Multiple safety updates have been made to the NASCAR Cup Series’ Next Gen car starting at Atlanta Motor Speedway, NASCAR announced June 8.
A new front-clip structure meant to create a larger crush zone for prospective impacts has been revealed.
Additionally, a steel plate is being added to the right side as an added cushion against impact.
“We’ve taken a lot of the steel structural members and removed material from key elements to make this structure less stiff,” Dr. John Patalak, vp safety engineering at NASCAR, said. “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.
“We’ve also added slots to this ballast container as well as some holes, and it’s all an effort to increase the amount of displacement we’re getting out of the car and to reduce the accelerations that the driver is experiencing.”
The most recent changes come after an accident at Talladega Superspeedway between Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece.
“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,” Patalak said. “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 Atlanta Cup race is set for July 9.
A full rundown and explanation of the changes can be found here.
Kevin Rutherford is the executive editor of Frontstretch, a position he gained in 2025 after being the managing editor since 2015, and serving on the editing staff since 2013.
At his day job, he's a journalist covering music and rock charts at Billboard. He lives in New York City, but his heart is in Ohio -- you know, like that Hawthorne Heights song.