Over the past two years, the sport\u2019s brain trust has made a genuine effort to investigate incorporating SUVs into NASCAR events as more than just support vehicles for VIPs. That initiative has been intertwined with the development of an electric platform for potential use in the O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts series, which is the next step down from primo Cup action. The crossover body shapes have already been designed and tested in partnership with high-tech engineering giant ABB.<\/p>\n
When pressed by traditionalist fans in an uproar over the potential encroachment of both SUVs and EVs into NASCAR\u2019s hydrocarbon-rich contests, NASCAR officials have been measured in their comments. This isn\u2019t the first time that the organization has ruffled feathers by considering a dramatic break with the past\u2014witness the controversy during the \u201990s when the Craftsman Truck series was launched to harness the popularity of pickups. Adding crossovers to the O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts events is positioned as something similar that could give it a more distinct identity versus Cup racing.<\/p>\n
\u201cLong term \u2026 you\u2019d have a truck, a CUV, and a Cup [series]. That\u2019s three very different bodies that are relevant for our OEMs today,\u201d NASCAR Executive Vice President John Probst told the media when asked about the development program. This was followed by a statement from Mike Forde, NASCAR\u2019s managing director of racing communications: \u201cIf you look at the production car landscape, sedans aren\u2019t what they used to be, and CUVs are the hot thing right now. So that\u2019s just something that we need to be ready for in case there are no sedans in 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regardless of the timetable, it seems clear that crossovers are on the horizon for NASCAR, which got us thinking about what models would be the best choice for each of the sport\u2019s current roster of automakers\u2014and which fresh faces the decision to race crossovers on Sunday and sell SUVs on Monday might attract.<\/p>\n
Here are our top picks for entries in what we\u2019re dubbing the NASCAR Crossover Series, leaning toward EV models but with some gas-powered options, as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the past two years, the sport\u2019s brain trust has made a genuine effort to investigate incorporating SUVs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,103411,282221,282222,4113,31813,282220,282224,87989,634,282223,282219,124521,282225,36801,457,82,2552],"class_list":["post-801575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crossover","tag-cup-racing","tag-cuv","tag-development","tag-ev","tag-good-suv","tag-hydrocarbon-rich-contest","tag-mike-forde","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-crossover-series","tag-nascar-event","tag-oreilly-auto-parts-series","tag-potential-encroachment","tag-sedan","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}