“No more driver talent” - Denny Hamlin’s crew chief disappointed with state of NASCAR superspeedway racing

Sunday’s Talladega playoff race produced one of the biggest wrecks of the season, with most of the cars getting wiped out, but Denny Hamlin had enough luck to survive the 28-car crash during the final laps. Following the YellaWood 500, Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gabehart, has expressed his disappointment with the current state of NASCAR’s Next Gen car at the superspeedway.

The #11 Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief Gabehart shared his thoughts about the racing product showcased at Talladega and speedway racing. Gabehart said that drivers' skill has been minimized in NASCAR superspeedway racing, and the focus has been shifting away from the driver’s talent to strategy, such as green flags, pit cycles, and fuel management.

Expressing his frustration at NASCAR superspeedway racing quality, here’s what Denny Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gabehart, said (via Frontstretch):

“With Gen 7 speedway racing, I just don't see any greatness. There's qualifying up front, there's a little bit of a tussle after an event. So a green flag falls off, or falls, you know, green flag comes out, or, you know, a pit cycle just completes, and there's a little bit of flustering. But once they all get lined up, you're just stuck. There's no more driver ability, no more driver talent to speak of” (1:24).

Comparing the current style of racing in Next Gen cars at superspeedway to previous Gen 6 cars, Gabehart said,

“In Gen 6 racing, when you came to these kind of tracks and watched it there was a lot of nuanced driver talent on display, whether you were running in 20th or upfront, and anywhere in between, and that was great. I mean you could see greatness in that... just like I love Bristol so much because you can see greatness in that”(1:00).

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Denny Hamlin’s crew chief proposes changes to superspeedway racing

Chris Gabehart, the #11 JGR crew chief of Denny Hamlin, suggested some changes to stage lengths and pit strategy at superspeedway and other tracks. Following the Talladega race, Gabehart said fuel tank capacities of stage lengths would mean pit stops are made under caution instead of during green flag runs, allowing driver ability to play a bigger role.

Gabehart said,

“If we want driver racing discipline to matter again at these tracks, we have to do something. I am a proponent of making the stage lengths the length of the fuel tank. So all of the pitting that's necessary to be done is under caution, because we all have fuel to make it to the caution that we care about” (2:22).

Gabehart believes that NASCAR can think these ideas through and was hoping they will explore improvements during the offseason.

In a chaotic Talladega race, Denny Hamlin finished inside the top-10. He is currently placed fourth in the Cup Series playoff points table with a 30 points cushion heading into the Round of 12 finale at Charlotte next weekend.