If you ask anybody who was a NASCAR fan in the 2000s, they’ll say that that time was the peak of NASCAR. The cars were making around 900 horsepower back then, speeds were high, and racing was great. However, in 2001, the sport had its darkest day.
On February 18th, 2001, on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, “The Intimidator” or “The Man in Black” Dale Earnhardt lost his life in a crash in Turn 4, while defending the cars behind him from passing his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and his employee of DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.), Michael Waltrip to win the Daytona 500. This would be Waltrip’s first career win, but celebration would be quickly extinguished as news broke of Earnhardt’s death.
After this, the sport was never truly the same. Viewership of races on TV would start to decline for the first time in nearly 20 years. No one new it then, but the sport was headed for a steep decline.
In 2005, for the first time, viewership was down from the year prior.
For the next ten years, this would be a constant. The racing was still good, just less people were watching. NASCAR decided to change things up. In 2015, they limited horsepower from 850 to 725, via the use of a tapered spacer in the engine. Racing was absolutely horrid according to fans. NASCAR however, didn’t seem to care. In fact, in 2019, they lowered horsepower again to a shockingly low 550 horsepower at tracks that were 1.5 miles or longer (excluding Daytona and Talladega). As a lifelong fan, this was the worse stretch of racing I have ever watched. Nobody could pass, every race with the 550 hp package was like a one-lane Garden State Parkway, fast-paced and bumper to bumper.
With the advent of the Generation 7 “Next-Gen” Car, NASCAR raised horsepower to 675 at every track but superspeedways, those use a 510 HP package.
Many say that even now, NASCAR needs to add horsepower again. Drivers like Denny Hamlin and Carson Hocevar have been outspoken about it, with Hamlin saying that “these cars are so planted.” He suggests at least bringing horsepower up to 750 HP again, and to hope that it works. Hocevar took to X to stress his frustration in his weekly message to The Athletic reporter Jeff Gluck. He said “it’s not possible [to pass] until we got up to lap traffic, similar to sprint cars.” Another user suggested that increased horsepower and a softer tire compound would do the trick, and Hocevar agreed.
The question becomes, should NASCAR add more horsepower to their cars? I seem to think so. The racing with the “Next-Gen” Car has been great, but I think the age-old saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” doesn’t apply here. I do believe that NASCAR needs to raise horsepower, and step closer to the image of the past, one that a fan on a Barstool Sports interview once stated, “them cars going real fast, and real left.” The future of the sport relies on fast cars, why not make them faster? NASCAR does need to add horsepower, and it needs to happen now.
