There has been enough criticism around the Gen-7 car that NASCAR currently uses in the Cup Series, and that is unlikely to stop anytime soon. Those criticisms are often the loudest after an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race goes down to the wire, as was the case in Vegas when Corey Day pulled off a remarkable victory.
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With the expectations of criticism to come, former driver and FOX broadcaster Kenny Wallace decided to get ahead and let his opinions be known on the thoughts that are expected to be heard over podcasts this week.
“When the race is over, Dale Jr., Rodney Childers, everybody starts going, ‘This O’Reilly car is the greatest car I’ve ever seen. It’s putting on a hell of a show.’ What they’re doing is they’re hoping NASCAR hears them,” Wallace said. “I’m gonna make a comedy out of it. This is Saturday Night Live: Dale Jr., Rodney Childers, Jeff Gluck: ‘Hey, NASCAR, this O’Riley car is unreal. It races great. We should sh–can the Next Gen car, get rid of a billion dollars of the race cars, and rebuild this old car.’ You’re wasting your breath. NASCAR’s not gonna sh– can their next-gen car and go back to the old car.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. owns JR Motorsports and has been one of the most vocal voices against the very foundation of the next-gen car. Rodney Childers is the crew chief for JRM’s No.1 Chevrolet, which Carson Kvapil drove to second in Vegas. Jeff Gluck is a motorsports journalist for The Athletic, and he has two podcasts, The Teardown and Gluckcast, both of which are produced by Dale Jr’s Dirty Mo Media.
Wallace has always offered a different outlook to that which has been said on any trending topic in NASCAR, and his ways of doing it are often entertaining. And that was the tone he took when taking a dig at the opinions of the three he mentioned, who have often been voices in favor of the Gen-6 car, which is currently used in NOAPS.
Their criticism of the Gen-7 car is often along the lines of the lack of driver input or the team’s ability to work on the cars and adapt them to their requirements. There is also the thought that the Gen-7 car moves further away from the concept of what a stock car should be.
However, Wallace pointed to the reasons he believes NASCAR wouldn’t take a backward step on their cars. And the logic from the former broadcaster is hard to argue against.
“It is a great car(Gen-6),” Wallace said. “I’m not debating that point. What I’m debating is it’s called useless energy.”
Wallace was pointing to the twisted-sister concept that teams applied to their chassis to create sideforce. This meant the Gen-6 car burned a lot of fuel to create the optimum drag required, which in itself points to the car fighting against its base foundation.
Burning that much energy just to get optimum drag before you can reach the point where that drag can be used to get clear on track makes the Gen-6 car a gas guzzler in an era where the world is shifting towards sustainable practices.
The Gen-7 car, on the other hand, is designed to stick to the ground and is aerodynamically efficient in terms of fuel consumption. But Wallace also said that it isn’t just the cars that make it feel like NOAPS races are better than Cup races; it’s also the drivers.
“It was a great race last night for one damn reason: Corey Day,” Wallace said. “Corey Day made the O’Reilly car look good. Yes, it’s a great car. I agree with you. Corey Day made that car look good. Corey Day, Corey Heim, as they say in baseball, the future. Remember what I’m saying, bookmark this: in five years, it’s going to be the Corey and Corey show.”
Heim is on his way to the Cup Series as 23XI Racing’s full-time No.35 Toyota driver from 2027. Heim ran a limited schedule in the No. 67 23XI Toyota and won at San Diego and the crown jewel race at the Brickyard.
Day is in the HMS pipeline to make it to the Cup Series eventually. Having shifted from dirt to asphalt as recently as 2024, HMS believes he needs to sharpen his skills more before a full-time ride in the top-tier series comes along. Wallace was filled with praise for Day and even recalled how he made it to HMS in the first place.
He arrived in NASCAR with a resume that made Hendrick Motorsports take notice. In 2024, the Clovis, California, native raced full time in the High Limit Racing Series and made select World of Outlaws starts, recording 10 wins, 25 top-five finishes and 44 top 10s in 73 dirt races.
Day capped that season by winning the 83rd Turkey Night Grand Prix, becoming the youngest winner in the history of the third-oldest automobile race in the United States. He signed a multiyear development agreement with Hendrick Motorsports on December 6, 2024, after Kyle Larson and Jeff Gordon had both endorsed him to Rick Hendrick.
“Kvapil had that race won, and that d— Corey Day, if I were to turn the volume down and watch the race, I’d have sworn that was Kyle Larson in that car,” said Wallace. “And it was Kyle Larson that told Rick Hendrick, ‘You gotta hire Corey Day. He’s the next me.’ And now it’s finally coming to fruition.”
“This guy, this Corey Day, has hardly raced asphalt. He was running the bottom, leading Kvapil, gets by, and he don’t even run the middle. He’s run the bottom, he says. ‘I’m not gonna run the middle.’ Corey Day goes hitting the wall and wins the d— race. So remember what I told you, it wasn’t the car that put on the race like you all think it was. It was Corey Day that put on the race.”
At that stage of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase, Day had little room for error. He arrived at Las Vegas sixth in the standings, tied with Sammy Smith on points but ahead on the tiebreaker, and 92 points behind championship leader Sheldon Creed entering the fourth race of the nine-race postseason.
With six races remaining, a big finish was needed to revive his title hopes. Beating Carson Kvapil did just that, as Day cut more than half of his deficit to Creed and climbed to fifth in the standings, 41 points off the lead with five races to go.
Creed finished 13th at Las Vegas but retained the championship lead, with the battle behind him tightening considerably. Kvapil’s runner-up finish moved him into second, 19 points back, followed by Jesse Love at 22 points behind and Justin Allgaier at 31.
Day’s win placed him fifth in the Chase standings, 41 points off the lead, while Sam Mayer remained sixth and 52 points behind Creed. With five races remaining, just 52 points separated the top six drivers in the title fight.
For Wallace, however, the standings shift was secondary to what Day showed in the closing laps. He argued that the finish was memorable because Day raced Kvapil hard, found speed against the outside wall and recovered after brushing it, rather than because of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series car alone.