DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Retooled, revamped and with a new sound, NASCAR’s Next Gen car is about to make it’s official debut. As NASCAR likes to say, it’s a brand new car; only the steering wheel and driver’s seat stuck around.
Although the Next Gen car — the seventh generation of a NASCAR stock car — is the latest version, it will transport NASCAR fans back to an era when the cars on track more closely resemble what consumers buy at dealerships. And that’s because the sport is “returning back to stock car roots,” said Brandon Thomas, NASCAR’s managing director for vehicle systems.
That resemblance is one of many eye-catching differences fans will notice when the Next Gen car makes its official debut with the start of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season at the Daytona 500 on Feb. 20 — a year delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teams and drivers will spend at least the early part of the season, if not the whole thing, navigating through the challenges of competing with a new vehicle.
“You change the way you race, you change the way you approach a race,” said Joey Logano, the 2018 NASCAR champion and No. 22 Team Penske Ford driver. “The strategy, your pit stops, the way you set up the car, the way we practice is now going to be different. … You just have to be a student of the sport.”
