New NASCAR teams for 2022?

“The sport is going to be rocked” by potential new owners

The sport of NASCAR is set for a drastic shift in 2022. A brand new Next Gen car will completely change the game, specifically on the ownership side of the business.

Costs to enter the sport will drastically be reduced from a development or alliance standpoint. Why? The Next Gen chassis is a spec chassis. All teams will run the same cars, regardless of manufacture. That will cut R&D, specifically when starting fresh.

The car features a wide range of aerodynamic and mechanical changes. The front splitter is off the ground to reduce aerodynamic dependence. A rear defuser will be used to guide air to a trailing car. The independent rear suspension will help make the shift from aerodynamic downforce to mechanical grip.

The NASCAR Next Gen tires are much wider, opening the door for softer tires that fall off. And, the bodies will be composite, allowing for more door banging, without consequences on the short tracks.

Related: NASCAR Next Gen car opens the door for much softer tires

Initially, the car was going to debut in 2021. The pandemic pushed back NASCAR’s development of the car and it will now make it’s official debut in the 2022 Daytona 500.

Development of the car is now complete. Teams are expected to begin receiving their 2022 cars in June.

The spec car has interested new possible owners. Toyota is directly speaking with two potential owners…

Related: NASCAR Next Gen car seen with wrap

Front nose of NASCAR Next Gen car - Ground clearance
Front nose of NASCAR Next Gen car – Ground clearance

New Toyota NASCAR teams?

There’s no better time to enter NASCAR than in 2022. The new car will level the playing field between new teams and well established organization. Everyone of them will be starting the season with a brand new notebook.

And, new teams are highly likely…

“I’ll say candidly that we’re talking to no less than two potential owners that are not racing today, that are outside the sport entirely because of Next Gen, because of circumstance, because of the relationship we’ve been building,” said David Wilson, president of Toyota Racing Development.

“They’re interested in taking a shot potentially. That’s exciting when you get new ownership that comes from the business world that is well funded, that’s credible. I think the sport is going to be rocked. Stay tuned.”

Joe Gibbs Racing is currently the flagship operation for Toyota. However, that’s the default label as they’re also the only multi-car Toyota team on the grid.

Over the 40 starters in the Daytona 500, only five were Toyotas. All five have an affiliation with Joe Gibbs Racing.

23XI Racing is the newest Toyota addition. The team is owned by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan. Previously, Hamlin stated that he’s interested in expanding to a multi-car team.

Toyota would be happy with adding more cars to their fleet.

“I’d love to see three organizations that are relatively independent and are healthy from a sponsorship standpoint and have top-tier driver talent,” he said. “We’re counting 23XI Racing as one of those three teams.”

Related: NASCAR monitoring Hamlin/Jordan team to make sure it’s not a 5th JGR car

Links

23XI Racing | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota Racing | NASCAR

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