Adam Stern tweeted out a snippet this weekend that once again indicates Dodge is looking to rejoin NASCAR. Will they team up with Andretti Autosport this time only to have the deal squashed two days later? One other manufacturer is also interested in joining NASCAR as well.

NISSAN. NISSAN wants to join NASCAR? Nissan couldn’t succeed in V8 Supercars, they tried to revolutionize the WEC LMP1 class, they pulled out of IMSA. Now they might want to go NASCAR racing. A Nissan Altima would infuriate the diehard fan base, it’d draw in the inner city crowds. A Nissan Altima Cup car would do more for the sport than NASCAR could ever have imagined.

One thing NASCAR should mandate if both of these manufacturers want to join the Cup series they must also field truck series teams as well. Nissan Titan’s and Ram Ram’s (stupid Dodge spun off Ram into its own brand and just calls their trucks Ram, very confusing) those would look phenomenal fighting with Ford, Toyota, and Chevy.

Will either of these OEM’s join the series? Right now there’s a 70% chance Dodge rejoins and a 45% chance Nissan joins. Dodge knows what it takes and would likely have an easier time convincing an established team to switch manufacturers.

Hybrid Technology and NASCAR?

Fewer things will trigger a deep southern NASCAR fan than the words hybrid or electric in reference to race cars. That could be the future however for NASCAR and their competitors. Manufacturers are pushing for more uses for their hybrid technology despite how many threatening emails Jimmy Spencer sends them. Applicable road applications are big for OEM’s. It’s hard to look at the technology on a cup car and but that in a Camry. V8 Camry sedans simply don’t exist, hybrid Camry sedans do, however.

Formula 1 currently uses a hybrid engine system and while Mercedes has dominated the fight for reliability at the beginning was exciting and infuriating. Ultimately one manufacturer (Honda) won’t figure it out and be the storyline for the better part of three years. F1 is the perfect place for hybrid technology, NASCAR might not be.

Unless of course, they want to use the ARCA series as a hybrid series or an electric series. Imagine a world of Chevy Volts, Nissan Leafs, Ford whatever they make, and Toyota Prius pounding around short tracks across America. People in the sport are talking about it, the plans might not be in place yet but in the not so distant future electric tech will be in NASCAR. Goodyear is going to have nightmares trying to build slicks for electric stock cars.

The post Dodge & Nissan Interested in Joining NASCAR, Hybrid Tech Coming? appeared first on Apex Off.

Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr. were tapped to wheel two NextGen cars around the Roval. Monday marked the first time two NextGen cars were on the track at the same time. Kurt Busch wheeled the RCR/NASCAR prepared blue NextGen car. Martin Truex Jr. was behind the wheel of the Action Express (IMSA team) prepared car.

A number of NASCAR media members were at the test meaning the internet was not short on content. Here is a round-up of all the important things. Mostly from Bozi.

Action Express Prepared Car

Remember both cars have generic bodies, they are not OEM specific. However, both cars have elements that NASCAR wants to implement on the final version.

Rear diffuser, side exhaust with a double vent in the skirt, flat floor, reasonable ride-height in the front, single lug wheels. A lot of what we’ve already heard about the NextGen on the Action Express car.

The Action Express car had a very deep and throaty sound to it. It appears this car has two separate outlets for the exhaust as opposed to a y-pipe.

RCR/NASCAR Prepared Car

The RCR/NASCAR prepared car is the version we have seen tested the most. A few interesting things with this car today that we’ll get into.

Here is what this car sounded like on track. Again with the deep/throaty sound but the pitch seems a touch higher than the Action Express car.

The thing that stands out the most on these photos of the RCR prepared car is the flair on the corners of the splitter. It’s hard to tell what that is from the photos. If it is for aero it’s the first time we’ve seen them during a test and you’d have to think they’re only for road course. If you know what it is definitely let us know.

Then you have the head on shot of the car. Look how symmetrical this car is. We haven’t seen this in decades, the Car of Tomorrow is the closest NASCAR has come and even then there were some discrepencies. This is certainly more symmetrical than what the current Gen-6 car is. A symmetrical car will change the aero balance of the NextGen car compared to the current generation Cup teams are working with. In theory it should help with dirty air to an extent.

Hear From The Drivers

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