F1, NASCAR go head-to-head in Texas in 2019

Formula 1 and NASCAR will go head-to-head in the state of Texas in November 2019 with races in Austin and Fort Worth.

NASCAR announced its 2019 schedule in April with its playoff weekend at Texas Motor Speedway set for Nov. 1-3. F1 announced its 2019 draft schedule Friday, and its U.S. Grand Prix is scheduled for Nov. 1-3 at the Circuit of the Americas.

The NASCAR race in Fort Worth is about 190 miles from the Austin race where the F1 drivers will compete. This year, the races are two weeks apart, with the F1 race scheduled for Oct. 21 and the NASCAR race scheduled for Nov. 4.

The two races were on the same weekend in 2014. They will be on different networks — ABC/ESPN has F1 rights, and NBC has NASCAR rights — so they could conceivably run at the same time.

TMS President Eddie Gossage was not pleased.

“Shame on Formula 1 for doing this to the fans,” Gossage said in a statement. “Fans have recognized this as the NASCAR date on this weekend since its inception long before Circuit of the Americas was built.

“I would think a lot of fans — myself included — would enjoy going to both races. Now Formula 1 is making fans choose only one. Yet another bad call by Formula 1 showing their infamous indifference toward the fans.”