Brad Keselowski Says The NASCAR Next Gen Car Is Like Driving An ‘Old Pickup Truck’ And Needs More Power

By Gary Gastelu |

Sep 26, 2025

Brad Keselowski is on team horsepower.

The RFK Racing driver and co-owner was on this week’s “Stacking Pennies” podcast discussing the current seventh generation Next Gen Cup Series car and what he thinks the biggest issue with it is.

“The Next Gen car changed me in some ways for worse as a driver because you have to drive it way differently. You know, the cars in 2008, 2009, first off, were significantly faster. I don’t know if I can put into terms how much faster they were than the Next Gen car,” he said.

“My first Cup start was at Texas and you could literally spin the tires off the corner. You did. You spun the tires up. You come off a turn four and you be putting the gas pedal down on the rear tire, you know, like wind up. Now, like, you can’t spin the tires on a restart,” he said. “Like, all right, here it goes. But you know what I mean? Like I’m in an old pickup truck.”

You don’t even need to go back to 2009 to see the difference. Ryan Blaney won the pole at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last weekend with a 29.159 lap while Keselowski set the track record in 2014 at 27.281, which is a huge difference on a mile track. Today’s cars are rated at 670 hp, while they were making 900 hp in 2014. An even worse look is that Corey Heim won the pole for this year’s Truck Series race with a 29.946 lap, and that wasn’t the only time a truck beat at Cup car this year. Somewhat Ironic, given Keselowski’s description.

“The other cars that I raced, throttle control was paramount. Like, if you didn’t have it, you’re going to the back fast. And this car, it’s like the antithesis of that was like you got to like just smash the pedal.”

NASCAR has tried to address this with tire compounds that wear out and lose grip faster at some tracks, like Bristol, which might not be needed if they were more powerful.

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Keselowski said the younger drivers who’ve only experienced the seventh generation car don’t have the skills to handle it and end up burning out the tires even more.

NASCAR officials have indicated they are looking into increasing the power for at least the short track package next year, which Keselowski said would get it up to 740 hp or 750 hp. Increased costs have been a sticking point, but improving the racing may finally win out.