across the field.

Talking about how the tire brought by Goodyear at Richmond, NASCAR insider Jeff Gluck shared early in the Richmond weekend on X:

"I agree with you, but at least Goodyear brought that soft tire tonight (supposedly 3.5 seconds of falloff). So...maybe that will make for a good race!"

On the other hand, reflecting on the past two weekends, Sports Illustrated's Toby Christie changed his stance on the racing with the Next Gen cars, as he wrote on X:

"So, can I just say something real quick? We were all beating up the Next Gen car, myself included, about how it had been racing at short tracks and superspeedways (fuel mileage logjams). The regular season ended with two phenomenal races at Richmond (short tracks) and Daytona…"

Responding to Christie's post, Dale Earnhardt Jr. pleaded guilty to criticising the Next Gen car while the racing has improved drastically over the past few weeks:

"Indeed. A couple weeks of criticism (guilty as charged) followed by two really solid races at two configurations of concern. Was last night different because we weren't in extreme fuel saving mode? An honest question. Richmond seemed much improved. Is this mostly due to the tire? I'd say it was a big help. I hear Richmond tire is going to New Hampshire also. 🤩"

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

@DaleJr

Indeed. A couple weeks of criticism (guilty as charged) followed by two really solid races at two configurations of concern. ​Was last night different because we weren't in extreme fuel saving mode? An honest question. ​Richmond seemed much improved. Is this mostly due to the tire? I'd say it was a big help. ​I hear Richmond tire is going to New Hampshire also. 🤩

Thus, the early signs suggest that the new tires introduced this year with updated constructions have increased the quality of racing in NASCAR recently.