Denny Hamlin believes NASCAR pecking order returning to normalcy of Gen 6 era

Denny Hamlin believes that the Next Gen or the Gen 7 cars currently competing in the Cup Series championship are becoming more consistent, much like the older generation of cars. He stated that the average finish of most drivers is getting back to normal because of this.

NASCAR's Next Gen cars have been in use since the 2022 Cup Series championship. Prior to this, the sport had been using the Gen 6 cars since 2013. With many upgrades, the Gen 7 cars were thought to be the game-changers for the entire field. However, that seemed to be backfiring because of the many issues that drivers faced. This included inconsistent grips, power steering failures, etc.

This, as Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin feels, affected the average finish of all the drivers on the grid. Speaking about the same topic on the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin claimed that the Next Gen cars' inconsistencies—which he also enumerated—were to blame for the drivers' slightly higher average finishes. He said:

"The Next Gen car really, it took everyone's average finish the first two years and it moved it up three to four points. So when we were finishing the Gen 6 car, I think that we were averaging like a seven or eight something like that."

"Then with all the unknowns and Next Gen [cars] you're going to have weeks where you hit it weeks that you don't. We had mechanical failures all through the first year of the Next Gen. Remember all the power steering issues and all that stuff? Everyone's average finish went up like it just was because it just wasn't as easy to finish up front every single week." (3:50)

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Denny Hamlin explains how the drivers' average finish is getting back to normal with the Next Gen cars

It is seemingly apparent from Hamlin's statements that the drivers suffered greatly with the Next Gen cars during the first couple of seasons. However, now, the car seems to be much more stable which is also owing to the fact that teams have got an understanding of how they function.

Hamlin revealed that the teams have started to understand the cars better with the pit strategies, and the charters in themselves have become more stable, which has helped to restore the average finishing positions of the drivers the way they used to be with the Gen 6 cars.

"That number [drivers' average finish] is starting to creep its way back down to where it was in in the Gen 6 era because people are starting to figure out how to optimize the car. They're not making as many mistakes on pit road anymore and the reliability of the car is getting back to what we had with the Gen 6." (32:22)

Denny Hamlin has been having a great time with the Next Gen car himself. He has won nine races since 2022, three of which came in the current Cup Series season, making him one of the strongest drivers currently.