NASCAR announced late yesterday it will be delaying the debut of its “Next Gen” stock car until 2022. It was supposed to make its first race appearance at the 2021 Daytona 500. The reason? Coronavirus concerns.
“Due to challenges related to the coronavirus pandemic, the debut of the Next Gen car will be delayed until 2022,” said Senior Vice President of racing innovation John Probst in a statement. “The decision was made in collaboration with the OEMs and team owners,” he added. “We will continue to develop the Next Gen car, and a revised testing timeline will be shared when more information is available.”
The Next Gen car is set to feature a staggering number of updates versus the current stock car design. A revised body, a shorter wing, a raised splitter, larger brakes, center-lock wheels, a sequential transmission, and a modern engine design are just a few of the improvements in store. We spoke to the head of Toyota’s racing division to see why the car could even go hybrid.
The car has been through four official on-track tests so far. The latest had Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron lap the car at Auto Club Speedway in California. Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, and Erik Jones have previously participated in testing the Next Gen car.
There’s no word on when the next test will occur, or when the car will make its race debut. If NASCAR is pushing things back a year, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the Next Gen car show up at Daytona in 2022.
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