NASCAR is not trying to switch to electric CUVs

I don’t think NASCAR should keep sending EVP/chief racing development officer John Probst out to talk to people. Not because of the job he does, but because of how allergic all NASCAR people outside the building are to talking about the future, which is his job.

He gave a fairly interesting and wide-ranging interview to Sports Business Journal’s Adam Stern recently which had the NASCARverse convinced that he was about to replace stock cars with electric crossover utility vehicles in the O’Reilly Series. That is not what he said, and that is not what NASCAR is going to do.

Every time Probst’s work becomes public, everybody thinks he’s working on some kind of Illuminati plot to destroy the tradition of American racing. What he is actually doing is preparing the sport for future contingencies, which is what businesspeople who are not idiots do.

As NASCAR has now had to clarify, this electric CUV body — just like the whole “Gold Codes” plan for NASCAR to operate the cars itself if the team owners revolted — is preparation to respond to threats. It’s not like NASCAR wants to utterly transform its cars; that’s expensive. It’s that NASCAR wants to continue to exist if the auto industry stops making sedans or something — which could definitely happen! It is Probst’s job to be ready to make NASCAR still sound like fun if it’s forced into that world instead of being caught in perma-2003 and going out of business. Fans should be glad he’s doing this.