Will Gen-6 car even playing field?

Race fans have asked me recently if I thought for the teams that have been somewhat behind the other major teams these last few years, if this new Generation-6 car will even the playing field a little bit.

Coming to a place like Daytona, right off of the blocks will be a really hard question to assess and answer. The reason is what teams can do to and with their cars at the restrictor plate races is much tighter, than say, at an intermediate sized or small-sized track.

So at a place like Daytona and Talladega, yes it will at least seem like the playing field has been leveled for those teams that aren’t on the same tier as say Roush-Fenway Racing, Hendrick Motorsports or a Joe Gibbs Racing.

It’s when we move away from the superspeedways that will be when we will get an answer about what exactly this new car is offering those teams if any, to play catch-up. When you get a little further into the season and go to the Phoenix and Las Vegas tracks, that’s where I believe we will start getting some answers.

On the surface, common sense tells you that the teams with the deep pockets and deeper resources will still have the advantage over the lesser-funded teams. I just think those teams that don’t have the bigger sponsorship dollars will continue to just try and make it work the best they can.

This new car will tighten things up across the board, at least initially. This new body will definitely be more user-friendly to everyone. There is no doubt about that. As time goes on however, the powerhouse teams will still find that edge or that two or three tenths quicker speeds than the lower-tiered teams will.