► NASCAR will field a stock car at Le Mans 2023
► Racing in a standalone class as ‘Garage 56’ entry
► Chevy Camaro built to NASCAR’s new next-gen regs
The 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans is shaping up to be a very special race for so many reasons: the 100th anniversary of the race and the return of Ferrari, Porsche and Peugeot to name a few.
Another intriguing story strand is taking shape too: a NASCAR entry. A Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 built to NASCAR’s latest Next-Gen technical regulations (which made their debut in this 2022 season) will be run by ultra-successful NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports. It will compete under the banner of Le Mans’ experimental Garage 56 entry.
Ahead of the car’s reveal in London, CAR spoke to Michael Lock, head of marketing for NASCAR Garage 56 and John Doonan, president of the IMSA racing association, to find out the why, what and how of NASCAR’s Le Mans adventure.
Why is NASCAR entering a car in the Le Mans 24hrs?
‘This is an opportunity to put NASCAR on even more of a global stage,’ says John Doonan. ‘It has the NASCAR Euro series across the European market but things NASCAR has done in recent years – the development of the next-gen car, taking the series to more road courses, staging a race at the LA Coliseum – NASCAR is doing things differently. This is an opportunity to increase our audience and fan base, while also learning technical lessons about the car for future development.’
‘There’s great potential for NASCAR to tell stories in Europe, where there are probably a lot of preconceived ideas about NASCAR – maybe even a bit of sniggering about it,’ continues Michael Lock. ‘People may think NASCAR is all about taking a car round ovals endlessly. But actually, the NASCAR Cup series has really evolved in recent years, and it’s racing now in a variety of different environments. It has much broader shoulders,’ he continues.
‘What we call the Next-Gen car, which is now the current generation car, is a very contemporary high-tech, high-performance racing car under the skin of a recognizable Mustang or Camaro that delivers racing unlike anything else,’ Lock adds. ‘So we’ve got what we think is a really cool sport. That, and through digital and streaming technology, and behind-the-scenes documentaries, we can tell a story of NASCAR that can confound any prejudicial view people have of it.
‘And the 100-year anniversary of Le Man is coincidentally the 75-year anniversary of NASCAR. So it’s a heaven-sent opportunity to drop that car into Europe and bring all the NASCAR stories with it.’
What is the Next-Gen NASCAR car?
As Lock says, the Next-Gen car is now actually the current-gen NASCAR formula, racing in its first season. Developed over several years, its essential design is closer to a GT racing car than previous generations of stock cars. Suspension is fully independent, and rather than NASCAR teams manufacturing components themselves, they purchase parts from suppliers including Dallara and McLaren.
‘One of the unique things about it is that it’s produced 15 different winners in NASCAR this year,’ says Doonan. ‘The car is built in a manner that allows for even some of the smaller teams to have success. It’s much like a traditional GT car that people have seen in sportscar racing over the last five to 10 years with the technology that’s under the skin.’
Entering the Watkins Glen round of the NASCAR Cup are Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, Joey Hand (a big part of Ford’s recent GT Le Mans programme) and ex-F1 (and erstwhile NASCAR, too) star Kimi Raikkonen. ‘These drivers are in NASCAR on new terms, if you will, with this car,’ says Doonan.
How competitive will it be at Le Mans?
The NASCAR entry won’t be competing for overall victory with the prototype missiles from Toyota, Porsche et al but it could run with comparable pace to GT class machinery.
‘Running under Garage 56 regulations, the car is entered in the race and scored but it’s not competing in one of the classes,’ Doonan explains. ‘Working with the ACO ensures a strategic alliance agreement, where we have a performance target that will put us in amongst those GT cars. The intent is number one to finish the race, to not finish last, as [NASCAR boss] Mr. France says, but to showcase to car manufacturers what’s possible with the new car.’
Showcasing NASCAR’s new formula directly in front of European manufacturers who might potentially be open to competing in NASCAR in the future is one potential benefit of the project too.
What is Garage 56?
Introduced in 2012, it’s an entry reserved for experimental and innovative cars.
Past entries have included the wide-rear, narrow-front DeltaWing, and the hydrogen-powered Green GT H2 (although that car was withdrawn ahead of the race).
Who is running the NASCAR entry at Le Mans?
‘It’s a real, all-star team, not just the NASCAR corporation,’ says Lock. ‘We’re in partnership with General Motors through Chevrolet, with Hendrick Motorsports, who are a household name in the US and the most successful team in in NASCAR history. Also with Goodyear, who’ve taken on the task of developing tyres for this for this car for a 24 hour environment, which is a major technical challenge. John and his team have partnered up with Dallara as well – no fools when it comes to developing a chassis.’
‘I can assure you the car will sound the part, it’s going to be a NASCAR car to a tee, albeit with headlights and taillights,’ says Doonan, ‘and a slightly bigger tyres. We’ll have more on the exact specs of the car to come but we have done the electronic sim side of testing and we’ll be on track testing in a few weeks.’
Who will the drivers be?
That’s yet to be announced – stay tuned to this page for more updates on NASCAR’s Le Mans entry.
Mike Rockenfeller has driven the Garage 56 car virtually in the sim, as has NASCAR hall-of-famer Jeff Gordon.
How did the NASCAR/Le Mans link-up come about?
IMSA, North America’s sportscar racing sanctioning body, is owned by NASCAR. IMSA and the ACO, the organising body for Le Mans, have aligned their technical regulations to create the LMHd class in which Porsche and others will compete at Le Mans and in North American endurance racing too.
As a result, IMSA and NASCAR have a good working relationship with the ACO which has in part helped this project get off the ground.
This isn’t NASCAR’s first entry at Le Mans, in fact – it entered two cars in 1976, a Ford and Dodge, dubbed ‘les deux monsteurs’ by French press. Bill France Sr, head of NASCAR for 31 years, drove that project and his son Jim France is the current CEO of NASCAR and a driving force behind its return to Le Mans. ‘This is a one-off project for NASCAR, but it’s not a one off dead end project,’ Michael Lock says. ‘It’s a one off project that is seeking to make NASCAR visible in Europe, to garner some respect and to open some doors to who knows what down the line. And we’re super-excited about it.’