18 TECH INSIDER: NASCAR CAMARO GARAGE 56 Not so stock car WORDS BY LAWRENCE BUTCHER NASCAR assembled its A-team to take on Le Mans and didn’t disappoint Jimmie Johnson and the well-rounded skill of F1 champion Jenson Button. The NASCAR Cup Gen 7 platform, more akin to a GT3 car than a stock car of old, was what made the whole undertaking possible. Amazingly, the idea of running a Cup car in la Sarthe was floated before the first oval prototype had even turned a wheel. “Right before the actual competitive debut of Next Gen, this car was already being designed,” admits Brandon Thomas, VP of vehicle design at NASCAR. “In the first third of last season [2022], while we were fixing all these little issues with Next Gen, getting up to speed and getting the teams used to the new car platform, every couple of days or so me and guys at Dallara would spend an hour or two on Webex discussing this project.” The result was a leaner, meaner stock car. “We just said, okay, now that we don’t have to race Talladega with a 40-car field with everybody running into each other, let’s go to a 62-car field, and maybe run into one or two here or there, and run at night and in the rain. Then it was gloves off. How much weight can The Garage 56 slot at Le Mans has garnered some interesting entries over the years, from the DeltaWing and ZEOD to the impressive efforts of quadruple amputee racer Frédéric Sausset in 2016. The year 2023, however, ranks as the most spectacular yet, as the thunder of NASCAR engulfed the event, creating an instant fan favorite. There was no shortage of naysayers when the project was announced; after all, what could a bunch of stock car racers know about endurance racing? As it turned out, quite a lot. When NASCAR announced the project in 2022, and the team assembled for the undertaking, it was clear this wasn’t to be a half-hearted effort. NASCAR R&D would work in conjunction with chassis supplier Dallara, alongside GM and Hendrick Motorsports (HMS), with legendary crew chief Chad Knaus heading up the project from the latter’s corner. The driver line-up, meanwhile, mixed the endurance experience of Mike Rockenfeller with stock car royalty 2023 | www.pmw-magazine.com