In NASCAR’s past, drivers relied on rewatching hours of video and highlight reels to study their rivals. From in-car cameras to race replays, it was a painstaking process of spotting where another driver lifted, braked, or adjusted their line. SMT or SportsMEDIA Technology changed the equation. Instead of guessing, a driver can now study exact throttle traces, brake pressure, and steering angles from the fastest cars in the field. And one driver made the most of it recently.

Before the race at Richmond, Shane van Gisbergen admitted he leaned on Denny Hamlin’s telemetry to learn how to attack ovals. The road course champion, still adjusting to the unique demands of NASCAR, openly credited Hamlin’s driving traces for helping him prepare. His lap times reflected the difference: SVG qualified 12th for the Cook Out 400, his best Cup Series start on a short track to date, after pouring over Hamlin’s SMT data.

Ahead of Daytona, and with playoff scenario flipping on its head after Austin Dillon’s win at Richmond, SVG might want to utilize more of Hamlin’s SMT patterns. But what does Hamlin really think about everyone having access to his driving secrets?

Denny Hamlin weighs the cost of NASCAR’s open data era

On his Actions Detrimental podcast, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was candid about the impact SMT has on the competitive balance in NASCAR. He explained that without universal access, there would “certainly… create a disparity of speed between the drivers,” especially at short tracks like Martinsville and Richmond where he once held a clear edge.

SMT, which provides overlays of throttle position, brake pressure, steering input, gear usage, speed, and GPS lines, has stripped away much of that advantage. Hamlin described it as NASCAR essentially giving away the blueprint of how a top driver attacks a corner, something that was once closely guarded inside a single team.

Telemetry in NASCAR isn’t new. As early as 2001, SMT began capturing key inputs throttle position, brake pressure, RPMs from sensors installed beneath the rear window. But it was in 2018 that NASCAR formalized telemetry sharing across teams, generating heated debate. Veteran driver Kyle Busch had this immediate reaction, he said, “I’ve spent 13 years in this sport to figure out how to drive a racecar… Now you’re gonna hand that on a piece of paper to a young driver… they’ll figure it out.”

Hamlin also admitted he isn’t entirely against it, because he’s been a beneficiary himself. He revealed that studying former teammate Kyle Busch’s SMT data directly helped him on mile-and-a-half tracks, where he wasn’t as naturally strong. “I got better by following Kyle, which is he made me better on the mile-and-a-halfs. I made him better on the short tracks. I think I’m confident of that,” Hamlin said. That exchange shows the double-edged nature of SMT: while it allows veterans to sharpen skills by learning from teammates, it also erases the unique strengths that once separated drivers across the garage.

Still, Hamlin’s frustration lingers because the data doesn’t just stay within teams, it’s visible to every competitor on the grid. That’s why he questioned NASCAR’s decision to make it open-source, “I guess. It’s a double-edged sword… you’re gonna give away my proprietary information. Like, that’s the only stuff that should be shared within our team. Like, you shouldn’t be giving out all my data to other teams. That doesn’t seem right…”

He went as far as to estimate that access to SMT “takes probably 25% of the gap away” between the fastest and slowest drivers, shrinking the margin that once came from craft and intuition.

Is NASCAR leaning too much on telemetry?

As Denny Hamlin laments, making SMT (now OTD) data open to all teams raises a big question: is pure talent being overshadowed by tech? Legends like Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart rose to dominance in an era where drivers leaned on feel, seat-of-the-pants skill, and instinct, not data overlays.

Stewart, often regarded as one of the most talented drivers in the modern era, thrived on sheer raw ability. In contrast, today’s crop drivers like Tyler Reddick or William Byron regularly dive into data well before a wheel turns, dissecting throttle traces and steering angles to refine their craft.

Now in 2025, NASCAR is swamped with data. Each Next-Gen car sends over 1.3 terabytes of telemetry per race, that’s roughly 600,000 messages per second, streaming from 60+ sensors via ultra-low latency networks. The racing strategy now hinges on AI, cloud systems, and real-time analysis. As RCR’s Eric Kominek put it, teams can now “calculate fuel mileage to within 100 feet” based purely on live telemetry .

But this tech surge comes at a cost. Shared data has tightened the field so much that standout skill may be overshadowed by software savvy. For Hamlin, SMT has become symbolic of a larger modernization in the Next Gen era: progress that may make the field closer on paper, but leaves him questioning whether the sport has lost part of its soul.