What do NASCAR, IndyCar drivers drive away from the track?
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Austin Lindberg, Senior Editor
On any given Sunday, race car drivers around the world pilot the most exhilarating automobiles on the planet. From the first practice session Friday morning to the waving of the checkered flag late Sunday afternoon, every turn of the steering wheel or press of the gas pedal dumps another dose of adrenaline into their bloodstream.
For the rest of the week, though, they still have driving to do. And while the NASCAR Next Gen car might be perfect for braving the banking of Daytona, and a Dallara-chassis IndyCar might have been bred for the Brickyard in Indianapolis, the truth is that neither is very good for dropping off kids at soccer practice or picking up groceries.
So, when race car drivers are away from racetracks, what do they drive?
To answer that question, ESPN contacted every driver with a full-time ride in the NASCAR Cup Series and IndyCar, granting them anonymity to answer truthfully: What’s your daily driver? More than half of those fields provided answers, just one driver declined to participate, and the responses — from drivers who come from all over the world — reflected the uniqueness of the American auto market.
Before we get into the drivers’ weekday rides, though, we should talk about who’s supplying them. Automakers invest in motorsport, primarily, as a marketing exercise, and with drivers appearing as the face of that investment, brands are incentivized to extend that relationship beyond the racetrack. And they do, by giving drivers free vehicles for personal use.
There are four manufacturers that support these series in a significant way: Chevrolet, Ford, Honda and Toyota. Chevy is the only supplier involved in both NASCAR and IndyCar, with Ford and Toyota joining them in stock cars and Honda the rival engine supplier in the U.S. open-wheel series.
Of the 61 full-time drivers approached, Chevy supplies 28 of them (46%), Honda has 15 (24%), Ford has 12 (20%) and Toyota has six (10%). Of our respondents, 61% drove for Chevy, 29% raced for Ford, 6% were Toyota drivers and another 3% represented Honda.
Less than 10% of respondents admitted to daily-driving a vehicle that had no direct relation to the manufacturer they were employed by. So we expected to see a large number of Chevrolets in our data, and we did.
No vehicle was more popular among drivers than the Chevy Tahoe, a full-size SUV chosen by more than 25% of our respondents. Felix Rosenqvist, a Sweden-born IndyCar driver for Chevrolet-supplied Arrow McLaren, called it “the best car you can have living in Indiana,” where McLaren’s IndyCar operations are based.
“It’s just the freedom of your space,” he told ESPN ahead of Sunday’s IndyCar race on the streets of Toronto. “If you spend a lot of time on the road — which I think if you would take the average time you spend on the road in the U.S. compared to Sweden, it would probably be three times, four times more — and being in that environment, you just want it to feel nice. You have room, you can relax, you have good speakers, you have good comfort, you’re sitting up high, it’s not noisy — all those things.”
What Rosenqvist wants in his daily driver are the same things the average American car buyer wants, too: space, comfort, visibility from a raised seating position. In 2022, the full-size pickup trucks from Ford (the F-150) and Chevy (the Silverado) were the two bestselling nameplates in the country, accounting for nearly 8.5% of all new vehicles sold last year, and the architecture of the Silverado is what underpins the Tahoe.
Unsurprisingly, then, the F-150 was the next most-popular response among our drivers, accounting for 16% of responses. In fact, 77% of our drivers report driving full-size pickups or SUVs: 25% chose the Tahoe, 16% the F-150, 12% the Silverado and 6% the Chevy Suburban — an extended-length Tahoe.
“It’s definitely kind of crazy when you come over here, you see the size of the cars,” Rosenqvist said. “Being a European, the first time you come to the States, you’re like, ‘Man, all the vehicles here are so much bigger.'”
These being race car drivers, we did find one subset of respondents who sought out some of that adrenaline they find at the racetrack in their daily drivers, and that was in F-150 owners. Ford offers a variant of the F-150 called the Raptor, a 450-horsepower monster designed to be as comfortable on the desert sands of Baja as it is in the parking lot of your local hardware store, and 10% of respondents enthusiastically relayed that they drove one every day — including NASCAR Cup Series regular Chase Briscoe, who drives for Ford-supplied Stewart-Haas Racing.
“Growing up, for whatever reason, my dream vehicle was always a Raptor,” Briscoe told ESPN. “So when I got signed by Ford and started doing the NASCAR thing, I remember they were like, ‘All right, so what do you want for your loaner vehicle?’ And I was like, ‘Well, what can I pick?’ And they’re like, ‘Anything.’ Obviously you can’t pick a [$500,000] Ford GT or something, but I was like, ‘Can I pick a Raptor?” And they’re like, ‘Yeah, absolutely. If that’s what you want.’ So I have this white Raptor with blacked-out wheels.”
The American auto market is changing, though. Sales were down 11% across the board in 2022, except in electric vehicles, whose figures jumped by 57%. EVs accounted for 5.6% of new vehicle sales in the U.S. last year.
That growing electrification is reflected in the NASCAR and IndyCar garages. Even though these drivers are paid to burn rubber and vaporize fuel at a rate far beyond the average driver of America’s highways, they have adopted EVs at a rate similar to the rest of us. More than 6% of respondents said they drove an electric vehicle on a daily basis, and all of those respondents were Ford drivers, having opted for the F-150 Lightning or the Mustang Mach-E.
Race car drivers, they’re just like us. Infinitely more talented, blessed with bravery most of us will never know, but once they leave that racetrack, they climb into the same cars, trucks and SUVs that we all do. They just don’t have to pay for them.
Hard-throwing rookie Jacob Misiorowski is a National League All-Star replacement, giving the Milwaukee Brewers right-hander a chance to break Paul Skenes‘ record for the fewest big league appearances before playing in the Midsummer Classic.
Misiorowski was named Friday night to replace Chicago Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd, who will be unavailable for the All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Atlanta because he is scheduled to start Saturday at the New York Yankees.
The 23-year-old Misiorowski has made just five starts for the Brewers, going 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA while averaging 99.3 mph on his fastball, with 89 pitches that have reached 100 mph.
If he pitches at Truist Park, Misiorowski will make it consecutive years for a player to set the mark for fewest big league games before an All-Star showing.
Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander getting ready for his second All-Star appearance, had made 11 starts in the majors when he was chosen as the NL starter for last year’s All-Star Game at Texas. He pitched a scoreless inning.
“I’m speechless,” said a teary-eyed Misiorowski, who said he was given the news a few minutes before the Brewers’ 8-3 victory over Washington. “It’s awesome. It’s very unexpected and it’s an honor.”
Misiorowski is the 30th first-time All-Star and 16th replacement this year. There are now 80 total All-Stars.
“He’s impressive. He’s got some of the best stuff in the game right now, even though he’s a young pitcher,” said Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who is a starting AL outfielder for his seventh All-Star nod. “He’s going to be a special pitcher in this game for a long time so I think he deserved it and it’s going be pretty cool for him and his family.”
Carlos Rodón, Carlos Estévez and Casey Mize were named replacement pitchers on the AL roster.
The New York Yankees‘ Rodón, an All-Star for the third time in five seasons, will replace teammate Max Fried for Tuesday’s game in Atlanta. Fried will be unavailable because he is scheduled to start Saturday against the Chicago Cubs.
In his final start before the All-Star game, Rodón allowed four hits and struck out eight in eight innings in an 11-0 victory over the Cubs.
“This one’s a little special for me,” said Rodón, an All-Star in 2021 and ’22 who was 3-8 in his first season with the Yankees two years ago before rebounding. “I wasn’t good when I first got here, and I just wanted to prove that I wasn’t to going to give up and just put my best foot forward and try to win as many games as I can.”
The Kansas City Royals‘ Estévez replaces Texas’ Jacob deGrom, who is scheduled to start at Houston on Saturday night. Estévez was a 2023 All-Star when he was with the Los Angeles Angels.
Mize takes the spot held by Boston‘s Garrett Crochet, who is scheduled to start Saturday against Tampa Bay. Mize gives the Tigers six All-Stars, most of any team and tied for the franchise record.
Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia will replace Tampa Bay‘s Brandon Lowe, who went on the injured list with left oblique tightness. The additions of Estévez and Garcia give the Royals four All-Stars, matching their 2024 total.
The Seattle Mariners announced center fielder Julio Rodríguez will not participate, and he was replaced by teammate Randy Arozarena. Rodríguez had been voted onto the AL roster via the players’ ballot. The Mariners, who have five All-Stars, said Rodríguez will use the break to “recuperate, rest and prepare for the second half.”
Arozarena is an All-Star for the second time. He started in left field for the AL two years ago, when he was with Tampa Bay. Arozarena was the runner-up to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the 2023 Home Run Derby.
Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen, a first-time All-Star, is replacing Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, who is scheduled to start Saturday night at Arizona. Rasmussen is 7-5 with a 2.82 ERA in 18 starts.
San Diego added a third NL All-Star reliever in lefty Adrián Morejón, who replaces Philadelphia starter Zack Wheeler. The Phillies’ right-hander is scheduled to start at San Diego on Saturday night. Morejón entered the weekend with a 1.71 ERA in 45 appearances.
DETROIT — Cal Raleigh hit his 37th and 38th home runs in Seattle‘s 12-3 victory over Detroit on Friday night to move within one of Barry Bonds’ 2001 major league record for homers before the All-Star break.
Raleigh hit a solo homer off former teammate Tyler Holton in the eighth to tie the American League record of 37 before the All-Star break set by Reggie Jackson in 1969 and matched by Chris Davis in 2013.
“[Holton] and I are really good friends, and I’ve caught a lot of his pitches,” said Raleigh, who was in the lineup as the designated hitter instead of at catcher. “I don’t think that helped much, but I’m sure he’s not very happy with me.”
Raleigh hit a grand slam off Brant Hurter in the ninth.
“I didn’t even know it was a record until just now,” Raleigh said. “I don’t have words for it, I guess. I’m just very grateful and thankful.”
It was Raleigh’s eighth multihomer game this season, tying Jackson (also in 1969) for the most such games before the All-Star break in MLB history, according to ESPN Research. He also tied Ken Griffey Jr. for the most multihomer games in Mariners franchise history.
Seattle has two games left in Detroit before the break.
“Cal Raleigh … this is just unbelievable,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “He’s already set the AL record and now he’s only one short of Barry. There are two games, so who knows?”
Raleigh hit 10 homers in March and April, 12 in May, 11 in June and has five in July.
“This is a very boring comment, but baseball is all about consistency,” Wilson said. “This hasn’t been one hot streak, he’s doing this month after month. That says everything.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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