Kyle Petty doubles down on controversial NASCAR | Sports News

Former NASCAR star Kyle Petty, the son of the legendary Richard, prompted controversy amongst racing followers when he countered Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s current criticism of the Cup Series’ much-maligned Next Gen car.

The present era of Cup car has come underneath heavy scrutiny of late, with many, together with Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin, and Kevin Harvick, annoyed by features of the package deal, together with its tire put on, passability, lack of horsepower, and the general short monitor package deal.

Earnhardt went as far as to say the car merely was not a NASCAR stock car, however a sports activities car, during an episode of his ‘Dale Jr. Download‘ podcast. “I don’t love the NextGen car. I don’t love [that] it’s an IMSA car, it’s a sports car, it’s got a diffuser, it’s got low profile tires, it’s got big rims and brakes, and it’s a sports car,” he stated.

Petty subsequently advised that Earnhardt’s feedback weren’t “deserved in a lot of ways,” going on to say, “We have not raced stock cars since about 1958. We don’t race stock cars, we race NASCARs.”

This response drew lots of criticism from followers on social media, whereas Earnhardt additionally went on to reply on his podcast.

With regards to his critics, the 65-year-old eight-time Cup Series race winner opted to take to social media on Thursday to double down on his stance.

“I’ve been around a long, long time. I’ve seen a lot of iterations of cars,” he stated. “I’ve seen cars show up at my dad’s house that they turned into race cars. I’ve seen a body in white that they made a race car. I saw them build chassis from the ground up and put bodies on them, and go race them.

“Now we have the bolt-together car, this Next Gen car. It’s what we have. It is a NASCAR. It’s not a stock car. It is a NASCAR. That’s what it should be called. Not Next Gen, just a NASCAR. Just like a Formula One car is a Formula One car, this is a NASCAR.”

As far as Petty is anxious, the problems aren’t solely the Next Gen car, regardless of what he sees as people desirous to “point their finger and say, ‘It’s the Next Gen’s fault.’” While Petty didn’t element what different points he was referring to, he stated there are “a lot” that should be addressed. What’s more, he additionally believes that people needs to be listening to what the present drivers must say on the matter.

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“If they don’t like it, they should have a voice, and they should complain,” he stated. “But at the same time, they’re still putting on racing every Sunday, and they’re putting on some pretty dang good racing every Sunday, if you ask me.

“There’s been some close finishes. There’s been some great racing towards the end of the race with the green-white checkers. There’s been some solid moments in this sport with the Next Gen car. With the Next Gen car.

“I know that’s hard to believe, as bad as you guys say it is, but at the same time, again, I’m going to stand behind what I say. We’re moving forward.”

Petty closed out by saying that if critics are eager to return to 1964, 1982, or 1999, then they’re free to take action, however so far as he’s involved, “This sport is moving forward,” citing Amazon and TNT Sports’ broadcast offers in addition to the emergence of highway course maestro Shane van Gisbergen.

“The sport is moving forward,” he insisted. “We need to keep the sport moving forward and complaining about everything without giving answers to the problems, critique is one thing, but we have to be able to critique positively and say what we would do to fix it.”