NASCAR president Steve Phelps insists the collection doesn’t take into account Components 1 and IndyCar to be direct rivals in the US.
The NASCAR Cup Collection stays the preferred motorsport championship within the nation, with its common TV viewership far surpassing that of F1 or its smaller counterpart, IndyCar.
Though F1 has firmly established itself within the US below Liberty Media’s possession, staging races in Austin, Miami, and Las Vegas, NASCAR continues to attract considerably extra viewers every year.
Nevertheless, Phelps has made it clear he doesn’t view F1, IndyCar, or some other racing championship because the collection’ primary competitors.
As an alternative, in a world the place viewing habits are always evolving, Phelps believes NASCAR is competing with all types of leisure.
“Yeah, for us, I really don’t view them as opponents,” he mentioned of F1 and IndyCar in an interview with CNBC.
“Our opponents, I view as extra holistically. And I believe it’s actually not simply motorsports, really not even simply sports activities, it’s leisure. And we’re competing for that greenback.
“We’re competing in your time and different individuals’s time as a result of in the event that they’re not watching NASCAR, are they watching Netflix? Are they watching films? Are they watching CNBC?
“What are they doing once they’re not doing that? So it’s tremendous aggressive.”
Final month’s Mexico Metropolis occasion marked the primary time NASCAR hosted a points-paying Cup race outdoors of the US since 1958.
NASCAR already runs regional championships in Mexico, Canada and Europe, though they don’t seem to be fairly as widespread as its three nationwide collection within the US: Cup, Xfinity and Truck.
Phelps confused the significance of increasing NASCAR’s worldwide footprint.
“I imagine that world growth for us is essential,” he mentioned. “Like most individuals don’t know is we now have 4 racing collection across the globe.
“We have now a collection in Canada. We have now a collection of Mexico. We have now a collection in Brazil and we now have a collection in Europe. All meant to do three issues: driver growth.
“So, getting drivers from different international locations to return to our nationwide collection, like Daniel Suarez, who graduated from our Mexico collection after which went up and raced in our nationwide collection and has gained races in our nationwide collection. He was our Xfinity Collection champion.”
