“Drug the car down”: Denny Hamlin unsatisfied with NASCAR’s superspeedway package, suggest his "fix"

Denny Hamlin has presented his solution for NextGen car's superspeedway package, as NASCAR's method didn't get the three-time Daytona 500 winner's approval. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver pointed out the drawback of the current approach of fixing racing on drafting tracks.

The Round of 12 opener at Kansas saw Ross Chastain upsetting the championship hopefuls after snapping his 30-race winless streak, with Hamlin settling his race in eighth place. The next debacle will be hosted by the Talladega Superspeedway, known for its high-speed straightaways and challenging banking.

Being a drafting track, the NextGen cars capitalize on the frontrunners' air to gain momentum without going all in. However, high-horse-powered engines pose a major drawback while running in a single file on a superspeedway.

Denny Hamlin outlined, during the Actions Detrimental podcast, that due to having the same horsepower as at other tracks, the cars fall prey to huge amounts of drag, hindering the drivers from pulling out of line. The 54-time Cup Series race winner elaborated, saying.

"They have that much drag on it because they have too much horsepower. We used to run 300s horsepower range superspeedways and now we're running the same as we are on the other tracks, which is 600. So, to keep us from going 220 mph, they (NASCAR) just added a spoiler and just really drug the car down in speed on the outer body," Hamlin said.

The JGR driver suggested going old school as his "fix" for superspeedway racing.

"So get that out of there, go back to a smaller tapered spacer for superspeedways and then it'll allow us to make more aggressive three four wide moves when we get a run take it versus just staying in the line. That was my fix," he added.

Denny Hamlin is set for his second playoff race at superspeedway after disappointing Atlanta weekend

With the changes between the 2021 and 2022 seasons, Atlanta got a facelift in the bankings, and a tightened width and became synonymous with superspeedway racing like at the Daytona International Speedway and Talladega.

Denny Hamlin's playoff opener battle at Atlanta ended on a fateful note. Although the #11 Toyota driver kicked off his Round of 16 race with a defensive 20-point mindset, the outcome turned out to be worse. Not only did he start last due to a plug wire change after the qualifying, but suffered from a major blow on the final dash of the 266-lap run.

As Ross Chastain got into the wall on the final lap, resulting in a big stack-up, Hamlin got collected in the mess and finished 24th. He wrapped his 27th race weekend with 13 points in hand.

Placed fifth, the JGR driver will head to Talladega with an 11-point cushion.