AVONDALE, Ariz. – Whether it’s truly ready or not, NASCAR’s Next Gen era is almost here.
The biggest technological shift in the sport’s modern history will begin on Feb. 6 with the Busch Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
“I feel like if we’re a sports team, we’ve been practicing for three years,” John Probst, NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Racing Innovation, said earlier this week. “And now it’s time to put the uniform on and get out into the lights and just kind of see what we got.”
Probst made his comments during a two-day organizational test at Phoenix Raceway. It was the last of multiple tests that Cup teams have gotten in the last three months. Tests have occurred at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Daytona International Speedway and the newly reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway.
In that time, NASCAR and teams have had to figure out issues with the car’s steering and heating, completely changing the intermediate track rules package and dealing with car count worries.
Probst described the Phoenix test as a last “sanity check” for NASCAR before the big Los Angeles debut.
“We felt coming here with the short track package we would be in a pretty good spot, just kind of confirming and checking that yes, we are,” Probst said. “If you look at the lap times, there’s pretty good parity out there right now, running lap times similar to what we raced here. So I feel like from that perspective, we’re in a good spot.”
For NASCAR, the two-day test at Phoenix Raceway was largely devoted to “sorting out all the fine details” around the new car, including how they will officiate inspection for the Clash at the Coliseum. Outside of confirming some data related to tires, the sanctioning body was “trying to stay out of (team’s) hair.”
Probst acknowledged NASCAR’s good feelings about the new care are based on results from testing. Things could change once the green flag waves in Los Angeles and drivers “race in some anger and really start bumping and banging.”
Said Probst, “experience tells us to not get too happy. So we’ll just be cautiously optimistic about that.”
What happens if an issue arises with the car in its first few weeks in action that requires NASCAR to make a big shift?
Probst claimed NASCAR isn’t going to be “super reactionary” to every race and start “changing the rules for the next race.”
“I feel like if we get into that mode, you get too reactionary and then you have a hard time measuring the response of what it was you changed,” Probst said.
How are drivers feeling about the car after their final Phoenix shakedowns?
For 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott, the Phoenix test had the car feeling “probably the most similar to how our old car felt” compared to the other testing locations.
“I feel like my biggest complaints are really driver compartment centralized more than anything,” Elliott said. “Just trying to get the pedals to feel comfortable, and the right angles and all those things which are very, very personal to every driver, people are going to have different tendencies in that area.”
Elliott is “anxious” to experience the “learning process” with the Next Gen car during the first six months of the season and “see who guesses right first.”
“I feel like there’s going to be a lot of change in the first six months of the season,” Elliott said. “I think people are likely going to go to some of these race tracks and probably not know exactly how they want to build their cars … and what type of aerodynamic package you want to have. And then you’re going to get six months into this deal and everybody’s going to kind of have an idea … of where they want to go. And you’re probably going to see things close up … in the latter part of the year.”
For Joey Logano, among the things on his mind about the car that concern him is how teams will respond to “little issues that may pop up” outside the general handling of the car. This will be an issue given the short 15-minute practice sessions teams will have at most races this season.
“If you unload way off, you’re in trouble. You don’t have time to recover,” Logano said. “If you have an issue with these parts that we don’t completely understand everything (about) yet, if something’s wrong with your brakes or your steering, do we know how to fix it? Can we fix it in time for the race?”
Logano said “there’s nothing concrete yet until we go out there and race. So when you say comfortable, I’m far from comfortable. There’s nothing that I really know for certain is coming my way.”
While Elliott is “anxious” about the start of the year, Logano said the opening act of the Next Gen era is “gonna be nerve wracking.”