Better late than never guess.
Power was a great subject of discussion in Nascar In recent years now, but especially since 2022 with the beginnings of the next generation car.
For a little background frame here, Nascar manages a v8 electronic fuel injection engine in their racing cars, engines capable of producing more than 1,000 horsepower by themselves. And not so long ago, cars in the NASCAR CUP series produced around 850 to 900 horsepower on most of the slopes.
But a few years ago, Nascar began to limit the power that cars in the Cup series could operate on shorter slopes from 1 mile to 750 hp, while limiting cars to 550 hp on tracks more than one mile. Then in 2022, when Nascar introduced his new car Gen 7 (or “Next Gen” in the Cup series, Horsepower was limited to 670 hp on all tracks, except superspeedways, where it was limited to only 510 hp.
The result is, obviously, cars that do not go so fast and, therefore, it is more difficult for drivers to pass.
Now, obviously, power is only one of the elements involved, but as the 2025 season has produced several dull races, calls have become stronger from fans and NASCAR drivers to increase power to help improve the product on the track.
The problem has been particularly apparently on short tracks since the introduction of the next generation car. Pieces like Richmond, Martinsville and Bristol produced inaccessible limit races, where the passes were almost impossible and the drivers were forced to play follow the leader for hundreds of towers. And it seems that Nascar is finally willing to try to use the power to solve some of their problems – at least, for the moment, on short tracks.
Over the past two years, Nascar has argued that they could not increase power because it would be too expensive for teams at a time when sport hopes to attract a new manufacturer (like Honda or Dodge). But in recent weeks, it seems that Nascar has softened their position on the experimentation of more power, the change is undoubtedly exacerbated by the reaction to several boring races this year.
And yesterday, the vice-president Nascar of the Elton Sawyer competition opened the door to the increase in horses for cars in the CUP series:
“It’s on the table. We work in close collaboration with all stakeholders in the industry …
As we have already talked about, there is the effectiveness that comes with our rules and regulations that we have today, and if you look at the sealed engines, there are a lot of things that come there and it is a big mountain to climb, but we are ready to do it and give our fans of the best product.
Again, behind the scenes at the moment, there are a lot of conversations in class. How can we do this? Where do we do? Is it at all levels? Obviously, it will not be on the superspeedways. It’s just a lot to digest. But what I would say that it is at the forefront, is on the table, and something we are talking about daily. »»
Well, it is encouraging, but as Nascar fans know, change is often slow to occur in sport. So, even with Sawyer’s comments, it seemed that fans were not willing to obtain their hope that changes would be on the immediate horizon.
However, on the Podcast of Nascar’s Hauler Talk Talk, which features the director general of Nascar’s race communication, Mike Forde and the communications director of the SR race.
“There was an advisory board of conduct and a meeting of the team’s owner’s owner last Wednesday. Power was a subject. I think it was something that we mentioned proactively to have an additional discussion on improving the short track package. Obviously, the drivers have all adopted this subject and asked for more and more power.
So that’s something we said, “You have it. We will examine it. We work with engine manufacturers on this exact subject … And we will see if it is something that is implemented this season. “”
First of all, it’s funny that Nascar tries to act as it was their idea by saying that it was something that they have “proactively” high with the teams, when drivers and teams have been implore more power for years. But I don’t care who gets merit if it is something they can do to improve the product on track.
Obviously, it seems that the plan is to start with the increase in power to 750 hp on short tracks, because there is no doubt that Nascar is most concerned about the product they put on short tracks at the moment.
But any increase is a good start, and I hope it can cause improvements – and more power – at all levels at a given time.
