NASCAR’s Next-Gen race cars for 2022 are sporting a fresh new look, but the most interesting changes are under the skin. Let’s dive in for a closer look.
After years of planning and hard work, and a full year’s delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on May 5 NASCAR and its manufacturer partners Ford, Toyota, and Chevrolet proudly rolled out their new and improved next-generation (aka Gen 7) Cup racers. It’s easily one of the biggest stories in NASCAR in years, but most of the media outlets on the NASCAR beat didn’t delve very far into the technical details. Maybe they believe most fans don’t care about the hardware as much as they used to, and maybe they’re right. But we sure care about that stuff, and we presume our readers here at Mac’s Motor City Garage do, too. There’s a lot to cover so let’s dive straight in, bullet-point style.
+ NASCAR worked closely with the automakers to produce body shapes for the new Cup cars that more closely resemble their production counterparts: Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, Toyota Camry, Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. One of the terms we’ve heard repeatedly from the Next-Gen program is “relevance,” and the objective here is to make Cup machines more relatable to the cars fans see on the road. Photos of all three NASCAR Cup racers and their showroom equivalents are included here, and in our view they’ve done a remarkable job. One factor greatly complicating the task is that while the three bodies may look different from each other, they must be similar in aerodynamic properties in order to maintain a level playing field in competition.
+ Bodies will no longer be fabricated in sheet metal by the race teams in-house, but will be assembled from carbon-fiber components provided by multiple NASCAR-approved suppliers, each focused on specified areas of the car. Vendors include Fibreworks Composites, Five Star Race Car Bodies, and Roush Advanced Composites. Body assembly dimensions will also be more tightly controlled: For example, bodies must now be strictly symmetrical from left to right, effectively banning the oddly warped and skewed body shells created in past seasons to generate additional downforce. Rear spoiler and front splitter configurations will be adjusted on the fly by NASCAR to suit specific tracks and conditions, just as before, and the new bodies will include built-in camera mounts to provide live video from multiple viewpoints.
+ Cup cars will continue to use welded steel tube chassis as before, but they will no longer be fabricated by the individual teams and their contractors. Instead, NASCAR has named a sole supplier, Michigan-based Technique Inc., owned by former Indy Racing League driver Ronnie Johncox. The new chassis (above) is a three-piece modular assembly with a central roll cage unit and bolt-on front and rear clips to simplify maintenance and crash repair. Goals here, we can surmise, include reduced fabrication costs and smaller fab crews for the race teams. If it works out, teams could be building fewer race cars each year and getting more seasons out of them as well. While the new cars are slightly wider, wheelbase is the same and overall length remains similar. Weight is 3300 lbs.
+ In place of the 15-inch stamped steel wheels with five lug nuts used in NASCAR since time began, the new setup is an 18×12-inch die-forged aluminum wheel manufactured by BBS with center-lock mounting and a single conical lug nut (above). Pit stops should be faster and safer, eliminating the hundreds of lug nuts loose on pit lane on race day, and tire supplier Goodyear will have greater latitude in engineering competitive tires for each host track. The larger wheels also provide room for larger brake calipers and discs, 15-in front and 14-in rear, to be provided by AP Racing.
+ One of the most striking updates is the XTrac P1334 five-speed sequential transaxle, which replaces both the four-speed transmissions and Ford 9-inch rear axles used in Cup for decades. (A similar XTrac P1293 Australian Supercar unit is pictured above.) Gear ratio changes with the transaxle are accomplished with drop gears, allowing race teams to eliminate the enormous inventories of transmission gearsets and rear axle pumpkins they must currently keep on hand to provide the proper gearing for each race track. The transaxle also supports NASCAR’s first independent rear suspension, employing twin wishbones and coilover dampers, and it also enables an easy changeover to hybrid and full-electric powertrains when the time comes.
Other upgrades include a NASCAR-spec underbody and rear diffuser designed to discourage competitive advantage in that area and reduce the dreaded “aero push” (a tricky problem that sometimes makes passing nearly impossible). Reinforced front and rear bumper supports and a comprehensive energy-absorbing foam cell system will contribute, NASCAR hopes, to the safest Cup cars in history. The steering is a rack and pinion CF unit from the Woodward Machine Corporation. McLaren Automotive will provide the onboard electronics and driver display, and improved connectivity has been baked in to provide the fans at home with more in-car data.
Really, the only major components that aren’t new are the engines. They’re still 358 CID, fuel-injected, pushrod V8s provided by Toyota, Ford, and Chevrolet, respectively, and currently regulated to 550 hp to 670 hp depending on the track. They don’t resemble any current production engines from the three carmakers, but they do resemble each other a great deal—due to the tight confines of the regulatory box NASCAR has defined for them.
Clearly, there are two main goals for the Next-Gen race car: Reduce operating costs for the teams, and improve the entertainment value of the show for the fans. When the new cars roll out at Daytona next February to kick off the 2022 NASCAR season, we’ll begin to see well the ambitious plan is working out. (Photos courtesy of NASCAR, Ford, Toyota, General Motors, and XTrac.)
Great article. You’re right, NASCAR tech isn’t covered enough. Maybe more people would follow it.
What is this nascar you speak of? I think I recall something like that in the distant past, but after Dale died, things went blank.
It’s a long. long way from it’s origins and like everything else, seems to be drifting further and further away from individual team creativity towards a single solution. It remains a spectacle I’m sure any connection between the OEMs and the actual race car is just lipstick.
So now we will have full “spec racers” running in NASCAR. Shame to see them becoming a shell of what they once were. Should change the name, as they haven’t been Stock Cars in many years.
Yeah about 50 years ago.
A few things–“while the three bodies may look different from each other, they must be similar in aerodynamic properties in order to maintain a level playing field in competition.” What ever happened to run what you brung, and hope you brought enough? While having one brand run away with a few races may be boring to some, it makes the others more competitive to beat them. If having every car the exact same was so good, IROC would still be going strong.
Another thing:” Bodies will no longer be fabricated in sheet metal by the race teams in-house”, and ” Cup cars will continue to use welded steel tube chassis as before, but they will no longer be fabricated by the individual teams and their contractors. ”
Sounds like a lot of fab jobs lost.
And ” Other upgrades include a NASCAR-spec underbody and rear diffuser designed to discourage competitive advantage” Again, destroy competition. Might as well just give everyone a trophy no matter how they finish…
Lastly, and probably the final poison pill: ” it also enables an easy changeover to hybrid and full-electric powertrains when the time comes.” Really? Who will be watching then?
If NASCAR wants to totally get away from it’s roots, it should go ahead and change it’s name. too, so it won’t be confused with the NASCAR of old when they raced real stock bodied cars with stock parts that could be bought at any dealership. Call it American Supercar Series or something like that. I’m not saying it can’t be an entertaining series anymore, but they need to quit trying to pretend the vehicles are based on stock cars when they are really purpose built race machines. Truth in advertising goes a long way….
For NASCAR, the status quo is not an option. Turning the clock back to some specified date in the past is not an option. NASCAR must change and adapt or it will not survive. They have far more on their plates than simply pleasing you. You’re probably not even watching anyway.
Relevance? Three cars that have no relevance. A V8 Camry rear drive with a transaxle.
A Chev or Ford that have no relevance either. Niether has a transaxle wither.
There is nothing wrong with a beam axle rear and a gearbox on the back of the engine.
As for IRS? It will sure cost a LOT more and will spray more components in a crash. Watch any road race series.
Though they do look a little more like a factory car.
will all the inventory of rear ends,transmissions and wheels be used by the Infinity teams? Sure seems they’re putting a lot of very talented metal fabricators out of work.
Those transmissions and rear ends will have a market for a long time. They are used from everything you can think of below Cup level stock car racing. All the way down to street stocks and figure 8 cars. Flinging rear wheels and axles off of race cars is never a good idea. And that is their major benefit.