NASCAR looking to go global with international series races in key markets: Reports

NASCAR is gearing up to expand worldwide to make the most of the global market and create significant profits through key overseas opportunities.

At a juncture where F1 is solidifying its presence and creating its stronghold inside the American market, NASCAR is aiming to capitalize on overseas business opportunities by introducing multiple international series and tapping into potentially lucrative markets.

A significant step in this direction was NASCAR's recent rebranding of its Canadian Series. The competition, formerly known as the Pinty's Series, moved away from a title sponsor model of partnership.

NASCAR Chief International Officer Chad Seigler spoke to Sports Business Journal and emphasized the importance of clearly identifying the racing region in the series name. Highlighting the recent rebranding of the Canadian Series, Seigler said:

"We realized that in our international series - even more so than our U.S. series - that it’s really important we identify the region we’re racing in (with the name of the series)."

The Pinty's Series' rebranding was just one side of NASCAR's multi-faceted move, as the stock car racing series also branched to nations like Mexico and Brazil in recent seasons.

Intriguingly, the introduction of the series in Brazil coincided with a notable rise in ratings for the NASCAR Cup Series in the United States. Reflecting on this rating boost, Seigler said:

“I like to tell people that I don’t think that’s a coincidence that we put a series down there (in Brazil) and then it raised the profile [of the Cup Series]."

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Brazil one of the more prominent markets for NASCAR, according to Chad Seigler

The NASCAR Chief International Officer was questioned whether Brazil has emerged as a potential candidate for hosting the Cup Series in the future. Seigler affirmed that Brazil was a strong candidate.

Pointing out the vibrant racing culture in the South American nation and a passion for stock car racing, he firmly believes in Brazil's potential as a profitable market for NASCAR to expand to in the future.

"There’s a lot of places," said Seigler. "But when we look at it, any of those places we’re looking at for Cup or national series Xfinity and Trucks, a logical place for us to look at is one where we already have a presence, so Brazil - the culture there is so strong, similar to Europe in that there’s a strong passion for American-style racing. No doubt, Brazil is a market you look at really aggressively."

Amid F1's rising popularity, it remains to be seen if NASCAR's objective to tap into the international market comes to fruition.