"Can't put the genie back in the box": NASCAR Insider defends controversial tactic used by teams on plate races

Former NASCAR crew chief Steve Letarte shared his candid thoughts on criticisms against fuel-mileage tactics seen at Talladega. In the Next Gen era, a trend of teams and drivers saving fuel by running half throttle to make it to the end of superspeedway races has been a big divisive subject.

This was once again the case in Sunday's race at Talladega. However, Letarte wasn't of the opinion that fuel saving was a negative for NASCAR.

Speaking on Inside The Race show, Letarte remarked how the race at Talladega was 'great' for him. He further said that he didn't agree with those who hate the fuel-saving tactics being employed by teams, and that he 'couldn't disagree more.'

"I think the beauty of racing is when it's organic. And what we're seeing currently at the racetrack is organic; it's the teams getting smarter, figuring out how to win the race, which is to spend the least amount of time on the pit road as possible. I don't think there's any way to unlearn. People don't want to unlearn aerodynamics, get rid of aero racing. You can't put the genie back in the box," Steve Letarte said.

Letarte added that now that drivers and teams in NASCAR have figured out a way to win races at superspeedways, they're all going to do.

NASCAR veteran Jeff Burton approves of fuel-saving tactics in Next Gen era

After Steve Letarte made his thoughts clear on the fuel-saving subject, former NASCAR driver Jeff Burton also echoed his opinion about it. He claimed that anyone who has a problem with fuel saving was beyond his understanding and that it made no sense to him.

Burton recalled seeing a few comments on social media about the last pit stop to get out of the way to make way for racing. For the former NASCAR driver, it was perplexing that the people who objected to it couldn't see that the last pit stop would end up determining the race winner.

"I mean this is a team sport. It is for years we've talked about how important teams are and we actually have a great opportunity at Talladega to show it. I think there are so many cars with a chance to win, that it's a little difficult for fans to really understand. From start to finish I thought it was a good race, it was entertaining to me. It was fun to watch the drivers and the teams try to find a way to make Talladega and Daytona, like how do you make that work," Burton described.

The NASCAR veteran looked back on the days of tandem racing, mentioning that it wasn't something people just came up with in a room. Burton said that it was discovered by teams and drivers on the racetrack with the intent of winning the race, which was at the core of racing

Burton added that at the end of the day, it all comes down to what a driver has to do to secure the track position at the right time, race their guts to win. For him, there was 'nothing wrong with that.'