"They wouldn't spend the money for fun": David Ragan says NASCAR EV is no gimmick after testing experience

Former Cup Series driver David Ragan has spent the most time of any driver piloting the ABB #35 NASCAR Electric Vehicle prototype, which made its debut last year at the Chicago Street Course.

Ragan has now opened up to share his opinion on the future of the EV, a vehicle he believes will eventually make a competition debut. The driver also explained how the objective of the association has always been to keep up with the trends of their consumers.

The former Roush-Fenway Keselowski Racing driver has spent time driving the one-off stock car at multiple testing sessions at the Martinsville Speedway since the car debuted in Chicago, and also showed up at this year's Daytona 500. When asked about when he thinks the EV will get a chance to compete, the driver shared his personal views.

"They haven't said publicly. I'm not a spokesperson for NASCAR; I'm a NASCAR driver. Just my personal opinion, but yeah, I think that they wouldn't be spending the money and the time just for fun. There's no target date. They haven't announced a target date, but NASCAR has always been about whatever is selling to the consumer," he said.

"They like to race that on the weekends and sanction those races. And I think the more the consumers evolve into an EV culture here in North America, I think it's only a matter of time before you see that on the track. So they haven't publicly said, and I don't know if there even is a timeline, but it is happening all over the world. So it'll eventually happen here in North America," Ragan added [via Autoweek].

ABB is a Swedish-Swiss electrical technology company that has partnered with the American stock car racing sport to build their first EV prototype, and is also the title sponsor for the Formula E competition.

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"Never say ‘never’": NASCAR Executive shares thoughts on future EV competition

ABB introduces the EV prototype electric race car during a pre-race press conference at the Homestead Miami Speedway, April 11th, 2025 - Source: Imagn

Last July, NASCAR unveiled the #35 ABB Prototype for the first time, marking the beginning of the sport's shift towards electric vehicles. This raised questions about whether an electric series would join the ranks of the existing Cup, Xfinity, and Truck Series. John Probst, the stock car racing association's senior vice president and chief racing development officer, kept his response open-ended at the time.

“There’s no plans right now to have a series that’s electric,” Probst said. “But I will also say I learned a long time ago you never say ‘never’ or ‘always,’ so that’s a good life lesson.” [via NASCAR]

For now, this weekend, the Cup, Xfinity, and Truck Series are heading to the Texas Motor Speedway for the next races in their respective calendars.