“I don’t view them as competitors”: NASCAR president downplays rivalry with F1 and IndyCar amid global push

NASCAR president Steve Phelps has recently made it clear that he doesn’t view other motorsports like F1 and IndyCar Series as their direct competitors in the United States. Instead, he views NASCAR’s competition more broadly with all forms of entertainment as a whole that compete for people’s time and attention.

As global motorsports continue to grow in popularity, many fans and media have speculated about a potential rivalry brewing between NASCAR, F1, and IndyCar for being the number one motorsport in the US.

In the recent interview with CNBC, the stock car racing series president downplays rivalry with F1 and IndyCar. Phelps remains confident, noting that as other forms of motorsports grow in popularity, the stock car racing series still holds a dominant position in the U.S. market.

Here’s what Phelps said:

“Yeah, for us, I don’t view them as competitors. Our competitors, I view as more holistically. And I think it’s really not just motorsports, actually not even just sports, it’s entertainment. And we are competing for that dollar. We are competing for your time and other people’s time because if they’re not watching NASCAR, are they watching Netflix? Are they watching movies? Are they watching CNBC?” “What are they doing when they’re not doing that? So it’s super competitive. I believe if motorsports broadly is rising, we’re the number one motorsports in this country by a wide margin.”

Indeed, NASCAR continues to lead in domestic TV ratings and event attendance compared to other American racing series. Last month, the governing body hosted the first points-paying Cup Series race, the Viva Mexico 250 in Mexico City, outside the country since 1958.

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“Global expansion for us is important” - NASCAR president on international strategy and driver development pathway in the sport

Further in the interview, Steve Phelps shed light on the importance of global expansion for the sport to reach beyond American borders. NASCAR already operates four international racing series—in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Europe.

Phelps believes that sports' global growth isn't just about building an international fanbase; it's also about creating a sustainable pipeline of talent from around the world, like Daniel Suarez and Shane van Gisbergen, who are competing full-time in the Cup Series.

On the importance of sport’s global expansion, here’s what Phelps said:

“I believe that global expansion for us is important. Like most people don’t know is we have four racing series around the globe. We have a series in Canada. We have a series of Mexico. We have a series in Brazil and we have a series in Europe.” “All meant to do three things: driver development. So, getting drivers from other countries to come to our national series, like Daniel Suarez, who graduated from our Mexico series and then went up and raced in our national series and has won races in our national series. He was our Xfinity Series champion”

The 2025 Cup Series next stop is at Dover’s Monster Mile this weekend. The event is set to kick off on Sunday (July 20) at 2 pm ET on TNT Sports.

Get the latest NASCAR All-Star race news, Xfinity Series updates, breaking news, rumors, and today’s top stories with the latest news on NASCAR.

Edited by Yash Soni