Will NASCAR's Plan for International Expansion Succeed?

So Steve O'Donnell, senior vice president for NASCAR who oversees global strategy for the organization, recently told reporter Nate Ryan of USA Today that plans are in the works for international expansion.

Say what?

Unfortunately for NASCAR, that overseas boat has sailed already. Let's face it: NASCAR needs to get its house in better order on United States soil before it sinks much effort and/or capital into attempting to expand its international presence.

Yet according to O'Donnell in the USA Today article, NASCAR wants much, much more and figures it is positioned to get it. He told Ryan he has "20 groups" in China that have approached NASCAR mostly about "one-off" events and noted that those no longer hold appeal to stock-car's sanctioning body, which is thinking bigger picture. O'Donnell told Ryan that he sees Brazil, Japan and Russia as more likely countries where a lower-level series could take hold and hopefully have a long-term, positive impact on the sport.

It all sounds a bit much, to be frank.

But before completely trashing the ideas that O'Donnell espoused in his recent interview, let's at least afford them closer examination.

This isn't an attempt by NASCAR to invade unsuspecting foreign countries with Sprint Cup races that feature the sport's greatest stars. In fact, this is actually more of the opposite approach.

O'Donnell told Ryan that NASCAR's goal is to continue what he sees as a global grass-roots effort to promote stock-car racing. The approach of bringing the big-time to a faraway foreign land was previously attempted with mixed results when NASCAR ran a series of three Cup exhibition races in Japan from 1996-98. O'Donnell admitted to USA Today that those races allowed NASCAR to collect large checks for the sanctioning body, but they had little permanent impact on making inroads with the Japanese sports audience.

"Everything was great, but there were no new sponsors or drivers as a result," O'Donnell told USA Today. "We want to be international but build from the grass roots. The goal is not to become Formula One and collect a fee and leave."

That swipe at Formula One, generally acknowledged as the most popular form of racing outside the U.S., is precisely the kind of comment that NASCAR officials need to cease making. Take care of business at home first, and then when your own house is at least a little more in order, maybe take on Formula One.

Or better yet, just let your own product speak for itself.

Improve the quality of racing in the vaunted new Generation 6 race car. Shore up those sagging television ratings. Start finding innovative ways to put more fans in the shrinking stands. (Daytona International Speedway is in the process of removing 59,000 seats, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and other venues throughout NASCAR have taken steps to reduce capacity in recent years as crowds have thinned.)

Get back to drawing new fans who are obviously needed to replace the increasing number of older core fans who are aging or getting away from the sport because they miss the feel of the good ol' days. Find someone not named Johnson to win the next couple championships. (No offense to Jimmie, who is a fine champion, but NASCAR could use some new blood hoisting the Chase for the Sprint Cup title trophy at season's end.)

Of course, NASCAR would argue that its global initiative is all about finding the finest drivers in Europe or Mexico or deeper in South America and luring them behind the wheels of stock cars instead of open-wheel race cars.

Guess what? If an established Hispanic superstar driver such as Juan Pablo Montoya could make nary a dent in the diversity demographics of NASCAR, it's unlikely anyone else will anytime soon. Montoya spent seven seasons masquerading as a star in NASCAR before quietly losing his ride and shuffling back to the open-wheel world.

Of course, this won't be NASCAR's first attempt at establishing a larger global footprint.

There were the aforementioned ventures into Japan, Nationwide Series races held in Mexico City and Montreal before ultimately flaming out, and a highly interesting first Camping World Truck Series event in Canada just last year.

In the USA Today article, O'Donnell brought up some good points in his push to enlighten the public on NASCAR's international efforts. It was noted that as a featured speaker last week at the World Innovation Conference in Cannes, France, O'Donnell promoted the 2014 schedule of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.

That series just completed its second year, and it races in some very cool places in Spain, France, Germany and England. It is without a doubt an interesting series, but the truth is it is years from paying any real dividends on this side of the pond for NASCAR. In fact, it probably has as good a chance to go the way of NFL Europe and go out of business after a few years.

There also is a seemingly promising but limited series (15 races only) in Mexico where NASCAR is in partnership with an entertainment company owned by billionaire Carlos Slim, and then there is the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. But really, when it comes to motorsports and just about everything else, Canada is more like United States North rather than its own country—so that barely counts as a venture into a foreign country.

In the past, NASCAR has at times invited comparisons to the NFL, calling the Daytona 500 its "Super Bowl." But when questioning minds thought to compare NASCAR television ratings with pro football's as a result, some folks in Daytona howled that it was an unfair analogy, which, in fact, it is.

The moral of the story is this: Stay in your own lane, NASCAR, and first make sure you get it right on this side of the two oceans you're making noise about bridging. Then you can worry about truly investing in going global.

Now is not the time.

Follow Joe Menzer on Twitter @OneMenz