Could NASCAR and MotoGP run a crossover weekend?

Both NASCAR and MotoGP were on track this weekend in Texas with NASCAR racing at the Texas Motor Speedway and MotoGP the Circuit of the Americas.

There is the potential nowadays for NASCAR and MotoGP to have a crossover weekend due to the representation of both sports in each paddock, due to Trackhouse now owning a satellite MotoGP team.

In the past, NASCAR has not been afraid of a crossover weekend as they have paired with IndyCar at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This was part of the Brickyard Weekend.

The Trackhouse NASCAR drivers of Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez were present this weekend at the Circuit of the Americas. The duo were there to watch the Trackhouse Aprilia riders Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira in Practice on Friday.

While at the circuit Chastain and Suarez sat down with the media and were asked by motorsport.com about a potential NASCAR and MotoGP crossover.

“It’s MotoGP for me right now because we have team-mates here,” stated Chastain. “In my former job at Chip Ganassi Racing, whenever we did the dual weekend with IndyCar, I had those guys to go and see.

“I had it with Alex Palou, and he went on to win two championships. But we’re Trackhouse now, so I don’t have that bond with anybody in IndyCar.

“Now we have that bond with Trackhouse in MotoGP and I’m excited to follow those guys, to communicate and interact with each other. Even when it’s different disciplines, we’re on the same team. So, it’s MotoGP for me.”

However, it is not as simple as just having both series appear at COTA one weekend and racing. Chastain was then asked whether he believes it would be feasible to have NASCAR and MotoGP on the same track on the same weekend: “Sure, I mean, I think so. I don’t know what their rubber does… and we tend to leave quite a lot of debris out there when we’re done racing – some bent fenders! We tend to crunch fenders everywhere and some pieces fall off.

“I guess it would be more up to MotoGP to decide if they could contend with that. I noticed that the track was really clean for practice. When we’re on track here at COTA, there’s dirt everywhere – especially at Turn 8. We’re off the track everywhere!”

Suarez backed up Chastain’s claims and believes that both NASCAR and MotoGP could mutually benefit from each-other as NASCAR would be exposed to MotoGP’s global audience and MotoGP would be exposed to NASCARs American market, something MotoGP has been trying to crack into for a few years.

“I’ve been watching MotoGP for a while, but until recently I wasn’t following it that closely,” said Suarez. “Of course, the US is a big market, everyone knows that, so a crossover event would be amazing.

“It would work for NASCAR as well as MotoGP. I see a lot of fans here, very, very passionate. Who knows, maybe these guys don’t watch NASCAR?

“I think it would be a win-win for both series, especially how international MotoGP is. NASCAR is very, very strong in the United States, but it needs to continue to grow worldwide. And MotoGP is the other way around, it’s very big everywhere but needs to grow in the United States.”