It may sound crazy to ask this question out loud, but could the NASCAR Cup Series have a race in Saudi Arabia as soon as 2028?
On Tuesday (Oct. 29), the Sports Business Journal dropped a bomb (not the kind of bombs that were near the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix) and reported that NASCAR was listed “as being in talks to bring a race to the planned Qiddiya mega resort in Saudi Arabia toward the end of this decade.”
NASCAR denied comment, but by being one of the motorsports leagues listed, it means that the American stock car series is at least having discussions about racing there.
It could mean there’s just the slimmest of possibilities that a race there actually happens, but to quote the cinematic masterpiece Dumb and Dumber, “So you’re telling me there’s a chance.”
It could just be that the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series would go race there. But with the ridiculous amount of money Saudi Arabia has thrown at other sports, I’d have to imagine it will pay top dollar to have the premier series.
That’s pretty much all we know about NASCAR’s involvement in the new Saudi Arabian racetrack for now, but let’s take a look at why NASCAR would even want to go there and what a race there would look like.
First: the why. Money. Saudi Arabia has lots of money, and NASCAR loves money perhaps more than Mr. Krabs in SpongeBob SquarePants.
But NASCAR would be far from the firsts in American sports to get lured by Saudi funds. We’ve seen Formula 1, soccer, tennis, pro wrestling and many other sports get involved with the country via its Public Investment Fund. You know LIV Golf? That’s owned by the PIF and threw piles of money to get American golfers to compete in it.
For some reason, NASCAR loves to try to morph into being more like stick-and-ball sports, so it only makes sense it would follow suit. But if the Middle Eastern country offers it more money to hold a race than even the record-setting upcoming TV contract pays per race, why not pursue it?
I get that Saudi Arabia has several political issues and a severe human rights problem. But China has issues with some of those things as well and people still watch tons of Disney movies and the NBA. Those other sports that already sold out for the Saudi money already took all the flack for doing so, so there wouldn’t be near as much hate directed to NASCAR for doing what others have done. I don’t like it, but the dollar is a powerful thing.
We’ve seen a recent push for NASCAR to be more international, with series in Canada, Mexico, Europe and Brazil. The NASCAR Cup Series is even racing in Mexico City next year for the first time.
Saudi Arabia is quite a big step from going to Mexico, but NASCAR held races in Australia in the 1980s and Japan in the 1990s. The SBJ article mentions that COO Steve O’Donnell and Executive VP and Chief Venue & Racing Innovations Officer Ben Kennedy said they were exploring racing in the Middle East, Europe, South America and Asia.
Heck, its entry in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in conjunction with Hendrick Motorsports was basically a big, loud advertisement overseas for NASCAR. The fans there loved watching that car. Motorsports fans in the Saudi Arabian area have likely never seen anything like NASCAR, and if the racing is as good as the Chicago street course, it would be something new and exciting for those fans. It could grow the international fan base.
The biggest key would be to get the teams on board with traveling all the way to Saudi Arabia, especially since things have been tense between NASCAR and the teams lately (you might have heard some are even suing the sanctioning body). NASCAR needs to get such a fat check from the PIF that it can present the biggest purse of the season. I’m talking leaps and bounds bigger than what the Daytona 500 pays out.
If the purse for this race is big enough, perhaps the teams won’t have to worry so much about selling sponsorships in order to turn a dollar at the end of the season.
Travel to the race would be a massive undertaking. When Cup teams went to Japan, they loaded up the cars and everything they needed into shipping containers that boarded a ship over to the country. I imagine the same would happen for this race.
It shouldn’t be a points-paying race, because it’s too big of a strain and time commitment to have sandwiched between two other race weekends right in the heart of the season. NASCAR would need off weekends the weeks before and after the race, and the Cup schedule currently only has one off weekend, so that just wouldn’t work.
Instead, if a race in Saudi Arabia happens, it should take the place of the Busch Light Clash that season. After all, do we really see that event happening at Bowman-Gray Stadium four or five years from now?
Saudi Arabia is seven hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast., and as cool as that track will look under the lights, I imagine promoters will want it to be a night race. So it could start 7 p.m. local time and noon ET (East Coast fans would finally get their noon start times back).
If it works out that FOX has the Super Bowl that year and FOX has this race, why not run it at noon on Super Bowl Sunday? It’d be the perfect lead-in to the Big Game, and can you imagine the ratings?
We’ll have to wait and see if a NASCAR race in Saudi Arabia actually happens. But if it does, don’t hate on NASCAR too much. There are plenty of other things you can hate on it for before that.
Besides, you’d take the money, too.
About the author
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020. Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.
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the cost involved would be crazy. not sure how the cars would run in the environment in saudi. very hot and dry and sandy.
guess nascar has been drinking too much and playing spin the globe to find another crazy idea.
“NASCAR loves money perhaps more than Mr. Krabs in SpongeBob SquarePants.” This gets the award for Line of the Year in a racing article.
I’m guessing they’d have to scrap the invocation as well. MRO could have the weekend off. lol
I’m guessing Alon Day will sit that one out, too.
Thanks for the information and a good laugh.
I $en$e the NA$CAR mantra is Gordon Gekko’s “Greed is good!”
The track they “race” on better be an oval like Homestead and not a city course!
Saudi Arabia might have endless amounts of cash but I doubt they have “build a giant oval race track that might be used once and never again” kind of cash… Who am I kidding, of course they do. But I doubt they’d spend it when they don’t have to, because NASCAR has already jumped aboard the “spectacle of racing in a posh urban center on a temporary course” bandwagon.
NASCAR had the cash to turn a stadium into a racetrack in Los Angeles, so who knows?
Just more tricks and gimmicks from Nascar.
Sorry but having this the day of the Super Bowl will never happen. The 5 hour prerace shows for the Super Bowl get far better ratings than any Nascar race ever could, so it just won’t happen.
No, just no!
Go international and lose the fan base here at home.