NASCAR set to go electric, demo race in 2023?

NASCAR is apparently seeking to establish its own electric racing series, with a demonstration race reportedly scheduled for February 5 at the 2023 Busch Clash in Los Angeles, California. 

The electric NASCAR racers will supposedly run on a 900-volt architecture and have over 1,000 HP from a trio of electric motors. This, in turn, will make these vehicles be all-wheel too. 

This is exciting development indeed as it follow on from the series' formal announcement that it will transition to hybrid powertrains beginning in 2024. 

The new competition car for 2022, known as the Next Gen car, has already undergone major changes and it now makes a lot more downforce, which means it has been designed to take a lot more power than it currently has.

Besides that, the power output of the Next Gen automobile has already increased from 410 HP to 670 HP. Then, with the debut of hybrid (and eventually fully electric) powertrains, we can expect greater power boosts as well.

Kickin' the Tires, a website dedicated to motorsport with an emphasis on NASCAR, broke the news of this parallel electric racing series, stating that it had screenshots from a leaked document that also claimed the series will run for six races that would be linked with the NASCAR Cup Series.

Each race would consist of two 30-minute legs, with 12 cars not permitted to charge or switch batteries throughout the race. 

According to NASCAR COO Steve O'Donnell, he stated back in March that the firm is exploring opportunities around an exhibition series in that space. ‘’I think there is a lot of interest from our current partners to be part of that, but we look at NASCAR as a place where in an ideal world we’d be all things to all things to all people," said O'Donnell. 

"So, if you went to a NASCAR event weekend, you could see whatever type of technologies you wanted throughout a race weekend, so we will look at an electric series’’ he added.