CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There’s a buzz about NASCAR and the season-opening Daytona 500 that has nothing to do with an exploding jet dryer or a well-timed tweet from a driver.

The new Gen-6 race car makes its long-awaited debut at Daytona International Speedway, and the success of the 2013 season could depend heavily on its performance. Already, things look good. After all, NASCAR’s most popular driver has given the Gen-6 a ringing endorsement.

“This sport is going to be revolutionized again with this car,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said after one of his first full test sessions in the car.

That’s the shot in the arm NASCAR is looking for after a 2012 season that saw the quality of the racing criticized at times. Long green-flag runs and a lack of cautions frustrated fans, and that irritated drivers who openly wondered if fans were more interested in wrecking than they were in racing.

Behind the scenes, NASCAR was

working hard on a new car that would replace the “Car of Tomorrow” after six years, and hopefully improve the on-track product.

It was welcome news to Earnhardt, who won 17 races in the “old” car but only two after the CoT was introduced during the 2007 season.

“I struggled with the old car,” he said. “I think the rest of the car is definitely a step back toward the old, original car we used to have. I think that’s going to benefit me in certain areas. The car is really exciting. I’m looking forward to it.”

So is NASCAR, which has worked with manufacturers and teams on both the look of the car and how it drives. The result is a car that resembles what the automakers sell in the showroom and a design that allows fans to tell if the car is a Chevrolet, Ford or Toyota. And just in case a fan wasn’t that car savvy, the drivers’ names and the manufacturer logo will all be on the windshield this year as NASCAR attempts to

make the car as big a star as the driver.

The car’s debut comes Saturday night at Daytona in the Sprint Unlimited exhibition race, where fans can vote on various elements of the race format. It has created interest in Speedweeks, which last year were remembered most for Juan Pablo crashing into a jet dryer loaded with fuel and Brad Keselowski tweeting about it during the lengthy delay to put out the fire and repair the charred track.

The fireball put the Daytona 500 in the mainstream spotlight, but the racing that followed failed to entertain a wider audience.

Keselowski was thrust onto the national stage with his well-timed tweets and he rode the wave all the way to his first Sprint Cup title. The win over five-time champion Jimmie Johnson was a breakthrough for Keselowski, who grabbed team owner Roger Penske his first title and proved the odd pairing of driver and owner had blossomed into an elite tandem.

Now everyone gets to see what Keselowski will do for an encore. NASCAR has forbidden him from using his phone in his car, and he’ll be hard pressed to outdo his beer-chugging live television interview minutes after clinching the championship.

Even harder will be defending his title as the Penske Racing organization left Dodge at the end of the year and goes into this season as a Ford team. Penske is no longer building its engines, and will now get them from Roush Yates as a customer of Ford’s flagship team.

“The move has gone very well so far,” said Penske President Tim Cindric.