Next Gen (NASCAR)

The rules package of the 2019 season served as the starting point of the Next Gen's development.[2] The prototype, built by Richard Childress Racing using a generic body, was tested for the first time on October 8–9 by driver Austin Dillon at Richmond Raceway.[7][8]

The second test of the car was done at Phoenix Raceway on December 9–10 with Joey Logano behind the wheel of it.[9] Erik Jones drove the car in its third test, which was held at Homestead–Miami Speedway on January 15–16.[10]

The fourth test was at Auto Club Speedway with William Byron on March 2–3.[11] John Probst, NASCAR's senior vice president of racing innovation, commented that the "P3" prototype Byron tested was nearly 100 percent of the final product.[5][12]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all racing was postponed through the month of May. Further testing that was scheduled to take place at Atlanta Motor Speedway with Clint Bowyer on March 16–17[13] was still on since the Next Gen car testing was exempted from NASCAR's indefinite ban on all testing.[14][15] However, this decision was quickly reversed because of the situation as the Atlanta weekend was postponed shortly after the Rudy Gobert incident at an NBA game days prior that led to NASCAR's decision on postponement. A handful of manufacturers, teams, and drivers alike indicated their hope for the debut of the car to be postponed one year to 2022 as a result of the lost testing time.[16] On March 30, 2020, it was reported that NASCAR was taking a serious look at pushing back the rollout of the new car to 2022.[17] NASCAR officially confirmed these reports on April 2, 2020, and the car's debut was pushed back a year to allow for enough testing time after the postponement of all events through May.[1]

On August 17, NASCAR announced that testing of the Next Gen car would resume at Dover International Speedway with Cole Custer on August 18–19, while another prototype, built by Action Express Racing, was tested at the Daytona road course with Felipe Nasr driving the day after the Daytona road course events.[18]

On November 10, NASCAR announced Charlotte Motor Speedway would host a pair of tests, with Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr. participating in both with a pair of prototype chassis. The tests are set from November 16–18 with the first day being held on the road course, and the second day on the oval.[19]

On December 11, NASCAR announced the Next Gen's first superspeedway test at Daytona International Speedway on December 14–15, with Chris Buescher as the test driver.[20] The Next Gen car has successfully passed all speed tests. They were able to focus on the gearbox and other features. The next tests took place at Charlotte before further tire tests were carried out with Goodyear.[21]

On February 1, 2021, NASCAR announced that the development stage of the Next Gen was complete.[22]