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Debut in the 2022 season, the next generation of cars will become the highest level of paradigm shift in the sport.

When NASCAR's seventh-generation Cup race car (aka Next Gen) starts the 2022 season on the Daytona 500, it will be the first race car equipped with aluminum wheels, rack and pinion steering and independent rear suspension. And these are just a few of the many major changes made to the new machine that is about to participate in the sport's most prestigious series.

Toyota Motorsport Development President David Wilson said: "I don't think most fans can really understand the scope and level of this car we are considering. This is unprecedented in the history of NASCAR." The sport has seen a lot more in the past 50 years."

Although the original timetable was to launch the next-generation car in the 2021 season, its testing and development were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, delaying its debut until 2022. But the origin of this revolutionary redesign occurred in early 2019. When NASCAR officials first discussed a brand new platform, the platform was designed to make cars look more like the production version they are based on and reduce operating costs. Help attract new teams and manufacturers to compete with the current Chevrolet and Ford Big Three, and Toyota.

23xi’s team president, Steve Lauletta, manages a recently formed team that will add a driver next season and said he is excited about what the next generation of cars means for the sport , Especially its cost-effective nature. "For people like me, this is very important, they are looking for financial support to try to fund these teams," he said.

Of course, Lauletta admits that the team needs to make short-term investments to reconfigure their facilities and speed up, but he said that in the long run, this is a good opportunity for them. The next generation of cars will also require teams to rethink how they operate. "It allows the driver to master more things, strategic calls and everything that happened on the day of the race, instead of designing parts better than elsewhere on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday," he said.

As the cup series is about to undergo a fundamental transformation, everyone in the sport must adapt to a new lifestyle. Joe Gibbs Racing team captain Adam Stevens said that these major changes will greatly affect how they prepare for the weekend, how to set up the car and how to optimize the car. "Crew leaders, team members, they have always been humans and machines, which is more of a transition from machines," he said. "So, it didn't ignore it, but it was in stark contrast to how we played, prepared for the game, and grew up in our lives."

Earlier this year, NASCAR lifted the veil of Next Gen Cup racing, and we learned how different it is from its predecessors. Without getting caught in the weeds, the body is now symmetrical and the size is more like a normal car. The car body is now also assembled from carbon fiber reinforced plastic panels, which are more flexible, more durable and have lower maintenance costs for the team than the old sheet metal. It is no longer necessary to manufacture a steel tube frame, because all cars now have a universal central frame with bolted front and rear subframes, which are easier and cheaper to replace after a collision. The suspension has also been overhauled, four-way adjustable dampers have been added, and the old active rear axle has been switched to complex independent settings.

The new aerodynamic elements under the next generation of cars are also important. Unlike before, NASCAR will create a flat surface and change the rear diffuser according to the track type and carbon fiber bottom plate. The latter eliminates the cost of engineering exposed parts on the underside of the car to improve aerodynamics or generate more downforce. However, the new floor has brought some new challenges, namely absorbing heat in the cockpit. According to Wilson, this requires NASCAR to redesign the exhaust pipe to be about three feet shorter and drain from behind the front wheels instead of in front of the rear wheels to prevent hot soaking.

NASCAR is dealing with a similar problem caused by the chassis design, which connects the engine to the firewall. Wilson said they are using airflow and trying to control the pressure differential to dissipate some heat. "Again, you have to think from a relative perspective. We will not launch rockets into space. We will figure it out. But now it is a bit uncomfortable for the driver. It will be a bit hot," he said.

Some of the other most notable changes are rack and pinion steering, which replaced the outdated recirculating ball steering box, the five-speed drive axle replaced the four-speed gearbox, and the old 15-inch steel in exchange for a set of 18-inch aluminum rims , Provide the necessary clearance for larger brakes. These larger wheels are equipped with newly developed Goodyear Eagle racing tires, which are wider than before and have narrower sidewalls. The shift from the five-wheel to the central locking wheel also has an impact on the pit row, and some fans worry that the conversion will reduce the drama.

From the captain's perspective, Stevens said that the new choreography is more about moving pressure points. "One thing it will definitely do is put a lot of pressure on the fueler. So if you stop where you need two cans of fuel, then you will be 100% waiting for the fueler. If you only need a little fuel, then You may not. But the margin of error there is completely different from the past," he said.

Whether it's working in a pit station, managing a team, driving a car, or watching it in the stands or on TV, the 2022 season of the NASCAR Cup series will be more strange than it has been in more than 50 years.

"The mentality of NASCAR and these teams is, if it doesn't break, don't fix it," Wilson said. "So, the entire industry is holding hands and talking enough about evolutionary changes. Now is the time to make revolutionary changes to our cars. Instead of taking a bite at a time, let us pull out our seats and start over."

The initial results of this arduous effort will be showcased when the next-generation car debuts in an exhibition race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on February 6, 2022. "Clash at the Coliseum" will use a temporarily paved quarter-mile oval track, with 23 participants and 150 laps in the main event.

But the real test will come when the Next Gen Cup car starts the season for the 2022 Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Circuit on February 20.