Shane van Gisbergen stuns NASCAR — Next‑Gen car 'shocker' warning
Shane van Gisbergen, a dominant figure from Australia’s V8 Supercar scene, revisited his critique of NASCAR’s Next‑Gen car during an appearance on the Dinners With Racers podcast. Drawing on a lengthy career that included 80 wins in Supercars, van Gisbergen said the Next‑Gen Cup car was “nowhere near the same” as the Gen‑3 Supercar but still proved deeply frustrating to drive. He described a car that was intended to be louder and more of a driver’s machine but ended up with high downforce and wake characteristics that made handling unpredictable, robbed him of confidence, and turned setup into an engineering exercise rather than a driver’s contest.
He added that at some tracks, especially ovals, following became a major issue unless you qualified on pole; conversely, he noted that at Chicago he finally felt the balance he’d been missing — the tire and car worked together and he regained something he’d been chasing all season.\n\nVan Gisbergen’s take contrasts with much of the NASCAR garage, where disappointment with the Next‑Gen concept has been frequent and public. Team owners and drivers have repeatedly pointed to overtaking problems and aero instability: Denny Hamlin has highlighted how close racing can cause a loss of downforce and make cars suddenly unload; Chase Elliott has warned about safety and regression; Brad Keselowski has advocated for more horsepower, arguing that past cars were faster and more engaging.
NASCAR’s incremental technical fixes have often failed to satisfy the paddock, and criticism has mounted over reduced horsepower and the on‑track product compared with earlier eras.\n\nFacing that pressure, NASCAR has already announced a substantive change to power levels: starting in 2026, Cup events on road courses and ovals shorter than 1.5 miles will use a 750‑horsepower package, up from the current 670‑horsepower baseline. The adjustment aims to return more control to drivers — sharpening throttle management and rewarding driving skill — after meetings between officials and competitors to assess the impact of power increases.
NASCAR officials say the change is one step in a longer process of tuning aero and mechanical elements to improve racing.\n\nVan Gisbergen’s frank assessment underscores the wider tension between design intention and race execution. His perspective — coming from a driver who dominated a different touring‑car formula — highlights that even well‑regarded innovations can produce unintended tradeoffs on track. With the horsepower tweak scheduled for 2026 and ongoing dialogue among drivers, teams and NASCAR, the Next‑Gen car’s evolution looks set to remain a central, emotionally charged storyline heading into the new season.
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