Nascar finally unveiled its next generation racecar in Charlotte North Carolina last week. What had only been seen in testing with camouflaged or generic wrap designs while testing was finally shown to the world.

The debut of the car is a year overdue but is the final piece of sort of a rebirth of the sport. Some of those pieces were intended, some not, but when combined could be setting Nascar up to reach new heights.

The new car began as the “Gen-7” in 2018 at Nascar’s Research and Development Center as a collection of ideas, and dreams, that would combine safety and style into a racecar that has not been seen on a Nascar track for many years. During its development the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) that race in the sport came together in an unprecedented alliance.

“At the very beginning of this journey, when we were trying to draw lines around what we wanted with Next Gen, one of the things that all three OEMs agreed on is more styling relevancy,” David Wilson president of Toyota Racing Development said. “We wanted to get away from that big, boxy greenhouse. To do that we had to accept the challenge that we’re going to have cars that aren’t as neatly in that aero box that we’ve been used to over the years.”

The cars submitted by the three OEMs, a Toyota Camry TRD, Ford Mustang, and Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, represent not only the latest in safety advancements, but look closer to their street counterparts than any stock cars raced in the sport in decades.

In its early years Nascar gained popularity by racing cars that mirrored those seen in showrooms across the country. The automotive manufacturers reveled in the action on the track and the phrase “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” was very relevant in Nascar’s early years.

As the sport evolved however, and racecars got faster, safety dictated that the product seen on the track change. The death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 motivated Nascar to make the racing as safe as possible. Softer walls were added and advancements in the car did indeed lead to safer racing on the track. But those advancements didn’t allow for much in the way of styling. It was a tradeoff that Nascar was willing to take to keep its drivers safe.

During the ensuing decades Nascar’s popularity waned. Aided in part by an economic crisis and an overall change in the way fans digest sports, once packed grandstands saw sparse crowds; many tracks were even forced to remove stands and look for creative ways to sell tickets and fill what seats were left.

Nascar made changes to the schedule, dropping once popular tracks, moving, and even eliminating dates for races, and even the way its champions were determined. They introduced a new points system and a playoff format in hopes of creating “ninth inning” moments like were seen in other sports. Finally, they added “Stage” racing, manufactured cautions during a race that allow for more strategy.

Despite all the changes, Nascar’s popularity fell from the highs it enjoyed around 2006 and there seemed to be no momentum to move it forward. Fans still bought tickets, but the sellout races that were once common became a rarity, and the once high TV ratings the sport enjoyed plateaued. Nascar was trudging along in the slow lane it seemed and was searching for an entrance ramp back to the superhighway.

Then COVID came.

The COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world, and sports, early in 2020. Like other professional sports, Nascar was forced into exile. They didn’t sit idle, however. Behind the scenes executives and others inside the industry worked on getting its product back on track. It did so only a few short months later returning to racing in May of last year.

Nascar would build a blueprint that other sports would look to and it became the only professional sport in America to complete its entire schedule, crowning a popular Cup champion in November. To get there Nascar had to pull off what once seemed impossible, shifting dates, and tracks, sometimes racing at the same one in succession. They created a “bubble,” ditched practice sessions and qualifying, greeting the world with the bizarre sight of a full field of racecars charging by completely empty grandstands.

But in the end, they did it. And with no other sport in play for much of the first part of that return, more eyes then ever watched, and stayed until the end.

There were of course those who lost out in the COVID 19 madness. Tracks lost races, and of course fans could only watch from afar, at least until later in the year when limited numbers were allowed back in, socially distanced of course.

And the debut of the Next Gen car was forced to wait for another year.

“It was the right thing to do,” Nascar president Steve Phelps said. “Obviously, we couldn’t get parts. We didn’t know when we were going to be able to test, and so the timeline initially… the timeline was tight. Do I think we would have made it without COVID? I think the answer is yes. Has the extra time and development been helpful for us? I think so.”

Had the car made its original debut this past February at the season opening Daytona 500, it would have been big news. But prior to COVID Nascar had not been sitting idly by. Already a new schedule had been planned. One that included new tracks, more road courses, a new venue for the All-Star Race moving it from its normal track, and even a race on dirt. In normal times that announcement would have been big news, and while it was big when it was finally revealed, the thunder had quieted a bit after COVID showed that Nascar could turn on a dime; the All-Star Race had been forced to move already, and in order to make up a race in August, Nascar raced on the famed road course at Daytona for the first time, something that was originally supposed to happen this season.

There was something else that happened during the COVID ravaged season; As America had a reckoning with racism, Nascar did as well. The sport, steeped in traditions born in the South, some from the Jim Crow era, embraced diversity rallying around its lone Black driver in a display of unity seen around the world. They followed up by banning the Confederate flag and pushing for a sport that was more inclusive than ever. And that seemed to pay off handsomely. By the end of 2020, NBA legend Michael Jordon, and entertainer Pitbull were team owners. And with more eyes on the sport, and the new display of diversity NFL star Alvin Kamara was a team partner, and NFL player Bernard Pollard was himself a fan watching races and interacting with other fans on social media.

Now comes the final piece, the Next Gen car. Underneath the composite body are elements found in many high-performance street cars; rack-and-pinion steering, independent rear suspension, wider, lower profile tires mounted on aluminum rims and a new transaxle that will accommodate a hybrid engine combination in later models.

Most importantly for fans, the cars look the part. They are closer in appearance than ever before to the same cars seen in showrooms.

“We’ve been saying this for years. This time it actually looks like it,” driver Joey Logano said. “We did a video shoot in Hickory, North Carolina. It had the race car right next to it, parked side by side. That’s it, finally we got it. It looked like a GT 500. It looked mean, aggressive; the grille looked right. It looks like you can drive it down the road. The cops might pull you over, but it has the same look. To that point I say, Finally. We always said it looks closer. I think we got it finally.”

And that look makes the OEMs smile as well.

“That’s always been an important part of the sport, an important part of NASCAR, win on Sunday, sell on Monday,” Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance said. “Now that we’ve got more relevance, anybody that wants to go buy a Mustang, it just resonates even more for them.

“We think even for an F 150 customer, if it looks more like a Ford Mustang, it is more clearly Ford to them, and they’re going to be happy and proud of Ford on track in that Mustang and go buy a F 150 on Monday. It is good for the brand, just not that nameplate.”

Nascar has come full circle, a full lap if you will. From the heights of popularity to the lows of the last few years. They have been responding, however. Some of it intentional: new tracks and a new schedule, some of it unintentional, brought on by COVID 19. Now the final piece is in place, the Next Gen car will take the green flag at next year’s Daytona 500. It will lead a sport that has never been more inclusive, more diverse, and more competitive than ever.

“You look at the competition on the racetrack over the last year and a quarter, it’s arguably the best racing we’ve ever had,” Phelps said. “10 winners in 11 races, the competitiveness that exists, the cars are racy, and the drivers are driving the wheels off these cars.

“I’m excited to see what our drivers are going to do when they climb into these cars at the Daytona 500 next year. I do believe we’re going to see some phenomenal racing just based on what we know about this car and the features that are in this car that would allow for really great racing.”

Nascar is racing into a still somewhat uncertain future. But has it has shown in the last few years they aren’t afraid to take chances and respond to changing conditions. With the lessons learned from COVID and led by the most relevant race car it has had in recent memory, the green flag should be waving for many years to come.