PicoBlog

This weekend I attended my first NASCAR race. 

For those unaccustomed to a race day, NASCAR is an experience. The main attraction of Dover International Speedway, the race I attended, is a one-mile oval loop, with dozens of cars racing at speeds of over 150 miles per hour. 

For a self-proclaimed climate guy, NASCAR should be the antithesis of everything I stand for: cars burning rubber and fuel (getting, on average, four miles/gallon) for sport. But beyond that, NASCAR is an opportunity for climate action, notably because of its popularity and its relationship with cars. 

NASCAR is unique because at its heart is an object of great familiarity: Whereas other sports center on balls and bats and goals and hoops — objects we rarely use in our daily routines — NASCAR centers on cars, a staple of the American lifestyle. 

A NASCAR race, then, is essentially a celebration of the car — a sort of car show on steroids. And every week, nearly 4 million viewers tune in to watch the show. But what if NASCAR used this show to shape the country’s perceptions of driving and, in particular, electric vehicles? 

An electric NASCAR race sounds like an oxymoron. After all, part of the experience of a NASCAR race is its roaring engines, whose violent attacks on eardrums are a flagrant reminder that the low hum of an EV will never cut it here. 

But other sports have changed for the better: Football has added helmets, baseball has added replay, and basketball has added three-point lines. As gas-powered cars go the way of the dinosaur, NASCAR can not only change but speed up the transition to EVs by electrifying all its vehicles.

Unfortunately, NASCAR’s greening efforts have largely been limited to half-solutions like ethanol, an organic compound derived from crops. NASCAR, rather than electrify its vehicles, has adopted the wide use of “Green E15,” a blend of gasoline and 15% ethanol.  

• NASCAR’s green plan also ignores EVs, instead offering a vague commitment to the “development of a sustainable racing fuel,” or presumably gasoline with higher doses of ethanol. 

But ethanol is anything but sustainable. After the EPA last year increased the volume of biofuels required in transportation fuel, Dan Lashof, U.S. director of World Resources Institute, released this statement:

“We know converting crops to fuel is a disaster for the planet. It increases emissions, raises food prices and is a terrible use of prime farmland… Instead of creating policies that prop up climate-warming biofuels, the United States should be focused on investing in electrifying vehicles and powering them with zero-emissions electricity as quickly as possible.”

An all-electric race isn’t unheard of. Across the pond, Formula E, the world’s premier electric car race, used the rising popularity of Formula-1 racing as an opportunity to normalize electric vehicles. 

If NASCAR did something similar, it could accelerate the wide adoption of EVs among its largely conservative fanbase.

• A 2023 Gallup poll found that 71% of Republicans would not consider buying an EV, compared with 17% of Democrats. 

As I wrote in February, electric vehicles are falling out of favor, largely because of American concerns about price, driving range, and charging availability. But NASCAR brings something else to the forefront: the human connection between drivers and their cars. 

By endorsing EVs, NASCAR can preserve the enduring legacy of the car and its sport, without sacrificing the pure speed and adrenaline rush that defines race day. Along the way, it can become the world’s most popular all-electric race, propelling the U.S. to the number-one manufacturer of EVs. 

And as Ricky Bobby says, if you ain’t first, you’re last.

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