1 – Gen 6
With the 2013 season came an entirely new car, the ‘Gen-6’ car. Immediately on an aesthetic front the Gen-6 was a huge improvement. Each brand was easily identifiable, you could see what was a Chevy, what was a Toyota and what was a Ford, but more importantly – they all looked nice. The Car of Tomorrow looked like an early video-game render with almost no curved edges to it at all, whereas Gen-6 cars are genuinely pleasing to the eye.
The car was also a lot quicker, breaking 19 lap records throughout the season. But where the speed was an improvement, the racing suffered slightly. Many fans were moaning about the single file nature of the Superspeedways, while other circuits, most notably mile-and-a-half tracks, lacked in side-by-side action. NASCAR’s defence of the Gen-6 car also caused a bit of a stir after Denny Hamlin publicly criticised the car’s lack of passing ability, resulting in a $25,000 fine.
The Gen-6 is still very much in its infancy, and will still be the key talking point throughout the off-season and leading up to Daytona as fans wonder what style of racing awaits them in 2014.
(Photo Credit: John Harrelson/NASCAR via Getty Images)
