Is NASCAR Playing With Fire? What Can Be Done About the “Approval Process” Before It Becomes a Recipe for Disaster

The 2025 NASCAR season has been a season of controversy. Whether it was scandals or penalties, season as usual has been riddled with controversies, another has taken center stage, and this one has everyone questioning just one thing. At the pinnacle of the sport, why is this even a question?

NASCAR has become the target of allegations and accusations, this time with inconsistencies in its driver approval process. Who should be allowed to race at the top of the stock car racing world, and who should not be given a chance to race in the Cup Series? From Katherine Legge and Helio Castroneves to Mike Wallace and Casey Mears or Kimi Raikkonen and Jensen Button, NASCAR’s decisions behind who gets to race in the Cup Series have given rise to the latest controversy in the racing world.

On one hand, allowing world-class drivers to participate in the sport gives rise to exciting storylines and injects fresh talent into the series. NASCAR, which is big only in America needs fans and interest from people from around the globe, to become a household name and rise from the viewership slump it found itself in.

“They’re trying to get eyeballs on the sport and they want to say yes to everything because they want as many storylines as possible…But there are diminishing returns on those storylines when there’s a negative narrative around that driver’s appearance. So I am sympathetic to NASCAR from that standpoint,” said Justin Marks, owner of Trackhouse Racing.

Drivers like Helio Castroneves, Katherine Legge, and Kimi Raikkonen have proven their mettle in different racing series and have fans around the world. NASCAR could use the spotlight that these drivers driving in this series put on the sport.

We all know these drivers are world-class and have proven their worth in racing. We know they have the skills and the results to back up their claim to drive in NASCAR, so why not allow them to run? If you have talent and you can back it up and control these stock car monsters, then come on in. Supercar racing legend, Shane van Gisbergen is a perfect example of this, who showed the world that he has what it takes by winning the Chicago race on his NASCAR debut.

“We don’t live in a black-and-white world…[It’s better] for us to have some flexibility to make decisions. … If you put it as, ‘You’ve got to do XYZ or ABC to be able to do this,’ you may not see an SVG,” said Elton Sawyer, Senior Vice President of Competition, talking about the flexibility that NASCAR provides to allow racers from different racing series around the world, instead of being rigid in their selection.

While success stories such as SVG and the rise in interest a global superstar has in the sport make sense, what doesn’t is the inconsistencies in the driver approval process shown by NASCAR. Cup Series legend, Mike Wallace who has more than 800 NASCAR starts to his name, was not allowed to take part this season at Daytona due to his 10-year gap in oval racing, while Casey Mears with 596 starts was approved even though he has not raced in NASCAR for 9 years. These inconsistencies in officiating have led NASCAR to paint a target on their backs.

While some people like Elton Sawyer were in support of flexibility in allowing outside racers to drive in NASCAR, fans and drivers were not sold on this, believing letting drivers with no experience or preparation is a recipe for disaster. As was proven by Katherine Legge on her NASCAR Cup Series debut at Phoenix where she was lapped multiple times and spun out twice, once on her own and again taking out Daniel Suarez with her.

Daniel Suarez, who was initially critical, but later was emphatic of Legge and her situation said, “I believe she got set up for failure…It doesn’t matter if you’re a great driver or a bad driver — if you’re thrown into one of the most difficult series in the world to be competitive, that’s not fair. I was more disappointed in NASCAR than her. I hope she gets another opportunity.”

Suarez’s comments rang true, Legge is not a green behind-the-ears rookie who has no experience in racing. The British driver has a wealth of racing experience in different racing series such as IndyCar, IMSA, Formula E, NASCAR Xfinity Series, and many more. But was unable to perform in the Cup Series. And it’s not just Legge, Helio Castroneves, an IndyCar legend, made his NASCAR debut at Daytona. But even after all that experience, it was a debut to forget with Castroneves unable to perform and later crashing out of the race.

“Even though he’s a world-class driver … running in NASCAR is just different than any other discipline,” Suarez said on Castroneves’ debut in the NASCAR in the same team as Suarez, Trackhouse Racing, a frontrunner in the Cup Series grid. And it’s not just Suarez, other drivers were also critical of NASCAR and its driver approval process with the reigning champion Joey Logano leading the charge.

What’s the solution?

“No NASCAR drivers are currently eligible for a super license, “nor should we be, because we’ve never driven anything like that…I don’t think it would be right to throw me in an F1 race without racing one before and giving me 20 minutes of practice…I’m going to be in the way because I don’t know what the heck I’m doing…The same thing for them though, right? If you’ve never driven a stock car, should you just jump in a Cup car with 20 minutes of practice and line up and race?” said Logano when asked about his opinion on the drivers from other racing series participating in NASCAR.

Other motorsports like Formula 1 only allow drivers that have the ‘super license’ to drive in the series, and that can only be obtained by driving and performing in similar cars at junior levels. A system that is not there in NASCAR, with it allowing drivers to take part at the top level who have no experience of oval racing.

With this latest controversy, NASCAR found itself at a crossroads, to avoid situations like Katherine Legge and Helio Castroneves, NASCAR needs to put a system in place that allows only drivers with experience to take part in the race, but if they do that they risk missing out on the exposure that world-class drivers bring to the sport or miss out on the talent such as SVG. 

How NASCAR can find its way out of the hole that find themselves in, only time will tell. Do they need to implement a Formula 1-like super license system or do they need to increase the times that drivers get to practice the art of oval racing? One thing’s for sure NASCAR needs to hit the sweet spot between safety and entertainment.