First Look: NASCAR's 2021 Car Hits Richmond For Track Testing
NASCAR's next-generation race car will debut during Daytona Speedweeks in 2021. (NASCAR)
The body is a baseline and not representative of the ones each manufacturer will submit
With Richard Childress Racing developing the next-generation NASCAR Cup Series car, Austin Dillon has turned laps with a baseline version of the machine on Tuesday and Wednesday at Richmond Raceway.
"I really enjoyed driving the car," Dillon said. "I like the way that it looks, you can see the finished product down the road. The OEMs can make the body look really good, like a street car that you see on the road today. When it comes together and they all get their cars on the track, we’re going to have something to work with that also looks really good."
The car is one of two prototypes currently built. The other was assembled by NASCAR and was tested in the wind tunnel for the first time on October 1. That car is scheduled to make its second trip to the wind tunnel later this week. Another on-track test is anticipated before the year concludes.
The body is expected to feature even more showroom styling similarities than the current Gen-6 car. The car is an evolution of the current high downforce and low horsepower regulations that premiered in 2019.
The car is scheduled to debut in 2021.
A new engine formula should debut in 2022 or 2023 with a maximum output of 550 horsepower. The current engine formula maxes out at 990 horsepower but has been incrementally restricted over the past five years through the use of a tapered spacer.
Currently, short tracks and road courses feature 750 horsepower and all tracks larger than 1.3 miles feature 550 horsepower. Phelps explained that the hold-up on engine development is a matter of just how much electrification will be part of the formula.
The belief in the garage is that the next-generation engine will be built in a way that allows it to become even more electric over time -- an EVO of sorts.
NASCAR landed on a target of 550 horsepower because it believes that is the range that is more susceptible to attracting additional manufacturers beyond Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota.
The car is being billed by the sanctioning body as the most technologically advanced, and thus manufacturer viable machine, in the history of the discipline.
“We are very excited about where things are with this next Gen car. We are on time for a 2021 rollout. I think it’s going to be exciting to get it on track,” NASCAR president Steve Phelps said Monday night on NBC Sports’ NASCAR America show.
“We were in the wind tunnel last week and having it at a test at Richmond is kind of a culmination of a lot of work that’s been done by the race teams, by our OEM partners, by the folks at NASCAR to put this on the race track.
“This particular car was built by Richard Childress and his folks and it won’t have the design of the Chevy, Ford or Toyota but it will be kind of an opportunity to shake down the car.”
Phelps has also stated his desire that the car would be profitable from the day it debuts.
As far as the body itself, there are a few takeaways that provide a good idea of what NASCAR is working towards. The splitter is no longer flat. The splitter is also a two-step device that tosses air over the top of it and towards the engine compartment's aero ducts -- an element that first debuted during the 2019 All-Star Race.
The side skirt, the area that generates so much sideforce these days, appears to be shorter. The rear bumper also has a diffuser.
The body uses the white-and-white camouflage as a matter of subterfuge, but also because each manufacturer will attempt to do different things within these areas. There is still so much more to be determined by this car over the next calendar year.
SOURCE: AUTOWEEK