All three of NASCAR's active manufacturers — Chevrolet, Toyota and Ford — have introduced newly-redesigned entries in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in recent years. But the racing sanctioning body plans to roll-out its next, overall, model, the Gen-7, in time for the 2021 Cup Series season.
The Cup Series has a new aerodynamic rules package in place for 2019. That package includes aero ducts and tapered spacers to reduce engine output to 550 hp. NASCAR's aim with the new package is to improve the racing product by bunching up the competition.
NASCAR hopes the new aero package will be a bridge, of sorts, between the currently-raced Gen-6 car and the next generation of NASCAR racer, according to a recent NASCAR.com report.
NASCAR hopes to attract at least one more manufacturer to its top series. The Cup Series last had four manufacturers competing in its top series in 2012. Dodge left at the end of that season after winning the championship with Brad Keselowski and Team Penske. The Gen-6 car was implemented into competition the following season.
“I think it’s important to note that the reason we headed in this direction with the 2019 rules package was really to line us up for where we wanted to go in the future from a racing standpoint, both on track from a car’s look and feel and then under the hood from an engine perspective,” NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said.
“If you look at a lot of the dialogue we’ve had with our existing OEMs, potential OEMs, there’s a lot of interest to do some things differently in terms of making the cars look even more like they do on the street, making sure that we can evolve some of our engine technology as well. So what we’ve done is spent the better part of a year putting together a Gen-7 model.
"We’re in process now of going out and talking to OEMs, talking in the industry and getting their feedback on what they like and what they may want to see tweaked, but the goal for us is to roll this out fairly quickly with an accelerated timeline to 2021, but again this rules package — particularly the engine horsepower — allows us to have some discussion around a more relevant engine that can be around the 2021 package.”
The desire for NASCAR race cars to look like their production counterparts were echoed by Ford Performance Motorsports Global Director Mark Rushbrook. Then, he hopes to follow that change with a new engine. Ford made the switch from its Fusion to the Mustang ahead of the 2019 NASCAR season.
“As much as we like that we’ve been able to make our new car look like a Mustang, we’d like the ability to do even more in that area,” Rushbrook said.
“In terms of what you see on the outside of the car, we’d like to see a few changes — nothing major, but a few changes underneath the car for a little bit of technical relevance. We want to make sure that we can keep using our technical tools and learning like we do today.
"We don’t want to lose that with any changes. I think that’s the right step for the sport to take to get a new car in those different areas.
"Then, after that step is taken, then, look at something for the powertrain. I think it’s too much to do the engine at the same time, but I think it’s something that can follow after the new car.”
Chevrolet is embarking on its second season after a switch from the SS to its Camaro. Toyota redesigned its Camry entry ahead of the 2017 race season.
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