NASCAR making several changes to the Next Gen cars effective from July

NASCAR's next-gen car is set to undergo a major overhaul with several changes to the front part of the car. The upgrades are aimed at improving driver safety and will debut at Atlanta Motor Speedway on July 9.

The front bumper, front clip, and center clip have undergone several changes. The new softened front clip creates a larger crush zone for bigger impacts. While reducing the overall stiffness of the steel structures, a steel plate has been added to the right side door bars.

Dr. John Patalak, VP of Safety Engineering at NASCAR, explained the modifications:

"We’ve taken a lot of the steel structural members and removed material from key elements to make this structure less stiff. We have slots on both sides, we have deleted some cross members between the upright mounts and we’ve treated some of the areas down low that are some of the first to contact the wall on the front clip."

Dr. Patalak added that the changes will reduce the accelerations experienced by the drivers during collisions.

The crash between Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece at Talladega Superspeedway has led to these changes. The #5 Chevrolet's sidebars were bent in the horrific crash, while the #41's front end was wrecked.

Dr. Patalak spoke about the Talladega incident:

"The right-side door bars of the center section is getting a steel plate welded to it and really what it does it’s strengthening the right-side door bars against intrusion for crashes like we saw at Talladega with the [Nos.] 5 and 41."

Following the incident, the collision was reconstructed at the same angle and speed to test the new parts.

"We reconstructed that crash at a test facility and we’re pleased with the performance where we’re hanging on to everything. We still do have bent door bars but minimal intrusion and much better performance."

The safety features will debut in the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on July 9.

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Former F1 driver Kamui Kobayashi set to make NASCAR debut

Kamui Kobayashi at Le Mans

Former F1 driver and Le Mans 24 winner Kamui Kobayashi is the latest driver to be attracted to NASCAR. Kobayashi will drive the #67 Toyota for 23XI Racing at the Indianapolis Road Course in August.

The announcement was made on Wednesday (July 7) at Le Mans. Kobayashi revealed that his childhood dream was to race in America's highest stock racing category.

He said:

"Actually my memory, (the) first racing on TV was actually NASCAR. When I was like four or five years old. I said, 'wow, that's cool!' And the first time when I raced a go-kart, honestly I didn't know Formula 1."

"At the end of the day when I remember, what I saw when I was really young was a NASCAR race, because it was an oval. And I remember, the highlight, thinking one day to race in NASCAR was my dream."

Travis Pastrana drove the #67 Toyota Camry to an 11th-place finish in the season opener at Daytona.