NASCAR is developing a new aero piece to keep cars on the ground

When Ryan Preece pulled a wheelie and flipped at the Daytona 500 earlier this year, he called for NASCAR to take action to help keep the Next Gen (Gen-7) cars from taking flight. There have been eight occasions where Cup cars have gone completely upside down in the last three years of competition, including five in the last calendar year.

Unfortunately, Preece has the distinction of being the most recent driver to flip a Gen-7 Cup car, and the driver who endured the most violent airborne crash when he barrel-rolled nearly a dozen times at Daytona in the summer of 2023. In a recent interview with Motorsport.com, Preece said how he hopes for a solution “sooner than later” and believes NASCAR will “find a solution that everybody is happy with” in the end.

However, there have been no aero updates between February’s Daytona 500 and this weekend’s Talladega race. Last year, NASCAR was extremely aggressive in combating the issue, especially after Corey Lajoie experienced a blow-over at a non-superspeedway track. However, it didn’t stop the rash of airborne incidents.

And while the status quo remains for Talladega, work is ongoing to counter this issue of airborne stock cars. A recent Goodyear tire test at Michigan was utilized to test some potential updates, but what exactly is NASCAR considering?

Another new anti-flip flap?

Dr. Eric Jacuzzi, an aero specialist who works for NASCAR as the vice president of vehicle performance innovation and aerodynamics, gave some insight into that very topic this week. Speaking to Daytona 500-winning crew chief Steve Letarte on the Inside The Race podcast, he revealed that NASCAR is creating a new flap, functionally similar to the roof flaps but on the A-post of the vehicles. He indicated that their tests showed that liftoff speed increased by somewhere between 40% and 50%, making it far more difficult for cars to blow over on their own.

He also broke down some of the more infamous flips of recent memory, pointing out how Preece’s car became unstuck from the ground when it transitioned from asphalt to grass in 2023, allowing air to get under the car and lift it. A small lip there also helped to propel the car upwards in a terrifying airborne accident, leading to the removal of grass on Daytona’s backstretch.

He conceded that Preece’s 190mph wheelie in this year’s Daytona 500 was “pretty odd” and didn’t believe there was much they could do in that situation. NASCAR even played around with the idea of removing parts of the floor, but that didn’t seem to help.

However, the most eyebrow-raising flip of the 2024 season came at Michigan when LaJoie went up and over in a simple spin at Michigan — a non-superspeedway track. Jacuzzi explained that environmental factors also played a role in this. While spinning at a 90 degree angle at such a high of speed, a 30mph wind pushed the air speed to above 220mph, making it easy for the car go onto its lid.

As for this new flap on the A-post, it is not yet ready for deployment, but Jacuzzi expects it to be ready for the summer race at Daytona. They are currently running some more tests to make sure it is strong enough.

A source was able to confirm to Motorsport.com that these updates have been in the works even before Preece’s 500 flip, and that the August 23 event at Daytona International Speedway remains the target race.