NASCAR wins Ford vs Ferrari battle as Joey Logano's win surpasses F1's viewership by almost two times despite clashing schedules

The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and Formula One schedule clashed as the two pinnacles of competitive motorsports were scheduled to race in the United States of America. The South Point 400 playoff race was scheduled at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the Formula One United States Grand Prix was held at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

In a surprising viewership outcome, NBC Sports' broadcast of the South Point 400 playoff race drew nearly a million more viewers than ABC's broadcast of the Formula One US Grand Prix at COTA. This was reported by Sports Business Journal's Adam Stern via X (formerly Twitter), highlighting NASCAR's strong appeal, even amidst the growing popularity of Formula One in the U.S.

"@NBC got 2.3 million viewers for Sunday's NASCAR race at Las Vegas, while @ABC got 1.3 million for the F1 race at COTA." the post was captioned

The Formula One Pirelli United States Grand Prix was the 19th race of the 2024 World Championship, after nearly a month's break. Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc won the US Grand Prix, followed by his teammate Carlos Sainz, who is set to join Williams Racing following the end of the 2024 season. The podium places were finished by three-time and reigning Formula One champion Max Verstappen, who has had trouble finding his rhythm this season.

Meanwhile, Team Penske's #22 driver Joey Logano drove down Victory Lane in the round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and advanced to the Championship for a record-breaking 6th time in his career. Logano, who is a two-time champion, did not make it to the Round of 8 until HMS driver Alex Bowman's #48 Ally Chevrolet did not meet the weight requirement in the post-race inspection, leading to his disqualification from the race.

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'Highly sensitive commercial financial information' instigates NASCAR, 23XI, and FRM to reach agreement amid fierce charter lawsuit

As the legal battle between 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports, and NASCAR continues, all three parties have agreed to redact certain parts of the previous charter agreement's documents to preserve the sanctity of already existing business relationships before presenting them in court.

NASCAR urged the charter-holding teams to sign the new charter agreement starting in 2025 and going up until 2031. However, 23XI and FRM decided to not sign the new agreement as it did not give them "an opportunity to fairly bargain" the details of the new agreement and filed an antitrust lawsuit against the organization.

Sportsnaut journalist Matt Weaver reported the news about the agreement between the parties involved via a post on X.

"NASCAR’s reasoning is that these documents ‘contain highly sensitive commercial financial information, such as revenue, rights agreements, and sponsorship agreements. Defendants would not share this highly sensitive financial information publicly and it should be sealed to avoid harming Defendant’s business and business relationships," Weaver wrote.