The NASCAR Next Gen Cup Series car brought one of the most significant changes ever made to the modern-day American stock car formula. Chase Elliott recently spoke about the sport’s direction with the car and how it has affected the 2020 Cup Series champion’s performances.
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Introduced to the fans and the drivers back in 2022, the seventh-generation racecar came with its own set of pros and cons on the track. This meant drivers had to adapt to a drastically different feel and driving style for the new car.
Elliott elaborated on how the Next Gen car is unlike previous Cup Series cars which were comfortable being slightly sideways on oval tracks. The Hendrick Motorsports driver touched on how the new formula is the polar opposite in those terms and prefers to go straight into and out of the corners, which in turn has led to him having to adapt to the car.
Practice and qualifying ➡️ tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. on FS1. pic.twitter.com/0HQz6a5NVU
— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) May 31, 2024
He said, “This is a car that likes to be driven off the right front tire. With the old cars, I think you could get away with really being on the rears and getting by with it at a lot of tracks with the side force that those cars had. This car is just not that way. It wants to be really straight.”
The reasons behind the Next Gen car‘s distinctive traits were also explained by Elliott as he pointed out a fundamental difference in the previous formula of stock cars in comparison to the current car, which is how the downforce is produced on the Next Gen.
On this date three years ago, the NASCAR NextGen race cars were officially unveiled pic.twitter.com/YQXgvg1Oy5
— nascarman (@nascarman_rr) May 5, 2024
He added, “A lot of the aero and the downforce that it makes is underneath the car. Whereas the old car was kind of more on the right side, this one really wants to be just dead straight and it’s a strange thing for me. It’s just not how I’ve wanted to go about it. So I’m just trying to adjust those things. We’ve been working at it really hard over the last six, eight months or more.”
Chase Elliott’s crew chief previews upcoming NASCAR Cup race at WWT Raceway
The crew chief of the #9 crew at Hendrick Motorsports, Alan Gustafson recently spoke about what could give drivers an edge during the upcoming Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Touching on the topic of pit stall selection and the difficulty of pit road at the track, Gustafson elaborated on the emphasis on qualifying to get one of the latter stalls if not the first. He said, “One of the biggest factors at this track is pit road. It’s one of the toughest ones on the circuit, so qualifying well and getting a good pit selection is key.”
It remains to be seen whether the Dawsonville native can bag another win this season after visiting the victory lane at Texas Motor Speedway a few weeks ago. The 2024 Enjoy Illinois 300 at WWT Raceway goes live this Sunday at 3:30 pm ET.
