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General Motors to open technical center in Charlotte area

General Motors

General Motors announced Thursday plans to open a new technical center dedicated to performance and racing in Concord, North Carolina.

With the Charlotte Technical Center, GM will join Toyota and Ford, NASCAR’s other two manufacturers in having a tech center in the Charlotte area.

Toyota’s facility is in Salisbury and Ford’s is in Concord. Chevrolet does have a simulator facility located in Huntersville.

GM’s 75,000-square-foot facility is expected to open in the middle of this year.

According to a press release, GM’s facility will focus on “transferring knowledge and resources from the racing programs to core vehicle engineering” and will eventually “house future technology and engineering development capabilities.”

“We’re thrilled to expand GM’s U.S. footprint by establishing a greater presence in Charlotte, a community that has become a racing and engineering mecca,” Jim Campbell, Chevrolet’s U.S. vice president of performance and motorsports, said in the press release. “The new facility will be close to a number of key Chevrolet and Cadillac racing partners, teams and suppliers. This will allow for improved collaboration as well as access to some of the industry’s best talent.”

The facility will feature Driver-in-the-Loop simulators, vehicle simulation, aero development and other practices designed to advance racing and production capabilities.

In another area of development for Chevrolet, the 2020 class of the Drivers Edge Development program has been announced.

The program consists of driver who compete for GMS Racing and JR Motorsports.

This year’s six-member class includes returning members Sheldon Creed, Noah Gragson, Sam Mayer and Zane Smith – and the new additions of Tyler Ankrum and Connor Mosack.

Creed, Mayer, Ankrum and Smith will compete for GMS Racing in the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series this season.

Creed, Ankrum and Smith will race full-time. Mayer, 16, will compete part-time. He made three starts last year while running in the ARCA Menards Series East where he won the championship.

This will be Sheldon Creed’s second full-time truck season with GMS Racing.

Ankrum, the 2019 rookie of the year, drove for DGR-Crosley last year when it was under the Toyota banner.

Smith competed part-time for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series last year driving the No. 8 Chevrolet.

Gragson returns for a second full-time Xfinity season driving JRM’s No. 9 Chevrolet.

Mosack, 18, will race for JRM in a late model. In 2019, Mosack raced late models at Hickory Motor Speedway, finishing third in points and took top rookie honors. He earned seven top five and 25 top-10 finishes in 27 starts at the venue.