SAN DIEGO, CA – JUNE 21: NASCAR, Motorsport, USA COO Ben Kennedy during the NASCAR Cup Series Anduril 250 Race the Base event on Sunday June 21, 2026 at the Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, CA. Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire AUTO: JUN 21 NASCAR Cup Series Anduril 250 Race the Base EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon9532606211055 ©IMAGO/Icon Sportswire Aaradhya Singh · EssentiallySports Sat, November 7, 2026 at 1:07 AM UTC · 5 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When NASCAR took the Cup Series to Mexico City in 2025, the challenge did not end when the cars crossed the border. A 137-truck convoy travelled from Michigan to the event, accompanied by police escorts, before the next race at Pocono. The visit showed what an international race could offer. The journey also showed why repeating it week after week is another matter.
That is the balance NASCAR executive Ben Kennedy is trying to strike as the sport considers how far its calendar can stretch beyond the United States. Asked about destinations from Canada to Australia, Kennedy did not dismiss any market. But he was clear that the current schedule makes regular overseas trips difficult.
"You know, if you think about our schedule for starters, we have 38 races the entire season. Logistically speaking, you know, it's difficult for us to go overseas and then come back week to week ," Kennedy said in an appearance shared by SiriusXM NASCAR Radio . The Cup calendar has 36 points-paying races and two exhibitions, leaving little room to move teams and equipment across continents.
That is why Kennedy sees North America as the most realistic place to begin. He pointed to the possibility of taking a Cup race north of the US border into Canada or south into Mexico. NASCAR's 2025 visit to Mexico City demonstrated that there is an audience waiting beyond the United States, and Kennedy believes Canada could deliver a similarly strong reception.
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The challenge goes beyond finding a circuit or selling tickets. NASCAR must move an entire operation and get everyone back on the road without compromising the next event. NASCAR has also aligned off-weeks across its national series to give the wider industry a shared break.
Jeff Gluck's summary of a media call with Kennedy and schedule executive Julie Giese reinforced that near-term direction. NASCAR is likely to remain within North America for international points races for the foreseeable future, while retaining its current structure of 36 points events and two exhibitions for now.
The format is not necessarily permanent: Kennedy indicated that the next media-rights cycle in 2032 could give NASCAR an opportunity to put bigger schedule ideas on the table.
The exhibition calendar may offer a workaround. Kennedy specifically raised the Clash as a possible vehicle for taking NASCAR overseas, mentioning Brazil and Europe as markets worth exploring. Because the Clash is not part of the points championship, it offers more flexibility than fitting an international round into the middle of a title campaign. No destination is confirmed, but an exhibition could test demand without adding a points race.
Brazil already has a foundation NASCAR can work with. The organisation launched its Brasil Series in 2023, and Kennedy said he had recently met people connected with the championship.
He described its fanbase as growing rapidly. With a domestic championship already operating, Brazil offers NASCAR more than a speculative market; there is an existing racing structure to build on. Europe offers another opening: Kennedy pointed to events attracting crowds of 45,000 to 50,000. NASCAR also sanctions a Euro Series, with races across several European countries.
This would not be the first time NASCAR has taken its cars overseas. The series held an exhibition at Calder Park in Melbourne in 1988, then staged three post-season exhibition races in Japan between 1996 and 1998. Neither became a permanent Cup fixture, but the idea is not new. A future Clash in Brazil or Europe would give an existing international audience a major NASCAR event to rally around.
Australia and New Zealand appear to sit further down the road. Kennedy pointed to viewership growth in both countries, saying it had increased tenfold in some cases. He also referenced drivers such as Shane van Gisbergen, whose move from Supercars has strengthened the connection.
That said, Kennedy described Asia and Australia as longer-term possibilities, rather than immediate targets for a points-paying Cup race.
The appointment of Adam Layton as senior vice president of international efforts is part of that longer view. Kennedy said Layton is assessing NASCAR's international landscape, measuring its performance in existing markets and collecting missing data. The aim is to build a strategy stretching five, 10 and 15 years into the future.
IndyCar offers a timely comparison. Its 2027 schedule features 17 races and includes a Barcelona event, marking the series' first race outside North America since 2013. The July 18 date sits between Mid-Ohio on July 4 and Portland on August 1, leaving a fortnight on either side of the overseas trip.
It is a significant step, but shows how much international expansion depends on calendar space. IndyCar's shorter season presents a different set of constraints from NASCAR's 36-race points campaign.
For now, Kennedy's message is not that NASCAR is ready to take the Cup Series around the world. The sport sees opportunities, but must get the format and timing right. Canada and Mexico are the nearer-term possibilities for points racing; Brazil and Europe could be reached through the Clash; Australia and Asia remain part of a longer-term plan.
The appetite may be there. Finding a way to move NASCAR's vast weekly operation without making the schedule unworkable is the harder part.
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