DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Len Wood, the second generation of the famed Wood Brothers, was sitting at Porto-Fino in Daytona Beach Shores enjoying a plate of spaghetti and meatballs when he made an emphatic proclamation.
“Everybody is always talking about going back to stock car racing,” Wood said in between bites of pasta. “Well, with the Next Gen car, the car we have now, it’s the closest thing to stock that we’ve had in NASCAR in 50 years.
“It’s not stock parts to the passenger car market, but all the pieces on the car are stock. I’ve got the same pieces as a Ford team owner that Rick Hendrick has at Chevrolet or Joe Gibbs at Toyota.”
It has also created a long list of unknowns entering Sunday’s 64th Daytona 500. None of the drivers and teams really know what to expect in Sunday’s premier race in NASCAR.
Many of the parts on the Next Gen car are designed by Dallara and pre-manufactured by Technique Inc. in Jackson, Mich. That has allowed teams to dramatically trim their staffs – and budget – at the race shop.
Instead of each team building each car from scratch, or other smaller race teams purchasing cars from other teams, every team now buys their chassis’ from one manufacturer.
So far in a condensed version of NASCAR SpeedWeek, it appears the Ford teams have an advantage running in packs. RFK Racing swept both Bluegreen Vacations Duel races on Thursday night with owner/driver Brad Keselowski winning the first qualifying race and teammate Chris Buescher winning the second contest.
There were some in the NASCAR garage area that thought the Next Gen would create a level playing field that might allow some unusual teams to win races in the first portion of the season.
Three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin said, “Not so fast.”
“Temper expectations on that,” Hamlin said. “The quote of level playing field is probably overused.
“It is certainly, probably a tighter box from front to back but again it’s just teams find ways to excel.
“If you look at single car runs, the same guys that have been on all of the poles have been the fastest.
“While technically you’re able to put the same parts off of his car on my car and my car on his car, what really has changed? Well, nothing really except maybe the motor is different and the body is different but they’re significantly faster. You’re still going to have the team’s resources to find a way to make the car faster than the teams that just bolt it together.”
To back up that point, Hendrick Motorsports once again swept the front row for the Daytona 500, with Kyle Larson winning the pole and Alex Bowman starting on the outside of the front row. Hendrick Motorsports has won seven of the last eight Daytona 500 poles. The year Hendrick Motorsports did not win the pole, Rickey Stenhouse Jr. used a Hendrick Motorsports engine in his Chevrolet.
Bowman has been on the front row of the Daytona 500 for the past five years.
The last time a team that didn’t use a Hendrick engine that won the pole was Austin Dillon in 2014 for Richard Childress Racing.
Defending Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell provided the shock and awe with his surprised victory in last year’s Daytona 500. He was running third when then-Team Penske teammates Keselowski and Logano crashed each other as they raced towards turn three on the last lap.
McDowell weaved his way through the carnage to give Front Row Motorsports its first Daytona 500 win. It was also McDowell’s first victory.
The defending Daytona 500 champion has backed up his speed this week, leading two of the four group practice sessions.
McDowell starts sixth in Sunday’s Daytona 500.
“I am really excited about coming in during the Next Gen era,” McDowell said. “I feel like it puts me at the same level as some of these guys. I am learning at the same time as my crew chief and everyone on my crew. To be able to spend an extra hour in the shop and try to learn these cars a little better is a good opportunity for me.
“Especially the preseason testing. I feel like that is something that has been overlooked but is a huge advantage for a rookie this year than the three or four years in the past. I have more laps coming up to the Daytona 500 than I have ever had coming to Daytona before. I feel more comfortable in that than anything else.”
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