How NASCAR had to learn a harsh lesson ahead of Next Gen arrival

The NASCAR Cup kicks off with the Daytona 500 this weekend, but a major engine overhaul and a subsequent mountain of work has been required to be ready for the arrival of the Next Gen cars.

Charles Bradley Feb 16, 2022, 6:12 PM

Upd: Feb 16, 2022, 6:15 PM

A common misconception: NASCAR machines are powered by the least high-tech engine of any motorsport series on the planet – basically the same motors that they used in the 1960s.

In terms of architecture, the 358 cubic-inch, 90-degree pushrod V8s have been motivating America’s premier stock car series for decades – that much is true – but each engine on the Cup Series grid is actually stacked with Formula 1-level technology in radically designed cylinder heads with insanely tight tolerances that cost tens of thousands of dollars per piece to produce.

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Author Charles Bradley

Charles Bradley is Motorsport.com’s Global Editor in Chief. After spending five years in the aerospace industry in his native North Wales, while working weekends as a freelance writer at racetracks around the UK, Charles joined the staff of Motoring News in the heart of London. He transferred to the nascent Autosport.com team in 2000 before transitioning to the magazine, becoming its Editor between 2011 and 2014. Charles then upped sticks to work in America, as Motorsport.com’s Editor in Chief, where he created the multi-national and multi-lingual editorial team that quickly became the world’s most-read motorsport website. He was instrumental in delivering three of the biggest Global F1 Fan Surveys in sports history and is also a multiple award-winning scriptwriter. Charles is an overseas member of the Guild of Motoring Writers and lives in Miami Beach with his wife Helen – and a cat that’s named after Serbia’s top football club.