{"id":55459,"date":"2025-07-11T00:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T00:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/55459\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T00:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T00:27:08","slug":"it-was-a-s-box-svg-slams-former-legacy-echoing-nascar-drivers-next-gen-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/55459\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt Was a S-box\u201d: SVG Slams Former Legacy, Echoing NASCAR Drivers\u2019 Next Gen Woes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">NASCAR\u2019s Gen-7 \u201cNext Gen\u201d car, rolled out in 2022, has been a lightning rod for debate. Designed for safety, parity, and cost savings, it\u2019s delivered on some fronts but sparked plenty of gripes from drivers. The car\u2019s underbody downforce creates dirty air, choking trailing cars and making passing a nightmare, often turning races into single-file parades unless chaos intervenes. Denny Hamlin\u2019s been vocal, calling it a \u201cfundamental problem\u201d and slamming NASCAR for rushed development, noting they only tested multiple cars together \u201ctwo months before the very first race\u201d and realized \u201choly s\u2014-, you cannot pass.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">Even Kyle Busch echoed the frustration, describing the Gen-7 as \u201ca different beast\u201d that\u2019s tough to master, with a stiff frame causing wrist injuries in crashes due to its rigid steering rack. Safety concerns hit a peak with at least seven \u201cblowovers\u201d since 2022, including Ryan Preece\u2019s terrifying airborne flip at Daytona in 2025, where the car\u2019s diffuser acted like a parachute. Even after NASCAR added a rear wind deflector, Josh Berry\u2019s flip showed the fix wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">Veterans like Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, and Mark Martin have questioned the car\u2019s handling and safety, while Kyle Larson called early Gen-7 races \u201cstale,\u201d blaming the low 670-horsepower cap and high grip for predictable outcomes dominated by clean air. Fans feel it too. Short tracks and road courses, once hotbeds of chaos, now often lack the aggression of old due to aerodynamics overpowering driver skill. The Gen-7\u2019s impact-resistant chassis is safer in theory but brutal in crashes, flattening the driver-versus-driver battles that defined NASCAR\u2019s thrill. The push is growing for NASCAR to tweak the design, balancing safety with the raw, competitive edge fans and drivers crave.<\/p>\n<p data-article=\"true\">ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>What Shane van Gisbergen said<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">Drawing a parallel, Shane van Gisbergen recently unloaded on a similar issue from his Supercars days, slamming the Gen3 car in a way that mirrors NASCAR\u2019s Next Gen struggles. The Kiwi native, now a NASCAR road course ace, didn\u2019t hold back when reflecting on his final season Down Under, offering a blunt take that resonates with the Cup Series\u2019 current frustrations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\"><a class=\"es-hyperlink-new\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6480484\/2025\/07\/09\/shane-van-gisbergen-nascar-chicago-street-race-12-questions\/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=website_internal&amp;utm_campaign=web_link_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In a recent New York Times interview<\/a>, when asked, \u201cWhat is the most miserable you\u2019ve ever been inside of a race car?\u201d Shane van Gisbergen didn\u2019t hesitate. \u201cProbably my last year of Supercars, every time I had to drive that car. (Laughs.) I hated that car. It was just a s\u2014box, boring car. You had to drive it 40 percent every time you drove, and if you tried to drive hard, you\u2019d go backward or slower. It was just mind-numbing to drive. And the racing, everyone would be in a line just driving around at 40 percent, and I found it so boring. The generation (of car) before in Supercars were like 400 percent driving. They were awesome. So I don\u2019t miss that car,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">His frustration with the 2023 Gen3 Supercars era was palpable. The new platform, meant to cut costs and improve parity, forced drivers to baby their tires at 30\u201340 percent effort to stay competitive, turning races into \u201cmind-numbing\u201d processions. SVG\u2019s description of cars lining up in a single file mirrors NASCAR\u2019s dirty air woes, where trailing drivers struggle to close gaps. The Gen3\u2019s identical parts, narrow setup windows, and 17 psi minimum tire pressure stifled creativity, making qualifying exciting but races \u201csuck,\u201d as he put it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">SVG\u2019s love for the Gen2 V8s, which demanded \u201c400 percent driving,\u201d highlights the contrast. Those cars rewarded aggression, helping him rack up three championships and over 80 wins. But Gen3\u2019s constraints drained his passion, pushing him toward NASCAR after his stunning 2023 Chicago Street Race win. His Townsville 500 press conference that year, where he bluntly said, \u201cWe can\u2019t pass, so what do you do?\u201d captured his growing discontent. The shift to NASCAR, where he\u2019s found full-throttle racing again, was a lifeline, but his Gen3 gripes echo NASCAR drivers\u2019 Next Gen complaints about cars that punish bold moves and sap the racing\u2019s soul.<\/p>\n<p data-article=\"true\">ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Shane van Gisbergen calls for smarter safety tech<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">Fresh off his Chicago Street Race win in 2025,<a class=\"es-hyperlink-new\" href=\"https:\/\/www.essentiallysports.com\/nascar-news-shane-van-gisbergen-calls-for-changes-in-nascar-after-sickening-crash-at-chicago\/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=website_internal&amp;utm_campaign=web_link_2\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\"> Shane van Gisbergen turned his focus to a serious safety issue<\/a> after Cody Ware\u2019s terrifying crash during the event. Ware slammed into a tire barrier at nearly 93 mph in Turn 6 after a brake rotor failure, but NASCAR\u2019s caution flag didn\u2019t wave for 35 seconds, raising eyebrows. Speaking to reporter Claire B. Lang, SVG said, \u201cI don\u2019t think they saw the severity of the crash, or thought he could drive out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">He pointed to Supercars\u2019 approach, adding, \u201cI\u2019m pretty sure in V8 Supercars, when I left, the cars had like a G-sensor, or if you had a crash that was big enough, it would trigger that G-sensor to, you know, medical and probably race control.\u201d SVG called the footage of Ware\u2019s wreck \u201csickening,\u201d stressing, \u201cIf the crash is big enough, you need someone to\u2026 obviously looking at that fan version of the car passing by, it\u2019s sickening to watch that.\u201d He urged NASCAR to adopt similar crash detection tech, noting, \u201cSo yeah, I guess there needs to be something to be improved, but I feel like NASCAR in general is fast moving with that stuff, so I\u2019m sure it\u2019ll be better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-article=\"true\">ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">The delay, which prevented an overtime finish, sparked concern since NASCAR later admitted they lacked a live feed of the impact. SVG\u2019s push for G-sensors, which automatically alert medical and race control in Supercars, stems from his experience in a series where such tech was standard by 2023. His own 2014 Gold Coast 600 crash, where he hit a concrete wall at high speed, likely benefited from similar systems, ensuring a quick response. His call for smarter safety tech aligns with NASCAR\u2019s Next Gen safety critiques, like the blowovers and stiff chassis issues, showing his frustration isn\u2019t just about racing dynamics but also about protecting drivers when things go wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASCAR\u2019s Gen-7 \u201cNext Gen\u201d car, rolled out in 2022, has been a lightning rod for debate. Designed for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":55460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[40817,1406,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-55459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-mmsnascar","9":"tag-nascar","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114831769176201010","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55459","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=55459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}