ast year’s game was not unlike Junior’s limbo status between DEI and Hendrick this season. The title was just biding its time until its sweet new ride could be lined up. Now that the series is on next-gen systems, it can just mash the gas. How is this game on the restart? It’s a mix of first-year basics and interesting new ideas.

NASCAR 08’s Chase mode isn’t just the Chase for the Cup. Instead, it has you earn licenses (covering things like drafting, etc.) at different track types in order to earn contracts. These let you race real drivers’ cars, asking that you finish in the top 10, for instance. Complete a contract and that driver’s race setup will be available for you to take to races on the official season schedule. This slightly different take is a little odd since it lacks a connection to a single theme. You’re not really your own team since you’re racing other drivers’ cars (although you can re-brand them with your team colors) and yet you can’t drive for or take over an existing team. Then again, I applaud the team for taking a different approach to a racing game – something I’ve been dying for – and giving us more than just another sports title that is a slave to the real life schedule. You will be disappointed, however, if you’d rather play a career mode that lets you join Roush Racing, for example.

Tweaks are needed in the AI to better replicate competitors’ actions and racing lines, and I’d like to see some long-overdue additions (like user-controlled pit stops), but this game has got the feel of a stock car down pretty good – especially with about a billion ways to setup your car. It’s a mix of the new and familiar that shakes out to be a pretty fast restart.