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Michael Andretti to NASCAR has been primarily speculation up to this point. For the most part, people have just connected the dots between Gainbridge and Spire and Andretti, with a few reports here and there discussing the interest. However, Nathan Brown of IndyStar was able to get Andretti to officially comment on what he wants.
What did Andretti have to say, and what makes his timeline so interesting that he brings up? Here are the highlights of what he brought up to Brown in IndyStar.
According to Brown, Andretti has been focused on getting into Formula One for a long time now. However, Andretti did not dismiss the possibility of entering NASCAR, and here is what Brown was able to get Andretti to say.
‘“That would be awesome,” Andretti said of the possibility of taking majority ownership of an existing NASCAR Cup team. “That deal (with WTR) was turn-key, and ‘boom.’’
Nathan Brown (Indy Star)
WTR is referring to how Michael Andretti found his way into IMSA, through Wayne-Taylor Racing. This deal, as Brown put it, essentially put Andretti as the figurehead of the organization, but the same people still run the day-to-say operations as before.
If this is the type of deal that Andretti wants, then he has to have a lot of trust in someone like Spire Motorsports. Spire truly is an up-and-coming NASCAR operation with driver Corey LaJoie enjoying a solid season to this point. The team is growing, and it seems that they want to make their way up the NASCAR ranks.
Wayne-Taylor Racing was one of IMSA’s top teams before Andretti took over. Spire is not one of NASCAR’s top teams, at least not yet. They seemingly are on the upward trend, but they still need some time to grow and develop as a race team to become race-win contenders week-in and week-out.
Andretti is used to contending for Championships both in IndyCar and in IMSA. That opportunity to do that right away is seemingly not quite there in NASCAR, at least at Spire. However, Andretti has something big dropping at a very interesting time frame when it comes to NASCAR.
NASCAR’s TV deal expires at the end of 2024, and the next TV deal could mean some major shifts in the economics of the sport. Andretti also has something happening in 2025. According to Brown, Andretti is opening a brand new facility in 2025 with IndyCar moving in first.
That is purely coincidental timing in all likelihood, but it does open something interesting up. Andretti is expanding his racing operation in 2025, right when NASCAR’s next TV deal begins. Is it possible that Andretti could be attracted by the next TV deal enough to enter NASCAR?
He said nothing about this to Brown or at all, so nothing official on his end can be said. However, the new TV deal could change a lot about how NASCAR and its teams operate. It could change how prize money is allocated or how money is allocated to the teams.
NASCAR could look very different starting in 2025. It could be the landscape for Andretti to start it in, but a lot would have to go right for that to happen.
