NASCAR V8 race series could adopt electric SUVs, leaked photos show

A leaked image of an alleged future NASCAR prototype with an SUV body and electric power has divided the racing community, though details on when – or if – the car will ever race are yet to be released.

A now-deleted post uploaded to social media platform X – formerly known as Twitter – and later shared to Reddit shows what appears to be a chassis from a current NASCAR Cup Series race car with an SUV-inspired body, rather than the coupe and sedan-based designs traditionally seen on track.

Within the past 12 months, multiple rumours have circulated in the US about NASCAR  moving to an SUV body style – in line with growing vehicle sales – often to backlash from fans of the sport who want coupes and sedans to be what they see on track.

According to US publication Road and Track, NASCAR’s Chief Operating Officer Steve O’Donnell last week confirmed the SUV prototype is electric, however there are no plans for it to become a direct replacement of the V8-powered race cars currently competing in the series.

The current NASCAR Cup Series is contested between the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro and Toyota Camry – though as with the Australian Supercars championship, the three cars are identical under the skin, and powered by 5.8-litre V8 engines.

As spotted by NASCAR fans online, the electric SUV prototype is based on the ‘Gen 7’ chassis which debuted in the Cup Series last year, with its roof line raised and a large rear wing fitted in place of the traditional spoiler.

A number of online commenters compared the large rear wing to those found on NASCAR’s ill-fated ‘Car of Tomorrow’, which raced from mid-2007 to early-2010 with a wing – attributed to a handful of incidents where cars would flip when turned backwards at high speed.

While the prototype’s design is similar to the upcoming Chevrolet Blazer, NASCAR has previously based its developmental cars on existing models only to later incorporate the design cues of all competitors. 

There is no information yet on when NASCAR’s electric SUV will make its race track debut, but it is likely to be run at so-called ‘short tracks’ which would not drain its battery as fast as flat-out courses such as Daytona and Indianapolis.

Road and Track reports a leaked document last year suggested the electric SUV would compete in a 12-car series with two 30-minute races throughout this year, though this never occurred.

If this prototype does go racing, it will not be the first electric SUV to compete in a race series.

In 2018 and 2020, the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy series ran as a support event to the electric Formula E championship, with drivers racing in Jaguar’s battery-powered SUV.