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Next Gen Car Set for Two-Day Tire Test at Darlington

NASCAR’s Next Gen car gets on track for a second consecutive week as Tyler Reddick takes the wheel for Goodyear tire testing Tuesday and Wednesday at Darlington Raceway.

This week’s test marks the first appearance at the historic South Carolina track for the Next Gen model, which is scheduled for its official competition debut in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series. Manufacturer-specific Next Gen cars also tested last week at Martinsville Speedway, gathering data with wheel-force transducers. The workhorse P3 prototype will be used at Darlington.

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The two-day session also marks the 25-year-old Reddick’s first drive of the Next Gen model. Austin Dillon, his Richard Childress Racing teammate, was the test driver in the first on-track shakedown for the Next Gen car in October 2019 at Richmond Raceway.

NASCAR officials indicated in a February competition briefing that the Next Gen car’s development stage is complete and that tire tests are also scheduled for Texas Motor Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway later this year. Officials also said that organizational tests will be held after the Charlotte Roval race Oct. 10, with two other sessions scheduled after the season concludes.

Darlington is set to host all three NASCAR national series May 7-9 for its annual throwback weekend, which shifts to a springtime date for the first time this year. The 1.366-mile track held three Cup Series events last year as the schedule shifted in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Darlington is set to host two regularly scheduled Cup Series events this season for the first time since 2004.