![\"Kyle](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2208358342-scaled.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nWhen NASCAR\u2019s best Cup Series drivers spin out by themselves, even hardcore race fans often lack the understanding of what happened.<\/p>\n
Did the driver just lose focus? Did he \u201crun out of talent,\u201d to use a common racing expression? Did he try too hard instead of being smarter about how much to push?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not easy to imagine for someone who has never raced, drivers say, but the reality involves pushing their cars to the maximum they can go without wrecking \u2014 just to avoid finishing at the rear of the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil you take a vehicle built for racing \u2014 not built for comfort \u2014 and you go and put it over the limit of what it can do and then bring it back without crashing, it\u2019s hard to describe that,\u201d Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain said.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s only been emphasized more with the current Cup Series car \u2014 the series\u2019 seventh generation of vehicle known as the \u201cNext Gen\u201d car. All of the Next Gen cars have the same major parts and pieces, and NASCAR\u2019s rules require them to be built within a tight tolerance. There is little to distinguish one car from another, and thus they largely run at the same speed.<\/p>\n
So when drivers try to make passes, particularly at racetracks not wide enough to give them many options aside from the primary racing line, even the best of the best feel stuck.<\/p>\n
And what do they do to counteract it? Try to push their vehicles harder. Except the Next Gen in particular doesn\u2019t like that; drivers say that, without warning, the car suddenly snaps around on them with no chance of saving it, whereas other types of race cars might slide first.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time you go into the corner, you have to be full commit, 100 percent \u2014 but you\u2019re just guessing, \u2018Where is my grip level going to be?\u2019 as it\u2019s getting worse every lap (because the tires are wearing out),\u201d 2023 NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney said. \u201cBeing able to feel that in the seat of your pants is what makes race car drivers \u2014 finding the edge of control each lap without going over it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you see us step over it all the time, right? You go bust your a\u2014, you\u2019ll wreck. That\u2019s because you\u2019re always on the limit, and it\u2019s a really fine line.\u201d<\/p>\n
So if drivers are so close to the edge of disaster on every single lap around the track, why don\u2019t they just back off a little bit to make sure they don\u2019t crash? That seems logical, no?<\/p>\n
Well, the problem with that line of thinking is each driver in the Cup Series is already going all-out, so if a driver decides to play it even a bit safe, \u201cyou\u2019re running 30th every week,\u201d Blaney said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how you have speed and that\u2019s how you win races,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of \u2018How close to the edge do you want to get?’\u201d<\/p>\n
That word \u2014 \u201cedge\u201d \u2014 was used by every driver The Athletic asked about this topic. It\u2019s the best way for them to describe how close to the limit they really are, and the bravery and trust in their car it takes to truly go fast in NASCAR.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s why Christopher Bell spun twice while battling for the lead at Dover last month. It\u2019s why Kyle Larson will suddenly crash on his own sometimes. It\u2019s why Kyle Busch suddenly looks mortal at Richard Childress Racing after mounting a Hall of Fame career at Joe Gibbs Racing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to make our stuff go faster than it\u2019s capable of going,\u201d Busch said. \u201cThat is what has gotten me to 63 wins in this sport, being able to push the fastest cars to that limit and just destroy everybody. Now we\u2019re trying to do that with where we\u2019re at, just to get ourselves into the top 10.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kyle Larson\u2019s car was damaged after he spun out at the Darlington race in April. (Jeffrey Vest \/ Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
But Busch feels like he doesn\u2019t have a choice. The drivers who run up front every week \u2014 from Gibbs, Hendrick Motorsports or Team Penske \u2014 race for teams who have figured out how to have a fraction more grip in their cars or have elite pit crews that gain them valuable track position instead of having to make passes on the racetrack.<\/p>\n
The only way for Busch\u2019s RCR car to run with the top organizations on a normal week is to push harder, except that creates a scenario where he\u2019s constantly close to crashing \u2014 and sometimes does.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re not leading the race and driving away, then you\u2019re probably driving over 90 percent,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the nature of this car.\u201d<\/p>\n
The same goes for second-year Cup driver Carson Hocevar of Spire Motorsports, who said he has noticed other drivers appear to be more in control than he is \u2014 but he feels that\u2019s the only way for him to extract the speed he needs to compete. Hocevar is one of the fastest drivers in the series, but he also makes plenty of mistakes that take either himself or another driver out of contention \u2014 often drawing the ire of other competitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis car is super easy to spin,\u201d Hocevar said. \u201cIn the Truck Series or anything else I\u2019ve driven, it\u2019s like you get loose and you hold the wheel straight and it\u2019ll save it for you. Where here (in the Cup Series), you lose downforce the looser you get and it starts chattering the rear because the sidewall (of the tires) is so short.\u201d<\/p>\n
That creates a scenario where the car suddenly turns around with little warning, often before drivers have a chance to try and avoid a spin. Hocevar said he\u2019s proud to have saved his car from wrecking a few times this season, which doesn\u2019t happen regularly with the Next Gen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s just what it takes to be fast,\u201d Hocevar said. \u201cIf you\u2019re on the edge, you\u2019re able to separate yourself from the guys who aren\u2019t or can\u2019t get their cars to do that. So in a world where the cars are super, super close, that can be an advantage \u2014 but a lot of times when you\u2019re on the limit, your intensity is really high.\u201d<\/p>\n
RFK Racing\u2019s Ryan Preece, who grew up racing open-wheel modified cars, said there are two ways drivers can approach finding speed: Either \u201ctry to tip up on it\u201d gradually \u2014 which sacrifices speed \u2014 or \u201cjump on the other side and wreck.\u201d That\u2019s because even though the objective is to be as close to the edge as possible without overstepping, it\u2019s a moving target as to where the line actually is.<\/p>\n
That goes for all teams, whether they\u2019re racing in the middle of the pack or the lead. Because even for the fastest cars, the advantage in the Next Gen is so small that drivers must push it to the edge and try to survive the race without going over the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re right,\u201d Preece said, \u201cthat\u2019s what it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Top photo of Christopher Bell spinning during last month\u2019s Dover race: Sean Gardner \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When NASCAR\u2019s best Cup Series drivers spin out by themselves, even hardcore race fans often lack the understanding…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":126103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[1833,1406,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-126102","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-motorsports","9":"tag-nascar","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114987038491297866","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}