Denny Hamlin explains the 'fundamental' issue with NASCAR's Next-Gen car

If you want to know what the issues are with NASCAR's Next-Gen car, Denny Hamlin might be the best man to ask. 

In a news conference at Richmond Raceway on Friday, Hamlin, a 58-time Cup Series winner, was asked about the car and its perceived struggles to put on good racing, especially at short tracks such as Richmond. 

"We've had exciting moments in this car; I don't disagree with that," Hamlin said. "The issue is that it happened early in the Next-Gen era where there was so much disparity between the fast cars and the slower cars."

"Now, everyone over time, since there's been no development for years and years now (and) nothing's really changed, the field (has) just tightened up." 

With the spec nature of the car - nearly every part and piece supplied to teams is sourced from single-source suppliers — comes the aforementioned lack of disparity, which makes it hard for even the fastest cars and best drivers to make passes and put on entertaining races. 

"That's the fundamental part that's going to be difficult for us to overcome, unless we have some major changes," Hamlin said. 

NASCAR's short track package in particular has been under scrutiny since the advent of the Next-Gen car in 2022, with tracks such as Richmond, Martinsville and Bristol that used to be some of the hottest tickets in the sport unable to recreate the racing that made them so popular in the past. 

Hamlin will start fourth in Saturday's Cook Out 400 at Richmond. 

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media unless otherwise noted.