Motorsports in the United States have taken a dramatic off-track turn: Analysis

Updated Oct. 14, 2024 4:13 p.m. ET

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Michael Andretti was at the Circuit of the Americas this time last year trying to drum up support for a Formula 1 team. F1 returns to Texas this week after Andretti shockingly walked away from racing and the future of the second American F1 team he fought so hard for is unknown.

It is a wild time for motorsport in the United States, which hosts F1 for the second of three visits this week. NASCAR opens the third round of the playoffs full of off-track storylines and IndyCar is just looking for a stable offseason in which owner Roger Penske can deliver on his promise of growth. Just to catch up:

Michael Jordan is suing NASCAR, with a court date scheduled the week of the championship-deciding finale. NASCAR's officiating has been under scrutiny for weeks and Alex Bowman was disqualified from Sunday's race in a post-race decision that eliminated the Hendrick Motorsports driver from the playoffs.

Penske this weekend won the IMSA sports car championship, has the WEC title in sight and two of his drivers, reigning Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano, remain contenders for the NASCAR title. This comes after a trying year for the IndyCar Series, which and is looking forward to a new television partner in Fox Sports, a 2026 race in Arlington, Texas with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones as his partner and a likely announcement of a Mexico City race.

Motorsports has officially entered the U.S. presidential race chat, too.

Kamala Harris said F1 star Lewis Hamilton is her favorite driver; JD Vance attended NASCAR’s playoff race Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway; and retired driver Danica Patrick, at 42, admitted while moderating a Vance appearance that she's never before voted but will this year as her politics have taken a hard-right turn as she seeks yet another reinvention of her post-racing career.

F1 at COTA

F1 makes its second stop of the season in the United States at a time when McLaren — one of IndyCar’s most popular teams — is the series darling.

McLaren has passed Red Bull for the lucrative constructor's title and Lando Norris, with some bad luck for Max Verstappen, might have a shot at the driver's championship.

Haas, which is the only American team in the series, last week announced a partnership that brings Toyota back to F1 for the first time in 15 years, but there won’t be an American driver in Texas this week: Williams fired Logan Sargeant earlier this year and the Floridian was at the IndyCar season finale looking for a job.

Andretti is unlikely to be back at COTA this weekend after bowing out of his race team and giving partner Dan Towriss control. Andretti and Towriss told The Associated Press that it was the 62-year-old Andretti’s decision to focus his priorities away from Andretti Global, but its a head-scratcher in that he’s spent the last three years banging on F1’s door begging for a team.

When F1 said no — and insulted him in doing so by saying his last name doesn't carry the value he believes it does — Andretti vowed to continue the fight. The Justice Department is investigating F1 rights holder Liberty Media Corp. over potential antitrust violations for denying Andretti a team; Pascal Arimont, a Belgian member of the European Commission, has asked for an investigation into Liberty Media's potential “monopolistic practices.”

Andretti also sparred with Penske. He opened the IndyCar season calling on “The Captain” to sell the series if Penske wasn’t willing to spend more money to spur growth.

Well, it’s the end of the season and the 87-year-old Penske still owns IndyCar. Andretti? He told AP he has no idea how many races he’ll go to moving forward.

NASCAR's disruptions

It’s certainly a weird time in NASCAR when the mood should be at playoff-level euphoria.

Instead, the brawl and federal lawsuit between NASCAR and 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports over charters has dominated. Jordan, co-owner of 23XI Racing along with veteran driver Denny Hamlin, has dug his heels in along with Front Row owner Bob Jenkins. A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 4, the Monday of the championship finale week.

That is not the only thing detracting from the final month of the season. Officiating has been inconsistent for several weeks regarding crashed cars and a caution thrown seconds before Parker Kligerman would have scored his first career Xfinity Series victory — it was the right call, NASCAR just waited until the very last second to throw the yellow — drew ire after Saturday's race. Bowman was disqualified from Sunday's Cup race for an infraction that knocked him out of the playoff field.

Now comes word of a brewing scandal in the Cup Series, with allegations that an engineer for one team has been accused of accessing proprietary information and handing it over to a rival team. NASCAR confirmed to The Associated Press it is aware of the allegations but neither of the teams involved has lodged a complaint.

On the track, there are six races to go in F1 and four in NASCAR to settle the championships. Both series may have to share the spotlight with off-track drama of their own making.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

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Alex Bowman