{"id":172163,"date":"2025-08-24T16:50:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T16:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/172163\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T16:50:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T16:50:10","slug":"bj-mcleod-defends-next-gen-cars-despite-deep-love-for-00s-version","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/172163\/","title":{"rendered":"BJ McLeod Defends Next-Gen Cars Despite Deep Love for 00s Version"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While veteran <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/nascar-news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NASCAR<\/a> driver and team owner BJ McLeod loved the cars used during the early 2000s, there are key reasons why he feels the Next-Gen versions are the best the sport has ever had.<\/p>\n<p>Since its introduction in 2022, the Next-Gen car has been a source of debate among drivers, fans, and analysts. In a recent conversation with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UOBvNyWaTYA\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sportsnaut<\/a>, the co-owner of Live Fast and BJ McLeod Motorsports (as well as the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pigeonforgeracingcoaster.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pigeon Forge Racing Coaster<\/a>) was asked about his preference. And the veteran driver could not deny his love for the old-school Gen-4 models of the 2000s. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think anything will ever be better than the 2000s series car,\u201d McLeod said. \u201cI think Gen 4 is what they called it in 2000, and I think 2004. You\u2019re sitting in a 1,000-horsepower. You\u2019re sitting at 9,500 to 10,000 RPM. An unparalleled sound. The car had a ton of downforce. <\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>When did NASCAR introduce the Next Gen car? Next Gen cars were introduced in 2022<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cReally cheated-up bodies. Window openings that, if the car rolled over, the driver couldn\u2019t get out. I mean, incredibly unsafe stuff, right?\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cI don\u2019t think anything is ever gonna beat that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yet, for his appreciation of the 2000s series cars, McLeod says the newest generation is still far better for several key reasons.<\/p>\n<p>BJ McLeod on Next-Gen cars: \u2018It\u2019s absolutely the best stock car I\u2019ve ever been in\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"788\" height=\"525\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/NASCAR-Ambetter-Health-400-25494868-788x525.jpg\" alt=\"nascar\" class=\"wp-image-1329978\"  \/>Credit: Jason Allen-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you take [those elements] out of it, nothing in my mind beats the next-gen car,\u201d McLeod says. \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely the best stock car I\u2019ve ever been in. It\u2019s the fastest stock car that I\u2019ve been in. I love looking at F1 and their cars, and how fast they are, and the technology that goes into them. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd even though the next-gen car is a very high stock car, with a high center of gravity, very heavy, and not maxed out performance-wise, it\u2019s still the best and fastest NASCAR vehicle that we have had that\u2019s safe for the drivers. I feel like the next-gen was a huge improvement for the driver.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although the driver and owner admits Next-Gen cars \u201care more difficult to drive\u201d than the previous generations, they also offer other big benefits off the track. While the upfront cost in 2022 was a lot when they were introduced, he says it has saved owners a lot of money long-term.<\/p>\n<p>R&amp;D and material expenses are way down, and the need to constantly tweak cars for tracks throughout the season is not necessary like it once was, as well.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<img alt=\"avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Picsart_24-01-24_23-52-03-166-e1706184896930.jpg\"  class=\"avatar avatar-70 photo\" height=\"70\" width=\"70\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"low\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\tAfter  earning  his  journalism  degree  in  2017,  Jason  Burgos  served  as  a  contributor  to  several  sites,  including  MMA  Sucka  &#8230; More about <a class=\"more-bio\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/author\/jasonburgosufc99430\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jason Burgos<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While veteran NASCAR driver and team owner BJ McLeod loved the cars used during the early 2000s, there&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":172164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[1406,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-172163","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-nascar","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115084776270681453","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172163","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=172163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}