NASCAR's latest ride skips gas and burns zero emissions in North Carolina

The electric NASCAR era just got real with the debut of the Ford Mustang Mach-E prototype.

Unveiled at the NASCAR All-Star Race in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, the all-electric race car quietly roared into the spotlight.

Veteran Cup Series driver David Ragan went behind the wheel, and fans got their first glimpse of what an electric NASCAR vehicle looks like.

It looked fast, but it also sounded surprisingly quiet.

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Ragan took the Mach-E for a few laps around the 0.625-mile oval.

He floored it out of launch mode, pulled off a slick burnout down the front stretch, and wowed the crowd.

Nothing unusual here, except he did this all without a drop of gasoline.

“It was really a quick test session,” Ragan said.

“This thing has over 1,000 horsepower, so it’s incredible the amount of power that this car has.”

Spoiler alert – it’s not just ‘over’ 1,000 horsepower, but specifically 1,360 horsepower.

That’s quite a lot over.

In fact, that’s nearly double the output of Ford’s current Cup Series entry, the Mustang Dark Horse, which shares its chassis and safety platform.

The electric NASCAR prototype features three motors —one in the front and two in the rear—, and all-wheel drive.

But this car isn’t just about speed, it’s also about sustainability.

The prototype includes regenerative braking, a key feature in electric vehicles.

When the car slows down, it captures some of that energy and feeds it back into the battery.

This can sometimes be used in innovative ways, like when this man used regenerative braking on his Tesla to bail himself out of a sticky situation.

That’s especially useful on twisty road courses like Chicago, where braking is frequent.

“It stops really well,” Ragan added.

“I’ve tried to get a good burnout without shredding the tires, so that was fun.”

Driving-wise, Ragan said it feels very similar to the current Cup cars mid-corner, thanks to the shared chassis and steering systems.

But once you hit the throttle, it’s a whole different animal.

“The amount of torque that it has is incredible, and it’s instant torque because being an all-wheel drive car, you’ve got a lot of torque when you’re on the throttle,” Ragan said.

Another major difference between this prototype and traditional race cars is the noise, or rather the lack of it.

NASCAR races often hit 130 decibels, but the Mach-E changes that.

Ragan joked that he can finally hear himself think, and that it’s weird to hear the tires squeal or rubber hitting the inside of the car.

Ford played a huge role in building and popularizing NASCAR, solidifying itself as the backbone of American racing culture.

Ford’s Mustang first hit the racetrack in 1964, as a pace car for the Indianapolis 500.

Of course, that’s many years before the modern era, where pace cars may occasionally be more powerful than the race cars themselves.

In 2019, the Mustang finally made its NASCAR Cup series debut.

Now, the this electric NASCAR prototype could lead the next chapter in NASCAR racing history, with this sleek, silent speedster.

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