The future of NASCAR could involve Artificial Intelligence (AI) according to comments from NASCAR Chief Operating Officer Steve O'Donnell.
Videos by FanBuzz
"Just around racing," O'Donnell said in a quote shared by Adam Stern of the Sports Business Journal, "the strategy that now goes into a race, how that applies to our formats of the future, I think AI can play a really big role in that.
"When we created even the stages or playoff format, you did that with the best data you had and best minds you had, but now being able to plug in and work with AI in terms of, 'OK, if you tweak the playoffs this way, what should we be watching out for' or 'How could that affect the sport?'"
.@NASCAR is evaluating how it can use generative AI for competition matters such as asking a model how playoff format changes could impact the sport, per COO Steve O'Donnell.
🗨: "How that applies to our formats of the future, I think AI can play a really big role in that." pic.twitter.com/wbNituf4tm
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) December 27, 2024
O'Donnell's comments gave a general sense of how NASCAR could use AI in the future when discussing competition matters. They did not provide a timeline or truly say how much of a role the technology will play.
NASCAR has examined competition changes over the years while determining how to best crown champions. The sanctioning body has implemented multiple changes while going from a season-long format to different iterations of the playoffs.
The current format began in 2014. This was the first season featuring multiple rounds of the playoffs with drivers getting eliminated after specific races. This format has remained in place while Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, and Ryan Blaney have won championships.
This format has created exciting moments and made the season finale more important than every other playoff race. It has also created some frustration among NASCAR fans at times as the drivers with the most wins have fallen short of the title.
NASCAR President Steve Phelps and O'Donnell met with media members at Phoenix Raceway in November and said that the playoffs won't go away. However, they indicated that they would evaluate the playoff format.
"We'll absolutely look at what form the playoffs take in the offseason," O'Donnell said in November. "You always learn, like I said before, but playoffs in and of itself, as Steve (Phelps) said, you cannot argue with the quality of racing that the playoffs have delivered.
"You can talk about the format if we do some different things, but absolutely we're going to stick with (the playoffs)."
It remains unclear if the format will change in the next couple of seasons, but now there is a possibility that AI will play a role in some moves that NASCAR makes.
