DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR is set to resume testing of its Next Gen race car following the doubleheader weekend at Dover Int’l Speedway this weekend.
NASCAR has confirmed Stewart-Haas Racing driver Cole Custer will drive the Next Gen car on Aug. 24-25 as the series continues to work towards a planned switch to the new car in 2022.
Officials from NASCAR had originally planned for the Next Gen car to become mandatory in 2021, however the COVID-19 pandemic forced NASCAR to cancel planned testing and the sanctioning body later opted to postpone the implementation of the new car until 2022.
NASCAR officials also confirmed that Action Express Racing, a multi-time championship-winning team in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, is testing its own Next Gen car on the Daytona Int’l Speedway road course Monday.
Felipe Nasr and current NASCAR Xfinity Series championship leader Austin Cindric are driving the car during the test for Action Express Racing.
“The Action Express test allows a sports car team to learn about the architecture of the Next Gen car and explore any opportunities to adopt new technologies,” said John Probst, NASCAR Senior VP of Innovation and Racing Development in a story on NASCAR.com. “The test also benefits NASCAR — it helps us check the durability of parts, helps with tire development and gives us data from a road course test.”