After another round of testing of the Next Gen car, NASCAR has decided to go with a more common aero package for the 2022 season.
NASCAR conducted this round of testing on the oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the main conclusion of the event was that the Next Gen car will the aero package that includes 670 horsepower.
It is different from NASCAR’s initial target of utilizing 550-horsepower with an 8-inch spoiler for the car set to be introduced in the 2022 season.
Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer, said that the 670 horsepower will likely be used at all tracks in the Cup Series in 2022 other than Daytona, Talladega and the reconfigured Atlanta.
“We’ve still got a few boxes to check post-tests here where we get together with our (OEMs, original equipment manufacturers) and the teams and just confirm that’s the direction we want to go with,” he said. “But everything we’ve seen so far, that tells us and that’s the horsepower we want to target and go with.
“If you look at a 550-package, to produce some of the results you saw (this past season), the horsepower levels would have to be so low, we just don’t think it would be the right move. I think it’s a balance between where we were which was maybe a restart with five laps of three-wide but harder to pass throughout a run.
“Hopefully, with this package hopefully you’ll see more movement throughout the field throughout the whole run.”
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As for the aero rules for superspeedway, NASCAR will probably come to a decision after a two-day organizational test at Daytona International Speedway and a tire test at Atlanta.
One of the reasons for NASCAR to go for a lower horsepower package was to be appealing to new manufacturers. O’Donnell is of the opinion that the change in horsepower to 670 will not affect that outcome.
“I think if we go 670 that’s absolutely in the range to attract a new OEM,” he said. “I’ve had discussions with a number of new OEMs and within that range so that wouldn’t be a detriment to someone new coming into the sport.”