Looking Back on First 100 Races in Next Gen/Gen 7 Car

Getty Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson battle in NASCAR Cup Series Race.

The September 15 Watkins Glen race is a milestone moment for the NASCAR Cup Series. It’s the 100th points-paying race in the Next Gen/Gen 7 car. Here are three things fans will remember years from now when thinking about the car and the first 100 races.

NASCAR Gen 7 Car Safety Evolution

The Next Gen/Gen 7 car debuted in an exhibition at the 2022 Clash at the Coliseum. While that quarter-mile track wasn’t a good example of how the cars would actually race due to its small size, it did, however, provide an idea of the car’s durability, with cars beating and banging throughout the race and the bodies suffering minimal damage.

That lack of damage was a preview of things to come. In that first year, the car and its composite body proved to be more durable than most expected. Unfortunately, what we learned is with the cars being so rigid and not bending and crumpling as in past generations, the impacts and energy produced by them was being absorbed by the drivers. And they were understandably vocal about that increased intensity.

Their voices reached a fever pitch in July after Kurt Busch suffered a concussion at Pocono during qualifying and never raced again. Later in that first season, Alex Bowman was also sidelined due to concussions from what appeared to be an innocuous back-end hit at Texas.

In the offseason, NASCAR made adjustments to the front and rear clips of the car, making them crumple more. Concussions are no longer an issue.

The sanctioning body has made other safety changes to the car, including after the spring 2023 race at Talladega when Ryan Preece t-boned Kyle Larson on the driver’s side and intruded into main structure of the No. 5 car.

There’s always going to be more work to be done when it comes to safety (fires), but this car has proven itself time and time again in violent crashes in the first 100 races — Preece/Larson, Preece flipping at Daytona (2023), Josh Berry upside down into the wall at Daytona (2024), Ryan Blaney big crashes at Daytona in 2023 and 2024 — and, thankfully, each driver has walked away without serious injury. And that’s attributed to the safety of this car.

Produced Parity and History-Making Finishes in NASCAR

One of the main highlights of the Gen 7 car in the first 100 races is parity. That doesn’t necessarily mean smaller teams winning races, which has happened on occasion, but the closeness of the field overall throughout a race.

The drivers talk about it all the time how everyone is so close and it’s hard to get an advantage. That’s resulted in some of the closest racing in years, especially on the mile-and-a-half tracks.

In 2024, that closeness of the field has produced a pair of history-making finishes at Atlanta, where it was the closest finish from first to third with Daniel Suarez narrowly edging out Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch, and then at Kansas, where Kyle Larson edged out Chris Buescher for the closest result in Cup Series history, winning in a photo finish by roughly one inch and 0.001 seconds.

Pit Road More Important Than Ever

With the cars being so close in competition, teams have sought out other areas to find an advantage and gain track position. And they’ve found it on pit road.

We’ve seen it regularly in the first 100 races where the race off pit road is often the determining factor of who wins a race and who finishes second.

Some don’t like it, but there’s no denying that it does make it more of a team sport with the pit crews critical to a team’s success just like the driver, crew chief, and the car itself.

There’s been some good, some bad, and some ugly in the first 100 races of the Gen 7 car. But NASCAR, the teams, and fans will one day reflect back on this period and realize it was a time that didn’t come without its issues (safety and short tracks) but overall it changed the sport for the better.

Check back this week to see the thoughts of multiple drivers and others in the industry on the first 100 races.