NASCAR Confirms the Return of Fan Favorite Pre-Season Event in 2027
What’s Happening? For the first time in over a decade, NASCAR will host its Preseason Thunder test at Daytona International Speedway…
While NASCAR turned its focus to working on the short track racing product of the Next Gen car earlier this season, the sport is now making major adjustments to its superspeedway racing package.
On Wednesday afternoon, officials announced a dramatic shift to the current NASCAR Next Gen superspeedway package, reducing spoiler size and horsepower for next month’s race at Daytona International Speedway.
This change shrinks the spoiler down from 7 inches to 4 inches and takes horsepower down from 510 to 465. Even then, the sport expects cars to be “approximately 3 mph faster than the current package.”
For some time, there have been rumors that the sport could change the superspeedway package to make it more similar to the intermediate package, a shift seemingly confirmed by the switch to 4-inch spoilers.
Still, most did not expect a major change to the package this season, with NASCAR already attempting changes to race structure, such as reformatted stage lengths at Talladega, in hopes of reshaping the on-track product.
Furthermore, the sport had planned for “Preseason Thunder” testing to return next season to work on the product prior to announcing Wednesday’s new swing at a fix.
While NASCAR is making this change now, the sport has not announced any additional on-track time that weekend (as superspeedways do not usually have practice sessions), potentially leaving drivers out to dry in testing the package before the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on August 29.
What’s Happening? For the first time in over a decade, NASCAR will host its Preseason Thunder test at Daytona International Speedway…
NASCAR’s Next Gen car has had its highs and lows: one high is the great racing at intermediates like Charlotte Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway, and one low is the short track racing product.
Somewhere in the middle lies drafting tracks. While the racing is unpredictable, the tight, unconventional two-by-two packs and the inability to pass have led to dramatic fuel-saving strategies to spend as little time as possible on pit road.
But as fans have learned, when this strategy is off the table, and cars are racing full speed, drivers have continued to complain about a lack of ability to pass, making the races a game of chance.
While Talladega and Daytona have suffered under this type of racing in the Next Gen era, the hybrid intermediate/drafting track, EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta, has served as a reminder of what drafting track racing used to be.
With this new package featuring less downforce and slightly higher speeds, NASCAR is hoping to create those opportunities to pass.
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