When he took the stand in December in NASCAR’s antitrust lawsuit battle with 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, NASCAR EVP John Propst tried to explain why the league had put a patent on their seventh-generation racecar.
“I cannot think of a situation where Coke would create a new recipe and immediately give it to Pepsi,” Propst said.
Propst didn’t realize how fitting the connotation of NASCAR as the Coca-Cola of American motorsports was.
He surely didn’t consider the time Coca-Cola created a new recipe to compete with the rise of Pepsi’s popularity. The new recipe was named ‘New Coke’ and was released in April 1985, and by July the company was receiving 1,500 complaints to their hotline a day, bottling companies took them to court and they needed to reintroduce ‘Coca-Cola Classic’ to quell national outrage.
Over 40 years later, NASCAR and Propst have their own New Coke.
In an interview with Sports Business Journal’s Adam Stern earlier this week, Propst said “evaluating the possibility” of using crossover utility vehicle bodies in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
At the surface level, it’s another case of NASCAR living by the mentality of “If it ain’t broke, you aren’t trying hard enough to break it.” With the Next Gen Cup car having a long list of issues over its tenure, the O’Reilly on-track product is seen by many as the best and purest stock car racing that remains in NASCAR.
While the Cup Series struggles to keep up in ratings, the O’Reilly Series had its viewership rise 10% in 2025 with its move to The CW, plus a 5% increase from that so far in 2026. It’s the fact that the series is seeing such great success that made one of Propst’s statements to SBJ baffling to fans.
“If you look at the brand identity of those three (series), the O’Reilly Series struggles a little bit just from the car perspective, and you see it a lot because we refer to it often as whoever the entitlement sponsor is,” Propst said.
While infuriating on initial reading, there’s a distinction made that points to the problem Propst and the sport are trying to fix. A legitimate problem of the present they’re trying to fix for the future.
“The O’Reilly Series struggles a little bit just from the car perspective.”
The lack of Ford support in the series hasn’t gone unnoticed this season. AM Racing has been off the entry lists for nearly a month, leaving Hettinger Racing as the lone Ford Mustang on track. There are plenty of reasons that could explain the lack of support from the OEM, including the simple philosophy of talent development and a slew of new directives for Ford Racing.
But one of the reasons is a simple one tied into the lulls the company and auto industry in general has felt over the past five years through COVID, tariffs and now the Iran War. When you have Sundays to advertise your car in front of the sport’s largest audience, why put as much into doing the same on Saturday’s?
Ford may be more likely to invest in the series, as well as other manufacturers, if instead of the Mustang it could sell a CUV model in their lineup.
There’s another important distinction to be made. While Propst mentions the electric vehicle developed, it’s specifically the body that’s being discussed for O’Reilly.
“Long term, you see it as we do, have that CUV body that we developed for our electric vehicle,” Probst said. “I’m not sitting here saying today we’re breaking news, it’s going to CUV, but these are the things that are on the roadmap to consider. So, you’d have a Truck, a CUV, and a Cup. That’s three very different bodies that are relevant for our OEMs today to create that brand identity for each series.”
It’s a sound idea to solve the O’Reilly Series potential problem with manufacturer support as companies continue to trim fat in their spending.
But the problem isn’t the idea. It’s who had the idea.
NASCAR fans, for all the steps the league has taken this year with the reintroduction of The Chase and an increase in horsepower, still have trust issues from the decisions of the past decade that put the sport where it is today.
And it’s not just fans. Owners are weary too. Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on the Dale Jr. Download that he thinks the move to CUV EVs body style would “destroy the series.” It’s hard to imagine others aren’t nervous too, especially considering that one of the biggest selling points of the Cup car was going to be affordability for teams … and one of the biggest complaints by teams is increased cost.
Propst didn’t sound weary in his comments to SBJ, saying he believes the sport doesn’t “need to be on the absolute bleeding edge of powertrain technology to be relevant to our OEMs and also be entertaining to our fans.”
You’re going to love the O’Reilly CUV car. The people who decided you’ll like the Cup car know so!
But where NASCAR learned from the mistakes of the actual Coca-Cola company is in how it’s rolling out messaging. While one day people blinked and their favorite soda had a new name and tasted different, things aren’t changing anytime soon.
Mike Forde of NASCAR said on Hauler Talk that the league is taking fan feedback into account and that the change isn’t coming any time soon.
“It’s not coming next year, or the year after, or the year after that,” Forde said. “If it does come, and it might not, it’d probably would be another five or more years down the road.”
The sport at least now has an idea of what the reaction from fans and owners would be if the change was made. Then again, it hasn’t done much to stop change in the past. Maybe NASCAR’s New Coke isn’t just an idea. It could be an inevitability.
James Krause joined Frontstretch in March 2024 as a contributor. Krause was born and raised in Illinois and graduated from Northern Illinois University. He currently works in Fort Wayne, Indiana covering minor league, college and high school sports. Outside of racing, Krause loves to keep up with football, music, anime and video games.
I don’t think NASCAR can right the ship. Whether the source of their problems are of their own making or external, they don’t have the brains and/or will to address them. Some examples:
It’s hard to have a stock car series if car companies stop making cars. I understand that they would discuss racing CUVs, but are fans going to like watching them race essentially minivans?
Fans do not like stage break cautions. For some reason, NASCAR doesn’t care or doesn’t have the will to fix a simple thing that would make fans happier.
They won’t fix the championship format. The chase is slightly less bad than the playoffs, but only slightly. Reddick is on an epic run but this performance will count less toward the championship than his results in the last nine races. That is just wrong. Period. There is no argument that justifies that.
Limiting horsepower in a racing series is just stupid. If they think slower speeds produce better racing, reduce the size of the engines. Go to 5.0 liters or 4.8 liters, or 6 cylinders but saying no engine can exceed X horsepower is antithetical to racing.
The drivers are not compelling. I don’t know what NASCAR can really do here. Maybe NASCAR marketing could help show drivers have personalities (if they have personalities)?
The races are not compelling. I don’t know what the problem is – lack of driver skill (drivers vs racers)?, cars handle too well?, drivers can’t see due to all the safety gear?, race teams & alliances between teams limit the way drivers race each other?, all the cars are set up the same & thus too equal? Whatever the problem is NASCAR won’t or can’t fix it.
I don’t think driver skill is the problem, as all of these guys have been racing longer than they’ve been walking. Can’t see due to safety gear? I recall the uproar over the enclosed cockpit in Indycar, but that has been a non-factor (IMO) to how the car races. Plus, there have been several cases where it has proven itself by saving drivers from serious injury. All cars too equal? Also note Indycar is basically a spec car series, and has several team alliances similar to NASCAR, yet the product they are putting out is much better than what NASCAR is offering. That leaves two things: The cars and maybe the tracks (I’m staring straight at you, Bristol). Well, 3 things including NASCAR itself.
I think Tony Stewart and Chip Ganassi were visionaries when it comes to NASCAR. They saw where this was heading, and didn’t want any part of it. Don’t know for sure since I don’t know either of them personally, but in hindsight it sure looks that way.
/the spec cars are definitely an issue. However, not allowing teams to make any real adjustments is even worse to me. Uf teams can make chassis adjustment, shock adjustments, just for starters, it makes it more interesting. It brings back the individual expertise that was the hallmark of Nascar for so many years. Innovation was a big part of what kept fans interested. Maybe it’s time to loosen the rules to allow for that. Just a thought.
Totally agree on that point!
Aero is another problem, IMO. They need to get these cars unglued from the track to bring mechanical grip (and team ingenuity as you noted) back into the equation.
AMEN!
I have said for years that a driver can’t drive his best in a car he set up the way he wants. NA$CAR said, “Here is the car! Make it work!” just like F1 made the teams adapt to tires that were designed for Ferrari.
It should be “he can’t set up the way he wants.”
I can’t see IndyCar putting out a better product, when qualifying is everything, there’s barely any passing, and only one-three drivers win every race each week.
But I still enjoy the raw speed and skill of these drivers at 200+MPH.
I concede it’s a slightly different product. Passes for the lead are generally fewer, and the overcut/undercut pit strategy on road/street courses add an element of suspense that NASCAR just doesn’t have. Right now Palou is to Indycar what Petty, Earnhardt, Gordon, Johnson, et al were to NASCAR when they were each in their prime.
My comment wasn’t necessarily that one form of racing is inherently better – I’ll watch guys racing motorized barstools and be entertained – but rather that Indycar right now is doing a better job overall of telling the story during their race coverage and keeping fans engaged. Hasn’t always been that way, but they’re doing better now (IMO) than any time since the CART/IRL split. I think it would be different had NASCAR not spent the last 20 years stepping on their own toes.
We think the drivers aren’t compellig…but how can we tell? “Back in the day” there were several TV programs centered on racing, drivers made appearances, and we learned they could say more than, ‘Got a good hot rod here’. And it isn’t just the winningest drivers that we liked. Kenny Schrader and Kenny Wallace are two drivers whose personalities made them ‘stars’. I had no idea Austin Cindric had such a great sense of humor and quick wit when, along with Carson Hocevar, they had to vamp on pit road during a rain delay. Also, drivers used to make personal appearances at their souvenir trailers…personal contact with fans. You don’t have ‘stars’ if fans don’t get to see the real people behind the wheel. Time to reassess how drivers are covered?
The last thing JR said “JR Motorsports would not be interested in that” was a great statement to send to the decision makers. While they are far from the only team we are talking about Dale Earnhardt jr. He and his team are a huge reason why the O’Reilly series is so successful right now.