Michael Andretti made a sacrifice in Autumn 2024. He stepped aside from General Motors’ efforts to enlist a Cadillac team in the Formula One grid. This happened despite his contribution in setting up a UK base at Silverstone, hiring key staff, and working towards a possible 2026 entry. But Michael sacrificed his personal involvement just to get the American team into F1 – and succeeded in doing just that.

Michael Andretti handed over his responsibilities to Dan Towriss after the duo had worked together since the COVID-19 pandemic to enter F1. Although Michael is no longer involved, his ideals are closely entwined with the Cadillac team’s 2026 F1 debut. Towriss is ensuring that, alongside lofty goals for motorsports expansion.

NASCAR, F1 will aspire towards MLB ideals

Dan Towriss also leads the motorsports arm of TWG Sports, which owns the Los Angeles Dodgers and Lakers. Now that F1 and the FIA governing body have fully approved the Cadillac team’s entry, Towriss is leaving no stone unturned; even if that means fusing baseball and racing. “TWG Motorsports is sitting alongside the TWG Sports portfolio with the Dodgers and the Lakers,” he said. “So I think even the success of the Dodgers sets a bar and an expectation for each of the TWG Motorsports series to say, ‘That’s the gold standard, that’s what we’re trying to achieve.’”

Cadillac’s recruitment drive has already roped in 400 personnel, with scope for 600. Alongside its current base at Silverstone, the team is in the process of establishing its headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis. At the GM Works in Charlotte, North Carolina, the team is building the facility to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029, until which they will run Ferrari power units. The meticulous preparation prompted team principal Graeme Lowdon to compare it to the Apollo moon landing.

Under Dan Towriss and TWG Motorsports is also their NASCAR team, Spire Motorsports. Many in the NASCAR garage have marveled at how much money Spire has spent to become a top team in the stock car series. For instance, they famously bought a NASCAR Cup Series charter for a reported $40 million and also purchased Kyle Busch Motorsports’ facility. Additionally, Spire had also roped in veteran crew chief Rodney Childers in late 2024 after Stewart-Haas Racing shut down.

This phenomenal growth of the NASCAR team falls in place with Dan Towriss’ F1 goals. He said, “Really just setting a high bar for high-performing, high-functioning teams — we want to build a world-class motorsport platform in these series.” Towriss added that the “DNA, the culture, the resources, making sure we’re building something that is world-class and even setting the standards” is how the teams will help each other.

Evidently, Dan Towriss’ ambitions in F1 and NASCAR are on the rise. And the simultaneous changes in F1 are only helping his team.

An era of positive change

NASCAR is indubitably the reigning motorsport in the US. While the stock car racing series has a loyal fan base, hints of a strong rivalry are emerging. F1 experienced a surge in the United States, marked by a significant rise in commercial health over the past decade, affecting both teams and the championship itself. Since Liberty Media acquired F1 in 2017, changes have been underway to make the sport more accessible both for commercial partners and fans. The evolution is clear now; from the spectacle in Las Vegas, to the popularity of the Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive, and this year’s F1 Movie, the achievements have been plenty.

And that is why this is the perfect time for a new entity to step in. New Cadillac chief partnerships officer Willem Dinger recently highlighted the benefits. “The ability for us to be able to tap into a younger, more diverse audience that are really connecting with Formula 1 through Netflix’s Drive to Survive, or the Formula 1 movie, or through music, or through other different subcultures allows us to really work and partner with different fans and ecosystems,” he said. “Because when you’re looking at the US landscape overall, the fan base in the U.S. has already risen by 10-11% year on year since 2023.”

Evidently, the path forward looks bright for Dan Towriss’ enterprise. With 2026 being right around the corner, we can only wait and see what unfolds.