France: International Cup date not on radar right now

By adding a Busch Series race in Montreal to the Mexico City venue already on the schedule, NASCAR is continuing to dabble its toes in international waters. But diving into the deep end with a Nextel Cup race outside of the U.S. is not something NASCAR chairman Brian France expects to do anytime soon.

In the media center at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve over the weekend, France outlined NASCAR's international marketing strategy, which at this point, does not include an international Nextel Cup race -- even though he admitted Montreal's Busch Series debut appears to be an unqualified success.

Cup internationale?

Nextel Cup drivers are somewhat split about their feelings on whether the series should race internationally.

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Would Montreal be the best venue for a Nextel Cup race outside of the States?

"It's obviously an international city that could be an important market for the companies that do business in Nextel Cup," France said. "But as in all these situations, we have a domestic schedule that's full. It's just not on our radar screen right now to try, however successful this event is, to do that because of the schedule."

France said NASCAR's committed to growing its product internationally at a slow and steady pace, having learned lessons from its failed foray into Japan in the 1990s.

"We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves," France said. "There's a tendency for guys like me to pound their chest and say how great we are, wherever we are. But you still have to get there and you still have to go through probably more than one [race] to see how much traction you really get. It's possible, but right now, we're trying to make this event successful."

France said there's interest worldwide in NASCAR, but any ventures would have to be well-funded and well-marketed.

"Our business model is very different from Formula One in how we view the end product," France said. "It has to be close, competitive and cost-effective. That's not on the minds of too many sanctioning bodies around the world.

"So ... we [need to] find people that are based in these countries that would see our business model and help us develop it. Whether it's South America or Europe or Asia, it has to be somebody who believed in what we believed in and helped us obtain that."

Another issue is the logistical nightmare that would come from trying to transport cars, equipment, teams and drivers to another continent. France's plan is to build a foundation for stock-car racing using local drivers and teams, much like Mexico's Corona Series or the Canadian Tire Series, which ran a support race at Montreal.

For example, a China-based racing series could be comprised of domestic manufacturers rather than the familiar Chevrolets, Dodges, Fords and Toyotas of Nextel Cup.

"We would create a stock-car racing series, even though it may look different than it does in the U.S. than somewhere else," France said. "Then we can use the power of the industry to export: where car builders build cars, track promoters promote, our TV partners have a footprint, whether it's Disney Co. or News Corp. all the world, so we have a lot of ways to help them be successful. But it would be with people that know their culture, have capital to put at risk and so on."

Is that likely anytime soon? France doesn't think so, but that doesn't keep NASCAR from working on long-range plans that include taking the sport to new audiences.

"It's not imminent. We don't have plans that we'll be announcing any time soon," France said. "We're making the contacts of people that can be influential in helping us.

"That's what Asia was. We met with everybody from Chinese television to what is their conglomerate, like General Electric, met with the track at Shanghai, went out and saw the track, a beautiful place. The government has spent a lot of money on it."

Still, France believes there are untapped markets in the United States. Instead of reaching the Northwest market through a Vancouver street race, NASCAR remains focused on a permanent venue inside the contiguous 48.

"New venues in the United States have to have a market that we're interested in the impact," France said. "In that case, Seattle, perhaps Portland or something. We're interested in the U.S. in activating certain markets or big areas."