NASCAR holds preseason Next Gen test at Daytona

Until 2014, the NASCAR Cup Series typically conducted a test session at Daytona International Speedway to prepare for the upcoming season nicknamed “Preseason Thunder”. Eight years later, it returned… sort of.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, seventeen cars took to the high banking of Daytona to practice drafting in the Next Gen car set to début in 2022. Both sessions were topped by Fords as rookie Harrison Burton was the fastest each time ahead of Team Penske ally and fellow Cup newcomer Austin Cindric, as well as another Penske entry driven by Joey Logano in the first and Ryan Blaney in the second.

With Kyle Larson in Oklahoma for the Chili Bowl Nationals, Hendrick Motorsports entrusted his #5 to Dale Earnhardt Jr., a two-time Daytona 500 winner who last raced in Cup in 2017. Earnhardt, who tested the Next Gen at Bowman Gray Stadium in October, was twelfth and fifth in two sessions.

Some teams with multiple drivers rotated for the second test day. For example, the Spire Motorsports #7 was shared by regular driver Corey LaJoie and Landon Cassill, who will run the Busch Light Clash in the team’s #77. Denny Hamlin skipped Day 2 after blowing an engine while in the draft in the first.

“It’s been a long two days and I would say that we were really happy with where we netted out here,” said NASCAR Senior Vice President for Innovation and Racing Development John Probst. “I feel like this was a pretty good extension of the test that we did in Atlanta about a week ago. We were able to dial in the package a little bit more than when we were here in late 2021.”

It was the second such session at Daytona after first testing in September. The final test before the Next Gen cars formally roll out at the Clash is scheduled at Phoenix Raceway.

Day 1 results

Day 2 results