“He Likes to Talk Before Anything’s Out There”- NASCAR’s All-Electric Superstar Calls Out Dana White Amidst Secretive Alliance

NASCAR, in today’s day and age of sustainability, is having a hard time keeping up with the consumer market. One that is shifting its stance from combustion engines to electric motors. While the fans have not been receptive to the idea, from the financial standpoint and longevity of the sport, NASCAR has been working behind the scenes, to find a middle ground to this growing concern.

NASCAR has remained tight-lipped about any such project, but UFC President Dana White has spilled the beans on a potential project that can help the sport sort out the current dilemma. In an optimal scenario, this news wasn’t supposed to come out. But now that the genie is out of the bottle, Travis Pastrana explained how Nitrocross would aid NASCAR in stepping into EV territory. It includes potential changes to the race car engines, in collaboration with the manufacturers.

What an alliance between Nitrocross and NASCAR could result into

According to a report by Racer, both parties have been in discussion behind the scenes for months now. The initial assessment of this partnership was that NASCAR could kickstart its EV journey with a takeover of Nitrocross. Or the team at Nitrocross would help NASCAR launch its own all-electric racing series, but that’s not the case.

Rather, the Nitrocross is helping find NASCAR a footing in the new market. It is indeed hard to single out an electric series that has been an outright success, at least not something on the level of NASCAR, Formula 1, or IndyCar. However, a potential partnership with Nitrocross could help identify the space to roll out its EV initiative.

Former NASCAR driver and founder of Nitrocross, Travis Pastrana, has now opened up about the new project after White’s recent comments. “[White] wasn’t supposed to [talk about it] either, but he likes to talk before anything’s out there.” He did try to refrain from speaking about the new development, but he did share insights on what a potential alliance between NASCAR and Nitrocross would look like.

“Ben Kennedy (NASCAR’s director of Racing Development and Strategy), all the guys…they’re definitely looking into seeing how they can bring in a younger audience, make electric cool, and what they can do with the manufacturers, and Dana’s got some answers for them.” It’s not that NASCAR hasn’t tried its hand at rolling out an EV race car, but any attempts of sorts haven’t yielded concrete results just yet.

Here’s why NASCAR is aggressively pushing its EV initiative

It’s no secret that NASCAR, in the last several years, has been trying to attract new OEMs to bring in more cash and financial muscle to the sport. As things stand, there are only three OEM partners, Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota. Honda and Dodge have been rumored to join NASCAR, but any such talks have not surfaced on the radar.

One of the key factors for a manufacturer to enter NASCAR would be a sustainable business prospect. While NASCAR’s motto “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” was a good incentive for any new partners to join, that seems to have lost a wheel or two in recent years. Especially with consumers now looking towards sustainable car purchases and going the EV route.

NASCAR COO, Steve O’Donnell, back in 2022, highlighting the importance of the EV project, stated, “It was part of the reason we went to the Next-Gen platform was to driver interest. As you know, there’s a huge push for electrification and where’s that going and how would that fit in with where our platforms is. So it’s one of the reasons we’re open to that as well, to attract new OEMs.”

NASCAR did plan to roll out its new prototype EV race car during the Busch Light Clash at the start of the season, but rain delays spoiled the big showcase event. Since then, the governing council has been mute regarding the work on the prototype race car. And that could not see daylight, given their new under-the-wraps project with Nitrocross in the plans.