“This car is on the edge” - NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon gives his take on Next Gen cars

Jeff Gordon has given his take on the next-gen cars as the former NASCAR superstar feels there are both pros and cons of the cars in the second year since their introduction. The next-gen cars also termed as the Gen-7 cars have been introduced with multiple targets. One of the primary ones was to reduce the overall costs.

To add to this, enhanced aerodynamic and downforce packages have been installed on these cars and they seem to have caught out a few drivers in the last two years. Talking about this new generation of cars on the SiriusXM radio show, Jeff Gordon delved deeper into the pros and cons of these cars.

According to Jeff Gordon, these cars are on the edge while driving as he used the example of what happened to Kyle Larson who spun while trying to attack Bubba Wallace in the previous round. Jeff was however complimentary of the safety aspects of the regulations and said,

"This car's on the edge, drivers are really having to pay attention, be super focused because you saw what happened with Kyle Larson right? Just how easy that car got away from him when he was racing with Bubba this past weekend, we saw with William Byron in Kansas just losing it off turn 2."

He added,

"I think a lot of that is the tire and the lack of sideforce but otherwise, they've made some great improvements with the crash zones, some of the safety features have been far improved. You see the hit that Ryan had, you see the one Cowboy has had this past weekend, I'm hearing a lot better results from that standpoint."

Jeff Gordon highlights overtaking has become challenging

Jeff Gordon did however highlight how NASCAR has changed now as there is a bigger emphasis on pitstops, strategies and qualifying. Talking about how overtaking has become challenging with these new cars, Gordon said,

"The underwing is a whole big discussion right now, we talk of what happened at Daytona with the air getting around the car and the other is with that diffuser and the air's funneling underneath the car, are we actually able to get close enough to one another to have the kind of side by side racing and the passes that we want to see."

He added,

"It's kind of changed the game really on how important the pit crews are, strategy, track position, how important it is to show up and be fast straight off the truck and go qualify because it just seems like passing at a lot of the tracks is challenging."

It does appear that the inability to follow cars closely and pull off overtakes is an issue these days and will continue to be one if mitigating steps are not taken.