Miller Lites No. 2

NASCAR is the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. Keyword in that: stock.

Year by year, America’s top sanctioning body has worked on improving the showroom appearance of all of their vehicles.

Starting with the Nationwide Series cars in the summer of 2010, NASCAR has slowly been achieving its goal. Replacing the aero-designed and fully tubed shaped racecars with zero identification to their dealership counterparts was quite a challenge. One by one, they became unveiled. Chevrolet’s Impala, Toyota’s Camry, Ford’s Mustang, and my favorite of them, Dodge’s Challenger. These racecars were fast, and they looked like street cars. Is there a better feeling as a race fan than knowing you can get a street car that looks just like what your hero drives at the race track? I think not!

NASCAR took their second big step in early 2012, when the first of the Generation 6 ‘Gen 6’ Sprint Cup machines were shown to the public. And across the racing world, jaws were dropped. They had met the same criteria as the Nationwide Series bodies by mimicking the street cars, and like the Nationwide cars, they were fast. Too fast, actually. The first shakedown for the new style racecars came in 2012 when NASCAR realized that these cars were going far too fast. A few engine and aero modifications later: Here we are with the Gen 6 car we are all familiar with.

So at this point, by the end of the 2013 season, we have stock looking Sprint Cup and Nationwide cars. Good, right? Not a chance. We’re still missing one — the Camping World Trucks.

Over the last few seasons, the Camping World Trucks have put on some of the most incredible racing out of all the series, but the problem matched the first two: there was no brand identity. After working on the top two national touring series, it was time for the Truck Series overhaul. And overhauled they were. Their first test came at Daytona, where they scored an A+. The trucks looked fantastic, and to my surprise, they were blistering fast, completely obliterating the previous record at the 2.5 mile speedway.

The entire process was five years in the making, but in the end, was it worth the time? Absolutely, it was.