Insiders rip idea of 'parity' in NASCAR after another win from Big 3 in Cup Series

The NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire was won, yet again, by one of the “Big 3” teams in the sport. This season, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Team Penske have combined to win 22 of 30 races.

Technically, you could make it 23 wins of 30 if you count Josh Berry and the Wood Brothers among the Team Penske group. Outside of the Big 3 teams, Trackhouse has five wins (four for SVG alone), 23XI Racing and RCR have one each.

When the Next Gen car was introduced, NASCAR claimed it would create parity in the sport. In 2022, that was perhaps more true than it is now. Since then, the top teams have continued to pull away on the track, and it shows in race wins.

Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic talked about parity, or the lack thereof, on The Teardown this week. After Ryan Blaney’s win, it was a reminder of who really dominates NASCAR.

“You know what’s a distraction is you’re not the number one team for your manufacturer,” Gluck said. “Because that’s where all of the speed and the wins are coming from. You’ve gotta be Penske, Gibbs, or Hendrick, and if you’re not running for one of those teams, the whole myth of parity isn’t quite what it has been, right? Because if you think about it, sure, you have guys that can pop up and win a race every now and then and all that stuff. But it’s maybe parity, but it’s parity among the top three teams.”

The top teams for the three NASCAR manufacturers are also the top teams in the sport. Go figure. Chevy, Toyota, and Ford are not going to let their flagship teams fall behind. No matter how much data is shared.

“It’s not the parity you think it is. You look at the organizations, and the numbers are like 22 out of 30 races this year have been won by the big three or their affiliate organizations,” Bianchi responded. “It’s pretty remarkable. … Talk about playoff conversation and everything about well, if we had the old point system, and it’s like, no man, there is no parity. Parity is dead. This is how it’s always been when you have like two or three organizations that have separated themselves from everybody else, and their drivers within those organizations fight it out. That’s not parity in my eyes. It’s challenging.

“But it did seem like 23XI had broken the mold, though. Last year with Reddick winning the regular season championship and winning races, it felt like they had kind of burst through but I guess it’s a real fine line and at the end of the day you’re right Jeff, if you’re not one of those big three organizaitons your window is very tiny and things kind of have to fall in place for you to consistently, year after year, be a threat.”

Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske, and Joe Gibbs Racing are the top teams in NASCAR. For the most part, all three of those teams have the best drivers. So, it’s not hard to understand how this happens. The teams with the most money, most resources, and longest histories in the sport are also the best. Go figure.

During the season, we have seen others win. It has not been at the same level as the top teams in the sport. With SVG dominating road courses, those are no longer wildcard races for drivers like Michael McDowell and AJ Allmendinger.

This year, even the drafting tracks went to the Big 3 teams. William Byron won at Daytona and then Christopher Bell won at Atlanta. Later, Austin Cindric won Talladega, Chase Elliott won Atlanta-2, and Ryan Blaney won Daytona-2. So, even the wildcard NASCAR races went to the Big 3.