How NASCAR is gearing up for its "biggest change" in 2022

Finding speed has been the backbone of NASCAR Cup Series racing since its inception and will remain so with the introduction of the Next Gen car in 2022. What will change, in addition to the much-altered designs of the cars themselves, are the tools teams will employ to make their cars go faster.

The requirement to change these tools has arisen because much of the technology behind the cars is also in flux. That’s welcome news for manufacturers, who have desperately wanted to see the technology in NASCAR racing have more relevance to production-model cars.

“It’s old technology,” said Ford Performance NASCAR programme engineer Richard Johns of the current ‘Gen-6’-model Cup car at the revealing of Next Gen. “It’s a solid rear axle with a big Ford nine-inch rear end. Truck-arm cars – they don’t build them anymore. That’s 1960s and ’70s stuff.”

The Next Gen car could also make NASCAR more appealing to prospective new manufacturers, particularly with a planned transition to hybrid technology. The new car, for now, will continue to use internal combustion, pushrod V8 engines produced by each of the three current manufacturers – Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota.

Fans will almost immediately notice a change with the sleek new outward designs of the Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Mustang and Toyota Camry. The styling and composition of the new common Dallara-made chassis has allowed the cars to more closely replicate the identities of their showroom counterparts. The bodies of all three cars are symmetrical with lower greenhouses, shortened deck lids, and the car’s width has grown.

Other prominent differences include far more stock-looking wheels and wheel well, body side moulding and character lines, hood design, and air exhaust vents built into the rear bumpers. But underneath the composite bodies can be found what many NASCAR veterans call a “revolution” in technology.

Nascar Next Gen Toyota TRD Camry

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt

“This is definitely the biggest change I’ve ever gone through in my career in racing and that includes going from dirt to asphalt – it’s bigger than that,” declares Team Penske NASCAR competition director Travis Geisler.

“When we went to what was known as the ‘Car of Tomorrow’ [phased from 2007, full-time by 2008] a lot of the suspension, a lot of things were still the same – it was just a different chassis and body. This is different everything.”

For instance, the largest teams in NASCAR currently design and manufacture a lot of the parts and components that go on the cars in-house – one of the reasons Cup racing has become so expensive over the years. But virtually all parts, including the chassis, of the Next Gen car will be bought by teams from NASCAR-approved suppliers.

"It’s the first time we’ve had a car that you can define all the set-up parameters for. The current car you can just go build something different and move it" Travis Geisler

“Now it’s about, ‘How do we get all this stuff that’s coming from different people and put it together the best we can?’” Geisler says. “Another important dynamic – what will this process look like for our race shop?

“How do we assemble this thing and what will the workflow look like? It’s a lot different than starting from raw steel in the chassis shop and in the fab shop.”

What’s so different?

Among the biggest technology changes in the Next Gen car are many areas that long ago became standard in production vehicles. These include 18-inch forged aluminium wheels, independent rear suspension and rack-and-pinion steering, a transaxle that combines the transmission and rear gears into one package, sequential shifting, hood exits to assist with engine cooling, and a full underbody and rear diffuser to seal the bottom of the car.

“This isn’t just an evolution – we’re taking the seat out of the current car and throwing the rest away and we can’t minimise that,” says Toyota Racing president David Wilson. 

Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing Toyota

Photo by: NASCAR Media

As Chevrolet director of NASCAR programmes Eric Warren put it at the car’s official presentation: “From an engineering standpoint, this is a seismic shift. It’s a completely new car that brings with it a lot of opportunity from a technical standpoint.”

Prior to this week's two-day Charlotte Roval test, only one on-track test had been held with more than three cars. Therefore, much remains for teams to learn, from what changes can and cannot be made to alter the car’s performance to the impact of the new technology.

“I think the biggest thing is trying to find where you’re going to make speed with this car,” says Geisler. “Right now, we make speed from new parts and pieces, moving this, moving that – that’s all going to be gone.

“It’s so early in the process and it’s the first time we’ve had a car that you can define all the set-up parameters for. The current car you can just go build something different and move it.

“Now, it’s, ‘Here are the shock settings, here are sets of springs that you have, here are the suspension points you can run – what’s the best one?’ There are a finite set of variables.”

Among all the changes on the Next Gen car, Geisler believes one – the bottom of the car being sealed with full underbody and rear diffuser – has so far had the biggest effect on teams.

The key role of the diffuser on modern race cars is to accelerate the flow of air under the car, creating an area of low pressure, thus increasing downforce. 

“Aerodynamic performance is what typically wins at a lot of these tracks,” Geisler adds. “The aero performance that underbody makes is so different from what we are all used to racing with. Right now, we have a splitter and radiator pan in the front and that’s kind of it. We’ve made other pieces into aero parts but that’s it. There is so much performance that is going to come from aero and it’s so important to get it right because everything else is basically going to be the same.”

Gesiler says the new cars will mean more development than NASCAR teams are used to

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Plenty of work to do

Given the revolutionary changes on the Next Gen car and the precious-little track time teams have had with it, it’s clear there will be a lot of ‘learn as you go’ moments throughout the 2022 season.

There are several multi-car tests still to come after the Charlotte Roval is concluded; at the Charlotte oval track in November, a December test at Phoenix, and an outing is tentatively planned in January at Daytona International Speedway.

The first ‘real’ competition with the new car will come on 6 February when upwards of 25 Next Gen cars will compete in the pre-season Clash exhibition race on a made-from-scratch quarter-mile asphalt track inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Two weeks later, the 2022 Cup season will officially kick off with the Daytona 500.

"We’re going to be working on this car while we’re racing it next year, that’s to be expected. No one should be surprised. That’s just what we’re dealing with" David Wilson

“The reality is we’re going to be working on this airplane while we’re flying it,” Wilson says. “We’re going to be working on this car while we’re racing it next year, that’s to be expected. No one should be surprised. That’s just what we’re dealing with.”

Penske’s Geisler says that, in one respect, that’s sort of been a cornerstone of NASCAR racing from its earliest days.

“Honestly, anything we’ve ever run in NASCAR has involved ongoing development,” he says. “We’ve never stopped developing the current car; we’ve never stopped evolving them. We’ve never stopped trying to make them faster.

“Certainly, there will be more development than we’re used to. There’s a lot to work on, a lot of issues to work out. But I don’t think racing’s ever been at a point where it’s a destination sport – it’s always been an ongoing process.”

Nascar Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro

Photo by: Team Chevy