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As we’ve covered before, there’s been a push among NASCAR fans and some racers for more horsepower added to the cars. But some big names in the motorsport have spoken up recently, saying a bump in power is unlikely to happen. That’s disappointing to hear, but they know things others don’t.
George Russell isn’t happy with Max Verstappen.
One of them is Kyle Busch, who was pretty blunt about his disbelief such an initiative would actually be applied by NASCAR brass. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” he told reporters.
The racecar driver went on to explain that all the changes to the cars, from bigger brakes to bigger tires, even taking away horsepower versus back in the day, is “just not conducive to better racing in my opinion.”
In other words, he would like to see that for the Next Gen Cup cars, but he doesn’t think such a thing is in the cards. Busche lamented about back in the day when 900-hp was on tap and racing was more entertaining for the drivers as well as the fans, reports The Tennessean.
Some will dismiss Busch’s opinion as just that, an opinion. They might even point out he just drives a car, so someone with experience in the behind-the-scenes action would know more.
Adding his voice of reason to the horsepower debate is Hendrick Motorsport’s powertrain director Scott Maxim, who does work behind the scenes in NASCAR.
Speaking with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio recently, he gave a little peek into what a horsepower bump would require, as covered by Sportsnaut.
“If it’s a moderate power increase, we have a pretty good understanding of the changes required,” Maxim added. “If we were to have a higher horsepower target than that, then that would require some more extensive changes. But we’d have to be given clarity on the direction.”
Rumors have been flying about what’s going to happen, with figures ranging from 750- to 900-plus-hp as well as claims power will only be increased for short tracks. Reality could be far different from the rumors, and Maxim is pouring a little bit of that into the conversation.
Considering his comment seems to indicate there hasn’t been a direction given yet, we think the call for horsepower is still grass roots and hasn’t been adopted by NASCAR executives. Maybe that will change if the fans are loud enough, but it still might not be practical enough to implement.
Image via NASCAR/Facebook
