Since 1949, precisely 204 different drivers have won a race in the NASCAR Cup Series. However, only 6 from that prestigious group were born outside the United States. However, that is not a fair account or comparison of the level of international representation in NASCAR by any means. But in the grand scheme of things that has warranted an international expansion, as soon as 2025, has the sport’s governing body made enough inroads to accommodate global fans and not just its existing ones on the North American continent?

With a potential Mexico 2025 date only signaling more such activations, potentially across the oceans, the future looks brighter than ever for ‘international NASCAR’. But is it all just another dog-and-pony show possibly preceding a failed grand reveal?

Global ambitions, domestic delays: NASCAR’s paradox

Contrary to all the distasteful propaganda spread against NASCAR, the sanctioning body listens to its fans. Yet, a prevalent reason the two parties have often been at odds for quite some time is due to one glowering factor—delay in decision-making policies. Be it that last-lap caution call for Ryan Preece at the Brickyard 400 a couple of weeks ago or the wait for a conclusive agreement between race teams and NASCAR in the impending charter negotiations, the scales vary and the examples are many.

Although the former usually gets lost in the technicalities of the sport and its circumstances, the latter has in part been one of the most talked about problems plaguing NASCAR recently. And it’s not a surprise considering a sum of around $7.7 billion, coupled with extra coverage from Amazon Prime & Warner Bros.

Discovery would only help the sport progress beyond its current measures. Meeting their demands would surely help the race teams vying for a bigger share of the media rights pie gain a more secure footing heading into the 2025 season. However, the stagnating viewership numbers would also receive an assumable bump once the world’s premier stock car racing experience takes its first step off traditional television networks and onto the greener pastures of streaming platforms.

This was evident with the release of NASCAR: Full Speed, a five-part Netflix exclusive that broke the stereotype of NASCAR not warranting the same pull as the bigger hitters such as F1 or MotoGP. But that’s not all. The show also made Netflix’s top-10 most-watched list in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Croatia, and South Africa. And that is all but a handful of names. The message was obvious; racing fans worldwide wanted more of NASCAR’s signature brand of racing. Even though some diehards argue that the sport lacks the star power it once had in its yesteryears.

Furthermore, reports from Statista suggest that NASCAR viewership in 2024 has grown by 35% compared to 2023. Last season, they determined that each race had an average of 2.86 million viewers. But the sport is currently averaging a million more eyes this season.

On the flip side, Ampere Analysis, a London-based company that deals with data and analytics for telecommunications, sports & games sectors, says that only US$5.3 million of the series’ total annual media rights revenue of US$831.6 million came from overseas in the 2023 season. In simpler terms, 99% or more eyes NASCAR received last year in their cumulative viewership numbers were from either the United States or Canada. Despite the want for NASCAR being significantly higher than Formula One’s statistics suggest, the 2024 Miami GP reached an all-time high in F1 viewership numbers in the United States earlier in May. One could even say that the world’s premier open-wheel racing series is slowly catching up to stock-car racing’s red-white-and-blue popularity in America.

And let’s be honest. With the big bucks, sponsorships, and widespread global acclaim built through contesting races worldwide for almost a quarter short of a whole century, Formula One deserves it more than any other racing series. But this opens the big question: what is NASCAR doing in return to provide fans overseas with a similar type of access? For example, assuming Mexico/Canada does host an ‘international points-paying race’ next year, the remaining 35 races of the season will still take place on American soil. Even NASCAR’s Chief International Officer Chad Siegler stated in an earlier interview with PRM that “For some people in the US, when we talk about NASCAR and international, those two things don’t really go together, a lot of people don’t connect those two.”

For those reasons, Siegler also admitted that “[NASCAR’s] model’s a little different from some of the other… global platforms, in the sense that we don’t necessarily take our Cup series and pack it up and move it around the world.” In his words: “What we try to do is create individual series in those markets that we’re targeting. Our goal is to build an infrastructure in those markets. You want to create local stories, local team owners, local mechanics, and really expose the sport of NASCAR to markets outside of the US.”

For now, NASCAR-sanctioned competitions outside the United States are only contested in Mexico, Canada, Brazil, and Europe. That being said, there have been rumors about potential expansions into Australia, the Middle East, and even India earlier. Unfortunately, none of those rumors gathered enough steam to become a reality yet. As for that situation, Siegler explains, “The logical place for you to go initially is North America. Then that sets you up to start to explore opportunities outside of North America.” But then again, he was also aware of the worldwide “passion and an interest and an excitement for our style of racing…” So what is causing NASCAR to dip its toes into deeper international waters with so much delay?

It might surprise some to learn that NASCAR has asked all its personnel to have their passports ready for a potential demo run in Mexico/Canada next year. But as Siegler stated, “the teams and other series partners must be on board with what will undoubtedly be an extra strain in an already hectic schedule.” But speaking of the still-undecided 2025 schedule, it poses even more problems in the bigger picture.

A late-game schedule silence leaves fans in the dark, yet again

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Until earlier this year, rumors suggested the schedule for 2025, which would include a points-paying Cup race in Mexico or Canada, to be released after the Chicago Street Race weekend. Although not an official rumor, NASCAR’s affinity to releasing next year’s schedule at the last minute is receiving heavy scrutiny on social media and online forums yet again. Halfway through the two-week Olympic break, there are no signs of a schedule for the calendar year 2025.

A social media interaction between a member of the NASCAR community and long-time NASCAR journalist, Bob Pockrass, shed light on the issue. The fan who goes by the X handle @racedayeveryday probed Pockrass, writing, “Hey @bobpockrass, if the tracks know their date, why can’t @NASCAR just release the schedule already?”

Providing further context on that inquiry, their next sentence referenced Dover Motor Speedway teasing its 2025 date from their official Twitter account while implying fans “guess the weekend.” With a retweet of that post, the fan explained, “This is what I was referring to when they want us to renew our seats, know the date, but won’t/can’t tell us…”

In hindsight, these grievances are more than justified for an average blue-collar track-going NASCAR fan awaiting major changes to the 2025 schedule. Hence, Pockrass replied, “I’m with you … But NASCAR doesn’t like to release schedule b/c f one track/date falls through, it can impact many others. For instance, last year Phoenix announced its championship weekend and then months later, said it would be a week later than originally announced.”

For the moment, these are the only dates confirmed for 2025:

1. Feb. 16 — Daytona 500
2. May 18 — North Wilkesboro All-Star Race
3. May 25 — Amazon Prime’s first race at the Coca-Cola 600
4. June 28 — The new $1 million in-season tourney begins in Atlanta with TNT’s coverage tenure kicking off simultaneously.
5. July 6 — Chicago Street Race
6. Nov. 2 — Phoenix (Championship race)

Two iconic tracks, the Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Watkins Glen, will witness their playoff races move down to the regular season alongside the June 28 Atlanta date, which normally gets drawn up to be a post-season encounter. This year’s second Atlanta date is the first race of the 2024 playoffs. Additionally, the Clash letting go of its three-year contract with the LA Coliseum has reportedly left the door open for a new venue for the exhibition event next year. Major sources suggest the Clash will probably find a new home at the Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem.

But the big problem? If NASCAR is to give Mexico City or Montreal a Cup race, it will take a date away from the Richmond Raceway on the 2025 calendar.

Considering the international Cup race takes place for the first time since 1958, just next year, it would require a lot of planning. Not just from NASCAR, but from fans worldwide willing to travel to Mexico or Canada to witness the event live. So does the delay in their announcement serve any of those people’s best interests in hosting the first beyond-the-borders points-paying NASCAR race in almost seven decades? The answer can be barely as simple as a yes or no in today’s global day and age.