NASCAR will have a role in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina. According to Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal, NASCAR and USA Luge are beginning a collaboration which will see American luge athletes wearing NASCAR branding during the Olympics.
NASCAR race engineers will also provide the Olympians with technological support, particularly through aerodynamic engineering and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). NASCAR chief brand officer Tim Clark, who traveled to USA Luge headquarters in Lake Placid this past September, helped create the deal.
“NASCAR obviously is the face of racing in the United States, and we’re part of the Olympic movement,” USA Luge CEO Scott Riewald said. “We both have strong passion for USA, but also are aligned on things like speed, technology and elite level performance. Just a lot of ways that we can help each other and promote the brand.”
NASCAR, USA Luge collaborating for 2026 Winter Olympics
In both NASCAR and in luge, speed is king. In stock car racing, it’s upwards to 200 mph. In luge, athletes are capable of reaching speeds exceeding 90 mph down the ice track. It’s why it’s earned the title of the “fastest sport on ice.”
The collaboration has NASCAR vice president of vehicle performance Eric Jacuzzi excited. Jacuzzi believes his team can be a huge benefit to USA Luge.
“It energizes people,” Jacuzzi said. “Obviously, they’re excited about being associated with the [Olympic] team, but then it’s interesting from us where you tend to get stuck in a rut of thinking. It’s really good for my team as far as, how do we solve this new problem and make progress?”