Dale Earnhardt Jr. made it clear on the latest “Dale Jr. Download” podcast: he has zero interest in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series using electric cars in the future. Earnhardt believes such a radical change would “destroy the series as we know it.”
“It’s my belief that absolutely the electric car and that body style and all that is something NASCAR is looking at as a possibility for the future of the O’Reilly series,” Earnhardt said. “The O’Reilly Series has got a lot of good things going right now. Viewership is continuously on the rise and our cars, we can all kind of relate to those cars when we look at them and we see them on the racetrack. I think making a switch to anything unlike what we have would be a massive, massive mistake and it would probably be the end of the rise.
“Things are going well. We got a great TV partner, we got great numbers, we got great fan engagement, and I think any kind of change like that so dramatic as that would be, would destroy the series as we know it. I would not be interested in that, I don’t think JR Motorsports would be interested in that. I’m certainly not interested in that car or that body or any of that. I think they need to leave well enough alone, quit fiddling with everything, and feeling like everything needs to be improved, fixed, changed.”
Earnhardt sounded off against electric vehicles after Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal suggested that NASCAR was evaluating the possibility of one day using its Crossover Utility Vehicle (CUV) EV in the NOAPS. Stern’s report came after speaking with John Probst, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer. NASCAR managing director of racing communications Mike Forde later clarified that Probst “never said there’d be an EV series.”
“He was strictly talking about the body style of that prototype,” Forde wrote on X.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. makes pitch to NASCAR on how to evolve current NOAPS car
In terms of potentially using the CUV body in the NOAPS, Probst did cite the need to give the NOAPS better brand identity. But when it comes to the actual on-track product, Earnhardt feels the NOAPS is as good as anything in racing today.
Earnhardt, however, acknowledged that the parts and pieces that make up the current NOAPS car aren’t being produced as much anymore. If there’s going to be a change in the future, he called for NASCAR to find a way to modernize what they use today.
“There is an issue with parts and pieces. The parts and pieces we use aren’t being developed or made at a rate that the series can sustain itself,” Earnhardt said. “What I would love for them to do — and this is a big conversation to have — but what I would love for them to do with the O’Reilly car is take that 9-inch rear end out of the car that we’re running and make me a modern version of that.
“Take all the front suspension off of our car and make me a more modern version of that — not an overengineered hub or rear end like we got in the current Cup car. I don’t want any of that that’s in the current Cup car. I don’t want no influence at all that the current Cup car has. If you wanna do anything to the O’Reilly Series, take the parts that are in short supply and let’s figure out how to make a newer, modern take on that specific part.”