When one pictures 40 cars throttling at full speed and taking over NASCAR’s ovals, it is usually within the borders of the United States of America. However, NASCAR president Steve Phelps recently opened up to SiriusXM NASCAR radio saying they were open to exploring the possibilities of extending their borders.
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Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon would definitely be elated. After all, his prayers finally seem to have been answered. To say the least, NASCAR has been international before in the sense that it organized exhibition races outside the States in the late 20th century when it was still the Winston Cup.
Phelps said, “Could we do some things overseas in addition to other grassroots racing series we have in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Europe? The answer is, yeah, we explore it but we’d have to work with our race teams to figure out what that looks like.”
Nevertheless, it could be a little tough to accommodate international racing within the tight 38-week schedule. But Phelps admitted that NASCAR is open to considering things like that in the future.
“All those things are on the table,” said Phelps, “We just don’t know, but what I will say is that we’re going to continue to be bold and push the envelope there because we have promised our race fans that we’re gonna give them the best racing on the planet. I think we do that today, but we have to keep challenging ourselves.”
NASCAR, since its inception 75 years ago at Daytona Beach in Florida, has now become a worldwide phenomenon. With the advent of Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91, international speedsters like Kimi Raikkonen and Kiwi icon Shane van Gisbergen have made their debuts in NASCAR quite recently.
What does NASCAR’s international reach look like today?
NASCAR also sanctions three international racing series besides the Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, the Craftsman Truck Series, and the ARCA Menards Series. NASCAR’s Pinty Series held its maiden race at Cayuga Speedway on May 26th, 2007. It was Canadian Tire that originally sponsored the series but NASCAR signed a sponsorship contract with Pinty’s Delicious Foods and it’s been the same since 2015. Although the Pinty Series was initially a Canadian dream, its first stint in America came in 2018.
While the Pinty Series raced exclusively in Canada, its first jaunt into America came in 2018 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Besides Canada, NASCAR has also traveled to the South to kick-start the NASCAR Mexico Series, formerly known as the Mexico Corona Series.
NASCAR has also rolled out its fury on the tracks of Europe with the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, which started all the way back in 2002, when Jerome Galpin, the CEO of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, attended a NASCAR Race. However, it didn’t witness its inaugural season until 2009.
