For years, NASCAR drivers and fans have complained about bad racing on superspeedways. Entire fields of cars coasting at 70% throttle. Drivers save fuel from Lap 1, with passing being near impossible because the cars create too much drag. To try and fix this exact problem, NASCAR announced big rule changes this week for the upcoming race at Daytona. The rear spoiler is being cut from seven inches to four inches. Engine horsepower drops from 510 to 465. They are also adding new pieces to the front of the cars.

While NASCAR hoped these changes would make people happy, a legendary crew chief fired back. Cole Pearn is the brilliant crew chief who won the 2017 Cup Series championship with Martin Truex Jr. and Furniture Row Racing. A single-car team out of Denver, Colorado, beating the sport’s biggest powerhouses. He racked up 24 Cup wins and three Championship 4 appearances before walking away in 2019. He now runs a ski lodge in Canada. Because Pearn has no current team to protect and no fear of NASCAR fines, he posted an explosive message online.

“At what point do these donkeys admit that they completely fumble f***ed the design of this car,” Pearn wrote.

Since he left the sport, Pearn has a clear history of speaking out against the Next Gen car. He hates the design and often criticizes NASCAR’s choices from afar. Recently, he even argued that lower-level ARCA cars have a much better aerodynamic shape than the current Cup Series cars.

NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin loved Pearn’s honesty.

“I love Cole Pearn unfiltered. It’s nice when you don’t have to answer to the powers,” Martin replied.

The frustration is justified. Cutting the spoiler reduces drag, but it also strips rear downforce. To compensate, NASCAR added a splitter stuffer to the front. Horsepower was cut because the slicker car became too fast on its own, so the engine was choked down with a smaller tapered spacer to keep pack speeds safe. Problem, patch, new problem, new patch. That is what Pearn is pointing at.

The NASCAR Fans Agree with Cole Pearn

Nobody in the comments was defending NASCAR. Instead, fans quickly agreed with Pearn’s words.

“Why don’t they have all the crew chiefs and drivers agree on a superspeedway package?” one fan wrote.

“Why is the boardroom trying to tell long-term fans and teams what makes good racing?” another added.

Another fan pointed out that NASCAR hates admitting its mistakes.

“Hold your breath, Cole. Only a lawsuit ever gets NASCAR to admit they were wrong.”

The horsepower cuts got their own response: “Preach it, Cole!! The hauler will be faster than the car if they continue reducing HP!!”

For context, this is the second horsepower reduction on superspeedways. The one before this was in 2022 when the Next Gen chassis was just launched. Even then, it was not well-liked, and at that time, NASCAR cut down the superspeedway engine output to 510 horsepower. Now, dropping the power even lower to 465 horsepower feels like a huge step backward.

Further on, one fan zoomed out entirely: “This car has failed in almost every aspect it sought to improve. They need to start developing the Gen 8.”

Another cut straight through the logic of the announcement: “Since everyone had the same package before, and it sucked, how can giving everyone a different but same package help anything?”

The comment that caught everything plainly: “I dislike this car. Find a way to go backwards a little at a time. Better racing fixes everything.”

Pearn said what most people inside the garage were already thinking. The difference is that he is the only one not worried about what comes next.