Fans Slam NASCAR for It’s Greed as Dirty Next-Gen Tactics Comes to Light

When NASCAR rolled out the Gen 7 car in 2022, it promised a bold new future for stock car racing. Instead, the car has become a lightning rod for anger. Kevin Harvick didn’t mince words, declaring bluntly, “The car sucks,” while pointing to how its aero package killed passing on short tracks. Denny Hamlin compared it to the much-maligned Car of Tomorrow, warning it’s driving up “hate levels” across the garage. Now, that same machine is part of a federal courtroom in Charlotte, accused of being less about racing innovation and more about NASCAR’s stranglehold on its teams.

The courtroom in Charlotte this week turned into NASCAR’s biggest stage. Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin’s 23XI Racing, alongside Front Row Motorsports, stood nose-to-nose with Jim France’s empire, accusing NASCAR of running a monopolistic system that choked competition and starved teams. Judge Kenneth Bell warned both sides that “everybody is going to get hurt if this thing goes a certain way,” underscoring just how fragile the balance of power has become.

Adding to the fire was a detail highlighted by veteran reporter Jeff Gluck, that NASCAR “owns the intellectual property in the Gen 7 car to make sure there’s less risk of a copycat series… each team has $20 million inventory for each car… so 3 car team has $60 million… and they can’t take that to another series. They’re saying that’s exclusionary.”

This basically means NASCAR owns the designs and all hardware parts of the Gen 7 car, effectively making teams renters rather than owners. It’s a structure designed to prevent a breakaway league, one that fans see as NASCAR safeguarding itself from a potential LIV Golf-style split at the expense of competition.

That backdrop makes the Gen 7 car the most polarizing centerpiece of all. Fans complain it hasn’t delivered on entertainment, while teams feel suffocated by the strict IP controls. What was billed as a tool for cost control and parity has become a flashpoint of mistrust, creating a toxic mix of financial strain, fan dissatisfaction, and bitter courtroom drama.

Fans rip NASCAR’s monopoly moves through Gen 7 backlash

“As if anyone would want to copy this car,” one fan blasted on Reddit. That sarcastic remark summed up much of the fan sentiment. NASCAR spent years building a fortress of IP rules around the Gen 7, but supporters argue the car doesn’t deserve that kind of protection. To them, the irony is painful: while drivers blast its performance and fans shrug at its entertainment value, NASCAR treats the car like a crown jewel. The disconnect feeds the feeling that the sanctioning body is guarding its monopoly rather than fixing the show on track.

Another fan dug into the heart of the lawsuit, pointing out that teams don’t even own their cars anymore. “Basically, I read this deeper and think NASCAR designed Next Gen in a certain way, not for better racing, but to protect themselves from a split to gain IP on the cars so teams couldn’t just take them to a new series. Gen 6 was not IP. The teams then don’t own the cars, they are basically renting them for however long they are in NASCAR for,” they said, contrasting the independence teams once enjoyed with the rental-style system today. That frustration mirrors the legal filings, where Hamlin’s 23XI Racing claims NASCAR is intentionally suffocating competition. For fans, it reinforces that the Gen 7 isn’t just a racing failure, it’s a business weapon.

The tension is amplified by the Garage 56 project at Le Mans. One fan sharply recalled, “No wonder the Garage 56 thing was such a big deal. NASCAR literally had to give written permission to allow the use of that thing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.” What many fans celebrated as NASCAR’s proud international showcase becomes, through another fan’s lens, proof of overreach. NASCAR had to give written permission before Hendrick Motorsports could use a Next Gen car in France. The car’s global moment, once a feel-good headline, now doubles as evidence of how tightly the sanctioning body guards its product.

A different fan took a more complicated stance, calling the system “freaking genius” for requiring teams to keep an inventory, but admitting it “sounds like a monopoly.” That duality reveals the bind NASCAR has created: the rules do make it financially easier to stay in the system than leave, ensuring stability. But that same design crushes any hope for independent maneuvering. In a way, it’s clever business, but in a sport where independence once fueled identity, cleverness can feel like a chokehold.

And then came the bluntest take of all: “The Gen 7 sucks, NASCAR can keep it.” Stripped of nuance, this fan’s anger cuts to the simplest truth: the car hasn’t delivered on the track. If the car doesn’t deliver exciting races, what’s the point of protecting it so fiercely? If fans aren’t excited, no amount of legal protections or revenue battles will matter. For them, the promise of closer racing and better competition fell flat, and all the courtroom revelations only confirm that NASCAR is more focused on control than on fixing the show.

The Gen 7 was supposed to unite the garage and energize the fanbase, but instead, it has divided both and dragged NASCAR into federal court. Drivers resent its flaws, fans dismiss its value. Whether change happens or not, one fact is undeniable: the Gen 7 has gone from being a car to being a case study in control, leaving the future of the sport riding on the outcome.

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