A mix of the old and the new will be leading the pack at the 67th running of the Daytona 500 NASCAR race – “The Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing” for some – before the green flag drops at 2:30 PM EST on February 16th. Leading the pack will be a Chevrolet – that’s the “old” in this story, in that a Chevy has lead the field to green no fewer than 15 times. That makes it the manufacturer with the most pace laps to its credit.
The ”new” in this scenario is the model chosen – the Blazer SS electric crossover. That marks the first time an EV has paced the race, and it comes hot on the heels of Chevrolet announcing that they had somehow found more power for the Blazer SS what was originally 557 horsepower and 648 pound-feet of torque has now grown to 615 hp and 650 lb-ft. It’s hard to tell from watching, but while pace laps aren’t done at full chat, pace laps are completed at 70 mph (113 km/h) which is no small feat. The Blazer SS now makes the same power as the upcoming Cadillac Lyriq-V and Vistiq medium-sized crossovers.
Other SS-specific features include Brembo brakes and a sport-tuned chassis, while the pace car will of course get the requisite bright paintwork, dark wheels and embedded strobe lighting.
In what some might call a “changing of the guard scenario”, the Corvette Stingray will also feature on Daytona weekend, but it will not be part of the Feb. 16 main event. Rather, it will be pacing the Xfinity United Rentals 300 on Saturday the 15th (a Silverado RST pickup Craftsman Truck Series Fresh From Florida 250 pace vehicle completes the trifecta on Friday the 14th). A bona fide sports car taking a back seat to an EV crossover at one of the biggest race events in the world? Imagine that.