Next Gen (NASCAR)
The Next Gen car, originally known as the Gen-7 car, is the common name for the racecar that is currently in use in the NASCAR Cup Series. Its use began with the 2022 season. A further evolution of the Generation 6 car, the Next Gen features "improved" aero and downforce packages while introducing new technologies on the track. In addition, the Next Gen is designed to lower costs and attract new original equipment manufacturers to compete with Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota.
The Next Gen body style was set to debut at the 2021 Daytona 500, but when the COVID-19 pandemic postponed all NASCAR racing until the month of May, the sanctioning body announced that the debut of the car would be pushed back a year to 2022.
Prior to the 2022 Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, Chevrolet clinched its 41st manufacturers' championship and the first in the Next Gen era. At the conclusion of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, Joey Logano of Team Penske claimed his second Cup Series championship and became the Next Gen era's first champion.
History
Testing sessions
The rules package of the 2019 season served as the starting point of the Next Gen's development. The prototype, built by Richard Childress Racing using a generic body, was tested for the first time on October 8–9 by driver Austin Dillon at Richmond Raceway.The second test of the car was done at Phoenix Raceway on December 9–10 with Joey Logano behind the wheel. Erik Jones drove the car in its third test, which was held at Homestead–Miami Speedway on January 15–16.
The fourth test was at Auto Club Speedway with William Byron on March 2–3. John Probst, NASCAR's senior vice president of racing innovation, commented that the "P3" prototype Byron tested was nearly 100 percent of the final product.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all racing was postponed through the month of May. Further testing that was scheduled to take place at Atlanta Motor Speedway with Clint Bowyer on March 16–17 was still on since the Next Gen testing was exempted from NASCAR's indefinite ban on all testing. However, this decision was quickly reversed because of the situation as the Atlanta weekend was postponed shortly after the Rudy Gobert incident at an NBA game days prior that led to NASCAR's decision on postponement. A handful of manufacturers, teams, and drivers alike indicated their hope for the debut of the car to be postponed one year to 2022 as a result of the lost testing time. On March 30, 2020, it was reported that NASCAR was taking a serious look at pushing back the rollout of the new car to 2022. NASCAR officially confirmed these reports on April 2, 2020, and the car's debut was pushed back a year to allow for enough testing time after the postponement of all events through May.
On August 17, NASCAR announced that testing of the Next Gen would resume at Dover International Speedway with Cole Custer on August 18–19, while another prototype, built by Action Express Racing, was tested at the Daytona road course with Felipe Nasr driving the day after the Daytona road course events.
On November 10, NASCAR announced Charlotte Motor Speedway would host a pair of tests, with Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr. participating in both with a pair of prototype chassis. The tests took place on November 16–18 with the first day being held on the road course, and the second day on the oval.
On December 11, NASCAR announced the Next Gen's first superspeedway test at Daytona on December 14–15, with Chris Buescher as the test driver. The Next Gen has successfully passed all speed tests. They were able to focus on the gearbox and other features. The next tests took place at Charlotte before further tire tests were carried out with Goodyear.
On February 1, 2021, NASCAR announced that the development stage of the Next Gen was complete. On April 1, Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota, brought prototypes of their Next Gen cars to Martinsville Speedway for testing alongside NASCAR's evaluation of Goodyear's wet-weather tires. On April 6–7, Tyler Reddick conducted a Goodyear tire test for the Next Gen at Darlington Raceway. During the final run of the testing, Reddick lost control of the car and scraped the outside wall, damaging the right side of the car.
On June 30, Ross Chastain tested the Chevrolet Next Gen at Dover.
NASCAR conducted further testing at Texas Motor Speedway on July 27–28, with Justin Allgaier in the Chevrolet, David Ragan in the Ford, and Drew Herring in the Toyota. Herring reportedly crashed the Toyota during the test. On August 20, Christopher Bell tested the Toyota at Bristol Motor Speedway. On August 31, eight teams were announced to do tire testing at Daytona on September 7–8. The teams are the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet driven by Austin Dillon, the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota driven by Denny Hamlin, the Roush Fenway Racing No. 17 Ford driven by Chris Buescher, the Team Penske No. 22 Ford driven by Logano, the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet driven by William Byron, the Stewart–Haas Racing No. 41 Ford driven by Cole Custer, the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet driven by Chastain, and the JTG Daugherty Racing No. 47 Chevrolet driven by Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
On October 8, StarCom Racing announced that Kaz Grala would test the Next Gen at the Charlotte Roval on October 11. Three days later, NASCAR announced the schedule of the Next Gen's testing before the 2022 season: November 17–18 at Charlotte, December 14–15 at Phoenix, and January 11–12 at Daytona. On October 26, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, and Bowyer tested the Next Gen at Bowman Gray Stadium for Goodyear to determine the tires to use at the 2022 Busch Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. On October 27, Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports reported that Stewart Friesen would test the Next Gen at Wythe Raceway in Rural Retreat, Virginia to determine the tires to use for the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol. On November 25, NASCAR rescheduled the Phoenix testing session to January 25–26, replacing the Las Vegas testing schedule. NASCAR also tentatively scheduled additional Charlotte sessions on December 15 and 17 for testing under cold weather conditions. On November 30, Phoenix Raceway announced free admission for fans to watch the January 25 testing session. On December 9, Friesen completed further Goodyear dirt tire testing at Lancaster Motor Speedway in Lancaster, South Carolina.
During the Charlotte testing on November 17, Dillon's car sustained major damage after hitting the outside wall in turn 2 and sliding into the inside wall. Mechanics and engineers from all participating teams examined the wrecked car to assess the damage. Richard Childress Racing was able to return the car to its shop for repairs and send it back to the track later that night. "So, yeah, it was a really good feeling knowing that the car performed as designed. Looking at the front bumper on it, looked like it crushed the way it was designed to do," said John Probst, NASCAR's senior vice president of racing innovation. At Charlotte on December 15, Reddick lost control of his car and slammed on the sand barrels in front of pit road. Following the Charlotte test sessions, NASCAR announced that teams will use the 670 horsepower and 4-inch spoiler package for intermediate tracks, short tracks, and road courses.
On April 19, 2022, Bubba Wallace, Chastain, and Custer participated in a tire testing session at Charlotte in preparation for the 2022 Coca-Cola 600. Kyle Busch, Daniel Suárez, and Aric Almirola participated in tire testing at Pocono Raceway on May 11.
Unveiling
NASCAR unveiled the Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Ford Mustang GT, and Toyota Camry TRD at The Park Expo in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 5, 2021, with Chase Elliott, Logano, and Hamlin representing their respective brands during the event. On May 25, Öhlins was announced as the official shock absorber provider for the Next Gen.Rule changes
On January 24, 2022, NASCAR announced a more stringent penalty system structure for the Cup Series. The penalty system is structured in three tiers from L1 to L3, with L3 reserved for the tampering and counterfeiting of Next Gen single-source vendor parts. L3 violations will result in a deduction of owner and driver points, revocation of playoff eligibility, crew member suspensions, or postseason bans.On March 24, Matt McCall, crew chief of the RFK Racing No. 6 driven by Brad Keselowski, was suspended for four races and fined 100,000 for an L2 penalty during post-race inspection after the 2022 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta. The penalty came under Sections 14.1 and 14.5 in the NASCAR Rule Book, both of which pertain to the modification of a single-source supplied part. In addition, the No. 6 team was docked 100 driver and owner points and 10 playoff points. On April 13, Scott Miller, NASCAR's senior vice president of competition, explained that the repairs to No. 6's rear fascia did not meet original specifications, as a critical dimension of the part was altered.
Prior to the 2022 M&M's Fan Appreciation 400 at Pocono, both the No. 42 and No. 43 cars of Petty GMS Motorsports were each docked 35 driver and owner points for an L1 penalty when the pre-race inspection revealed issues on the cars' rocker box vent holes. Hamlin and Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing finished first and second, respectively, at the race, but were disqualified after the post-race inspection revealed illegal modifications on the cars' front fascias. On July 26, Blake Harris, the crew chief of the Front Row Motorsports No. 34 car driven by Michael McDowell, was suspended for four races and fined 100,000 for an L2 penalty during post-race inspection after the Pocono race. The penalty came under Sections 14.1 C, D and Q and 14.5 A and B in the NASCAR Rule Book, both of which pertain to the body and overall vehicle assembly rules surrounding modification of a single-source supplied part. In addition, the No. 34 team was docked 100 driver and owner points and 10 playoff points.
On October 5, Rodney Childers, crew chief of the Stewart–Haas Racing No. 4 driven by Kevin Harvick, was suspended for four races and fined 100,000 for an L2 penalty during post-race inspection after the 2022 YellaWood 500 at Talladega. The penalty came under Sections 14.1 and 14.5 in the NASCAR Rule Book, both of which pertain to the body and overall vehicle assembly rules surrounding modification of a single-source supplied part. In addition, the No. 4 team was docked 100 driver and owner points.
On May 31, 2023, NASCAR handed out the first L3 penalty to the Stewart–Haas Racing No. 14 driven by Chase Briscoe for counterfeiting a single-source part, following R&D inspection after the 2023 Coca-Cola 600. Briscoe's team was docked 120 driver and owner points and 25 playoff points and Briscoe's crew chief, Johnny Klausmeier, was given a six-race suspension and the team was fined $250,000, although NASCAR did not revoke the No. 14/Briscoe's playoff eligibility.
On August 22, 2024, the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 driven by Hamlin was issued an L2 penalty for an engine inspection violation after TRD admitted that the race-winning engine from Bristol was returned to their facility in Costa Mesa, California and rebuilt instead of being torn down and inspected by NASCAR after the race. As a result, the team was docked 75 owner and driver points and 10 playoff points, and crew chief Chris Gabehart was fined 100,000.
On February 19, 2025, following the 2025 Daytona 500, NASCAR levied an L2 penalty to the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 team driven by Briscoe after the pole-winning car was discovered to have an illegal spoiler modification. As a result, Briscoe was penalized 100 driver points and 10 drivers' playoff points. JGR was fined 100,000, deducted 100 owner points, as well as 10 owners' playoff points. In addition, crew chief James Small was suspended for four races. On March 5, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel overturned the penalty, ruling that the elongation of some of the holes on the No. 19 car's spoiler base were a result of wear and tear and not an illegal modification. On May 15, following the Kansas spring race, the RFK Racing No. 17 car driven by Chris Buescher was issued an L1 penalty after R&D discovered the reinforcement behind the front bumper foam exceeded two inches. As a result, the team was docked 60 owner and driver points, five playoff points, and fined 75,000, and crew chief Scott Graves was suspended for two races.