Denny Hamlin believes NASCAR's pecking order is returning to the normalcy of Gen 6 era

Denny Hamlin recently talked about how the average finish for most drivers, which increased with the introduction of Next Gen cars, is now improving. Citing Chase Elliott's example, he opined that the averages of the other drivers were also improving.

The Next Gen car was introduced into the NASCAR Cup Series in 2022. While it was sleek, faster, and safer, it had to go through a lot of improvements initially before becoming suitable for driving in NASCAR races. After that, it was the drivers' turn to get accustomed to the Next Gen cars.

However, since it was quite different from the Gen-6 cars operationally, many drivers faced issues adapting to it. As a result, their average finish positions increased in the first couple of years. While drivers such as Kyle Busch are still struggling to adapt to it, Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, and now Chase Elliott have all seemingly mastered the Next Gen car, as indicated by their improving averages.

Addressing the same on the latest episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast on Spotify, Hamlin said it was 'really good' how Elliott is averaging a ninth-place finish this year and added:

"When we were finishing the Gen 6 car uh I think that uh we were averaging like a seven or eight something like that average finish. [...] That number is starting to creep its way back down to where it was in the Gen 6 era because people were 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 where we, what we had with the Gen 6." [at 31:50]

Interestingly, Hamlin was previously one of the critics of the Next Gen cars for their poor performance in traffic.

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Denny Hamlin criticized the Next Gen car for its performance

Denny Hamlin now claims that drivers have adjusted to the Gen-7 cars, although back in April, the #11 JGR driver was openly critical of its performance. During the Toyota Owners 400 race at Richmond, a jumpstart by the 43-year-old on the final restart did just enough to dominate the last lap to win it.

However, Denny Hamlin said that he struggled a lot while passing the drivers at Richmond. He said on his podcast:

"On racetracks that have one groove or one and a half grooves, it [the Next Gen car] just does not race well. The only way it races well is on mile and a half. You can go somewhere else, you can run a different line than someone else to get clean air." [at 37:55]

He further added:

"These cars in traffic are horrendous. They're the worst car by far in traffic than what we've ever had."

Currently, Chase Elliott leads the driver standings table with 591 points from 17 starts, with Hamlin trailing him by 38 points in P3.