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Commissioners in Cars Getting Coffee

While Formula 1 seems to be grabbing all the headlines these days—from the wildly successful Hollywood movie to a rich new potential rights deal with Apple—NASCAR has quietly reinforced its position as the dominant domestic motorsport. Not gonna lie, as the kids say, it’s not even close.

Steve Phelps
"It’s a positive thing if motorsports is growing. If you consider that we’re the top of the heap of motorsports domestically—and we are, by a wide margin—it’s a good thing," says NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps. Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images
John Ourand
July 14, 2025

F1 may attract a lot of attention, and a decidedly high-net-worth crowd, but its domestic TV viewership is a far cry from the numbers NASCAR puts up. In fact, ratings for NASCAR’s second-tier Xfinity Series, which The CW carries on Saturday afternoons, are similar to those of its more cosmopolitan European competitor. But the audience for NASCAR’s premier Cup Series races, on Sundays, triples F1’s American viewership. “I think the breadth of what NASCAR has surprises people,” NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps told me on Saturday, the day before his Toyota/Save Mart 350 race. “TV viewers in aggregate for our top Cup Series, our Xfinity Series, and then Truck Series are significant. And by themselves they’re really good numbers.” (Disclosure: Puck and NASCAR partnered on a live event around the race.)