It won’t be a big exaggeration to say that NASCAR has had a fall from grace in the decade. From averaging 5.8 million viewers per race in 2013 to less than half that (2.83 million) in 2024. The decline in viewership is an alarming issue for their bigwigs at the top and the resulting decline in fan engagement has prompted NASCAR to look for new alternative avenues to expand beyond just the aging American audience.

One important step for NASCAR in this revival plan is to widen the net to catch a chunk of that global audience. And they might just have the blueprint for their plans for global triumph, which is by trying to replicate F1’s success on the world stage. NASCAR already seems to be following in the footsteps of F1, by announcing a return to Mexico City in 2025, marking the new age of globalization of American stock car racing.

Yesterday’s glory, today’s shadow: Aspirations for the global audience

In the heydays of NASCAR, the sport was raking in the biggest live audience all over the United States, with TV ratings only second to the Super Bowl. The France family was sitting on a gold mine, but as they say, Heavy is the Crown, Fragile is the throne. Poor decision-making and over-complicating led to the inevitable downfall of NASCAR’s sporting empire.

Since the death of NASCAR’s icon Dale Earnhardt Sr. in 2001, the sport started to see a gradual decline. That was the last time NASCAR had major relevance; since then, it has only been a downward spiral for the sport. The second blow came when Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon announced their retirement. Dale Jr. was a 12-time Most Popular Driver Award winner, so it is understandable why his loss on the race track hurt NASCAR so much. Even though the veteran was and is still heavily involved in the broadcast, NASCAR felt his absence on track.

Since then, NASCAR has pretty much been on a ventilator. While there were these factors that put NASCAR in limbo, there were some other contributing factors like lack of international circuits, growing competition in motorsports, and the inability to interest younger audiences. But recognizing these challenges, NASCAR has put Ben Kennedy in charge to perform an open-heart surgery on NASCAR with his radical changes to ensure the sport’s survival and eventual growth.

In an attempt to put NASCAR on the map again, Ben Kennedy has come up with multiple avenues that he sees fit for the revamping and expansion of the sport. One major decision that came out flying was the decision to add Mexico City as one of the host cities for the 2025 season. On June 15, NASCAR will be making a historical international comeback to Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez after 66 years.

This acts as a stepping stone for NASCAR’s eventual plan of globalization, as said by Kennedy himself: “This is a monumental moment for our sport… our first step of really taking the Cup Series internationally.“

But this is not the only path tread by F1 which NASCAR is treading right now. In another attempt to replicate F1’s success, NASCAR has chosen to go forward with the streaming route just like F1, to gain the attention of the younger audience. In a historic deal with Amazon Prime, NASCAR will now be streaming five races exclusively on Prime Video in the summer of 2025, with rumored plans to have parallel streams with mega streamers on Twitch. Kennedy proposed these plans as a pilot program, aiming to emulate F1’s success with F1TV and the NFL’s with Prime’s “Thursday Night Football.” The decision can prove vital for gaining a younger and global audience, as this will be broadcast globally.

To take another page out of F1’s book, NASCAR has finally made itself more accessible and somewhat transparent with its partnership with Netflix. The success of F1: Drive to Survive is no secret to anyone; the sport saw a humongous surge of 106% in viewership since it first aired. And Kennedy would surely make an effort to replicate that success with NASCAR: Full Speed, a similar ‘behind-the-scene’ docu-series made by Netflix. Which has already gotten a 2% bump in viewership for NASCAR this year. This can be quite helpful for them to garner a diverse and younger audience like F1 did.

Meddling in the Middle East to a possible Europe trip

F1 was miles ahead of anyone with the prospect of developing good relations with the Middle-Eastern royalties, which helped them see an influx of money loaded into the sport. F1 currently conducts multiple races in the Middle East, boasting lavish circuits for the Qatar, Saudi, Emirates, and Bahrain GPs. NASCAR might be late to the line, but they are still in contention. With the Saudis now developing a state-of-the-art Speed Park in Riyadh, NASCAR has made reported strides to crack a deal with the Saudis, to host races at Speed Park.  

As for now, the Mexico City and Riyadh Speed Park deals might sound like a big development, but NASCAR and Kennedy have no intentions of stopping there; they are serious about locking horns with F1 in the future. With Kennedy’s ambitions to globalize, they have set eyes to put themselves on all 6 continents.

NASCAR does have a European presence as it stands, but there is a lot more to desire from it. The Euro NASCAR Series has been going on for over a decade now, but recently has undergone some changes. Firstly, the series was renamed to NASCAR Euro Series (from Euro NASCAR) and Gen 3 cars have been added for 2025. The racing format is also set to be revamped to make it more competitive and entertaining. While the Cup Series might not go to Europe, the drivers from there could surely show up here.

Jerome Galpin President CEO TEAM FJ – NASCAR Europe said in a press release provided to Newsweek, “This new era for NASCAR in Europe is the result of the strategic plan we developed with NASCAR over the last 2 years, fully dedicated to bringing NASCAR to the summit of racing in Europe.” The goal of the program is to develop European drivers and send them to the U.S. for road course races, expanding NASCAR’s global appeal. The revival would indeed be similar to what F1 did, just with a different method.

F1 started to sink by the late 2000s but upped their game with digital media and streaming, which led to their eventual rise. Whatever F1 did aligns with NASCAR’s broader strategy to revamp its brand and attract a more diverse, global audience. By entering markets where F1 has already established a strong presence, they not only are aiming for a diverse audience but are also keen on exploring additional revenue streams. While these plans are still in the pilot run, they underscore NASCAR’s recognition of the European significance in the global motorsport landscape.

With Mexico City, NASCAR has officially ventured into international waters and potentially testing the waters in Europe and Asia. Kennedy aims to go full-blown global sport with the F1 playbook and secure NASCAR’s position in the competitive world of motorsports. As these plans unfold, the motorsport community will keenly observe how NASCAR navigates this ambitious journey toward global prominence.