WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart tested the Next Gen car Tuesday afternoon at Bowman Gray Stadium, helping NASCAR and Goodyear prepare for the Cup Series’ Feb. 6 exhibition race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The three-hour session resulted in a bold assessment from Earnhardt.
“It does everything better,” Earnhardt said of the Next Gen car. “The braking performance is going to take [drivers] to get used to. That was probably the one thing I found myself improving the most as I ran … letting the cars get into the corner because these brakes work so much better.
“I’m over-slowing the car using the brake the way I’ve always used it all my life,” Earnhardt added. “That was one thing. It has a bigger tire, more grip. Does everything much better, more drive off. If you put one of the current cars on this race track, you’d never be able to get the power down. This thing just hunkers and goes.”
The flat, quarter-mile paved oval is similar to what the The Clash at Coliseum will look like, as roughly 20 Cup Series competitors will race around the historic Los Angeles football field on a temporary track.
“It’s going to be crazy, and it’s going to work,” Earnhardt said.
“It was awesome,” Bowyer said. “Very impressed. Very impressed with the grip level, the braking power, tire that Goodyear chose for this.”
“Goodyear had a good plan coming into today, and I think they’re pretty happy with the results that they got,” Stewart said. “I think what they brought with the control set is probably a little harder than what they need. They brought a softer tire and they were pretty happy with it and I think that’s probably a combination of what they’ll bring out West.”
Tuesday marked the third recent test of the Next Gen car, adding to tests at Daytona Int’l Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course two weeks ago.
“I want it to be good for everybody,” Bowyer said. “I think this is going to be a good test for that. Man, I tell you, closed racing quarters, there’s going to be some hurt feelings leaving that LA race track.
“There’s going to be some good racing just like we’ve seen here over the years,” Bowyer said.
Bowman Gray stadium is NASCAR’s first weekly track, holding events since 1949.
NASCAR’s top division raced at the facility from 1958-71 and Bobby Allison has stood as its reigning winner for 50 years.
Tuesday’s immediate results showed quarter-mile racing isn’t outdated at the Cup Series level.
“Having driven this race car, having walked around the track, there’s going to be plenty of room,” Earnhardt said. “All those worries I had are for no good reasons. I’m excited about it. It’s going to be physical. I think it’s what everybody expects.
“This Next Gen car, it does everything really good on a track like this,” Earnhardt added. “I didn’t know if it would match well with this size race track, but it’s going to be a pretty good show.”
Wythe Raceway, a half-mile clay oval in Rural Retreat, Va., is the next test for the Next Gen car Nov. 16 in preparation for next spring’s second running of the Bristol Dirt Race.
Remaining scheduled tests include the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval Nov. 17-18 and Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway Dec. 14-15.