A NASCAR Race in Saudi Arabia?

It may sound crazy to ask this question out loud, but could the NASCAR Cup Series have a race in Saudi Arabia as soon as 2028?

On Tuesday (Oct. 29), the Sports Business Journal dropped a bomb (not the kind of bombs that were near the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix) and reported that NASCAR was listed “as being in talks to bring a race to the planned Qiddiya mega resort in Saudi Arabia toward the end of this decade.”

NASCAR denied comment, but by being one of the motorsports leagues listed, it means that the American stock car series is at least having discussions about racing there.

It could mean there’s just the slimmest of possibilities that a race there actually happens, but to quote the cinematic masterpiece Dumb and Dumber, “So you’re telling me there’s a chance.”

It could just be that the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series would go race there. But with the ridiculous amount of money Saudi Arabia has thrown at other sports, I’d have to imagine it will pay top dollar to have the premier series.

That’s pretty much all we know about NASCAR’s involvement in the new Saudi Arabian racetrack for now, but let’s take a look at why NASCAR would even want to go there and what a race there would look like.

First: the why. Money. Saudi Arabia has lots of money, and NASCAR loves money perhaps more than Mr. Krabs in SpongeBob SquarePants.

But NASCAR would be far from the firsts in American sports to get lured by Saudi funds. We’ve seen Formula 1, soccer, tennis, pro wrestling and many other sports get involved with the country via its Public Investment Fund. You know LIV Golf? That’s owned by the PIF and threw piles of money to get American golfers to compete in it.

For some reason, NASCAR loves to try to morph into being more like stick-and-ball sports, so it only makes sense it would follow suit. But if the Middle Eastern country offers it more money to hold a race than even the record-setting upcoming TV contract pays per race, why not pursue it?

I get that Saudi Arabia has several political issues and a severe human rights problem. But China has issues with some of those things as well and people still watch tons of Disney movies and the NBA. Those other sports that already sold out for the Saudi money already took all the flack for doing so, so there wouldn’t be near as much hate directed to NASCAR for doing what others have done. I don’t like it, but the dollar is a powerful thing.

We’ve seen…