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Andretti still eyeing NASCAR, although focus remains on F1
Michael Andretti has reiterated his long-standing desire to expand into NASCAR, despite the organization’s immediate focus being on joining the Formula 1 grid.
RACER understands that no movement on a potential NASCAR expansion will happen until the conclusion of team's effort to get Andretti Global onto the F1 grid with General Motors, but speaking at the recent Extreme E Island X Prix, Andretti spoke of long-held ambition to join the NASCAR ranks, telling a group of select media that included RACER, “Yeah, there definitely is (an interest).
“I mean, we haven't hidden that,” he said. “I've been trying to get into NASCAR for quite some time yet and unfortunately the opportunity hasn't come. We're still exploring. But I'm hoping that something can happen in the future.”
One potential pathway for an Andretti NASCAR operation would be to purchase a charter from Spire Motorsports. Spire recently welcomed Group 1001 company Gainbridge as a primary sponsor in a multi-year deal, while the company’s president and CEO Daniel Towriss became a co-owner of Andretti Autosport last year, having been a sponsor since 2018.
Although Andretti wouldn’t be drawn specifically on a possible Spire link, he did say any future NASCAR foray would be done with an existing setup rather than building a new one from the ground up, as he is planning to do in F1 after existing teams ruled out a possible sale.
“I would never go into it ground-up there,” he said. “I think it would have to be something that basically already has something going.”
Andretti said that any potential NASCAR expansion wouldn’t impact the team's existing efforts in IndyCar, Indy NXT, Formula E, Extreme E, IMSA, or Supercars in Australia, nor its ongoing bid to get into F1.
“I also want to make a point that this does not distract from anything else we're doing,” he said. “But yeah, I mean, there's a possibility to be there.”
A potential driver for any future Andretti NASCAR effort could be Marco Andretti, with Michael saying that he was “quite impressed with” his son’s recent performance in the Truck series with Spire.
After making his Xfinity series debut on the Charlotte Roval last year, the third-generation driver more recently finished in the top 20 on his Truck series debut at Mid-Ohio after qualifying in the top-10. Marco has also enjoyed success in the all-star SRX stock car series, winning at Slinger Speedway in 2021 and taking the overall championship last year with a run of three second-placed finishes, including at Stafford where he led the most laps.
When it was suggested that, off the back of that triumph, that stock car racing might have been the two-time IndyCar race winner and 2006 Indy 500 runner-up's calling, Michael grinned: “That's what we're hoping! It looks like that, I'll tell you.
“We'll see how he goes. He's going to run a few more this year, and hopefully some more other races next year. I think if everything goes well, it's possible to see him in Cup in a year or so.”
Outside of NASCAR and F1, Andretti also stated that a return to rallycross – where Andretti won an unprecedented five drivers' and teams' titles and 23 rounds in six years – remains an interest, but he’s unwilling to do it without manufacturer involvement, despite the U.S.-based Nitrocross series currently being a single-make series. Andretti previously partnered with Volkswagen for Global Rallycross, Americas Rallycross, and Nitro Rallycross.
“I would love to go back to that. I think it's a great form of racing, we had a lot of fun in that,” he said. “But if we do, we'd like to do it with a manufacturer, I think.
“Once the OEMs step into it more, then hopefully we’ll be involved with it. We're watching very closely.
“I think eventually, they need to open it up to something somewhere where manufacturers can have some IP in it. But obviously, for the first year or two, you want to just get it as a standard. Everybody has the same thing and then build off after that.
“But I can see that model happening in the next three or four years.”
Dominik Wilde
Dominik often jokes that he was born in the wrong country – a lover of NASCAR and IndyCar, he covered both in a past life as a junior at Autosport in the UK, but he’s spent most of his career to date covering the sliding and flying antics of the U.S.’ interpretation of rallycross. Rather fitting for a man that says he likes “seeing cars do what they’re not supposed to do”, previously worked for a car stunt show, and once even rolled a rally car with Travis Pastrana. He was also comprehensively beaten in a kart race by Sebastien Loeb once, but who hasn’t been?
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