Sixth Generation Sprint Cup Cars for 2013 Season undergo testing in Charlotte – NASCAR news
On Tuesday, December 11, 2012, Charlotte Motor Speedway hosted the first day of the 2013 NASCAR Test.
This test is meant to give the drivers a feel of the new Sixth Generation Sprint Cup cars supposed to be racing the next NASCAR season which starts on February 24th and ends on November 17th next year.
The new G6 (Sixth Generation) cars have a different aerodynamic style than the cars which raced from 2007 till 2012 in the Sprint Cup. The G6 cars are lighter and NASCAR has gone to a great extent to improve the performance of these cars at high speeds.
Some cosmetic changes have also been made to the G6 cars such as the printing of each driver’s last name on the windshield, removal of sponsor decals from headlights and taillights, smaller car numbers etc.
It was up to the teams if they wanted to race in this NASCAR two-day open test or not. Teams that participated in the first day were Penske Racing (The Champions), Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Wood Brothers Racing, Stewart-Haas
Racing, Richard Childress Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports.
Keselowski, the Sprint Cup 2012 champion, was one of the sixteen drivers who participated in Tuesday’s test. He was racing a Ford since Penske Racing had decided to switch from Dodge to Ford earlier this year. Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt
Jr. and others were amongst the other drivers participating in the test.
Jeff Burton, racing the No. 31 RCR Chevrolet led the way in the morning session whereas Regan Smith, racing the No. 24 Chevrolet led the way in the afternoon session.
Almost all the drivers had positive views about the new G6 cars. Keselowski, commenting on the change said, “It’s hard to get a great read on the whole manufacturer change because, obviously, it’s a different car, but I think all the signs are there that
we have the potential to be just as strong, if not stronger, than we were last year, which is very, very encouraging.”
Dale Earnhardt, 2003–2011 Sprint Cup Series Most Popular Driver, was very happy with the performance of the new car. Earnhardt’s past years with COT, the last car he had raced, had been very disappointing. He was very enthusiastic about the No. 88 Chevrolet
that he will be racing in the upcoming Sprint Cup. This was what Earnhardt had to say at the end of the day, “It’s real early in the game, this is the first time I’ve driven the cars at all. I’m really impressed. I really like the balance of the car, the down
force seems to be relatively good. The car has driven well for us today.”
All stake holders, drivers, manufacturers, team owners and NASCAR officials expect that the introduction of G6 cars brings more charm and competition to the 2013 Sprint Cup.
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