Yahoo Autos NASCAR still targeting international races
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve didn’t end up on next season’s NASCAR Cup Series schedule, but international races remain a goal.
Montreal (main image) was rumored to be in the works for 2024, sending a NASCAR national series into Canada for the first time since 2019. It would have been the first time the Cup Series competed on the famed 2.7-mile road course, which hosted the Xfinity Series from 2007 through 2012.
However, a deal never materialized, and NASCAR shifted focus to Iowa Speedway in recent months. Iowa will host its first Cup Series weekend – and the return of the Xfinity Series – in mid-June.
“Iowa Speedway was something that we’ve talked about for quite a while,” Ben Kennedy, NASCAR senior vice president of racing development and strategy. “This is something that we’ve been hearing from our fans for a long time and Iowa in particular, that we want to see a Cup race there. Unfortunately had to take a bit of a hiatus over the past few years with COVID for the Xfinity Series and Truck Series, but it felt like it was important for us to get back to Iowa Speedway.”
“Then, as we think about international venues in general, we still are bullish about finding our way either north of the border, whether that be in Montreal or Toronto or another market, or south of the border down into Mexico. As we’ve mentioned in the past, we want to bring our NASCAR Cup Series there at some point.
“We think it’s important for us to get outside of the United States with our series in some way, shape or form. So that’s something we’re going to keep our pulse on as we think about 2025 and beyond.”
NASCAR’s current presence in Canada is with the Pinty’s Series, which races across the country on a variety of racetracks. In addition to the Xfinity Series once being in Montreal, the Craftsman Truck Series ran in Ontario on the road course of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park between 2013 and 2019. The COVID pandemic brought an end to NASCAR making the trip.
As for going south of the border, a NASCAR national series event has not been held in Mexico since 2008. The Xfinity Series visited the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course for four seasons (2005-08).
However, stock car racing is strong within the country. Daniel Suarez is one of the most notable alumni of what is now known as the NASCAR Mexico Series. The series was established in 2004 before NASCAR became involved in 2007, making it their first internationally-sanctioned series.
“As we have mentioned in the past,” Kennedy continued, “timing is always critical to a lot of these venues. We want to make sure that the market is ready for the NASCAR Cup Series; that the timing makes sense for the industry and the sport, and hopefully we’ll be able to move in that direction at some point.”
