NASCAR: Series eyes possible Cup Series Exhibition Races in Europe

Michael Lock, who is working on NASCAR’s Garage 56 project for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, has revealed to the BlackBook that NASCAR is looking to prioritize international development.

The US stock car racing series is holding an international summit in London on Friday 16th June, with C-level executives in attendance.

According to Lock, there are a myriad of options as to how NASCAR will explore international expansion, but the attention garnered from its entry into the historic endurance race has piqued its interest in Europe in particular.

At that London event, NASCAR is set to outline the investment it is going to make and just what its priority is – which could be as far as staging exhibition Cup Series races in Europe, or potentially more.

What is likely is a revamp of the Whelen Euro Series, the European arm of NASCAR, something Lock describes as “perhaps even overdue”.

“I think the expectation in Europe is that it’s a very American race series for America, ovals and stock cars and all of that,” Lock told the BlackBook.

“But in fact, we now don’t exclusively race on ovals in the US anymore. In fact, we’ve got quite a mixed format of road race courses, short tracks, the Coliseum, the street circuit in Chicago.

“Really, NASCAR’s become quite nimble, which opens up opportunity internationally to do things that we never imagined we would do before.”  —Blackbook—