Steve Phelps: NASCAR could sell equity stake in coming years

Since 1948, NASCAR has been privately owned by the France family. In the coming years, that could change due to private equity investment. The world of sports is changing and America’s top motorsport is prepared to go global.

Bill France Sr. founded NASCAR all those years ago and his family has owned and operated the business ever since. That is something that even the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports lawsuit points to as one of the reasons why they believe NASCAR is a monopoly.

Speaking on NASCAR and its goals for global expansion, President Steve Phelps told Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal about potential private equity investments in the future. That would be a major change.

“I would suggest that six years ago, regardless of how PE [private equity] comes into sports in this big way, they weren’t looking to the degree they are now at NASCAR,” Phelps said to Stern. “I’ve had many, many conversations myself with these PE firms who are looking to invest in race teams because they want to hear from someone who is out selling it, ‘Where do you see this sport going, what do you believe the future to be?’ And they’re buying what we’re selling, which is fantastic.

“I believe that PE is good for our sport because they bring money, they bring expertise and they bring sponsors in many cases, so those are all positive things for our sport.”

Private equity has been increasingly common in NASCAR. Teams have taken on investments from these companies. Most recently, Legacy Motor Club announced a partnership with Knighthood Capital Management.

Is the France family really going to let loose of some of its control over NASCAR? It is hard to imagine, but Phelps talks like it is inevitable.

NASCAR heading into the future, including internationally

2025 is a big year for NASCAR. This is the first year of the new media rights deal. A number of new partners have joined the sport. The CW will host the entire Xfinity Series season, FOX/FS1/FS2 maintains the Truck Series, and the Cup Series welcomes TNT Sports and Amazon’s Prime Video as partners this year.

Already, NASCAR is starting to expand internationally. A Cup/Xfinity weekend in Mexico City later this year will be a lot of fun. In the future, could we see NASCAR go to Mexico and Canada in the same season? With series in both of those countries, it would be nice to have the top series have a footprint in those areas.

As NASCAR continues to think about ways to expand, international races are bound to happen. The NFL is doing international games more and more often. Other motorsports series like Formula One have global footprints.

There is talk that the Clash could go to Brazil next year. That is another country that has a NASCAR-sanctioned series. There are many options for the sport to go to from a competition and investment standpoint.