Life in the Fast Lane: NASCAR’s Next Gen Debut
With two races left, the 2022 season has stirred the pot with tied records and new features
Handling, safety and how raceable the Generation Seven “Next Gen” car was raised questions for drivers and teams coming into the 2022 NASCAR season.
As the Next Gen car’s features changed, NASCAR had to change its aerodynamics package, after a hit-and-miss 550 horsepower package with high downforce hurt the product due to the impact of dirty air. The sanctioning body shifted towards a 670 horsepower and low downforce package.
“We believe the setup featuring the 670hp engine and 4-inch spoiler will lead to strong, intense competition and put the racing squarely in the hands of the best drivers in the world,” said NASCAR executive vice president Steve O'Donnell. “That was the goal we set for the industry as we developed the Next Gen car. We are confident in the direction we’re headed and very much look forward to the racing in 2022 and beyond.”
The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Ford Mustang GT and Toyota Camry TRD were revealed as the three cars that would be used for this season, and teams immediately got to work in preseason testing. The engine sounds were loud as ever as the cars drove through turns three and four at Daytona.
Defending champion Kyle Larson won a whopping 10 races in 2021, but this season has been all about parity. The first seven races with the Next Gen car each saw a different winner. This spread covered almost half of the 16-driver playoff field while not even a third of the way into the regular season. The current points system rewards winning, meaning any regular-season race winner qualifies for the playoffs, provided they don’t fall out of the top 30 in points. It’s the most parity NASCAR has seen in years, with the racing becoming revitalized on the one and a half mile tracks.
Questions once again arose around the Next Gen car’s ability when the series made its annual trip to Sonoma, as much was unknown about how the car would race at the road course; only one prior trip to Circuit of the Americas provided data for the teams. Daniel Suarez made history that day, becoming the first Mexican born driver to win a NASCAR cup race, only adding to the accomplishments that came to fruition in the next gen car’s debut season.
Injuries were more prominent than ever this season due to the Next Gen. For a series that has prided itself on safety ever since the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr in 2001, the new car leaves much to be desired. Kurt Busch, who qualified for the playoffs, suffered a concussion in a crash at Pocono on July 24th and hasn’t returned. Alex Bowman, also suffered a concussion during the Texas race on September 25th and hasn’t returned. In that same race, Cody Ware piled into the pit road wall and suffered an impact fracture and torn ligaments in his ankle, forcing him to miss a race.
That’s three different drivers all forced to miss time with injury due to the stiffness of the Next Gen car. The rear of the car stiffens on impact instead of crumbling and giving, dissipating the energy of the crash on to the driver instead of the rear end housing. That’s not good enough from NASCAR, not a passable standard for the drivers, and not a marketable product for the fans.
For the 2023 season, they will be instituting a new rear end alignment designed to help the drivers out, motivated by a safety meeting between the sanctioning body and drivers. This year’s injury track record is a dark cloud on what otherwise has been a great regular season, with 19 different winners–a record tied for most in a single season–and still two races to go to crown a champion.