With NASCAR’s R&D unit building its first electric vehicle, it is constantly meeting with incumbent and prospective OEMs. Probst said NASCAR is evaluating the potential of one day using its crossover utility vehicle EV in the second-tier O’Reilly Auto Parts series to give that division a better brand identity. It’s also planning to experiment with a hydrogen combustion engine in the next five years.
“There is certainly a needle to be threaded there along the line of entertainment and sport, and maybe you can even go beyond sport and just say pure engineering,” Probst said. “I think for us, I feel like we don’t need to be on the absolute bleeding edge of powertrain technology to be relevant to our OEMs and also be entertaining to our fans.”