As gasoline prices soar, how will it affect NASCAR?

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   In recent times the question has risen, how will the rapidly increasing gasoline prices will affect NASCAR, and many other motorsports, which are heavily dependent on the fuel.

This question has come to our attention because in addition to the pause in the building of the Keystone Pipeline XL (which has previously driven fuel prices up) a recent breech of the Colonial Pipeline will, yet again, drive the price of gasoline even higher. Another factor to keep an eye on is a possible threat of Russia's invasion of neighboring country, Ukraine. The United States imports well over 10 Millon barrels of crude oil and other petroleum products from Russia per month. So if Russia was to start hoarding oil, or the United States cut the supply chain from Russia for any possible reason, just regular American's could see gasoline prices higher than $5.00 per gallon. 

First of all, the price of gas is dependent on the state (US), or even city in which a racing division visits. Each state has different gasoline costs, but for the most part, prices are not that far apart on the price range. 

NASCAR uses Sunoco Green E15 98 Octane racing fuel, which is obviously is not found at your local gas station. The worry here though is that it is a form of fuel, and it too is likely becoming more expensive at the moment. For NASCAR, the Cup, Xfinity, & Truck Series are the association’s biggest gasoline burners. With a maximum number of 40 stock cars/trucks running anywhere from 100 miles to as many as 600 miles per race. That is a lot of gasoline, but that is just one of the few, largely organized sports that run on this fuel. 

If gasoline prices do continue to rise, NASCAR Teams will likely have a hard time competing, due to the high cost of fuel (added on top of the normal cost of the sport). The cost of transportation fuel, possible emissions taxes, etc. With that being said, some of the smaller teams may not have the funds to continue operating under these circumstances and could have to pull out of the sport. That goes for all types of motorsports competition, not just NASCAR.

Another option for NASCAR, and others, is to shorten the length of their events. I can already tell you, that, that option would not fare well with fans. Nobody wants to watch a shorter race simply because of fuel prices, but it’s also fair to say, a race with fewer teams would likely not be extremely entertaining either.

There are still many unknowns with this situation, such as how much the price of fuel will rise, and what kind of impact that will have on auto racing. What we do know is that this will be a challenge for the racing community as whole, one that should be well thought out, or motorsports itself may never be the same.