Ever since its inception, NASCAR has firmly established itself as an America-centric racing series. In other words, almost every race that has taken place in the promotion has been held within the confines of the United States. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the sport hasn’t gone global at some point in its 75-year lifespan. Now, there were some rumors of the sport exploring foreign avenues, but nothing substantial has arisen. Another American racing series with international aspirations is the SRX Series, the brainchild of Tony Stewart.

Earlier, there were reports that NASCAR was eyeing a foreign venue for the 2024 season. To be precise, the venue in question was in Montreal, which could have meant a return to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Or if they were looking for an oval, then the Sanair Super Speedway could have been a candidate. However, a deal did not come to pass, and it appears that the Iowa Speedway stepped in at the last minute.

How did the Iowa Speedway wind up on the Cup Series calendar?

Senior Vice President of Racing Development and Strategy, Ben Kennedy recently spoke about the situation. He told Bob Pockrass, “Iowa Speedway is something that we’ve talked about for quite a while. This is something that we’ve been hearing from our fans for a long time, in Iowa in particular, to see a Cup race there. Unfortunately, it had to take a bit of a hiatus over the past few years with COVID, for the Xfinity Series and Truck Series. It was important for us to get back to the Iowa Speedway.”

Previously, it used to feature on the Xfinity and Truck Series calendars. The inaugural race in Iowa was held in 2009 and ran all the way until 2019. It is interesting to note that a few current Cup Series drivers have won at Iowa in the past. This includes Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell, William Byron, Erik Jones, and Ryan Blaney. So when the Cup Series does head to the 0.875-mile speedway, these pilots will probably have a leg up on the competition.

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Will NASCAR seriously explore international racing?

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Continuing his take, Kennedy said, “As we think about international venues in general, we are still bullish about finding our way. Either north of the border, whether that be in Montreal, or Toronto, or another market south of the border, down into Mexico. We want to bring our NASCAR Cup Series there at some point, we think its important for us to get outside the United States in someway shape or form. That’s something to keep our pulse on, as we think of 2025 and beyond.”

“As we’ve mentioned in the past, timing is always critical to a lot of these bids. Want to make sure that the market’s ready for the NASCAR Cup Series and the timing makes sense for the industry and the sport. Hopefully, we’ll be able to move in that direction at some point.”

To be honest, NASCAR has forayed into a foreign land. From 2007 until 2012, the Xfinity Series raced at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Additionally, the Truck Series drivers raced at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Ontario from 2013 to 2019. There was also the Calder Park Thunderdrome in Australia for an exhibition race. They even raced at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico. Finally, the Cup Series visited the Suzuka International Race Course East Circuit and the Twin Ring Motegi Circuit, both in Japan.

Where does the Tony Stewart-owned SRX Series fit into all this?

Although the SRX Series is still in its early years, co-founder Tony Stewart still has grand designs for it. Already, the series has been pretty massive, with star-studded line-ups and fan-favorite tracks on the calendar. However, the 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion wants his brainchild to be better.

So what plans does Stewart have for the SRX Series? First and foremost, he would dearly love to expand the grid to at least 20-24 cars. Secondly, he is also hoping to build a longer race calendar, which would last for more than six race weekends. Finally, he is hoping for a more international flavor, in terms of venues visited. Tony Stewart confessed that he would like to have a 10-12 race season, and another stint with 8-10 overseas races. His justification was that they could stage the overseas races in the winter season at venues that would be warmer than the United States.

Additionally, SRX CEO, Don Hawk admitted that the Middle East is a prime contender for a future location. He even hinted that many in the SRX camp and the authorities in the Middle East were interested. Hawk hoped to run this race as a standalone invitational event, which will feature a slew of top-notch drivers from different fields. He suggested that the lineup could include eight American drivers, four from the host country, and an additional four from other countries.

NASCAR has been experimenting with different aspects of the sport lately

Over the past few years, NASCAR has been coming up with new-fangled ways to keep the fans engaged. Firstly, they introduced new race venues like the LA Coliseum and the Chicago Street Course. However, they also showed that they were not afraid to turn back the clock when they added the newly restored North Wilkesboro Speedway to the 2023 calendar. This year, the Iowa Speedway is back on the calendar, though it is making its Cup Series debut.

With all that being said, is it really that out of the realm of possibility that NASCAR wants to go global? Considering that they have held a fair number of races in foreign locations in the past, they could very well do it again. The most likely candidates will be somewhere in Canada or even down south in Mexico. One thing is for sure, NASCAR and the SRX Series are racing to see who could add a non-American race track to its calendar first.

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