The King has spoken.
NASCAR legend Richard Petty was answering viewer questions on the latest edition of his the Petty Race Recap YouTube show this week and shared his thoughts on the electric NASCAR race car prototype that was during the Chicago Street Race weekend.
The car is built on the NASCAR Next Gen chassis, but features a crossover SUV-style body and a 1,300 horsepower electric all-wheel-drive system.
The car ran a couple of demonstration laps on the street circuit.
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NASCAR said it has no current plans to launch a racing series for it, but that it may draw some ideas from the project for future endeavors.
“I don’t think we’re ever gonna see that,” the 87-year-old Petty said, alongside his co-host Dale Inman. “Me and Dale’s not gonna live long enough to see electric cars in NASCAR.”
However, Petty thinks hybrids could find their way into the mix.
“They might be one of those kind of a deals that have electric cars and gas together in the same car, and maybe like on caution flags and stuff they might use the electric motor to try to save gas. There’ll be some strategy on that.”
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Employing electric power under caution is something Kyle Busch recently said he’d been told is under consideration.
The Next Gen platform was designed to be flexible and accommodate a variety of powertrain options and recent reports say that NASCAR’s efforts to bring a fourth engine manufacturer into the mix hinges on developing a hybrid solution.
Kevin Harvick spoke about the electric NASCAR prototype on his podcast this week and is not into it at all.
He said the thinks the project was a political move and that the manufacturers are no longer interested in supporting it.
“There is no future for NASCAR electric vehicle racing,” he said, although he also acknowledged that hybrids are a possibility.
Nevertheless, the former Ford-sponsored said that he bought an electric Ford F-150 Lightning to see what the fuss is about and is ready to sell it.
“That thing’s out the door soon.”
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