Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer review NASCAR’s Next Gen car after test: It ‘does everything better’
Although they’re both retired from full-time NASCAR racing, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Clint Bowyer got back behind the wheel on Tuesday. But they didn’t drive the same stock car they last raced in.
Earnhardt and Bowyer were at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston Salem, North Carolina to test out the Next Gen car ahead of its debut for the 2022 NASCAR season. Although the car will officially debut in the season-opening Daytona 500 in February, the first time drivers will compete in it will be for The Clash at the Coliseum — the preseason exhibition race which, next year, is moving from Daytona International Speedway to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
For The Clash on February 6 — two weeks before the Daytona 500 — drivers eligible to participate will race inside the Coliseum, and as NASCAR noted in September, the “playing surface will be converted into a quarter-mile, asphalt short track.”
So in an effort to have the Next Gen car ready for the short-track exhibition race, Earnhardt and Bowyer turned some laps at the quarter-mile asphalt oval at Bowman Gray.
Ready to roll. @DaleJr | #NextGen pic.twitter.com/RJOXqEzeQs
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 26, 2021
Great to see @DaleJr back on the track! #NextGen pic.twitter.com/z4S5d1uC9H
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 26, 2021
How's it look, @ClintBowyer?#NextGen | @BGSRacing pic.twitter.com/gSdeHuXbUA
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 26, 2021
.@ClintBowyer + #NextGen + @BGSRacing = pic.twitter.com/3798eqrdlg
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 26, 2021
In an interview with NASCAR.com after testing the Next Gen car, Earnhardt said it “does everything better” compared with the current model. He continued:
“I drove the car around the track and it breaks — the brake performance is gonna take some time for me to get used to, or any of these guys get used to. That was probably the one thing that I found myself improving the most as I ran [with] the lap times is letting the car get in the corner because these brakes work so much better. I’m over-slowing the car using the brake pedal the way I’ve always in my life, so that was one thing. But it’s got a bigger turn, more grip, does everything much better.”
After NASCAR announced The Clash is moving from Daytona to L.A. for 2022, Bowyer got a little preview with some virtual iRacing laps at the Coliseum. And he seemed to be having a blast.
“You know who’s going to win this race? Those people in the grandstands,” Bowyer said while iRacing.
After his test Tuesday, Bowyer said:
“The car handles phenomenal. There’s not much room out there, let me tell you. These guys are gonna be in trouble. There’s gonna be some carnage, gonna be some hurt feelings, gonna happen right off the bat right there in the Coliseum.”
Clint Bowyer reacts to taking some laps in the Next Gen car at Bowman Gray Stadium. NASCAR will attempt to replicate a similar stadium-style feel in February for the Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
(Video: FOX Sports Digital) pic.twitter.com/0Ja0EOPLT0
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) October 26, 2021
Earnhardt agreed with that sentiment, and he noted that he was a little apprehensive about NASCAR hitting such a small track. But after his test, he’s feeling good about what kind of racing The Clash will produce at the Coliseum.
More from Earnhardt, via NASCAR.com:
“It’s gonna be crazy, and it’s gonna work. I was a little worried about the size of the track, and we’ve never seen our product, recently anyways, on a track that small. So having driven the car around here and walking around this race track, there’s gonna be plenty of room. All those worries that I had [were] for no good reason, so I’m excited about it.
“It’s going to be physical, and I think that’s what everybody expects. So the drivers know that going in, and we’re gonna give the West Coast a taste of some good short-track racing, and NASCAR style. This Next Gen car, it does everything really good on a track like this. I didn’t know if it would work, if it would match well with this size race track, but it’s going to be a pretty good show.”
Per NASCAR, retired driver and Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner Tony Stewart also participated in the test Tuesday at Bowman Gray. Stewart said he hasn’t been behind the wheel of a stock car in five years, so this was a fun experience for him. He added:
“It was fun today to get a chance to come up here, to be invited by NASCAR to come up and do the tire test for the Coliseum race. This is a track I’ve only been to one time and got to watch the races. So it was pretty cool to be on track here. It was fun and to get a chance to drive the Next Gen car was cool too.”
While The Clash is set for February 6 and the 2022 Daytona 500 is on February 20, there are still two races left in the 2021 season. The first is Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, and when it’s over, the Cup Series’ final Championship 4 drivers will be determined and race for a title at Phoenix Raceway on November 7.