AI has been taking almost every landscape by storm, and now it seems to have penetrated NASCAR’s board—a sport that has traditionally been about human innovation, optimization, and just pure driver instinct. NASCAR could now possibly be looking into a future where AI will be making decisions for the whole sport.

NASCAR’s bigwigs at the top have gone ahead with a decision that will either make it or break it for them. Their latest move of getting into artificial intelligence as a potential master tool to reconfigure the sport’s format has put the executives under extreme scrutiny from fans. NASCAR’s Chief Operating Officer Steve O’Donnell recently made a statement about the board’s keen interest in using AI to predict the impact of potential “tweaks” to the playoff system. These potential “tweaks” were mentioned by NASCAR President Steve Phelps after the controversial win of Joey Logano this year. However, this announcement regarding AI has left the fans fuming and has intensified ongoing tensions between NASCAR leadership and its frustrated fanbase.

The statement by O’Donnell, posted on X, read: “When we created… playoff format, you did that with the best data…and best minds you had. But now… being able to plug in and work with AI in terms of, ‘OK, if you tweak the playoffs this way, what should we be watching out for?’… I think it’s going to be very helpful.” At a point when NASCAR’s decline over the years from over-complicating its system has alienated its fans, NASCAR has come out and said they will be taking AI’s help to reconfigure it.

Although the statement was made in a positive light for the betterment of the sport, it just goes on to show how much NASCAR has ignored its fans’ feedback over the years. This underscores a growing disconnect between NASCAR and its core audience. Since the death of Dale Earnhardt two decades ago, the sport has been spiraling out of relevancy.

One major contributing factor was the introduction of “The Chase” format, which ruined the traditional motorsport foundation of the sport. The playoff system has been under scrutiny since its first introduction. But they didn’t just stop there. The top branch of NASCAR has been making bad decisions one after another, taking into account the addition of the “stage” concept in races and the highly debated “Charter System” to the introduction of “Next Gen cars.” The reasons put forth by NASCAR for these decisions may have looked good on paper, but they never seemed to materialize into their true purpose. Many argue these changes prioritize entertainment value over competitive fairness, which ruined it for the traditional motorsport viewer.

The statement, when it came out in public, opened a whole Pandora’s box, with fans now getting up in arms, scrutinizing O’Donnell.

Fans react to O’Donell’s statement

In the comment section of the tweet, the fans were quick to set things in motion. One major highlight of the responses was the frustration of fans with the sheer ignorance shown by NASCAR towards their loyal fanbase. The conflict between the fans and NASCAR has been growing since 2004, the year “The Chase” was first introduced. The constant alienation has been evident since, and now with the decision to take feedback from AI, fans are enraged. As one fan wrote: “Or you could just listen to the fans who you have been ignoring for two decades?” Another took a dig, saying: “20 bucks says the AI is gonna tell them the exact same thing the fans have been saying since 2019.”

NASCAR’s current functioning format is far removed from any other racing motorsport. The sport has turned corporate and has been commercialized to the core, which never actually translated to anything meaningful. Fans have always been critical of many of these changes, including the format, the introduction of charters, and other rule changes. Taking a dig at these systems, one fan wrote: “I asked ChatGPT, and it agreed a season-long champion is the only true and fair way,” implying that the traditional points system is the way forward.

Another fan said: “I wonder if AI would be more consistent on when to throw a caution,” pointing out the flawed and inconsistent rulebook. But one fan, out of pure dissatisfaction, wrote: “The Next Gen era is even worse than the 550 era. I’m not even kidding. I can’t wait to see Cindric win the 2025 title with a 23.5 average finish and b——-ting into the Final Four because NASCAR wanted a plate race in the F8, and happens to have a ‘competitive advantage’ at one track.” The fan referred to Logano’s win in 2024, with an average finish of below lower than 15th place. They believe he won simply by winning in the final few races.

It’s not like NASCAR is unaware of the criticism—they are reminded of it every day. But the problem that infuriates fans most is NASCAR’s absolute stubbornness to change anything about it. In 2021, NASCAR had infamously called their fan criticisms “bots,” which sparked huge outrage. Making a sly comment in connection to that, one fan wrote: “Flat out refusing to listen to fans but will listen to AI is extremely infuriating. Who’s the bot now?”

The hatred fans have for the current leadership is evident in all their tweets. NASCAR COO Steve O’Donnell has always been a punching bag for fans to vent their frustrations. This was made clear when one fan said: “Steve O’Donnell is an idiot,” while another wrote: “Has this hump done one good thing for this sport?” Aiming for the entire executive branch, one fan commented: “NASCAR has the stupidest leadership.” The most noted and sophisticated comment in this whole saga came from a fan who wrote: “Once again, Steve fails to identify the root cause… The Chase is a gimmick, and has been since its inception. By design, it is an artificial mechanism purely designed to create ‘entertainment’ at the sake of true competition. The hubris by NASCAR and Steve is reprehensible.”

While NASCAR’s decision to optimize their sport with the help of AI is an interesting step in attempting to improve the sport, the backlash from fans underscores a major issue: Trust. NASCAR needs to figure this out soon. Burning bridges will only go on to make their fans hate them more, so it only makes sense for them to take into account the feedback from their most valuable asset: the Fans.