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sports Wednesday 16 February 2022
'Next Gen' car modernizes NASCAR, potentially levels field

By MARK LONG is fun," 2012 Cup champion
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Brad Keselowski said. "I think
— NASCAR was long over- you'll see more dive-bomb-
due to revamp its aging, ar- type moves. … That will
guably outdated race car. get people to drive over
The previous version was an their heads that normally
overly engineered, off-the- couldn't get away with it.
chart expensive design that You're going to see a lot of
had been tweaked, twist- guys step over themselves
ed, trimmed and tuned to on corner exits."
make it fractionally faster NASCAR is banking on
and significantly safer over better racing. The long-
the past five-plus decades. term outcome also could
"It was the most supped- allow smaller teams with
up 1970s Mustang that you less financial backing to
could imagine," driver Da- be more competitive. The
vid Ragan said. new car was a big rea-
It's now a museum piece. son so many new owners
NASCAR's newest version have joined the Cup Series:
is pretty much a kit car. Denny Hamlin and Michael
Teams get all the same Jordan with 23XI Racing;
pieces from varying ven- Justin Marks and Pitbull with
dors and have detailed Trackhouse Racing; and
instructions regarding how Keselowski becoming a
to put it together. It's NAS- part owner at Roush Fen-
CAR's most notable over- way Racing.
haul and should result in a The entry-level cost to get
vehicle that's more dura- a car to the track is pretty
ble, more economical and much the same for every-
considerably more modern one since there's no over-
— even if the changes are head to develop and im-
barely visible to the casual prove every nut and bolt,
fan. every curve and corner. En-
The "Next Gen" car made gineers, mechanics, crew
its debut — a soft opening, chiefs and drivers spent
of sorts — in the exhibition Joey Logano, bottom left, and Kyle Busch, bottom right, lead the field during a NASCAR exhibition hours, days, weeks, months
Busch Clash at the Los An- auto race at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022, in Los Angeles. and years polishing every
geles Memorial Coliseum Associated Press detail of the old car into a
a little more than a week rolling work of art — albeit
ago and will take center the changes are significant said David Wilson, presi- around this by the time we with 50-year-old technol-
stage this week in the sea- to drivers, diehard fans and dent of Toyota Racing De- get to midseason," Wilson ogy.
son opener at Daytona In- industry insiders. velopment. said. "It's going to take us Now, it's a much more so-
ternational Speedway. The The cars have bigger alu- "There's a lot more restraints some time to see the im- phisticated rendition and
sold-out Daytona 500 will minum wheels that feature to what we're allowed to pact of downforce and could set the tone for a
serve as the ultimate prov- one center lug nut instead do," two-time Cup champi- drag and how that chang- new generation of stock
ing ground for an iteration of five traditional ones. on Kyle Busch said. "There's es from track to track. So car.
that's been years in the NASCAR moved car num- a lot more rules. We're con- it fills me with angst. It fills "They hit a home run," Busch
making and could level the bers forward on door pan- fined to a smaller box, but me with excitement at the said. "Nine out of 10. It's right
playing field to some de- els, creating an opportunity there's still a lot of knobs on same time." there. It's really close. I think
gree. for sponsors to enhance this thing that we haven't Drivers expect to see a per- a lot of the race teams love
"We've never had anything branding opportunities. quite turned yet. formance difference, with the appeal, as well as a lot
change as much as we They also have indepen- "Hopefully we can still find the new car being able to of fans love the appeal as
have with the car this year," dent front and rear suspen- the tricks in which this car be driven harder into the well to have what it looks
2017 Cup Series champion sion, as well as a transaxle likes to make you go fast. corner and being a little like.
Martin Truex Jr. said. "It's go- instead of a transmission, More to learn for sure." sketchy coming out of it. "Now we're all just trying to
ing to take us quite a while with the transaxle perform- NASCAR's three manufac- The result should be the figure it out, what makes it
to figure out where we ing gear-changing and turers — Chevrolet, Ford racing equivalent of being tick, what makes it go fast.
are at, to learn about this power-splitting functions in and Toyota — are ex- able to drive sideways with- There's a lot of different le-
car, to understand how to one integrated unit. pected to spend months out spinning out. vers that we have yet to
make it work on different And many of the pieces searching. "The cars, in general, seem pull on this thing to make it
types of racetracks, and I that fit under the car, items "We could see ourselves still to really like when you drive what we need to and we'll
think that's going to go on that used to cost hundreds trying to wrap our heads the hell out of them, which keep working on that."q
for a while. of thousands annually to
"It's going to take a while develop, are now spec LIKE US ON
to really feel comfortable parts that are essentially
where you are or under- bought off store shelves.
stand things to the extent They're the same for every-
we have in the past." one and not allowed to be
The new car might not look manipulated.
much different to someone "Underneath the body that
flipping television channels car is essentially bought off Facebook.com/arubatoday/
and landing on the 500, but the shelves from Costco,"