NASCAR president Steve Phelps talks vaccinations, Jennifer Jo Cobb ahead of Talladega

NASCAR announced this morning a multiyear partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to support the nonprofit with a focus on STEM education, career development and diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives.

NASCAR president Steve Phelps addressed the media prior to the race at Talladega to discuss the partnership announcement along with Boys & Girls Clubs of America president Jim Clark, and also answered questions on a range of racing topics, including Jennifer Jo Cobb not being approved to race this weekend, NASCAR’s vaccination efforts and whether the sport will continue to race in states with strict voting laws. Here are the highlights:

▪ On NASCAR not approving Jennifer Jo Cobb to race in the Cup Series this weekend at Talladega, Phelps said that competition officials determined that Cobb did not have the necessary experience to run in the Cup race.

“I understand it may seem ambiguous to those outside, but I think that they have their finger on the pulse, and in their opinion Jennifer wasn’t ready to race in this race,” Phelps said.

“We’re trying to diversify our driver core, women, people of color,” Phelps said. “Those are things that are very important to this sport. But as it relates to Jennifer, the group felt she was not ready.”

▪ On vaccinations, Phelps said he was fully vaccinated and that he is encouraging NASCAR employees to get the vaccine. NASCAR is working with the White House on a campaign to address public concern around the vaccine and encourage people to get vaccinated, but only two Cup drivers, Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace, have publicly promoted the vaccine on their social media channels. NASCAR Phelps said that the number of vaccinated individuals in the the garage “continues to steadily rise,” but he is going to encourage more drivers to promote getting vaccinated.

“They have a voice and that voice carries a lot of weight,” Phelps said.

▪ On electrification in NASCAR, Phelps mentioned in February that NASCAR was exploring the possibility of moving toward a component of electrification in its racing. On Sunday, he said that the Next Gen car has the possibility to drop in an electric motor and that NASCAR was looking toward moving toward electrification as early as 2023 prior to the pandemic.

“Timelines are tough just because we need to make sure that all the stakeholders who matter in this discussion, which are our race teams, our OEM partners, that they’re all aligned on what that would look like. It could be ‘24,” Phelps said.

“I think frankly the opportunity to have a new OEM partner will largely depend on what happens with that hybrid engine,” Phelps said.

▪ On racing in states where strict voting laws have been criticized as voter suppression, such as Georgia, Michigan and Arizona, Phelps said that NASCAR does not have plans to pull events from those states. Major League Baseball announced earlier this month that it was relocating its All-Star Game out of Atlanta in response to a Georgia law that received criticism from civil rights groups for restrict voting access for people of color.

“We’re going to be a sport that is bold, we’re going to be a sport that is of action in the DE&I space, a subset of that being social justice,” Phelps said. “But we need to do it really consistent with our DNA, consistent with what’s authentic to our sport. I don’t think that’s an area that we are going to lean in.”

He said that NASCAR’s commitment and message was going to “be about not dividing” and “bringing together.”

“It’s going to be about welcoming, being inclusive in our sport, whether at a facility, whether you’re participating in some other way or fashion,” Phelps said.

But as for NASCAR responding to voting laws?

“As of now, the answer would be no,” Phelps said.

The Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, the Geico 500, is Sunday at 2 p.m.