One thing people like about NASCAR is parity. Unlike in Formula 1, where only five drivers won races last season, 19 Cup Series drivers won races in 2022.
That sounds great, but parity is a dual-edged sword, and its drawbacks aren’t discussed much. Denny Hamlin talked about the drawbacks of parity on his Actions Detrimental podcast.
While other factors contributed to the lack of passing at Phoenix Raceway last weekend, Hamlin also talked about how parity is causing over half the field to have the same lap times. And when everyone is running the same lap times, it’s a lot harder to pass.
“Let me go back to parity, we talked about parity,” Hamlin said. “Here’s the problem, what we’re seeing, what we saw Sunday is what is wrong with parity. Parity means that most all the cars are very similar, the same, and the team in 25th, the 25th place speed has a chance to win just as much as the first place guy. Well, that means that he’s running the same times. And in fact, I look at our timing and scoring on the way back home, and I looked, and one through 20-something is running within a tenth of each other. So passing will always be difficult when everyone runs the same **** speed, because the car in front always has a dramatic advantage aero wise. So he’s taking up all the air that the back car needs that air to be pushing down on his car to give him grip.
“So I saw where Harvick said that yeah that’s why they need to mix up the packages and surprise us week in, week out. He’s saying that because he wants there to be a difference between the fast cars and the slow cars and, unfortunately, this is what you get when you get parity. That’s when all the cars are exactly the same. The only difference is the crew chief’s setup, the driver, the engine, and the body. So and all the drivers you know from first to 20th, I mean there’s a difference. There’s in my mind like eight to nine elite drivers, like elite. They can carry the car a little bit more. They can take a car that’s not quite as good and still be super fast with it. And then there’s the other pack of 12 to 15 guys that you give them all a fast car they’re going to run up front as well.”
That wasn’t all Hamlin talked about. He talked about how the track, PJ1, shifting, and dirty air also contributed to the lack of passing, but many others talk about those things. This is the first time someone really went in depth about how the similarities of most of the field is making everyone the same and unable to pass each other. And that honestly is just as important of a focus as the other things. That being said, there isn’t parity in Formula 1, and there is a lack of passing over there so it’s a complicated thing.
Parity works when different cars are competitive each week, but when everyone has the same speed in the same race, the only way someone can pass is if the driver ahead of them makes a mistake. Which Hamlin said that a mistake could be remedied by shifting depending on the track.
Despite these concerns, Hamlin revealed that the new short track package was an improvement. Even though it didn’t result in more passing, the car was more difficult to drive, and Hamlin saw that as progress. Let’s just hope the racing improves on short tracks and road courses as the season progresses.
[Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin]
