If you grew up in America any time before the mid-2010s, you probably remember a time when real cars actually meant something. Sedans, coupes, muscle cars, V8s, small sporty models, and family cars that were not the size of a living room. Chevy had the Impala and Malibu. Ford had the Fusion and the Focus. Dodge had the Charger, Challenger, Dart, and Neon. These cars filled driveways, filled highways, and filled NASCAR starting grids.

Today, that world is disappearing, and the consequences are hitting not only car culture but the sport that depended on it. NASCAR was built on the idea that the car you watched win the race on Sunday was a car you could buy in a showroom on Monday. That link is now thinner than it has ever been, thanks to government policies and automakers.

The Big Three abandon traditional cars

There is a growing feeling in the country that a slow “war” on American cars has been taking place. That does not mean people hate cars. It means the entire ecosystem around American cars has shifted, partly because of government policy and partly because of decisions by automakers themselves.

The most obvious sign of the change is that the Big Three companies that built America’s car identity have pulled away from building traditional cars altogether. Chevy, Ford, and Dodge have spent the last decade shrinking their sedan lineups to almost nothing.

Chevy dropped the Cruze, the Impala, and the Sonic. Ford axed nearly every non-SUV model except the Mustang. Dodge discontinued the Charger and Challenger as we knew them. When you look at their lineups today, the only things left are trucks, SUVs, and crossovers that all look like different sizes of the same box.

How this broke NASCAR’s ‘Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday’ formula

This shift completely undercuts NASCAR’s original marketing engine. The phrase “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” was not just a slogan. It described what made NASCAR special. Fans were watching souped-up versions of cars they could actually buy. When Dale Earnhardt drove a Monte Carlo, people wanted a Monte Carlo.

When Jeff Gordon piloted a Rainbow Warrior Chevy, people saw the same shape at their local dealership. That connection already took a hit when NASCAR moved to modern spec bodies. But today it is even weaker. There are fewer street cars available to even base the race cars on. You cannot sell what no longer exists.

Turning point

A big turning point in this story came during the Obama administration with the “Cash for Clunkers” program in 2009. On paper, it was a stimulus plan and a push toward newer, more efficient vehicles.

In practice, it wiped a huge number of older, cheaper cars off the road. Many of them were the kinds of sedans and small cars that younger buyers or lower-income families depended on. Dealers were required to destroy the engines of these cars, which meant they could not be resold or reused.

The used car market has never really recovered from that mass purge, and today we are seeing the results. Older used cars are scarce and expensive, and new vehicles are larger and cost more than ever.

Exploiting loopholes for profits

Stricter fuel economy standards also reshaped the car market. Corporate Average Fuel Economy rules were meant to push automakers into building cleaner small cars. But a legal loophole allowed trucks and SUVs to follow a different set of rules. They were treated as “light trucks,” which let companies meet the standard even while selling vehicles that were not very efficient at all.

That loophole became a gold mine. Trucks and SUVs had bigger profit margins and less regulatory pressure, so automakers poured their resources into them. Instead of investing in better small cars, they found it easier to build larger vehicles that brought in more money and still checked the regulatory boxes.

Political lobbying also played a giant role. Automakers pushed Congress and regulators to keep that loophole open, and it paid off.

Today, trucks and SUVs make up the majority of new vehicle sales in America. Sedans barely register in comparison. The companies that once defined the American car are now building machines that have more in common with delivery vans than with the cars that once inspired NASCAR heroes.

Foreign automakers filled that gap

While American companies pulled back from the car market, foreign automakers filled the gap. Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, BMW, and Volkswagen continued building compact and midsize cars that Americans still needed.

As a result, plenty of Americans who used to buy domestic cars now own foreign ones simply because they are the only ones still offering real cars. The irony is that these foreign companies often build their cars in the United States, while the American brands have moved into building giant trucks that cost twice as much as a normal sedan.

Nowhere is this shift more visible than in NASCAR. Chevy recently switched to a neutral, non-Camaro-based body in the Cup Series, a clear sign that the Camaro has no guaranteed future in showrooms and therefore no guaranteed future on the track.

Ford is holding on with the Mustang for now, but even that is uncertain as the company pushes electric SUVs. Dodge left the sport more than a decade ago, and the Charger and Challenger have now ended their gas-powered runs.

NASCAR heading towards electric racing

NASCAR itself sees the writing on the wall. The sport has already been developing electric racing concepts. Chevy’s Blazer EV and Ford’s Mach E were part of the first public demo for a future EV class based on crossover-style bodies.

Those vehicles are a long way from the Monte Carlos, Thunderbirds, and Luminas that built NASCAR’s identity. When the race cars no longer resemble anything on the street, the sport loses the cultural glue that once held everything together.

Conclusion

The heart of the problem is not only policy or regulation. It is also about the mindset of American automakers. Many analysts believe the Big Three have become focused on short-term profits at the expense of long-term innovation.

Instead of leading the next generation of car design, they follow whatever yields the fastest quarterly earnings. Trucks and SUVs are profitable today, so that is all they build. When electric vehicles arrived, they rushed into giant electric trucks instead of affordable, efficient EV cars. The result is a shrinking and distorted market.

The American automobile is not dead, but it is definitely on life support. If the companies that built this country’s car culture want to save it, they will need to think beyond short-term gains.

They will need to build cars that ordinary people can afford. They will need to reconnect with the roots of why people fell in love with cars in the first place. And if they fail to do so, the impact will continue to hit NASCAR in ways that may change the sport forever.