David Brown

Live attendance at the United States Grand Prix climbs at a similar rate.

And with interest rising, Formula One announces its return to Las Vegas.

The larger audience soon translates into revenue,

In 2022, Formula One renews its TV deal with ESPN.

Just a few years earlier, ESPN got the rights for free.

This time, it pays an estimated $90 million per year for them.

Now, sure, this is a big leap forward for Formula One, but NASCAR's television rights are worth around 10 times that.

And a typical NASCAR race still attracts about three times the viewers of a Formula One Grand Prix in the US.

But it's the trend that matters.

Formula One is accelerating.

NASCAR, well, it's coasting.

And its executives are starting to glance in the rear view mirror a little more often.

With Formula One coming up fast, NASCAR's bosses don't think they can wait years for a full reinvention.

They want faster results, so they borrow from Formula One's playbook.

First, they change where NASCAR races.

For decades, the organization has invested heavily in building or buying race tracks.

It now controls dozens of speedways across the U.S., many located in rural areas that once formed the heartland of stock car racing.

But maintaining those facilities is expensive, and many are located far from the cities and younger audiences that NASCAR hopes to attract.

So NASCAR looks to reduce its reliance on far-flung tracks and experiment more.

The boldest example arrives in 2023 when NASCAR stages a street race through downtown Chicago's Grant Park, where its stock cars thunder past skyscrapers and along the edge of Lake Michigan.