Rick Hendrick gives new insight into new Chevy NASCAR body design

Next season, Chevy is going to have a new NASCAR Cup Series body, and Rick Hendrick says it will be better than the current design. With Ford and Toyota changing over for the 2024 season with new bodies, Chevy has been a little bit behind, until now.

There should be a new Chevy body reveal very soon. General Motors is going to try to give its Cup Series teams a car that can compete with the Ford Mustang Dark Horse and the Toyota Camry XSE.

We saw that there were struggles with the new body designs at first with Toyota and Ford. So, growing pains are to be expected. Still, it appears that Rick Hendrick is eager to get his new cars.

“Well, I think our guys, along with GM, have worked on this, and it’s supposedly better than what we’ve got,” Hendrick told Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “So, closer to what Toyota and Ford have. They had a shot at the apple, you know, taking our car and getting their car better.

“So next year, we gotta learn the car, it won’t be perfect right out of the gate. I’m super excited about the power, more power, and I’m excited about having a new car that we can work with that’s got a little more downforce.”

While Hendrick Motorsports has been winning races, it is notable that maybe they aren’t winning as many races. Chevy is going to get a new body on the track, I’m not sure what the branding will be otherwise, but it’s going to be an improvement.

Hearing Rick Hendrick say the NASCAR Chevys will have more downforce is really the first thing we’ve heard about the cars. It is also very obvious that the downforce would be an improvement, given what we’ve seen from Ford and Toyota.

Chevy putting new design in NASCAR Cup Series

So, we know that the Camaro is dead. This year, the Chevy NASCAR Cup and Xfinity teams ran what were zombie Camaros. The model is no longer in consumer production, and this year was out of NASCAR production, too. Well, technically. The ZL1 branding was still on the Chevy cars

GM and Chevy don’t have a lot of models that would make sense to make a NASCAR “stock car.” But then again, that’s why other people are in charge of that and not me. Whatever Chevy puts on the track will have a direct consumer comparison. That’s the whole point of stock car racing, after all. Sell cars.

More downforce next season could give the Chevys the edge they need. Perhaps the change for Ford and Toyota is what has held teams like Trackhouse and Richard Childress Racing back. 2022 and 2023 were great seasons for those organizations. At least, they were able to win on a regular basis. Since 2024, I think both of those organizations have had setbacks in many ways on the track.

Will the new Chevy in NASCAR give Kyle Busch what he needs in the car to compete again? Hard to tell right now, but don’t give up hope yet, Rowdy fans.