US state official suggests new F1 race right in NASCAR's back garden

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US state official suggests new F1 race right in NASCAR's back garden

We would absolutely love to see it!

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Saturday 8 August 2026 21:45

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NASCAR and F1 have the oddest kind of big brother-little brother relationship, where neither can agree on which is the big brother.

F1 paints NASCAR as a bunch of beer-swilling Yanks who panic when they have to turn the steering wheel to the right (true), and NASCAR paints F1 as a bunch of posh, soft Euro-brats who would faint at the sound of their deep, throaty V8 engines (also true).

The two racing series rarely cross over, sharing just one track (COTA) and very few drivers (Jenson Button for a couple of races, Kevin Magnussen earlier this year when he immediately got into a fight with a NASCAR regular). That makes some recent quotes from an American state representative very interesting.

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Jay Adams is the state rep for North Carolina, and the Charlotte Business Journal report that he's touted his state as a potential home for a future F1 race.

Could North Carolina host a fourth American F1 race?

For those who are unfamiliar, North Carolina is more or less the spiritual home of NASCAR. Most of the teams are based in the state, most of the drivers live or grew up there, and the sport's Hall of Fame is in town.

Adams has said that he first started thinking about the potential for F1 in the home of NASCAR 'when a friend in Catawba County assembled 1,200 acres', adding that the vast tract of land 'would make a beautiful, natural terrain road course'.

[NASCAR to F1 translation: a 'road course' is what we would call 'a racetrack that isn't an oval']

It's hard to see the idea coming to fruition – turns out it's very difficult and very expensive to get an F1 track built and a race signed off – but it might be worth it for the reaction of a number of the locals.

To pick out one reply to the story more or less at random: "Charlotte already has an explosion of nor’easters moving in. Last thing we need is yuppies from Western Europe laying around the place."

More realistic than a brand new track would be a race run at the 'Roval' setup of the iconic Charlotte Motor Speedway (because it's a mixture of a 'road' and 'oval' course, see), but that would still be the longest of long shots to get (or stick) on the calendar.

Stick to the stock cars, NC. You'll be happier for it.

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