NRA 500 to provide glimpse of next generation of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Racing

The next generation of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will be on full display during the NRA 500 as the new Gen-6 stock car makes its Texas debut.

If the first six races of the season are an indication of what will transpire during the NRA 500, NASCAR’s first Saturday night primetime race of the year will be filled with side-by-side racing, aggressive driving and late-race drama.

 

NASCAR’s new Gen-6 car, instituted this season to resemble the showroom cars of the three participating manufacturers (Chevrolet SS, Ford Fusion, Toyota Camry), has provided a new direction for the sport. Not only can fans connect to the race cars that compete on the track, but drivers agree the cars’ stylish look also brings with it an improved style of racing. And that is something drivers are looking forward to for Saturday’s NRA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

 

“I do like the look of the car,” Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “I do feel like it’s racier as far as driving it around the track. It feels like you can be more aggressive with it and it gets a hold of the race track a little bit better. The older car, you were always complaining about the car feeling like it’s on top of the track and not in the track. A driver likes a car to really get in the track and get a hold of the race track. I anticipate this car to really revolutionize the sport. I’m excited about this direction.”

 

The Gen-6 car has excelled on intermediate ovals similar to Texas Motor Speedway with visits earlier this season to Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway. The race at Las Vegas, a sister SMI track identical in size and similar in banking to Texas, featured 22 lead changes among eight drivers. It was the most lead changes at the speedway since 2007, the year before the then “Car of Tomorrow” was introduced.

 

At Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., the race featured 17 lead changes among eight drivers and included some dramatic door-to-door racing in the waning laps that resulted in fireworks. The rift brewing between Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin intensified as they battled for the win before the contact between the two wrecked both cars. Hamlin took the brunt of the accident as he sustained a back injury and could miss approximately six weeks. Three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart also took Logano to task about his block on a restart that ignited a post-race melee on pit road.

 

“I hope it races something like (Fontana) California did as far as the racing was great at times out there,” said Hendrick Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne, who won this race in 2006. “I really enjoyed moving around the race track. That place was a blast for us. Vegas, I could pretty go anywhere I wanted. Pass at any time depending on who I caught. I’ve really enjoyed it. I’ve had a lot of fun driving them this year. If we can get something in Texas close to Fontana or Vegas, somewhere in the middle of that, it will be a good show.”

 

TMS PR