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Why Coca-Cola 600 is one of NASCAR crown jewel races
Why Coca-Cola 600 is one of NASCAR crown jewel races

Yahoo

time24-05-2025

  • Automotive
  • Yahoo

Why Coca-Cola 600 is one of NASCAR crown jewel races

The Coca-Cola 600 is one of the four crown jewel races for the NASCAR Cup Series. These four races — the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, Brickyard 400 and Southern 500 — are the four more historic and prestigious races drivers aim to win every season. Advertisement The Coca-Cola 600 one of these crown jewel races for several reasons. Shop Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR tickets The first is the way NASCAR honors Memorial Day by honoring fallen soldiers on the drivers' windshields and a moment of silence halfway through the race. These are both rather new traditions for the race. On track, the Coca-Cola 600 is NASCAR's longest race. The race is 400 laps around the 1.5-mile oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway. When stage racing was introduced to NASCAR in 2015, the Coca-Cola 600 was broken up into four 100-lap stages. The racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway is exciting, as the track is one of the faster 1.5-mile tracks with 24-degree banking in the turns. Drivers usually have to lift slightly going into the corners but can get back into the gas rather quickly. Advertisement What started as the "World 600" in 1960, this race has some legendary winners, including Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Neil Bonnett, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne, among several others. The "Coca-Cola 600" name was officially put into place in 1986. Dale Earnhardt won that race. The 1985 race, won by Darrell Waltrip, was called the "Coca-Cola World 600." It's just about time to drop the green flag for the Coca-Cola 600, the second of four crown jewel races in NASCAR this season. Here's more information on the race. Shop Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR tickets What does Coca-Cola 600 winner get? Winning the Coca-Cola 600 solidifies a place in NASCAR history as a winner of one of the more important races of the yearly schedule. There are several other rewards for winning the race, including: Advertisement Bruton Smith Trophy: The 80-pound bronze trophy is shaped to look like a piston and has the Speedway Motorsports logo on top with a black marble base. It's one of the coveted trophies in NASCAR. White gold and diamond ring: The winner of the Coca-Cola 600 receives a 14-carat diamond ring featuring the Speedway Motorsports logo in the center. The side of the shank features a checkered flag with round brilliant-cut white and black diamonds with the Charlotte Motor Speedway logo. The opposite side of the shank features the Coca-Cola logo integrated with a cola bottle with round, brilliant-cut diamonds. Trip to Arlington National Cemetery: The winning driver and his family make a trip to Arlington National Cemetery. This includes laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and visiting the cemetery, paying their respects to fallen soldiers. Luxury watch: The winning driver of the Coca-Cola 600 is given a luxury watch to commemorate his win in NASCAR's longest night. Advertisement Fully functioning Coca-Cola vending machine: Yes, the winning driver of the Coca-Cola 600 is given a working Coca-Cola vending machine. The machine is a throwback to when the machines were first introduced in 1929. Last 10 winners of Coca-Cola 600 Some of NASCAR's best drivers have won the Coca-Cola 600, including several champions. Here are the last 10 winners. 2024: Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing 2023: Ryan Blaney, Team Penske 2022: Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing 2021: Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports 2020: Brad Keselowski, Team Penske 2019: Martin Truex Jr., Joe Gibbs Racing 2018: Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Advertisement 2017: Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing 2016: Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing 2015: Carl Edwards, Roush Fenway Racing Shop Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR tickets Who has most Coca-Cola 600 wins? Darrell Waltrip won the Coca-Cola 600 five times in his career, making him the winningest driver of the event. Hendrick Motorsports has 12 Coca-Cola 600 wins as a team, good for most all time. When is NASCAR Charlotte race? The Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Charlotte race is set for 5 p.m. CT on May 25 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina. What channel is NASCAR Charlotte race on? The Coca-Cola 600 will be broadcast on Amazon Prime with Adam Alexander, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the broadcast booth. Advertisement Shop Charlotte NASCAR tickets We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn't influence our coverage. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR Charlotte race: Why Coca-Cola 600 is crown jewel race

Dr. Diandra: Season's longest race tests man more than machine
Dr. Diandra: Season's longest race tests man more than machine

NBC Sports

time22-05-2025

  • Automotive
  • NBC Sports

Dr. Diandra: Season's longest race tests man more than machine

The nature of the Coca-Cola 600 has changed since its inaugural race in 1960. Back then, 600 miles was a test of mechanical endurance. Cars were set up so close to their failure points that DNFs – Did Not Finishes – were common. Why 600 miles? One reason manufacturers go racing is to prove that their cars are not only fast and sporty, but also reliable. The 600-mile Charlotte race started out as NASCAR's 24-hours of LeMans. So as we approach this year's marathon, let's examine the DNF rates and how they've changed over the years. The graph below shows DNF rates – the number of DNFs divided by the total number of cars – from 1960 to 2024. I've purposely not numbered the individual bars so you can better see the overall trends. I will, however, point out a few cases of interest. In the inaugural 1960 race, 70% of the 60 cars – that's 42 vehicles – didn't finish the race. Only 10 of those 42 DNFs (23.8%) were due to accidents. Six drivers (14.3% of all DNFs) were disqualified. That included Lee and Richard Petty, marking the only time and father and son were disqualified from the same race. The remaining 26 DNF drivers suffered equipment failure. Engine-related problems accounted for half of those failures. Only the winner – Joe Lee Johnson – finished on the lead lap, marking one of his two career Cup Series wins. He led just 48 of the 400 laps and took home $27,150. Second-place driver Johnny Beauchamp finished four laps down. While 70% is huge for a DNF rate, that first year didn't hold the record for long. In the 1966 race, 33 of the 44 cars (75%) failed to cross the finish line running. Only three (9.0%) of those DNFs were due to accidents. Engine-related failures accounted for 24 DNFs (72.7% of all DNFs) Only 11 drivers were on track for the race's final lap. Marvin Panch won, outpacing G. C. Spencer by two full laps. Taken as a whole, the Coca-Cola 600 rivals Daytona and Talladega for DNFs. Out of 66 races to date: Less than 50% of the field failed to finish in 15 races or 22.7%. Thirty-four races (51.5%) had a DNF rate of 30% or more. But the graph also shows that the DNF rate is overall decreasing over the years. If we consider only races from 1995 on: No race has had more than a 50% DNF rate. Only four races out of 30 (13.3%) have a 30% DNF rate or higher. In 24 of these races, more than 90% of the field finished the race running. There were even two years in which only one car failed to finish the race. In 2009, Mike Bliss' car retired with a vibration after just 42 laps. In 2021, Kurt Busch's car lost its engine after 139 laps. The highest DNF rate since 1992 is 45.9%, or 17 DNFs among 37 cars. That was the 2022 race – the first year of the Gen-7 car. Fifteen of the 17 DNFs were due to accidents, which includes drivers who failed to beat the Damaged Vehicle Policy clock. Two drivers (11.8% of the DNFs or 5.4% of the full field) had engine failures. Of the 20 drivers who finished the race, 17 finished on the lead lap. Denny Hamlin's margin of victory was 0.12 seconds, one of the closest finishes for the Coca-Cola 600. So while the DNF rate is comparable to some races from earlier times, the reasons for those DNFs have shifted significantly. For one, engine failures are much rarer these days, although Ryan Blaney has managed to have two of them this year already. One positive for drivers in this long of a race is that they have time to come back from penalties and mistakes if made early enough. In the 2022 race, Kyle Larson crew chief Cliff Daniels pointed out that they were not only the most penalized team (with three penalties), they also crashed and caught on fire. They finished in ninth place. On the other hand, the three drivers who combined to lead 143 out of 413 laps (34.6%) finished 15th, 25th, and 33rd. If there is one characteristic this marathon race has retained over the years, it is unpredictability. Consider, for example, recent margins of victory. Since 2001, the time difference between the leader and the second-place finisher has ranged from 0.027 seconds (Jimmie Johnson, 2005) to 10.2 seconds (Kasey Kahne, 2008). Margins of victory have been closer in the Gen-7 era: 0.119 seconds in 2022 and 0.663 seconds in 2023. Last year's race, of course, was cut short by rain and ended under the red flag. While we haven't seen any finishes as close as we've had with the previous two generations of car, we also haven't seen a driver run away with the race. So far. The race's unpredictability extends to the number of unplanned cautions. (Unplanned cautions exclude any caution known ahead of time, like stage break cautions and competition cautions.) The graph below shows how the number of cautions has varied over the last 24 years, from two in 2021 to 22 in 2005. That 2005 race was an exception, however. Before 2005, this race hadn't seen more than 14 cautions (in 1980.) That number includes all races that have numbers of cautions reported in Most races had between six to nine cautions. But Charlotte Motor Speedway 'levigated' (i.e. diamond ground) the track surface before the race. Drivers struggled just to keep their cars headed in the right direction. Multiple spins and accidents slowed the race – although the end provided an exciting, close finish. That makes the 2022 race, the first race with the Gen-7 car, the most cautions in a normal race. That race had 18 cautions for 90 laps, which means 21.7% of the race was run under caution. Three of those cautions were stage-end cautions. Of the 15 unplanned cautions, there were: Seven spins Seven accidents One debris caution It wasn't the longest race in terms of time, but it ran 619.5 miles, which makes it the longest NASCAR race in history by mileage. None of this data helps us predict what will happen this weekend. What I can say is that the Coca-Cola 600 has become more of a test of people than machines. Which pit crew can consistently pull off quick stops in a race that often has the most pitting of any in the season? Which driver can remain focused enough for four-plus hours to avoid making mistakes on pit road and dodge any on-track carnage? And how many fans will make it through the year's biggest day of racing without needing a nap at some point?

Richard Petty Rips Next Gen Car After Talladega
Richard Petty Rips Next Gen Car After Talladega

Yahoo

time29-04-2025

  • Automotive
  • Yahoo

Richard Petty Rips Next Gen Car After Talladega

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Richard Petty is a legend of the sport. When he speaks up, people listen, and he hasn't shied away from voicing his opinion on the current state of NASCAR. Earlier this season, the Hall of Famer called out Fox's TV coverage and even doubled down on his criticism saying the network's broadcast 'doesn't show the real race.' Advertisement Petty is once again expressing his candid opinion. This time, it's about the Next Gen car. On his weekly race recap video, the NASCAR legend was quick to share his thoughts on Talladega, calling it more of a 'happening' than a race. Richard Petty at the 2024 Daytona David Mercer-Imagn Images 'They happened to throw the green flag. Somebody threw the checkered flag and the No. 2 won the race. He just happened to be in front at that time,' he said. Petty continued to rip into the Next Gen car's racing product, saying, 'The cars just drive in a line and they just run. And they run and they run. Looked like a pace lap every time.' He speculated on what can be done to fix the car, although he doesn't have a clear answer. 'I don't know if it's the car's fault, the rule's fault, the driver's fault, the engine's fault, NASCAR's fault, I don't know,' Petty said. 'Would horsepower help anything? I don't know,' he continued. 'They got these cars so draggy that if a car's leading the race and a car comes up behind him with a good run on him, all he does is pull over and he just stops that car. Advertisement 'To me that's not racing. You can go out here and stand on the side of the interstate and watch cars go down the road. That's what it looked like. It looked like basically it was under a caution flag the entire time.' Petty is hopeful the fall Talladega race will be more exciting, concluding, 'Maybe NASCAR can figure out something to make it more interesting for the spectators.' Related: Richard Petty Calls Out Fox's Coverage and Says What Fans Have Been Saying for Years Related: Richard Petty Doubles Down on FOX Criticism, Calls Darlington A 'Pit Crew Race'

Why a NASCAR champ calls Richard Petty 'the greatest race car driver that ever lived'
Why a NASCAR champ calls Richard Petty 'the greatest race car driver that ever lived'

NBC Sports

time23-04-2025

  • Automotive
  • NBC Sports

Why a NASCAR champ calls Richard Petty 'the greatest race car driver that ever lived'

In more than 20 years in NASCAR, Brad Keselowski had never spent any significant time with Richard Petty until they traveled together April 7 to Washington, D.C., to visit with Congressional members of the National Motorsports Coalition. The time with Petty was eye-opening for Keselowski, who quizzed the seven-time Cup champion about his life and career. Keselowski explains what the time with Petty meant to him and why he calls Petty — who is tied with Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson for the most Cup titles — as the 'greatest race car driver that ever lived.' Keselowski on Petty: 'It was sometime over the year last year I was thinking about him and how special he is to our sport, really unique person, and I could get on a soapbox here because my personal opinion of Richard Petty is probably different than a lot of people's opinion of Richard Petty. 'I feel that Richard Petty is the greatest race car driver that ever lived. The reason why I feel that way is broader than just his persona, which is, I think, it's pretty cool. It's broader than his 200 wins. I think it connects back to something that makes racing very unique compared to other sports. 'It's the aspect of he raced in an era where the contemporaries he had that at least could win or were top-level drivers would, candidly, not make it out every year, and he himself multiple times barely made it out of big crashes. He had the one in Darlington, the couple in Daytona and not only did he survive those, but he kept racing. And he didn't just keep racing. He kept winning. (Original Caption) Richard Petty's arm hangs out the window of his Plymouth after the veteran stock car driver hit the retaining wall along the pits and took off on this airborne flight. Petty was taken to the hospital. Richard Petty's arm hangs out the window of his Plymouth after his car hit the retaining wall along the pits and took off in this 1970 crash at Darlington Raceway. (Photo: Bettmann Archive) 'Like nobody else can really claim that, at least not at the NASCAR level, maybe you could look at a Mario Andretti or somebody of that nature. So to me, there are drivers that are going to have amazing resumes of championships, amazing resumes of big race wins or total race wins, but he has the quintessential race car driver story of success, persona and guts. 'All three of those together are just, they're legendary. I don't think he gets enough credit for that, particularly nowadays when we become so stat based with everything. We forget just how impressive it is that this guy at one point in his career had won multiple races, multiple championships and been through crashes he that barely lived through, watched other people of similar nature die at races. After experiencing all of that, he got back in the car and won races and championships. DAYTONA BEACH, FL - JULY 4, 1984: Richard Petty recorded his 200th, and final, NASCAR Cup Series win at the 1984 Firecracker 400. (Photo by ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images) Richard Petty recorded his 200th, and final, NASCAR Cup Series win at the 1984 Firecracker 400 (ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images) 'There's nobody like that that I can put a finger on. So, I was thinking about that sometime last year. What I was really thinking about, 'Brad, what are the things in your life that you take entirely for granted that you're going to totally regret 10, 20, 30, 40 years from now?' 'And one of them as I was kind of making this mental list was I had access to Richard Petty and didn't do anything with it, like didn't get to know him, didn't get to build a relationship with him, which was entirely true up until I went on that trip (in April), for the last decade or more of my life. I was like, 'Man, I'm going to really regret that one day. I don't know when or how, but one day I'm going to really regret that. 'I remember making a mental note of that, not necessarily having an answer to it. And so when the opportunity came up to go to DC for the trip with NASCAR and the congressional committee and I saw his name was on the list, I was like, 'That's great, maybe I'll get to spend some time with him.' 'And just by complete happenstance, it ended up being that I was on the airplane with him. And I don't want to undersell (it). Toni Breidinger was on the plane with me and Rajah (Caruth) was on the plane with me, so they were there too. So it wasn't just Richard and I, but it was me sitting in front of Richard for three, I don't know, it may have been four or five hours. And just 'Tell me about this. Tell me about that. What was this like? What was that like? What was that like? How would you handle this? What's your opinion on that?' And it was awesome. 'I wish that we had the Google Glasses … I wish I was wearing them for that plane ride and pushed the record button. So, it was a real, real blessing, real treat. And I would extend that same thought to all of us in the room, what are the things that 10, 20 years from now are you going to say I wish I would've taken advantage of that opportunity and regret I didn't do it, and Richard was one of them. … He's got so many amazing stories and has lived a fullest of lives. He's lived 20 people's lives, right?' HAMPTON, GEORGIA - FEBRUARY 25: Legacy Motor Club co-owner and NASCAR Hall of Famer, Richard Petty walks the grid prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on February 25, 2024 in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by) Getty Images What stood out most about all that time with Petty that day? Keselowski said: 'I'm still blown away by the same thing, which is 'Richard, how did you get back in the car after winning all these races, championships, having two or three kids and after seeing the Ned Jarretts win and retire and the Fireball Roberts parish on the racetrack, like how did you endure? How did you keep going? 'Like how did you not just say, 'You know what, I made my money, I've got my farm, I've got my wife and kids, I'm just going to pack it up. How did you keep enduring and enduring at a high level? Because you could just keep enduring in the sense of I'm just going to keep racing, but when the tires look like they're going to blow out, or, you know, when it looks a little hairy, I'm just going to fall on back, right? 'He could have done that, but he didn't. And, so, you know, asking him, maybe less candidly, those questions and just hearing him and his commitment to the sport and how NASCAR is and what he was and what he always wanted to be, that just blew me away. Nowadays people aren't so much committed to things as I think he was and his generation was. Full send.'

NASCAR Has a Camaro Problem
NASCAR Has a Camaro Problem

Yahoo

time16-02-2025

  • Automotive
  • Yahoo

NASCAR Has a Camaro Problem

NASCAR has had one guiding principle throughout its 77-year history: keep racing. Fuel crisis? Keep racing. Driver strike? Keep racing. Manufacturers pull out? Keep racing. A legend dies at Daytona? Keep racing. Wars, droughts, earthquakes, plane crashes… whatever arises, NASCAR keeps racing. And right now, that means General Motors is campaigning the Camaro body in NASCAR Cup, even though the muscle car left production back in December 2023. About the only change that's apparent on the track is that the Camaro branding on the rear bumper has been replaced by 'Chevrolet' lettering. This, however, is not the first time NASCAR has faced the problem of not having current cars to race. Let's travel back in time… one decade… two decades… three decades… all the way back 50 years ago to 1975. Back in the 1970s, Richard Petty was easily the most popular driver in stock car racing. And his Petty blue and STP red Dodge Charger was the most identifiable car in the sport. The problem though was that the 1975 Charger sucked. At the time, NASCAR race cars still ran more-stock-than-not sheetmetal. And Petty had the third-generation (1971 to 1974) Charger working great as a racer. The nose was blunt but low, the tail was sloped which directed air onto the rear spoiler for downforce and stability. And the third-gen chassis itself was very much the same as the Chrysler products Petty Enterprises had been running and perfected since the 1960s. Petty won ten races during 1974 and beat out Cale Yarborough for his fifth Grand National and Winston Cup championship. But the fourth-generation 1975 Charger, nearly identical to the Chrysler Cordoba, threw all that away with a new boxier profile including a severe formal roof that was hopeless. So, the Petty team did the only reasonable thing it could, and kept running the 1974 Charger. It paid off in 13 wins during the 1975 season and his sixth championship. Still, the 1974 Charger was in its dotage and only had one more year of Winston Cup eligibility according to NASCAR's existing rules. Petty could run the '74 during 1976, but after that he'd have to find new sheet metal. Instead, after three more wins in 1976, a second-place finish in the points, and once again being named NASCAR's most popular driver in a fan vote, NASCAR changed the rules. The three-previous model year rule for Winston Cup was changed to four for 1977 and therefore Petty could run the '74 Charger for one more year. The explanation was that it was a cost saving measure. But also, NASCAR wasn't about to let its marquee attraction suffer with the '75 to '77 Charger body style. Petty took another five wins and finished second again. But the '74 Charger was done. For 1978 Petty moved over to the new Dodge Magnum – basically a '75 Charger with a new semi-sloping nose. By the first race of 1978, however, Petty was unhappy with the Magnum. 'I'm disappointed,' Petty told The New York Times during preparations for the January road course race at Riverside in California. 'So far the new car has been going fair to middlin,' mostly fair. It ain't got to the middlin' stage yet.' Petty qualified for the 1978 Daytona 500 sixth in the Magnum but crashed out on the 60th lap. And his struggles with the Magnum only got worse. 'It just wasn't possible to get the Dodge Magnum consistently competitive with some of the other cars under the current NASCAR rules,' said Petty quoted by Greg Fielden in his Forty Years of Stock Car Racing book series. 'We tried everything we could possibly think of. Even though there have been some improvements from the first of the year, everyone else is going quicker too.' So, in August, Petty moved over to Chevrolets. There was a good reason why everyone else was going faster during 1978. Before the start of the season, NASCAR approved the use of the Chevrolet LM1 small-block V-8 for use in Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac body shells. The LM1 wasn't that special – it was the base engine in the 1978 Corvette and Camaro Z/28 – but it was a 350-cubic inch Chevy small-block and dang near every American working in a service station knew how to make power with the Chevy small-block. And it soon became obvious that the killer setup for NASCAR speedway races was going to be the 1976 and 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass models with a sloping front end and near-fastback rear window. In fact the Cutlasses were so popular that they shoved aside most of the competition for three years – 1978 through 1980. That was despite the fact that the Cutlass (and all of GM's 'A-Body' intermediates) had been downsized for 1978 and NASCAR looked an awful lot like a used car race during those years. Richard Petty won the Daytona 500 in 1979 in an Olds after Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison crashed their Oldsmobiles on the last lap while led. And Petty took his seventh championship during 1979 driving a mix of Cutlasses on the superspeedways and Chevrolet Monte Carlos on the shorter tracks (the longer wheelbase Montes handled better). Out of 40 entries in the 1980 Daytona 500, 23 were 1977 Oldsmobiles. Then NASCAR switched to the new smaller cars for 1981 and chaos ensued. For a short while. The racing never stopped. Today's NASCAR doesn't depend on stock sheetmetal and the manufacturers – Ford, GM and Toyota – are knitted closely to the sanctioning body and its rule making. There's no way that NASCAR will let something as piddling as the lack of current Camaro production keep Chevrolet off the grid. And for at least the next few years Chevy will keep running the Camaro body in Cup. 'Chevrolet will continue to race the Camaro that is approved in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series,' GM Racing's Trevor Thompkins told R&T. 'We remain committed to NASCAR just as we have been for 76 years. The cars retain ZL1 badging in the Cup series and SS badging in the Xfinity series. Across all the series where we race, we periodically adjust the balance of the car model and the Chevrolet brand. In addition, we use racing across all series, including NASCAR, as a way to promote the full Chevrolet line-up.' The Camaro isn't coming off the assembly line anymore, but the race version will still help sell Traxes and Blazers and Colorados and Silverados. There simply isn't a good alternative in the current Chevrolet lineup. The Corvette would be an awkward Cup car, and it's tough to imagine a Traverse or Tahoe being pretzeled into a stock car shape. Maybe GM could have switched to a Cadillac, since the CT4 and CT5 are at least cars and not SUVs. But Cadillac has committed itself to endurance racing and is preparing for a move into Formula One. The Camaro may not be current, but it's still a beloved Chevy. But, at some point, NASCAR is going to confront the dominance of crossover SUVs in the vehicle market. And the future may look something like the Chevrolet Blazer EV.R displayed at Daytona during this 500 week. 'While we will continue to race our proven and winning V-8 technology in NASCAR for years to come, we continually look for ways to improve the combination of power, durability, and efficiency to transfer learnings from the racetrack to the showroom, especially as we bolster Chevy's consumer EV lineup,' explained Eric Warren, executive director, global motorsports competition for General Motors in a press release. Yes, the Blazer EV.R is an all-electric race machine with 1300 horsepower from three electric motors. Even more importantly for the immediate future, however, it's an SUV body style fitted to a modified version of the current NASCAR Next Gen chassis. 'This program was a great opportunity with NASCAR to design a new crossover utility vehicle body and bring forward design elements from our Blazer EV SS,' said Phil Zak, executive director for Chevrolet Global Design in that same press release. 'The EV.R prototype offers lower and wider proportions and was designed with aerodynamics and performance in mind.' It's possible (if not likely) that the future of NASCAR racing looks something like the Blazer EV.R with that tall rear wing supplying the downforce necessary for racing stability. Whether that future is powered by V-8 engines, electric motors, or transparent willpower. How close is that future? Well, forget all the race cars behind it. It's the Chevrolet Blazer EV SS pace car that may be more indicative of the future that will soon be upon NASCAR. "While we do not comment on future products," concluded Thompson, "we assure you we are working on what's next for Chevrolet in NASCAR." Because NASCAR always keeps racing. You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car

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