[Steve_Seattle]

One problem with American open-wheel racing is the difficulty of getting good American drivers in the series. All these guys come from Brazil and other countries with their pockets full of sponsorship money, and even good American drivers can’t compete with that.

[af_vet_rr]

One problem with American open-wheel racing is the difficulty of getting good American drivers in the series. All these guys come from Brazil and other countries with their pockets full of sponsorship money, and even good American drivers can’t compete with that.

At the same time though, a lot of American kids coming up through the ranks in racing have their eyes on NASCAR from the start. Brazil, Colombia, Italy, Germany, Canada, etc., don't have NASCAR flooding the airwaves and so they trend towards open wheel (although NASCAR is trying to change that in Canada).

And let's be blunt - there's more money to be made in NASCAR.

If you were an American drive, unless your last name is Rahal or Andretti, you would be foolish to ignore NASCAR - an IRL driver coming in between 5th and 10th places is probably going to win less than almost all of the NASCAR Cup places, and quite a of the Busch series spots. More money = more coverage.