Next Gen cars are in limited supply as the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season is underway
Every year, the Daytona 500 winning car gets a temporary home. It’s stored at Daytona International Speedway and placed on display for fans to come see, year round.
This year, NASCAR launched the Next Gen car. Development on the spec chassis was pushed all the way to the start of the season. Teams were reluctant to build up their inventory in case changes where made to the cars following tests.
With the late start to building the machines, teams have a low inventory of cars and parts as the 2022 season is underway. Richard Childress said a few weeks ago that he hopes to have 3 cars to begin speedweeks.
Due to the risk of a crash, many teams elected to skip organizational tests, just ahead of the start to the season. A crash in the tests would have put teams at further risk.
Daytona International Speedway is a track that’s known to create carnage. And there’s more racing than just the Daytona 500 as well.
Teams will race the Daytona Duels to set the lineup for the 500 mile race. And, in the 500 itself, cars are almost more likely to be crashed than finish the race without incident.
From Daytona, teams are set to travel all the way across the country. Auto Club Speedway directly follows Daytona. Most teams will have a separate car that leaves the shop the day after Daytona.
If teams have 3 cars built per team. Two of them will be in Daytona and the third will be at the shop and ready to go to California. They’re supply is maxed.
It’s been rumored that some teams might not have three cars per team.
Related: Richard Childress talks Next Gen supply issues
Daytona 500 winning car for 2022
With the lack of cars, NASCAR has been considering skipping the display of the Daytona 500 winning car. However, they’ve opted to introduce a slightly adjusted tradition according to a recent announcement.
After the checkered in the 2022 Daytona 500, the car will remain at the track overnight. It will then be there for the celebratory breakfast the following morning.
However, from there, the team will get the car back. They’ll be able to use it throughout the season.
NASCAR will use technology similar to their tech inspection to scan the cars. That includes a scan of the confetti that rests on top of it. From there, NASCAR will take a Next Gen prototype, wrap it in the same graphics as the winning car and use that as the display car in Daytona.
Next year, NASCAR will bring back the tradition of the winning car staying on display for the full year.
Related: Jimmie Johnson’s Daytona 500 firesuit cut into pieces for art
