After the Coliseum’s Exit, NASCAR Scouting for Newer Projects as Brasil Hope to Sweep In on the Action

Daniel Suarez’s Brazilian getaway has made him one lucky man this weekend. First, he married Julia Piquet, then, Daniel gave his new wife the ultimate wedding gift by becoming the first full-time Cup driver to win a race in the NASCAR Brasil Series.

As it unfolded, all the hype leading up to this event made some very important people in Brazil & NASCAR come to a revolutionary conclusion. According to various reports, it looks like the parties involved are pondering over the idea of The Clash moving to São Paulo in 2026. With the LA Coliseum’s appeal dried out alongside its three-year contract for the event in 2024, this whole shuffle could signal the next big step across the oceans that NASCAR’s been planning for quite some time now.

Is The Clash heading north or way south of the United States border in 2026?

The Clash, a pre-season exhibition, often acts as the testing ground for Cup teams to figure out any last changes before they set on their respective journeys to figure out the rest of the season. This year marked the end of its three-year experiment on a makeshift racetrack assembled within the confines of the LA Coliseum, home of the USC Trojans. For three years, the Clash at the Coliseum produced varying results for NASCAR. 

Mother Nature threw a wrench at the proceedings at LA even before the whole thing got off the floor, resulting in a total disarray of the schedule NASCAR had planned. And to top it off, all of that happened with no spectators in the stands. To counter the fan outrage, NASCAR made the race free for those attending at the Coliseum on Saturday. This split-second call affected The Clash’s viewership numbers too, as many watching from home weren’t able to catch up with the action from their respective screens.

Even the NASCAR Mexico Series season opener, The ‘King Taco La Batalla en El Coliseo,’ had to be rescheduled to Saturday. And although doubleheader aspirant, Daniel Suarez wasn’t able to attend the Clash along with 12 other drivers for the rained-out debacle, he turned up for the NASCAR Mexico race and won it almost 24 hours ahead of its actual start time. 

But behind all the drama, this specific event also served as a subtle reminder. NASCAR was finally ready to spread its wings outside the United States. And giving its Mexico Series some American exposure after almost a decade alongside The Clash was just the start. After all, NASCAR has been eyeing an international expansion for quite some time now. But the rumor mill was effectively kicked into high gear before the Daytona 500 when NASCAR President, Steve Phelps announced, “I would be surprised next year from the 2025 schedule if we didn’t go north of the border and we didn’t go south of the border…” 

Although fans still await the 2025 schedule, the whispers of a race in either Mexico or Canada grow louder by the day. Heading into this two-week off-season, courtesy of the Paris Olympics, fans widely expected the schedule to come out by now. But for whatever reasons, NASCAR has kept the grandstands waiting on an official announcement. Regardless, it was not surprising to see Daniel Suarez make some international racing maneuvers in the NASCAR Brasil Series, thanks to some free time but, more importantly, his wedding with Julia Piquet.

But before Suarez showed out on Saturday at Interlagos, a meeting took place on Thursday involving the Governor of São Paulo state, Tarcísio de Freitas, and the Mayor of the city, Ricardo Nunes. They met Tom Dannemiller, NASCAR’s representative in Brazil, and Pete Jung, NASCAR’s Chief Marketing Officer, along with secretaries from both the municipality and the State of São Paulo.

Governor Freitas was highly optimistic after the meeting, and he told Motorsport, “We are always looking for the best attractions for São Paulo that can bring in tourists, as well as attract investment and generate jobs.” He talked about a potential destination for The Clash in 2026, when he said, We have a racetrack that is a reference for the sport and we have everything we need to put on a great event.” 

 

Brazil is one of the four areas outside the United States that is home to a NASCAR-sanctioned series. The rest being: NASCAR Canada, NASCAR Mexico, and the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, which takes place on tracks across the Atlantic in Europe. There have been plenty of rumors of further expansions into other continents like Asia and Oceania. But those rumors never truly fulfilled their full potential. Strangely, the only non-point exhibition races ever held outside the United States took place in Asia and Oceania.

First, at the Calder Park Thunderdome in Victoria, Australia, in 1988. Next, at Japan’s infamous Suzuka Circuit in ’96 & ’97. And finally, a solo 1998 outing at the Twin-Ring Motegi, only about a six-hour drive from the city of Suzuka.

NASCAR never came back to these tracks after these rare appearances in the late ’80s & ’90s. But when the millennium turned a new page, the Truck Series & the Busch Series made appearances in both Canada & Mexico, namely at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal (Xfinity), Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Ontario (Trucks), and the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City (Xfinity). The only two points-paying Cup races outside the States were held in Canada in the ’50s. And if NASCAR sends its 2025 contingent either south or north of the border, it would mark an official international Cup race after nearly seventy years.

Now, since all the developments regarding that event still find themselves in the rumors category without an official confirmation from the sport’s governing body, let’s also look at the whispers linking a venue much closer to home for the Clash, come February of next year.

Bowman Gray Stadium frontrunner for The Clash date in 2025

Back in 2021, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Clint Bowyer got together to test out the Next-Gen car for the first time at the iconic Bowman Gray Stadium. Known as the Madhouse to many, BGS is also often referred to as “NASCAR’s longest-running weekly race track.” Born in 1937, this quarter-mile oval was home to 29 Cup races from 1958 to 1971.

When those three legends of the game got into the brand-new Gen-7 car, set to make its debut the following year at the first year of the Clash experiment in LA, they ran laps to test out the identical configuration that NASCAR would soon use at the Coliseum in February.

WINSTON SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA – OCTOBER 26: Dale Earnhardt Jr. drives the NASCAR Next Gen car around the track at Bowman Gray Stadium during a testing session on October 26, 2021 in Winston Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

Essentially, the Coliseum’s quarter-mile asphalt pavement was a carbon copy of Bowman Gray’s decades-old ‘crown jewel’ layout. Although the organizers could duplicate the racetrack, doing the same for Bowman Gray’s atmosphere is nigh impossible. Hence, when NASCAR snagged the lease for the stadium in March until 2050, many heads turned. Most caught a whiff of an opportunity for the Clash to find a permanent home for the near future owing to its close connection with NASCAR & the France family. For those who don’t know, NASCAR founders, Bill France Sr. and Alvin Hawkins were the ones behind the track’s inception. Big Bill’s eldest son, Bill Jr met his future wife Betty Jane Zachary at this stadium in 1957.

His grandson, Ben Kennedy, the Executive Vice President and Chief Venue & Racing Innovations Office at NASCAR, won his last ARCA East race as a driver on these very grounds of the Bowman Gray Stadium. So his thoughts in an earlier Forbes release made more sense in retrospect, when he stated, “We look forward to leading the racing operations of the facility in partnership with the City of Winston-Salem to preserve the history and legacy of the racetrack for the next generation of fans and racers.”

However, Kennedy faces scrutiny at the moment, along with others for NASCAR’s delay in their release/confirmation of the 2025 schedule. And adding his voice to the chorus, Insider Jordan Bianchi of the Athletic recently put his voice forward to reveal, “Other expected changes to the 2025 schedule, according to industry sources, include the non-points Clash being held at Bowman Gray Stadium and Daytona International Speedway’s annual summer race reverting back to hosting the regular-season finale.”

With the speculations turning rife with the moment, which one do you think will make the NASCAR calendar before the other? Bowman Gray in Winston-Salem, NC, or Interlagos in São Paulo, Brazil? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!