The car that wins the 2022 Daytona 500 will have a different kind of shelf life.
NASCAR temporarily will abandon its tradition of displaying the Daytona 500-winning car at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Museum, which is located outside Daytona International Speedway, according to Motorsport.com’s Nick DeGroot. Rather than leaving the car for Hall of Fame visitors to admire, the winning team will return it to its shop following the celebratory breakfast and prepare to race it again.
“With the introduction of the Next Gen car, teams can’t afford to lose one of their race cars for the entire year,” DeGroot explained. “Supply chain issues, limited parts and delays in development have forced NASCAR to change how things are done, at least just for 2022.”
That makes sense.
NASCAR has devised a novel way of commemorating this year’s Daytona 500 victor at the Hall of Fame, as Degroot explains.
“NASCAR will scan the winning car and create an identical wrap of the paint scheme — confetti and all,” he wrote. “The wrap will be placed on the body of a Next Gen prototype used in testing and be placed in the display as a substitute.”
The motorsports world expects supply chain issues to ease by this time next year, which would allow the 2023 Daytona 500-winning team to house its champion car for the customary one-year period at the Hall.
