Over the past couple of years, NASCAR has been working toward tapping into new markets and tracks in order to expand its fan base. After the recent introduction of a street course race in Chicago was received positively, there have been talks about NASCAR looking forward to hosting races outside the country. Recently, the likes of Joey Logano and Kyle Busch shared their views on the attempt to race abroad in the future and seemed supportive of the idea.
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So far speculations point toward hosting a race in Canada or maybe South America, although there have been talks of taking races further beyond as well. While expanding beyond the domestic market would surely benefit the sport, it would not go anywhere without the support from the teams and drivers themselves.
Joey Logano shares his views on NASCAR exploring overseas races
While speaking to the press ahead of the race in Atlanta, Logano stated, “I think we can. Listen, you tell racers you’re going racing somewhere, they’ll figure out how to get stuff there. Racers are a different breed. I feel like you can put these people in any industry and they’re gonna figure out ways to succeed. The deadline is here. It’s not like you’re building a house and you say it’s gonna be done at a certain time and three months later it can be done then and it’s OK.”
“No, you have to be racing this weekend. You have to have the car ready. They figure out a way to make it happen. It’s gonna be like that. If that’s the situation, we’ll figure out how to do it. I think it would be great to go overseas. I’d be interested in it. I think it would be kind of fun.”
“From the few times that I have gone to other places, I do know a lot of people have interest in our sport because they never get to see it. If you never get the chance to see something, when it comes to your country it’s gonna be a big deal. It’s a big event. I believe it would be a huge event if we went somewhere to a different country that was far away from here somewhere.”
Kyle Busch believes NASCAR might do well with international races
Fellow two-time champion Kyle Busch also believes that NASCAR would benefit from hosting races beyond American borders.
Speaking at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, Busch stated, “I feel like there’s definitely the potential for that. Whether it’s North America, South America, even a different continent. I think there’s some opportunities that are out there, so it will be interesting to see where we land with that.”
He further justified his argument by bringing up the recent success of NASCAR’s first-ever street circuit in Chicago. Owing to that, in case NASCAR chooses to host another such unique event outside the country it would definitely be beneficial for the organization to boost its viewership and fan base over time.
