CONCORD, N.C. — The era of the Next Gen car is here. NASCAR’s latest iteration of the traditional stock car has certainly drawn its share of attention, and rightly so.
The Gen-6 car had been used for more than a decade and it was time to update the rolling stock. Instead of a re-skin of the Gen-6, NASCAR did a complete rework for the new car. They still look like a traditional “stock” car, but in a 2022 sort of way.
It’s the innards that were all the talk as the season got under way.
The upshot is — it isn’t your father’s NASCAR car anymore. It’s almost a Euro take on the NASCAR car, resembling a Touring Car or GT3 machine rather than Detroit Iron.
That will take some getting used to.
Of course, in the lead up to Daytona, there were many revelations, some of them quite surprising.
For the first time in decades, the teams won’t build their own chassis. That is now handled by approved suppliers for the teams.
When I heard that, I immediately wondered what Smokey Yunick would think of that. I couldn’t write it, because the swear words would be the entirety of the quote, but it would have been a blast to have it on tape for posterity. Epic rant doesn’t begin to cover it.
The three-piece chassis — front clip, survival cell center section and rear clip — remain essentially the same, but the bumpers are bolt-ons to assist in the cost of repairs. Each team is limited to seven chassis per car number — meaning that four-car teams can have 28 cars, max.
The cars have some very un-NASCAR-like attributes, including a five-speed sequential gearbox, a transaxle rather than the traditional rear end and a carbon-fiber under-tray to clean up the dirty air.
I understand the reasoning behind it. The cars look more like the cars on the road and if manufacturers are going to stay in the sport, they need all the help they can get to make it worthwhile. The cars look good if you’re not wholly wedded to the cars of the past.
Lower-aspect tires ride one-lug rims and the rear deck is way shorter than even the Gen-6. In other words, there’s enough room for a 24-pack of your favorite adult beverage between the edge of the rear windshield and the standard spoiler, rather than a deck lid the size of a poker table.
What is going to be interesting, as the race laps pile up, is the reliability of these new machines. New cars tend to have teething pains and starting the season at a superspeedway with them is a chancy proposition.
What is going to be equally interesting is the adjustment period in terms of drivers.
When the Car of Tomorrow came out in the 2000s, some drivers took to it like duck to water. Others struggled with it. Is it going to be the same here with the Next Gen?
The new rack-and-pinion steering might be a major piece of that puzzle, as it has been described as darty, very responsive in testing.
It apparently drives like the new road cars in addition to looking like them. Anyone who has driven a 1980s Buick knows that you have to start turning a quarter-mile before you actually make the move — these are MUCH quicker.
It’s going to be a process, that’s for sure. Given the state of the world these days, I’m almost positive that the changes aren’t over, at least in terms of what works and what doesn’t.
I wonder what Smokey Yunick would have thought of proposed changes? And I wonder if my tape recorder could handle the answer.