“Everybody Would Be Craving It”: Austin Dillon on How NASCAR Should Learn From F1 in Never-Ending Pursuit of TV Ratings

There have been several suggestions about how NASCAR can improve its global reach. The benchmark that the promotion strives to reach is set by Formula 1. So naturally, there are many things that it can learn from its open-wheel racing counterpart. Austin Dillon pointed out one of them in an interview with The Athletic.

There are 24 races in a Formula 1 season. Despite this low number, it is the most followed motorsports series in the world. Dillon wants NASCAR to follow this format.

He said, “If you want to make an impact, sell out every race. One time, they asked my opinion on the schedule and I said, “Do 20 races — 10 regular season, 10 championship.”

“They’d be more impactful, and you’d have more buildup, and everybody would be craving it.” There are 36 races in the NASCAR Cup Series season currently. There is a lot more work to be done towards making these races more entertaining. Dillon suggests getting creative with them, like how it was done in the Bowman Gray Stadium last month.

“The Clash at Bowman Gray was a great atmosphere. Being in the race car, it felt like you were at a rock show,” he said, and mentioned how his crew’s gasman had told him that he would be buying six tickets for next year’s race no matter what. This gives a strong reason to try replicating the atmosphere at Bowman Gray.

At the end of the day, Formula 1 is the big dog to beat. All one has to do is look at last weekend’s TV viewership numbers to see the dominance of the series.

The Chinese Grand Prix garnered 824,000 viewers despite starting at 3:00 a.m. ET. This was higher than the viewership for the IndyCar Series race at Thermal Club (704,000 viewers).

This is so crazy for a 3 a.m. ET race. https://t.co/8n3BOMdByR

— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) March 26, 2025

Chase Elliott has a similar opinion to Austin Dillon

Dillon made a good point by noting how the Cup Series season, however shortened it might get, has to be done before the football season. Hendrick Motorsports driver Elliott has made a similar suggestion in 2022. He told NBC Sports that it doesn’t matter how many races there are in a season if they aren’t done by the time the football season starts.

“In my opinion, that’s not a battle we’re ever going to win. I think we should be smart about that,” he said. He continued to explain his stand that less equals more.

A more compact schedule stretched over a narrower time period would draw a larger audience, he believed. He was also a proponent of having more night races. It remains to be seen if NASCAR will adopt any of these ideas.