As you might expect, the most popular forms of motorsport are subject to constant comparison. We've already looked at how MotoGP could potentially become F1's commercial equal, and now it's NASCAR's turn to be put in the spotlight.
On the one hand, NASCAR is the all-muscular, no-nonsense test of brute speed, and the perfect foil to an afternoon spent watching a Formula One event embodied by precision engineering and calculated turns.
With outlaw roots, a fanbase that is mainly fervent in the southern states, and the idea of anything other than an American champion unthinkable, NASCAR has a lot of catching up to do with F1 where marketing itself as a brand is concerned.
Away from the States, many people will simply see NASCAR as a sport in which cars go around in an oval, ad nauseam, until the chequered flag drops for the final time.
While this is not untrue at face value, there are in fact many innate qualities required of a title-winning NASCAR driver.
More often than not, the pit teams involved will need to think of strategies not unlike those seen in NFL playbooks, and focus on disabling certain rival drivers rather than simply winning the race.
NASCAR vs Formula One
Although F1 is not entirely without strategy, the era of Mercedes and Ferrari dominance means that the clear favourites to win are known even a year in advance.
Beyond that, it becomes a matter of personnel, and which driver should be given priority, in order for a constructor to gain as many points as possible.
While NASCAR also has strong characters with a habit of winning, the difference between constructors is far less prominent and there is a wider range of realistic options when it comes to betting.
For instance, drivers under Joe Gibbs Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske and Stewart-Haas are seen on the podium – and in Group A fantasy NASCAR squads – quite regularly.
NASCAR is also different from F1 in that certain drivers and constructors favour course types.
Until such a time as fair-play legislation is brought into F1, a Mercedes car driven by Lewis Hamilton will almost always beat, say, a Haas car driven by Romain Grosjean – even if Grosjean would be a better driver on a particular circuit in an equally powerful car.
That is not to say certain drivers prefer some courses over others, but in NASCAR, history and form at circuits count for much more when making those all-important picks.
Given the varying distance of laps on standard NASCAR circuits that are practically identical in shape, a greater range of surfaces, and the (abolished) presence of restrictor plates on some to moderate the speed, there are still some distinct variables at play.
So for instance, Joe Gibbs Racing’s reputation for brute speed in the mid-2010s made the likes of Kyle Busch hot favourites on ‘Super Speedway’ tracks, but their fuel efficiency was occasionally found wanting on the short circuits.
The protocol behind tyre changes also provides a striking difference between the two motorsport forms, with the timing of them in NASCAR being even more important than they are in F1.
This is due to the comparatively high regularity with which cars pass over the surface of a NASCAR track, and wear out its integrity.
While many F1 fans see NASCAR as brutish and full of bravado, safety is still a massive consideration. People often get frustrated when a safety car is deployed in F1, but it is a relatively infrequent event compared to its occurrence in NASCAR races.
Full contact is inevitable in any NASCAR race, but even if there is just one shard of metal on the circuit, race officials seemingly have full license to issue a yellow flag, which will slow the cars down to a predetermined pace until the green flag 'restarts' the race.
Defection: For Better Or Worse?
There are a select few who have made the transition from F1 to NASCAR. In the 2000s, current WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driver Juan Pablo Montoya flew the flag for Colombia in both F1 and NASCAR, and stands as a particularly memorable example.
He made his F1 debut in 2001, getting his first win at the speedy Monza circuit, in a foreshadowing of his defection to come. A respectable sixth-place finish in the drivers' championship was followed by two consecutive years of finishing third.
Montoya would have two more top-five finishes, but Michael Schumacher was enjoying untold dominance at the same time, making a finish at the top of the standings a practical impossibility for the man from Bogota.
His defection to NASCAR in 2006 was a good move, if longevity is the means by which his motorsport career in the 2000s is judged. He earned ‘rookie of the year’ in 2007, after a first full season that saw him sneak into the Nextel Cup's final top 20.
Despite this early success, the only wins of his NASCAR career unsurprisingly came in the F1-esque road races at Sonoma (2007) and Watkins Glen (2010), and he could finish no higher than sixth on any other circuit.
While it is theoretically possible to win a NASCAR title without winning a race, it is clear evidence that modern NASCAR is no place for a defecting F1 driver – even for a driver as versatile as Montoya.
A number of other notable F1 drivers, such as Nelson Piquet Jr and Jacques Villeneuve have tried – and failed completely – to make an impact on NASCAR in recent times.
One-Way Traffic?
And what of NASCAR drivers joining the ranks of F1 drivers? In truth, it is a process that is practically unheard of unless they are destined to be reserve or test drivers. With F1 driver academies also growing, the F1 seats of the future seem spoken for.
Hypothetically, though, how might a NASCAR driver fare if placed inside the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton?
Firstly, a NASCAR driver would be shocked at the lightweight frame of the F1 car. Technologically and in terms of design, it is light years ahead of the muscular, study stock car used in NASCAR.
As such, NASCAR drivers would be unable to so consistently pull off the manoeuvres that F1 drivers could do blindfolded.
That alone would be enough to make a defection from NASCAR to F1 pointless, unless there was some existing experience at sub-F1 level, and the driver in question was exceptional.
If there was to be any success in defection from NASCAR to F1, it would be that of a construction team, not a driver. For instance, they could beat a mid-table F1 constructor on tyre and fuel strategy alone, and occasionally bring an original plan into play.
However, doing so to a consistently positive effect would also require superior engineering, and the main players in that department are already well-known.
As a very topical example, American constructor Haas has made an encouraging start to life as an F1 team.
Over in America, Stewart-Haas is a respected NASCAR team, with 2014 champion Kevin Harvick its ace in the pack, and they are essentially trailblazers in what is an intriguing and untested route for NASCAR teams to consider.
