Ryan Blaney Asserts NASCAR EV Series Isn’t Going “Replace the Cup Series” in His Lifetime

Ex-NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney asserted that EV racing won’t be part of the the elite division of the sport anytime soon.

Ryan Blaney Asserts NASCAR EV Series Isn’t Going “Replace the Cup Series” in His Lifetime

Ryan Blaney (via Imago)

One of the major topics of discussion over the last few years in NASCAR, since the introduction of the Next-Gen cars, has been the EV race cars and the potential of it becoming the part of the elite stock car racing series. 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney recently has given bold verdict on the future of NASCAR EV racing recently.

The sports’ R&D department has already developed an EV race car that was debuted last season and it is set to make a proper debut in this year’s Chicago race weekend. A Chevy, Ford and a NASCAR developed EV cars will be part of a 20 laps exhibition run during the race weekend. But despite all these, Ryan Blaney doesn’t think it is going to make a major change to the sport.

On his appearance in the Team Blaney Podcast this week, the Team Penske Racing driver asserted that he doesn’t see the Cup cars being replaced by EVs anytime in his life times despite the fact the cars are unique and there is limited downside to having them. The sport and the racing market isnt close to being ready for such a massive change.

Let me put everyone at ease. It’s not going to replace the Cup Series, like you said. It’s not going to do that. At least not in my lifetime… I think they’re unique. They’re neat. I don’t see a downside.

Ryan Blaney said via Team Blaney Podcast.

At the moment, all the manufacturers of the sport are trying to showcase their capabilities by fielding the EV cars. Though they want to have EVs in the top division, currently they are focussed on trying to balance electric and gas-powered cars. Hybrid machinery seems to the next step in racing, as many series including Formula 1 is taking that route.

Like, who cares that each manufacturer has one? It’s something that they can kind of show off and throw out there. They’re trying to balance the electric and gas-powered vehicles. You have to balance that out. So, I get their desire to want to have a race car. A Cup [Series] car like that.

Ryan Blaney added.

Racer David Ragan gives his verdict on significance of the EV project

Part-time NASCAR driver David Ragan has been at the forefront of the project since its beginning and has done multiple test-drives in the car. Hs is one of the drivers that is going to be part of the 20-lap run at Chicago. Talking about the EV racing aspect, he pointed out that NASCAR and OEMs are responding to the consumers demand with the show runs.

15. David Ragan
David Ragan

As the consumers start to buy more EVs, I think NASCAR sees a demand that the consumers want to see that car racing on the racetrack. And it is still a stock car series…. I see manufacturers coming out with new models and some pretty cars that they plan on selling a lot of in the future.

David Ragan said.

He pointed out the manufactures and NASCAR are working together on building the car, for the betterment of both. Ragen later asserted that there will be more NASCAR EV race cars will be produced in the next five years and it is going to have a massive impact on the sport.

So, it’s only appropriate that NASCAR learns what that might look like to help the manufacturers out. NASCAR certainly couldn’t do any kind of a series if it wasn’t for the manufacturer support… There are more EVs that are driven to NASCAR races today than there were five years ago, and I would think in five more years, there’s going to be a lot more.

David Ragan added.

The comments from Ryan Blaney and David Ragan shows the future of eV racing in NASCAR isn’t as imminent it is being seen by the fans. No Motorsports series other the series dedicated to electric cars is ready for the change and just like all of them NASCAR might be looking for a hybrid era.

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