This NASCAR Team Is Using an Electric Stock Car for Pit Crew Practice

Joe Gibbs Racing had a problem. Its well-drilled pit crews spent recent years training on a stock car similar to the "Gen 6" cars the series raced for nearly a decade. But NASCAR moved away from that car and decades of five-lug pit stop history when it changed to the "Next Gen" car in 2022. The team got by with a converted previous-generation car in 2022, but it was not quite an accurate representation of the exact parameters teams would see in a race. A new Next Gen car is expensive to build and maintain, and the engines and transmissions necessary to actually build one are in short supply. The team's solution? Simply make an electric stock car.

This is the result. It's a NASCAR stock car with an electric drivetrain built entirely to help pit crews practice. JGR told Road & Track it built it out of necessity, but it comes with some unique benefits. Most notably, it is silent and much more affordable to run.

"[It's] used for pit stop practice only," said JGR athletic director Matt Osborn. "It was much cheaper to build than a 'real' NASCAR Gen7 car for a pit practice car (we were forced to build something as our race cars changed drastically from the 2021 season- gen6 to gen7). We are hoping it will also be much more durable and therefore cheaper to maintain in the long run as well. And… last but not least- it’s 'greener' of course!"

Additionally, the EV's quietness should allow the team to control its practice environment even more, with no engine noise to keep them from communicating and hearing mistakes as they happen.

Though this EV is just a dedicated pit-stop practice car, it could also be a look into NASCAR's future. This car doesn't seem to have any direct connection to the organization's hopes to race electric cars in coming years, but documents leaked back in July suggest that the series may run a standalone electric racing program in the near future. Seeing a stock car slow down to a stop without any V-8 rumble may be strange now, but it may become a common sight soon enough.

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