Like it or not, the future of the NASCAR Cup Series might lie in crossovers, and electric ones at that. General Motors surprised the racing world by throwing potential future race car out there, unveiling its Chevy Blazer EV.R prototype just a few days ahead of the 2025 Daytona 500.
Chevy says the Blazer EV.R prototype embodies The Bow Tie Brand’s commitment to “continuing to test, learn, and explore new technologies that could be applied to both race programs and production cars,” according to a press release. The prototype EV racer is built on the same Next Gen chassis that underpins the current gasoline-powered “Camaro” race cars, featuring a programmable all-wheel-drive (AWD) system. Goodyear Racing Eagle tires reside in all four corners, relaying 1,300 horsepower to the racetrack thanks to its 78-kWh liquid-cooled battery. Its looks and design are inspired by the Chevy Blazer EV SS.
“This program was a great opportunity with NASCAR to design a new crossover utility vehicle body and bring forward design elements from our Blazer EV SS,” said Phil Zak, executive director, Chevrolet Global Design. “The EV.R prototype offers lower and wider proportions and was designed with aerodynamics and performance in mind.”
The Chevy Blazer EV.R prototype is a fully functioning race car, and has already been tested on track with Xfinity Series driver Justin Allgaier behind the wheel.
“There are so many things you don’t think about until you’re in the car actually testing it,” said Allgaier. “I’m used to knowing my speed through gearing and listening to engine revs, so I had to totally change how I judge corner entry speed. With this platform we’re learning how to strategically adjust regenerative braking, which has a big impact on braking sections and cornering balance.”
At this time, there’s no clear plan to implement an EV only racing series, and nor will the Cup Series shift toward EVs anytime soon – Although the Chevy Blazer EV.R reveal does provide an potential answer as to what will succeed the Camaro in the Cup Series.
“While we will continue to race our proven and winning V8 technology in NASCAR for years to come, we continually look for ways to improve the combination of power, durability, and efficiency to transfer learnings from the racetrack to the showroom, especially as we bolster Chevy’s consumer EV lineup,” said Eric Warren, executive director, global motorsports competition for General Motors.
Comments
Definitely wouldn’t inspire me enough to watch a race. Use to watch NASCAR on a semi regular basis. I wouldn’t miss it if it all went away!
TransBlazer … another GM vehicle emasculated by you know who .
Does it really need that rear wing for stability and down-force….at 70mph???
Why would a 1400 hp car be limited to 70 mph?
At Daytona, the pace car speed while on the track is about 70 mph which is about 15 mph higher than the pit road speed.
noo…not really but it IS so COOL!
Nice try Diddy! We didn’t ask for it and we don’t want it. Nobody wants an EV bread van.
Another tradition they want to ruin
They think that they can snap their fingers and erase 60 years of Camaro enthusiasm while simultaneously convincing the buyers that the Blazer is a performance vehicle.
Stop forcing the Blazer EV down our throats! Where is the 7th gen Camaro? Why are you putting all of your energy into disposable EVs instead of improving products your buyers want?
If people wanted the Camaro, it would have sold in high enough numbers for GM to keep making it.
That would be the case if the Camaro was sitting on dealer lots in great numbers, however that wasn’t the case. Dealers had stacks of customer orders waiting to have an allocation and constraint to fit their builds. I personally know salespeople that have at least 10-12 orders that never got built due to constraints. V8 Camaros never sat for more than 3 weeks. So let us not blame the poor sales on the car, put it where it belongs on the manufacturer not being able or wanting to produce the unit.
When they basterized it with the 4 cylinder is when the Camaro started losing respect.
In ten years (2010-2020) the Camaro lost 60% of its sales, it was tanking well before the 4 cylinder engine came out. Nice try though. That engine has zero to do with respect, the Mustang has offered it longer. While the turbo 4 was out, they had supercharged 6.2’s so off set the so called respect. Mudman said it right, if it would have sold it would have stayed, PERIOD. You mention two years post covid when allocations and constraints drove the market, that is ZERO issue to the real problem, the market has changed. Even the Mustang is outsold by its EV counterpart. How do you argue that?
Please speak next time you have actual legit information and not false bias…
GM refused to develop the 6th gen. GM refused to market the 6th gen. Michael Bay was the only one who did that. And yeah the “legit information” is that Mary killed investment in the Camaro in November 2019. The “legit information” is that Harlan Charles lobbied for a new interior for 2020. Mary said no. The “legit information” is that GM didn’t WANT to build the Camaro anymore; the factory is going all EV for Cadillac’s green dreams. The “legit information” is that GM purposely cut the final year of production down to 3 months leaving thousands of orders unsold.
Not false bias…the constraint issue is still a factor in ordering new units, just check out the Vette with high wing and carbon package, wheel selection…Allocation is also still an issue when placing and building inventory. As stated by Larry when was the last time you saw a commercial or ad for a Camaro prior to cancelling the program.
Wow. They got rid of a 7th gen camaro and replaced it with those Frankenstein!! Pathetic. Wake up GM.
“This” dang samsung phone.
Yeaaaah they’re going to need to fix that range problem if they expect this to work. 283 miles of range would be cut in half if the vehicle is taken at full throttle with little to no regen braking. Oh and that 12 seconds of pit stop refueling isn’t going to work here either. So each team will need three to four race cars just to finish one race. Very green.
I’d never watch or attend an EV event. If the engine is silent racing will die
Mary says you will really like a station wagon powered by 3C cell batteries.
Not like those mean men like petty had where that had a stinky gas guzzler.
Each team starts the race with 4 complete race cars and the driver jumps into the 2nd one on the first pit stop. The crew then takes the first one and changes tires while it is being changed. The 2nd is changed to the 3rd on the second pit stop and so on. Should be able to get 100 miles out of a fresh car with full charge. If it is a 500 mile race, first car (charged with fresh tires) becomes the fifth. Sounds crazy because it is! I see much shorter races in the future.
Too bad they don’t have emoji’s on here. That’s a good one. LOL
Maybe they just change batteries like on an old flashlight!! Maybe that way they can keep the race going!
Oh battery car where’s the rest of the car hahaha had one these when I was a kid I’m a adult now I want a car a whole car this just stinks like
I will watch to see the first battery powered NAZCAR electric flip and explode into flames…….that cannot be extinguished.
Gas cars burn far more frequently than EVs.
That’s because the ratio of ICE to EV is much greater.
Looks like my NASCAR days are numbered. If & when EVs come in, then I’m out.
If GM puts this onto the track for a Cup race, NASCAR will die a rapid death. Shame on Chevy. They better keep putting the Camaro out there until the next gen Camaro is ready. Just pitiful looking at this.
This wasn’t Chevy’s decision. NASCAR is the organization exploring the possibility of electric races. Chevy is just preparing for it with this prototype.
Chevrolet doesn’t need to participate.
Chevrolet doesn’t need to gaslight us about the Blazer.
Chevrolet could develop a 7th gen Camaro.
NASCAR can explore all they want, but they’ve clearly been making poor decisions for several years & viewers have declined. If & when they either go EV or have a separate entity like the truck or xfinity series, they could probably do well with the younger generations, maybe.
That’s actually the plan. An EV only series would be a separate entity, like an exhibition series to accompany the national series… at least at first.
I grew up around drag racing, and most of the excitement was sound. I cannot imagine any racing without the VROOM!
What excitement is their in a few seconds going in a straight line? Drag racing is the lowest skill, least interesting motorsport in existence.
Yet GM screams about their new EV 0-60 times…
Lol
I guess if you’re 14 years old, you think the wing is cool. This is one of the most ridiculous “race cars” I’ve ever seen. You couldn’t pay me enough to be seen in this joke. I wonder if Allgaier threw up before, during or after driving this litter box of a vehicle.
Wings on race cars are not for aesthetics.
This is a race car?
Seriously, you’ve lowered your expectations that much?
Mary is clueless. A EV in NASCAR will be the death of NASCAR. Imagine 40 cars going around the track and still being able to hear a crunch from a chip your eating. Talk about BORING !!
Not to worry. Mary has this figured out; she’s always a step ahead. GM can create an audio file with engine sounds and play it outside the car as it makes its laps. They already do this in-cabin with the V cars. They could even give each racer a unique signature “engine” sound.
In production cars, she’ll might owners subscribe to different engine sounds for a low-monthly fee. Then EV owners can circle the coffee house emitting the famous rumble of a 6.2. With the premium subscription, GM might let you play the NASCAR audio file from your favorite racer on your eco-friendly Bolt EV.
Mary doesn’t make decisions for NASCAR. They are the people considering electric racing. Go to the NASCAR press release about the EV platform the helped develop. Gushing about carbon neutral racing.
I imagine it would be just as noisy, with all the rednecks screaming about the lack of noise. Oh the irony…lol.
Exsanguinate also spelled
Emasculated.
Not to mention as of now the Blazer is made in Mexico
Mexico is part of America, so it is as American as you, me, and Trump!
Mexico is part of the North American continent. It’s its’ own country. It’s not part of the United States of America. Get your Social Studies/geography correct.
It is the same as Canada which everyone is ok with having a vehicle produced there. Not sure all this hate to our compadres to the south but love for the neighbors to the north; it is the EXACT same situation…
I didn’t mention Canada because he only referenced Mexico!
lol
Please continue…
How long is the pit stop to get to 80% charge? 20, 30 minutes, hour?
You can make a battery that charges extremely fast, if you don’t care about longevity. It isn’t like race cars have a long life.
They will have to pause the race an hour so all vehicles can charge at the same time.
Can you imagine a battery car flipping down the front stretch !
yeah, understand the comments, it is more excitement seeing this rabbit with drums at Duracell Ad on Tv than seeing this scrapped car with batteries
This looks like the death of NASCAR
One accident with one of those will stop any and all future EV racing. Toxic spills, potential fires that cant be extinguished…Today NASCAR has the safest cars of any time on the track right now…
I thought Mary was gone🤬GM is loosing customers bye the thousands because they are not building what the car buyers want.EV is a small segment of vehicles and to push them down our throats won’t work.NASCAR has ruined the racing with segments and ridiculous rules and if they go EV goodbye NASCAR and GM too!
**Losing**, if you are going to spout false information, please do it correctly. They aren’t losing customers **by** (again, spelling) the thousands, quite the opposite. EV is constantly growing every year, GM market share is growing:
“2024
GM’s market share was around 16.8%, its highest since 2019. GM’s sales increased 4% to 2.7 million vehicles. ”
GM is the only US manufacturer actually doing it right and strong financially and solid sales, but people hate the idea of a woman at the helm for some reason…
She didn’t decide on EV’s, the government did and ALL manufacturers started pivoting. Blame your previous political compadres if you hate EV’s so much, they have their place, not for everyone or a majority, but it works for plenty and sales are showing that.
The Pontiac Aztec was the worse-ever Daytona 500 Pace car (2001)…until now.
April 1st is still a few weeks away. Isn’t this a little early for jokes?
Watched a Formula E Race . Embarrassing.
They have “power restriction “ thru most of the race. So the batteries don’t go dead in the 1st 25 minutes ! It’s pathetic .
“Ladies and gentlemen! It’s time for our feature race! 10 laps for the championship!” Give it up NASCAR! I’d rather watch ICE-powered Camrys, Accords, and Altimas than e-crossovers.
I love nascar and have been a fan for thirty years. If it goes to Eva my nascar days are over. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of.
NASCAR was gotten so far away from what it once was. What part, if any, is on a NASCAR stock car that is actually stock. There use to be the day that NASCAR told the manufacturer what they needed to sell if the manufacturer wanted to race in NASCAR. When GM canceled the Camaro, NASCAR should have grew some balls and said adios GM from racing in our sport. Of course that’s impossible when two of the largest GM car dealers race multiple cars in the series. The heck with both of them, they deserve each other.
Believe me, if they ever go to electric race cars, I’ll be done watching NASCAR period! And I’ve been watching since 1997! NOT FOR ME!
How embarrassing! Before GM puts anything remotely resembling this, I think they should just drop out of the series. This would put a team like Hendrick with Ford, Toyota or possibly allow Honda in the game. NASCAR is getting further from it’s roots year by year.
🤡 world
GM sends this car to Brazil to be the stock’s godmother car, it will look great next to the trackers