Struggle to Triumph

This is the wrong version of the car that I made. This one here should handle much better

The Next Gen of NASCAR

In 2022 the Next gen chassis was implemented into NASCAR and was ment to be a safe and cost effective platform to help small teams with costs and keeping fields closer than ever after the failures of the pervious years of racing. The chassis is segmented into 3 sections thar are easily repairable and interchangeable, and is equipped with many new to nascar features like a flat bottom, rear defuser, hollow floor to help evacuate heat from the cockpit, and new exhaust which I'm still not sure I like the sound of. At the end of the 2023 season both ford and Toyota announced new bodies for the 2024 season.

New Car, New Struggles

In the first parts of the season, the new bodies by Toyota and Ford were not performing as well as the chevys which still have the original 2022 bodies. The toyotas were considerably better than the new ford's, and were able to win in the clash at the coliseum with Danny Hamlin, and shut out the Daytona duels with Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick. However the main Daytona 500 the toyotas would have issues and Willam Byron in a Hendrick chevy would win.

By Phoenix in week 4 Toyota would get their first win of the season and then go on to win 4 of the next 8 races with Hendrick chevys the only other winners. By this point in the season ford had been far behind where they wanted to be in their growth and it was beginning to faulter fans confidence in the new body. By week 13 of the regular season however ford would get it's first win by the hands of Brad keslowski at darlington, which snapped a large lossing streak for the new team owner, and would ultimately shift the momentum for ford. The all star race would be won by another ford in Joey logono, and for the next 9 races ford would win every other race, often trading race wins between the dominant Hendrick Chevys and the Penske Ford's who are looking to get their 3rd championship in a row.

Stewart Haas Racing

Stewart Haas Racing is a well established team in the NASCAR Cup Series thar is part owned by legendary car owner Gene haas, and 3 time championship winner Tony Stewart. The team saw it's greatest success at the helm of Kevin Harvick in the 4 car who won a staggering 60 wins and a 2014 championship. The team has a total of 69 (nice) wins in the cup series and 24 in xfinity. Mid season of this year Stewart haas announced the termination of their cup series team at the end of the season and that they will be selling their 4 charters as well as Tony Stewart selling his share in the company after finding a new home in drag racing with his wife. Gene Haas will still run the xfinity series team. The drivers being let go include Chase Briscoe driving the 14 car, Josh Berry in the 4 car driving his first full time cup season, Noah Gragson in the 10 car, and Ryan Preece in the 41 car. So far Noah Gragson has signed with Front Row Motorsports, Chase Briscoe has signed with Joe Gibbs to replace the retiring Martin Truex Jr, and Josh Berry has signed with Wood Brothers Racing to replace Harrison Burton.

Josh berry's career

Berry met his future car owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2008 when competing in an online sim racing league called DMP Online Racing. At the time, he was racing Legend Cars at his home track of the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville while also attending Volunteer State Community College and working as a bank teller to fund his racing career. Earnhardt Jr. then signed Berry to his JR Motorsports team in 2010 to compete in late model racing.

He had a rather lack luster career in xfinity for awhile, until he would get his first win in 2020 at Martinsville. In 2022 Berry would have a deep playoff run getting into the final championship 4 but would finish 4th in the championship. 2023 he would be win less but make it to the playoffs until Charlotte in the mid playoffs where he was eliminated.

In late 2023 it was announced he would replace the retiring Kevin Harvick and drive the 4 car full time. Up until this point Berry had made one off races in cup, substituting for Chase Elliott in 2023 after Elliot was injured off track, and would finish a best of 2nd, his highest career finish in cup. He would also substitute for Alex bowman in the all star race after he would injure his back in a sprint car accident. He would qualify 1st in the all star race and would finish 14th. Another opportunity would arise in legacy motor club where Noah Gragson was suspended from the team. I'm 2024 he would start out slow with the first 12 races being around an average of 15th, until darlington where he would finish his season best 3rd. He would go on to match that darlington placing with a 3rd at new Hampshire.

controls

Pitch and roll for movement

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Builders note: This is pretty much just rebody of my earlier chevy nextgen car with a few upgrades that I wasn't able to do previously. It has an upgraded control base suspension, and custom wheels that are easily the best part of this car as it just brings it together perfectly. This is one of the highest part builds I have ever uploaded, and I'm glad on how well it turned out. It drives as realistically as I could get it to, and it works pretty good. I'm happy with how it's turned out and have plans to retro fit the new suspension and wheels into the chevy as well. Not sure if I'll make a Toyota or not. Not really any toyota drivers I like so.

special thanks to Linus for testing, feedback, and steering code, Musraskrois for testing and feedback, lieutenantSOT for his testing and feedback, and kerbango for his help with text labels. Thanks bros!

keep looking to the stars