NASCAR insists it doesn’t see F1 and IndyCar as “competitors” in America
NASCAR says it isn’t focused on beating F1 or IndyCar in its home market.
NASCAR president Steve Phelps insists the series doesn’t consider Formula 1 and IndyCar to be direct rivals in the United States.
The NASCAR Cup Series remains the most popular motorsport championship in the country, with its average TV viewership far surpassing that of F1 or its smaller counterpart, IndyCar.
Although F1 has firmly established itself in the US under Liberty Media’s ownership, staging races in Austin, Miami, and Las Vegas, NASCAR continues to draw significantly more viewers each year.
However, Phelps has made it clear he doesn’t view F1, IndyCar, or any other racing championship as the series' main competition.
Instead, in a world where viewing habits are constantly evolving, Phelps believes NASCAR is competing with all forms of entertainment.
“Yeah, for us, I actually don’t view them as competitors,” he said of F1 and IndyCar in an interview with CNBC.
“Our competitors, I view as more holistically. And I think it’s really not just motorsports, actually not even just sports, it’s entertainment. And we are competing for that dollar.
“We are competing for your time and other people’s time because if they’re not watching NASCAR, are they watching Netflix? Are they watching movies? Are they watching CNBC?
“What are they doing when they’re not doing that? So it’s super competitive.”
Last month’s Mexico City event marked the first time NASCAR hosted a points-paying Cup race outside of the US since 1958.
NASCAR already runs regional championships in Mexico, Canada and Europe, although they are not quite as popular as its three national series in the US: Cup, Xfinity and Truck.
Phelps stressed the importance of expanding NASCAR’s international footprint.
“I believe that global expansion for us is important,” he said. “Like most people don’t know is we have four racing series around the globe.
“We have a series in Canada. We have a series of Mexico. We have a series in Brazil and we have a series in Europe. All meant to do three things: driver development.
“So, getting drivers from other countries to come to our national series, like Daniel Suarez, who graduated from our Mexico series and then went up and raced in our national series and has won races in our national series. He was our Xfinity Series champion.”
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Rachit joined the Crash.net team in 2025 with a primary focus on F1 and sportscar racing.
He previously served as a news editor at Motorsport.com, where he played a key role in the day-to-day editorial operations.
