Even with the Phoenix race, people cannot seem to get COTA off their minds. That is because of a very valid concern Chase Elliott has raised.
The No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports driver highlighted the difference in conditions between the current Next Gen car and the older cars. He also spoke about why cooling shirts tend to fail.
Addressing the issue, he said, “These cars are hot. You know, if you’re going down the straightaway, the best example I can give is, if you’re in the old car and you stick your hand out the window, it’s cool and fresh air.
Whereas now you’re going down the straightaway at any track, but particularly, like, speedways are a great example because when you stick your hand out the window, if you didn’t have your gloves on, you’d probably burn it.”
Back in 2022, when the current Next Gen cars made their debut, one of the top complaints from the drivers was the cabin heating up considerably, with the exhausts running along both sides of the car.
In the older cars, the exhaust used to be on the passenger side. With hot air going over the top of the car, tailing your opponent could potentially worsen the conditions further.
The driver further added, “You have exhausts on both sides, whereas the exhaust used to be only on one side as well. So you’re kind of evacuating that air out in one direction.
So there was always some fresh air to be had that wasn’t already warm or warmed up if somebody was in front of you. So it’s just a little different, I think, now than it used to be. I don’t know how you fix that completely.”
Elliott noted that while cooling shirts have existed for years, they are now more common and have improved technology, though they still face a high failure rate in extreme heat.
Interestingly, Mark Martin, who agrees with Chase Elliott’s remarks, was also known to never wear a cooling shirt, except for once in his career, during the 1989 Peak Performance 500.
Adding to Elliott’s remarks, he said in a tweet, “This is interesting. Great explanation for why today’s cars are hotter inside than pre-next-gen.”
Cooling shirts can malfunction, leaving drivers with excess hot water in their system, which worsens the already hot conditions in the car, as noted by Kevin Harvick after the COTA race.
What Can Be Done to Fix the Cooling Shirts’ Malfunctioning?
Cooling shirts aren’t necessary on the field, and many drivers choose not to wear one. However, the 2026 COTA saw drivers face issues due to the weather, as their cooling shirts malfunctioned.
A.J. Allmendinger finished ninth and was seen lying down beside his car. He was then immediately taken to the infield care center. Even Alex Bowman had a hard time with the cooling suit at COTA.
Similarly, in the 2025 season in Chicago, Shane Van Gisbergen also faced issues because his cooling system malfunctioned.
On the Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin observed that the shirts often malfunctioned when the temperatures in the cabin rose, something Chase Elliott also said. Hamlin pointed out that there is not much airflow once the car slows down.
He said, “It’s like having a fan on an ice cube. You’re driving, it’s blowing, and that gives you cool air. Well, once you go caution, your car stops going fast, and you shut the fan off.
Then you don’t have that cube pushing air onto you anymore. In the hot sense, right, the car just gets really, really hot during cautions. And I think that’s when these cool units are failing. They’re getting overheated and tripping, and that’s when they’re out for the count.”
Much like Elliott, Hamlin also did not have solutions to this, as he said, “I know that NASCAR’s very, very strict with these teams on restricting airflow to the drivers and their cool units. All I know is that NASCAR really frowns upon diverting any air that should be going to the driver.”