Former NASCAR Cup driver elaborates on how Next Gen cars have “taken the fun out of racing”

Former NASCAR Cup Series driver and Daytona 500 winner Geoff Bodine believes the parity in next-gen cars had "ruined racing" and reckoned that the premier stock car racing series should foster more innovative ideas.

Bodine is an 18-time winner in the Cup series and operated his racing outfit in the 1990s. Recalling his time in the top division, the 74-year-old insisted that the "fun part" of racing was in designing their parts.

Geoff Bodine berated NASCAR's current stance on modifications, with small altercations incurring significant penalties. Sharing his view on how the sport has changed over the years, Bodine told Autoweek:

“You can change a little bit (on today’s NASCAR Cup cars) but not much, and to us older guys, that’s ruined racing. We always liked to be innovative. I always tried to design something better. Now, NASCAR might outlaw it, which they did a lot, but that was the fun part of racing back then. You could try to make something better. You can’t do it today."

He added:

“If you don’t put the right bolt in the right place, they have them numbered, you get fined. They tear your car apart and see that you got a nut and a bolt in the wrong place, you’re in trouble. That just sounds overkill. We’d look at a pile of nuts and bolts, pick one out and put it where it needed to go."

Bodine reckoned the series has turned into a business, taking the fun out of racing.

“They’ve taken a lot of fun out of it, but it’s big business. It’s more business than fun.”

Geoff Bodine also gave his take on why the current generation of NASCAR drivers embrace aggressive racing. During his time, Bodine recalled that drivers took home a split of their winnings and didn't receive fixed salaries.

With the current generation of drivers receiving a fixed salary from sponsorship deals, he insisted that drivers aren't dependent on their finishing position. According to him, this encouraged drivers to race as hard as possible to get a better result.

He also suggested that the parity in the cars and the encouragement from team owners had influenced the change in driving style.

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Shane van Gisbergen learning from veteran NASCAR driver's onboard footage

The 3x Supercars champion will be making his full-time Xfinity debut in 2024 with Kaulig Racing. With less than two months left for his debut outing at Daytona, Shane van Gisbergen is learning the trade from Denny Hamlin's onboard footage at Talladega, where he rallied through the field for a third-place finish. He told NASCAR.com:

"Normally, (I’d) watch (superspeedway races) and it just looked like cars driving around flat-out, but nowadays, I’m trying to study it as much as I can."

He added:

"And you know, there was a Denny Hamlin onboard from last year’s Talladega race where he had to come back through the field. I’ve been studying that, just kind of seeing how it all works … watching that, it’s been like a high-speed chess match but also the lottery in some ways.”

Van Gisbergen will also enter the ARCA season opener at Daytona to gain approval for his maiden Superspeedway outing in Xfinity Series.