NASCAR plays a glum, second fiddle to F1

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — NASCAR, the longtime king of U.S. motorsports, has never had to worry about Formula One, the popular globetrotting series that has never quite grabbed hold of Americans.

Then came “Drive to Survive” on Netflix, an F1 docuseries that for three seasons has given viewers a behind-the-velvetrope look at the international superstars in Formula One, their glamorous lives, the cutthroat competition and the alleged cattiness of Red Bull boss Christian Horner.

Perhaps the show is embellished — current championship leader Max Verstappen told The Associated Press producers “faked a lot of rivalries that don’t really exist” and he’s not participating this season — but it didn’t seem to matter when F1 rolled into Austin, Texas, last week. The series’ first trip to the U.S. in two years because of the pandemic felt like the second coming of The Beatles.

Not even NASCAR would deny it was second fiddle on Sunday.

Nobody needed to see the massive crowds at the U.S. Grand Prix to know it: one look at NASCAR grandstands the last two playoff races was confirmation enough.

Meghan Thee Stallion, Rory McIlroy, Serena Williams and Shaquille O’Neal were among the 140,000 at the Circuit of the Americas on Sunday watching 24-yearold Verstappen beat seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton for the eighth time this season. At Kansas Speedway around the same time, two fans dressed as Ricky Bobby and Cal Naughton Jr. from “Talladega Nights” aimlessly walked through the empty fan zone during the pre-race prayer.

Denny Hamlin raised the alarm last week after NASCAR raced in front of a sparse crowd at Texas Motor Speedway, with the three-time Daytona 500 winner calling the turnout “a big disappointment” just before all the buzz about “the biggest crowd in history showing up for COTA F1.”

Hamlin, in fact, says he’s watching more F1 this season than ever before. He picked the right time — the Verstappen and Hamilton title fight is one of the most thrilling in years — but accurately noted F1 races are essentially a battle between Red Bull and Mercedes with other winners a rarity.

“It’s crazy because you know, you’ve got probably a 90% chance of picking which two guys are going to win. Two people can win, two teams can win. There is not much side-by-side racing, as compared to NASCAR, but yet fans and media love it,” Hamlin said. “Our racing in NASCAR, it’s head and shoulders above anything going right now. Why can’t we get people to turn out? There is some kind of disconnect that’s going on that’s not making this deal work.”

There’s something to that. American race fans have been drawn to crashes and the bumping and banging of NASCAR, but purists prefer open-wheel racing and its sophistication, reliance on technology and emphasis on strategy over wheel-to-wheel competition.

But there’s no denying something’s missing — and NASCAR teams know it.

Hamlin and Michael Jordan, his co-owner of first-year Cup Series team 23XI Racing, met with NASCAR President Steve Phelps and the managing partner of the Charlotte Hornets’ Sports & Entertainment at the Hornets’ opener to discuss what the sport can do differently. Hamlin said Phelps and other NASCAR executives have been attending sporting events across the country in an effort to see how the series can improve its at-the-track experience.

The season-opening Daytona 500 typically meets the standards of a high-energy event. The rest of the schedule? Most of it just feels like 35 groundhog days spanning February to November.

“Have less. Less is more, right?” suggested reigning Cup champion Chase Elliott as a way to make a NASCAR weekend feel special again.

Hamlin was among several drivers who put the blame squarely on race promoters, alleging most rely on the $5.3 billion earmarked for track owners as part of the $8.2 billion television package.

“It should be a big thing when we come to town,” Hamlin said. “I think the tracks just have not been held to a high enough standard when it comes to promotion. I think they’ve just really dropped the ball and a lot of it is because [attendance is] just such a small part of the revenue and it’s not a needle-mover for them.”

Kyle Busch said a friend of 10 years who lives six minutes from Texas Motor Speedway had no idea NASCAR was in town racing two weekends ago. He quipped that “make promoters great again, that’s kind of our go-to line.”