As advertised by NASCAR, the Cup Series has undergone a drastic identity change during the inaugural season of the seventh-generation stock car. Now a quarter of the way through the 2022 season, we have a modest sample of what the sanctioning body’s iteration of the future brings to the table and which teams are asserting themselves as serious contenders for the championship, as well as those who have some work to do.
Conversely, while there have been evident standout performances, are we able to take stock in what’s been displayed, or will the pair of races coming up at the dirt-covered Bristol Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway serve as the ultimate reset?
Before getting into the performance side, it’s vital to go over the progression of the Next Gen car. The Cup Series has come a long way in the seven races that followed the Daytona 500 with the highly anticipated debut of the new car. It had its fair share of issues that needed to be worked out early in the season.
The two leading causes for concern were the ride height of the new cars and overheating issues, specifically in the Toyota camp, both of which seem to have resolved themselves.
During the opening two weeks of the season at Daytona International Speedway and Auto Club Speedway, teams quickly learned the price they would pay should multiple tires go down. During the race or practice and qualifying, drivers were getting stuck on track due to the combination of low ride height, underbodies, and rear diffusers, essentially gluing the car to the ground.
Drivers lost multiple laps even without damage because safety vehicles would have to push the cars to pit road. Since those first two events, incidents in this regard have been scarce, as this was all part of an acclimation process to the new car. The same can be said for the overheating issues for Toyota.
At Daytona and Fontana, Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing Camrys suffered blown engines to no fault of NASCAR and the makeup of the Next Gen car, but rather Toyota Racing Development’s design flaws. Protective screens installed to prevent debris worked a little too well for these teams, as they restricted airflow to the radiator and caused the overheating woes. Like the ride-height issues, this has been a non-factor for Toyota since Week 3.
Getting into the overall product of the Next Gen car, NASCAR fans have been spoiled. Over the course of eight events, it’s been a weekly barrage of start-to-finish compelling racing.
The vehicle has proven its worth with constant on-edge operation for the drivers with difficulties exemplified throughout all on-track events. Additionally, the margin for error is essentially non-existent, heightening the emphasis on flawless execution from top to bottom.
The racing product somewhat mirrors that of IndyCar or Formula 1 in a sense where perfection is critical. Also, along the lines of those more “sophisticated” forms of motorsports, the playing field has been leveled so much with the Next Gen car you hardly see leaders pull away from the accustomed egregious gaps over second-place like in recent years.
Then there’s the welcomed addition of the composite bodies. The durability of these cars through eight races has been nothing short of spectacular, and had NASCAR not made this change; we could be talking about an entirely different complexion of the season and seventh-generation car as a whole.
The Next Gen car indeed has proven to be the great equalizer to this point and left many once-dominant teams scrambling to catch up. For as unpredictable as this season has been through eight races and only one repeat winner to this point, there are a few drivers and teams who’ve adapted to the challenging stock car the quickest and are looking like serious contenders for a deep postseason run.
Unsurprisingly, the top-four drivers in the standings headline the best in the garage heading to Bristol – winless or not.
Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney have been one and the same this season. In fact, both drivers were tied atop the points standings after Richmond Raceway. Still, the 2020 champion broke that tie after a stage sweeping, 185 lap-leading performance at Martinsville Speedway to extend his standings leader streak to four consecutive weeks.
Both generational drivers are winless in 2022, but they’ve been the model for consistency and speed, sitting tied for most top-10s with five through eight races. Blaney leads the series in poles and stage wins with three each, while second-best in laps led (339) and average finish (12th).
Elliott is the series leader in the average finish with 11.3, which is a testament to the No. 9 team’s resilience throughout each race. The 26-year-old has rarely had a car capable of contending for wins in 2022. Still, the crew led by Alan Gustafson works relentlessly during every event to get the Chevrolet Camaro in contention for quality finishes.
Unfortunately, where the pair of drivers intersect for the worse is on pit road late in races. Both the No. 9 and 12 pit crews will keep their drivers upfront a majority of the events, then fall flat in the closing stops, which has prevented both teams from capturing victories.
Regardless, it’s a 36-week marathon, and both have proven their worth as two of the best in the series. The two other drivers who’ve made waves emphatically and silently are William Byron and Joey Logano.
Byron became the first repeat winner of 2022 after surging to victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Martinsville. After a dominant second-half at “The Paperclip,” the 24-year-old became the series leader in laps led with 482.
After a slow start to his Cup career, it certainly seems like Byron is coming to his own after two years of working with Rudy Fugle. His performance uptick could also be attributed to more track time between different series and forms of motorsports to hone his craft. At any rate, it looks like the driver of the No. 24 has turned a corner for the best, and this could be the breakout season everyone’s been expecting.
Finally, there’s Logano, who’s had a silently consistent and robust 2022 bid. It’s no secret that the veterans of the sport have had trouble adapting to the Next Gen car, but the driver of the No. 22 has seemingly caught on the quickest.
While his stats may not be as flashy as Elliott, Blaney, or Byron, he’s been good enough to occupy the fourth spot in the standings with four top-10s. Coming off a season-best runner-up finish at Martinsville, you feel Logano is on the verge of returning to his dominant self.
Now, as for drivers hoping Bristol will serve as a much-needed reset on the season, look no further than the top two teams from last year.
Although he snagged an early victory in Fontana, Kyle Larson has had a less than ideal start to his quest for back-to-back championships. Outside of Fontana and Las Vegas, the speed and dominance just haven’t been there for the driver of the No. 5, and that’s verified by only three top-10s, a 19th-place average finish, and 13th-place in the standings.
What Larson has going for him – aside from the fact he’s Kyle Larson – is Hendrick Motorsports has been the team to beat this season with four wins and the only winless driver leading the standings. Notorious for being a dirt racing ace, Bristol dirt could not come at a better time for the reigning champion.
Secondly, there’s Denny Hamlin. From the start of the season, it’s been a dramatic struggle for the driver of the No. 11. It appeared things could be looking up for the co-owner of 23XI Racing after winning at Richmond, but this proved to be a product of Chris Gabehart’s strategic brilliance, as Hamlin had an abysmal follow-up at Martinsville, finishing 28th and three laps down.
The speed hasn’t been there all season, as is evident from his one top-10, 21.6 average finish, and 21st-place in the standings. Shockingly, Hamlin has only run 54% of laps inside the top-15 – a stark contrast to Blaney’s series-leading 86%. Luckily for Hamlin, the Cup Series will be going to Talladega in two weeks, a place where he always had proven speed and two wins.
It will be interesting to see how or if the complexion of the season changes as the Cup Series heads to two of the most unpredictable and chaotic tracks on the circuit. Can Elliott and Blaney sustain their rollicking pace? Will Larson and Hamlin return to form? These are the main themes to look out for as 2022 forges forward.
