NASCAR hosts a two-day Next Gen organizational test this week at Phoenix Raceway, marking the Cup Series’ final preseason shakedown before the 2022 schedule commences.
Cars are on track in the desert Tuesday and Wednesday, and the venue just so happens to be the championship destination. NASCAR.com will live stream all of the action on its YouTube channel. Each day’s sessions will run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET. See below to watch.
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Fans will be allowed to attend Tuesday’s test session from the Phoenix Raceway Canyon section of the grandstands. Admission is free, but fans must register for access online.
This two-day effort is the second organizational test of the new year. Another was held at Daytona International Speedway two weeks ago. While there, NASCAR settled on its superspeedway package – an engine-output target of 510 horsepower combined with a 7-inch rear spoiler. The configuration will be utilized at the 2.5-mile Daytona, 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway and 1.54-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway.
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Phoenix, however, is a 1-mile track, and the base rules for short tracks, road courses and intermediate circuits were announced back in December. Engines will have 670 target horsepower, and cars will feature a 4-inch spoiler. This week gives teams the opportunity to fine-tune their setups.
“Obviously Phoenix is an important not only to us but the teams, our championship event is held there, so it’s obviously one they all have marked to show up and be very competitive at,” NASCAR senior vice president of racing innovation John Probst said after the Daytona test. “From the NASCAR perspective, we want to go out there and make sure that as the track rubbers in, we got really good Goodyear tires, which they’ve done a fantastic job through this whole project with us, making sure we’ve got the right stuff on the cars. I think as far as the package goes, with the high horsepower and low downforce, I think it’s certainly something our drivers love to drive and I think that we’ve done enough testing. We’ve been to Phoenix already with our prototype cars. I would anticipate a pretty good result coming out of Phoenix.”
The Next Gen will make its competitive debut Feb. 6 (6 p.m. ET) in the Busch Light Clash exhibition race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The 2022 points slate will then officially kick off Feb. 20 (2:30 p.m. ET) with the season-opening Daytona 500 in Florida. Both events will air live on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
RELATED: 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule | 2022 rules packages for each track
Here is a full rundown of the drivers taking part in the Phoenix test:
| Organization | Car No. | Drivers |
| Front Row Motorsports | 38 | Todd Gilliland and Michael McDowell |
| Hendrick Motorsports | 5 | Kyle Larson |
| Hendrick Motorsports | 9 | Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman |
| Joe Gibbs Racing | 18 | Kyle Busch |
| Joe Gibbs Racing | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. |
| JTG Daugherty Racing | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
| Kaulig Racing | 31 | Justin Haley and Daniel Hemric |
| Petty GMS Motorsports | 42 | Ty Dillon |
| RFK Racing | 17 | Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher |
| Richard Childress Racing | 8 | Tyler Reddick |
| Stewart-Haas Racing | 4 | Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola |
| Stewart-Haas Racing | 14 | Chase Briscoe and Cole Custer |
| Team Hezeberg | 27 | Jacques Villeneuve |
| Team Penske | 12 | Ryan Blaney |
| Team Penske | 22 | Joey Logano |
| Trackhouse Racing | 1 | Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez |
| 23XI Racing | 45 | Kurt Busch |
| Wood Brothers Racing | 21 | Austin Cindric and Harrison Burton |