From races to teams and drivers, sponsorships have held NASCAR together. With NASCAR providing a massive opportunity for sponsors to find representation through entitlement rights, paint schemes, presence in races, and more, one might think that the sport is over-reliant on them. Arriving on the last episode of his former teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr‘s podcast, The Dale Jr Download, Jeff Gordon has laid out a plan for NASCAR to grow as a sport akin to Formula 1’s trajectory.

In October last year, Jeff Gordon was one of the NASCAR personalities to participate in the Racers Forum along with Brad Keselowski. The 4-time Cup Series champion suggested that one way of growing the sport was for teams to gain more ground and connect with the fans. This would have moved NASCAR away from a driver-centric approach. Coming up with a new idea to reinvent the sport, Gordon has a plan for the sport to go international, and it might involve Netflix too.

Jeff Gordon is impressed by the post-‘Formula 1: Drive to Survive’ growth of the sport

NASCAR’s existing charter system rewards teams and drivers based on their finishing positions in the final standings and performance throughout the season. For powerhouses like Hendrick Motorsports, that has not been an issue. With competitive drivers and world-class equipment at its disposal, HMS can fulfill charter requirements every year. However, the revenue distribution among teams has been discussed since the charter system’s introduction in 2016.

“I think it certainly starts with revenue and just trying to figure out what the proper splits are for the old charter versus the new one,” said Jeff Gordon. “You hear about evergreen; we don’t say permanent, but evergreen charters. I just look at other leagues, and that’s who we are competing with, right? Working with other major leagues of sports as well as look at what F1 has done.”

The Formula 1 grid comprises only 10 teams with 20 drivers competing for the world championships annually. As compared to F1, NASCAR boasts numerous teams and drivers with 36 full-time seats racing throughout the season. However, despite the big numbers, NASCAR hasn’t been able to turn in revenue and grow like F1 has. Jeff Gordon believes much of it is down to the business structure of the sport.

“If you look at the way they’ve been structured, the impact they’ve made, their popularity, and how they’ve turned the corner and ramped up, especially in America, they are truly sharing the revenues, and they are sharing the ideas, philosophies, and looking at how do we grow together,” continued Jeff Gordon.

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“The Netflix thing was a big deal that’s changed the game for them. I’ve been watching the F1 show and man, I’ve been getting into F1 like wow. I think you’ve heard a lot of that.”

Formula 1 was already booming on the global stage before collaborating with Netflix. ‘F1: Drive to Survive’ was one of the big factors that popularized it among motorsports fans and reached out to a larger audience. NASCAR has attempted to do the same through ‘NASCAR: Full Speed’, and Jeff Gordon has noticed the influx of fans due to it.

A vision that includes teams to grow NASCAR ‘collectively’

A few days ago, Denny Hamlin revealed a surge in his followers on Actions Detrimental. The 44-year-old claimed that a lot of those numbers were based outside of the United States. Having been in the spotlight of NASCAR: Full Speed, the consequence was natural. Commending Netflix’s efforts, Jeff Gordon claimed, “I think the Netflix show with NASCAR was great.”

“I love that a lot of people reacted to it outside of the US. It’s good but we got to do more things like that. Even that has been a big challenge right? The teams are focused on what can we do for our sponsors. That’s where the revenue comes in for us.”

While NASCAR operates with the collective efforts of the sanctioning body, the teams, and the sponsors, there is no equilibrium in the situation. With sponsorships taking much of a team’s focus, they have not had the time and resources to contribute to the sport’s growth.

Highlighting the same, Jeff Gordon added, “I think what we need to do is get to a place where we’re focused on not only our sponsors and winning races but how do we collectively grow the sport and have a broader reach. Go more international, have more Netflix-type shows. Right now, the way the business model is put together, I don’t think it is conducive of us putting that kind of energy into those other things.”

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Having served as the chairman of Hendrick Motorsports after a successful career in the Cup Series, Jeff Gordon has worked with such possibilities very closely. His proposed business model might disrupt the operations for a few seasons, but with eventual acquaintance, it could work out in NASCAR’s favor.