Ever since its formation more than 70 years ago, NASCAR has remained at the forefront of motorsports racing in the United States. For decades, some of the biggest and most successful drivers in the world have come from or ended up in stock car racing.

But while the sport has been at the forefront of the racing scene, has it been at the forefront of automobile innovation as well? Like, for instance, do the cars in NASCAR feature the top of the line, smooth and efficient automatic transmission?

Do NASCAR cars have automatic transmission?

The answer to that question is no, the Cup Series cars do not feature an automatic transmission.

Instead, for decades, they’ve used four-speed manuals in an era of seven-speed automatics or even ten-speed automatics. This is mainly because of tradition and philosophy.

The thing is, the four-speed manual or the ‘H’ shift gearbox was the right way to go for NASCAR dating all the way back to the 50s. It never required to be changed because it was delivering what was being asked of it.

Also, NASCAR not only focuses on ‘stock car’ racing, but it focuses on ‘racing’ instead of trying to revolutionize the automotive landscape.

Yet as with all things in life, NASCAR is trying to move forward in order to modernize, to improvise, to adapt, and to take the next step with its new car in 2022.

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The change with Next Gen

With the Next Gen cars, the transmissions are also changing. But before the fans of the automatic begin cheering, the gears are still remaining manual. Still, there’s a big change.

Because in the Next Gen car, the transmission featured will be a five-speed sequential, six if you count the reverse. While all the previous generations of cars had a manual attached to the rear of the engine along with a steel driveshaft and a solid rear axle, the Next Gen will feature all of these components as one piece; the transaxle.

Not only does the transaxle reduce the overall weight of the car, but it also takes less space. So this will allow the driver to sit more towards the center of the car, increasing safety in an occurrence of a T-Bone collision.

The P1334 transmission in the new car, being a sequential, will only allow the drivers to shift gears one at a time.

And the transmission is just one of the several changes NASCAR is introducing with the Next Gen.

So let’s see how the fans and, most importantly, the drivers like the new car in the new season, of what undoubtedly is to be, a new era of stock car racing.

Also Read: EXPLAINED: Dale Earnhardt Jr Reveals Why NASCAR Cars Have Imitation Headlights