F1 track boss hints at future European NASCAR race

NASCAR could swoop in on a track that is leaving the F1 calendar after interest in a European race was announced.

F1 returns after the summer break this weekend for the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, with the 2025 race the penultimate event Max Verstappen will race in front of home fans.

Zandvoort’s current deal with F1 expires at the end of 2026, with the promoter making the decision not to remain on the calendar from 2027 onwards.

F1’s hefty sanctioning fees have been named as the reason for Zandvoort’s exit from the F1 calendar, with the circuit unable to receive funding from government subsidies. However, alternative racing series do not have the same high fees as F1, and are therefore materialise as more feasible options for Zandvoort.

Robert van Overdijk, Zandvoort’s general director, was recently asked what was next for the circuit by RacingNews365, and he named NASCAR as a potential contender to race in the Netherlands.

“Ultimately, we only have four UBO (no sound limit) weekends in the year. One of those will be released in 2027," Van Overdijk said.

“Of course I’ve been talking to different parties who are interested in that for quite some time. What’s important to us as a circuit is that something comes in return. It can never be as big as Formula 1, but you shouldn’t be looking for that either.”

“I personally – but that’s my personal opinion – do like to look across the pond to America with a slanted eye.

“And whether that’s IndyCar or NASCAR, I’ll leave that for a while. I think both are spectacular and you can create a very cool show around them. But again, that’s my personal preference.”

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Will NASCAR come to Europe?

In NASCAR's 76 year history, the series has never held a race in Europe with most of the races taking place within the United States.

This year, for the first time since 1958, NASCAR held its first points paying race outside of the US and returned to Mexico City, where the series raced at the home of the Mexican Grand Prix – the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

However, NASCAR will not return to Mexico City in 2026 with the series remaining an entirely US spectacle next year.

An official NASCAR stock racing series does operate in Europe, the only one of its kind on the continent, and is called the NASCAR Euro Series.

The series does not currently have a race in the Netherlands or compete at Zandvoort, with races instead taking place at renowned circuits such as Brands Hatch in the UK and Zolder in Belgium.

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