In addition, the Next Gen is designed to lower costs and attract new original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to compete with Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota.

[1][3] The prototype, built by Richard Childress Racing using a generic body, was tested for the first time on October 8–9 by driver Austin Dillon at Richmond Raceway.

[1][14] John Probst, NASCAR's senior vice president of racing innovation, commented that the "P3" prototype Byron tested was nearly 100 percent of the final product.

A handful of manufacturers, teams, and drivers alike indicated their hope for the debut of the car to be postponed one year to 2022 as a result of the lost testing time.

[20] NASCAR officially confirmed these reports on April 2, 2020, and the car's debut was pushed back a year to allow for enough testing time after the postponement of all events through May.

[2] On August 17, NASCAR announced that testing of the Next Gen would resume at Dover International Speedway with Cole Custer on August 18–19, while another prototype, built by Action Express Racing, was tested at the Daytona road course with Felipe Nasr driving the day after the Daytona road course events.

[25] On April 1, Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota, brought prototypes of their Next Gen cars to Martinsville Speedway for testing alongside NASCAR's evaluation of Goodyear's wet-weather tires.

[29] NASCAR conducted further testing at Texas Motor Speedway on July 27–28, with Justin Allgaier in the Chevrolet, David Ragan in the Ford, and Drew Herring in the Toyota.

[33] Three days later, NASCAR announced the schedule of the Next Gen's testing before the 2022 season: November 17–18 at Charlotte, December 14–15 at Phoenix, and January 11–12 at Daytona.

[34] On October 26, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, and Bowyer tested the Next Gen at Bowman Gray Stadium for Goodyear to determine the tires to use at the 2022 Busch Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

[35] On October 27, Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports reported that Stewart Friesen would test the Next Gen at Wythe Raceway in Rural Retreat, Virginia to determine the tires to use for the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol.

[44] NASCAR unveiled the Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Ford Mustang GT, and Toyota Camry TRD at The Park Expo in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 5, 2021, with Chase Elliott, Logano, and Hamlin representing their respective brands during the event.

6 driven by Brad Keselowski, was suspended for four races and fined US$100,000 for an L2 penalty during post-race inspection after the 2022 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta.

34 car driven by Michael McDowell, was suspended for four races and fined US$100,000 for an L2 penalty during post-race inspection after the 2022 M&M's Fan Appreciation 400 at Pocono.

[56] The Next Gen made its official debut at the 2022 Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum in Los Angeles, with Logano winning the exhibition race.

[62] On March 17, 2022, NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports announced they would field a Next Gen Camaro ZL1 1LE at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans as a special Garage 56 entry, with former crew chief Chad Knaus assigned as the program manager.

This marked the first time a NASCAR stock car ran at Le Mans since 1976, when a Dodge Charger driven by Hershel McGriff and his son Doug ran for two laps, and a Ford Torino owned by Donlavey Racing and driven by Dick Brooks, Dick Hutcherson, and Marcel Mignot retired after 104 laps.

[68] On November 14, the Garage 56 prototype made its test run at Virginia International Raceway, with veteran Le Mans driver and 2010 LMP1 and overall champion Mike Rockenfeller behind the wheel.

[87] The entire NASCAR community has praised the car for its durability, as it has shown that it can take big hits without suffering day-ending damage.

[citation needed] In July 2024, NASCAR gave teams the option to add lifters on the rear dampers, allowing the cars to be raised off the ground for safety crews to tow them back to pit road.

[97] During the first two races of 2022, drivers lost several laps after experiencing tire failures, as the new wheels lack inner liners and the cars sit lower to the ground, rendering them unable to drive back to pit road.

[106] Prior to the 2022 GEICO 500 at Talladega, several teams failed inspection; it was revealed that the high temperatures and the brightness of the sun caused the Lexan windshields to expand.

[110] Following the 2022 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, safety concerns began to focus more on rear-end impacts, as drivers complained they were the most painful to sustain during a crash.

[115] At the same race, several teams suffered tire failures, which was explained by Harvick's crew chief Rodney Childers as due to practice of teams running lower tire pressures than Goodyear suggested in pursuit of speed due to restrictions on suspension shock travel in the new car,[116] and Alex Bowman suffered from a concussion after a minor rear impact crash, further increasing safety concerns of the car.

[119] Denny Hamlin has called for NASCAR to redesign the Next Gen from scratch, as he believed there was no feasible way to solve the safety issues of the car's current iteration.

[122] During the overtime lap of the 2023 GEICO 500, Kyle Larson's car was t-boned by Ryan Preece in a collision triggered by Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson.

The wreck collapsed Larson's passenger side roll cage, described by race winner Kyle Busch as "brick getting rammed into a stick of butter".

[124] The results of NASCAR’s investigation led them to make changes to the front clip of the car, initially giving teams the option to remove the V brace under the hood ahead of the 2023 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.

[125] However, despite these changes, with nine laps remaining in the race, Michael McDowell went airborne and nearly flipped in front of the field, but set back down onto its wheels.

A few laps later, Josh Berry endured a similar crash to LaJoie’s, in which his car went airborne and landed upside down before colliding with the SAFER barrier of the inside wall, then continuing to spin on its roof.