Alex Bowman’s penchant to push his car earned him a spot on the front row of the past five Daytona 500s, and before that a catchy moniker.
NASCAR’s “Next Gen” car pushed back in 2022, closing the curtain temporarily on the driver known as “The Showman” and raising red flags around safety concerns.
The debut of the sports’ 7th generation vehicle received rave reviews based the quality of racing and leveling of the playing field. The Next Gen 7 also earned a resounding thumbs down when it came to what matters most to those behind the wheel.
“There were some pretty brutal hits last year,” Cup Series champion Joey Logano told the Orlando Sentinel. “Pretty brutal season for all the drivers involved with the wrecks, which was pretty much everybody.”
Few suffered the consequences like Bowman.
A seemingly innocuous crash Sept. 25 at Texas Motor Speedway turned out to be serious. Bowman’s No. 48. Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 slammed the wall in Turn 4. A similar crash in the past would have ended his day, not ruined his season.
The 29-year-old missed the next five races because of a concussion.
“It’s never fun watching somebody else driving your race car,” he told the Sentinel.
Bowman would return for the season finale in Phoenix, but limped to 34th place and eight laps off the lead lap — his lowest 2022 finish during a race he completed. Yet, Bowman’s turn as crash-test dummy ultimately served a higher purpose.
“NASCAR did a good job of responding,” he said. “I just wish I wasn’t a part of it.”
It could have been worse. Former Cup Series champion Kurt Busch eventually retired due to lingering symptoms from a concussion sustained during a July 23 crash in Pocono.
Drivers spoke out as the season went on. Decision-makers listened.
“It’s really brought NASCAR, the teams and the drivers a lot closer to solving issues, tackling them head on and being a lot more efficient,” defending Daytona 500 champion Austin Cindric told the Sentinel. “To see how that communication changed from the start of last year to where we’re at this year is really important. We’re headed in the right direction.”
Engineers set forth to improve shore up the primary deficiency — a rigidity and lack of forgiveness with the rear of the car. Crashes consequently sent the force into the cockpit rather than dissipating the energy away from the driver.
Driver safety ironically was in mind during the design.
Ryan Newman’s fiery, near-fatal final-lap wreck on the final lap of the 2020 Daytona 500 shifted the approach to the Next Gen 7, a project years in the making.
“That changed the direction in the development,” said driver B.J. McLeod, a native of Wauchula who also co-owns Live Fast Motorsports. “It’s for those type of hits that we see once every few, five, 10 years — these massive hits, massive wrecks. It’s just a really strong race car. It’s built like a tank.
“But the wrecks that were kind of smaller, that you see every race, where you just back into the wall kind of easy, the car wasn’t giving because it was so strong.”
Cup Series rookie Ty Gibbs, 20 and grandson of own Joe Gibbs, has been around long enough to tell something was amiss.
“It’s definitely a different feeling when you wreck,” he told The Sentinel. “Hopefully they can get that figured out and we don’t have get anybody else hurt.”
Changes include the removal of metal bars and perforation of others to encourage forgiveness. Engineers altered rear clips and bumpers, while enlarging cooling vents.
If the adjustments with the car take root, the stage is set for another exciting season without the collateral damage.
— In 2022, 19 different drivers won, tied for the most all-time.
— NASCAR set a record for green flag passes.
— A margin of victory of 1.011 seconds was the second closest since electronic timing and scoring began in 1993. In 2014, the margin of victory was .909 seconds.
“The Next Gen’s car full potential has yet to be realized, which is not uncommon for when you develop a new car and you find things could be better,” 35-time winner Brad Keselowski told the Sentinel. “The Next Gen car has higher potential than the Gen 6 car it’s replacing — in terms of cost, safety and on-track raceability the fans will enjoy.”
The car’s introduction brought more teams into the sport’s inner circle by significantly lowering costs.
Race teams now operate from the same owner’s manual, receive similar parts and detailed instructions to assemble them. Owners no longer can outspend each other on research and development while pricing out smaller teams.
Trackhouse Racing evolved from a team needing a prayer into a player in the garage, led by Ross Chastain who posted a Cup Series-best 21 top 10s.
“You look at the Next Gen car and what it’s been able to do for our sport with being able to go to different racetracks, bring new teams in that we haven’t had before, really make this sport very interesting from a financial standpoint for a lot of owners,” Logano said. “That’s one of the biggest wins for the car.”
