If you’ve ever watched a Formula 1 Grand Prix and thought “this is more than just cars going fast,” you’re absolutely right. The sport goes all-in on spectacle, from ultra-premium hospitality suites like the Paddock Club and Champions Club to sprawling fan zones, live concerts, and massive off-track activations.

For example, at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the hospitality packages list “premium seating, gourmet dining, exclusive access, and unparalleled views of the action.” Meanwhile, in Abu Dhabi, fans get access to multiple fan zones, live driver interviews, a mega after-race concert, and top-tier food and drink.

In short, F1 isn’t just a race, it’s a full-on entertainment experience built to dazzle, leverage high-end hospitality, and give fans something beyond the racing itself. Now, it seems like NASCAR’s Atlanta Motor Speedway has decided to learn from F1’s hospitality manual.

Atlanta Speedway plots big

The area around Atlanta Motor Speedway and the nearby Atlanta Speedway Airport is poised for a major transformation. In recent years, fans and locals have watched as the venue evolved from just a speedway into a full-on entertainment hub: tailgating, concerts, camping, anything to raise the experience.

Now the local government is taking a bold next step to lock in that shift in a more permanent way. The big news is that Henry County Planning & Zoning, working with consulting firm Cooper Carry, Inc., has drafted a conceptual airport master plan that covers roughly 2,400 acres around the airport and speedway.

That plan envisions turning the front entrance, camping zones, and parking fields into a “destination-style” entertainment district, echoing what we’ve seen at places like The Battery Atlanta around the Braves’ stadium. The county’s website notes that an overlay for the Speedway & Airport area is already in motion.

Residents in District V are being invited to weigh in on Monday, November 10, at 6:30 pm in the District V Town Hall. The meeting will be held at the North Mt. Carmel Recreation Center (307 N Mt. Carmel Rd., Hampton). It’s a chance for folks living nearby to learn about the plan’s progress, react to proposed uses, and ask “what happens next?”

That kind of public outreach signals the county wants this transformation to have broad input and buy-in. The timing is telling. Back in December 2024, Henry County announced it had hired a consultant to craft the master plan for the Speedway & Airport area, costing about $320,000 and with a target completion of fall 2025.

Meanwhile, infrastructure upgrades at the airport are already underway. The county allocated $5 million via its SPLOST VI fund to airport improvements, including a lighting system upgrade tied to the airport grounds. Taken together, the groundwork is being laid for something bigger than just race day parking and tailgating.

For fans of NASCAR and the speedway scene, this signals that the venue is evolving into more than just driver days and races, being inspired by the F1 ways. The idea of an entertainment district means more dining, more lodging, live music, and more things to do before and after the checkered flag falls. It aligns with how folks outside motorsports already view destination events: they stay for the show, not just the race.

Meanwhile, as NASCAR’s speedway dreams grow, it continues to battle the charter lawsuit on the other hand, which has now called Rick Hendrick and Roger Penske to the court to provide their deposition interviews.

Hendrick, Penske called to court

A deposition is a formal interview under oath that is typically done as part of the fact discovery phase, where both sides get access to pertinent documents and conversations like these before trial. The Western District of North Carolina has ordered them to do that with the lawyers representing 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports as the trial begins on December 1. This happened because the plaintiff teams asked for this to the judge overseeing this case.

This was a surprise to 23XI and Front Row, as they argued that both team owners (Hendrick and Penske) were added to the list of potential witnesses only after the closure of the discovery phase.

Their lawyer stated, “The late disclosure certainly comes as a surprise to Plaintiffs, as NASCAR waited until well after the close of fact discovery to disclose these witnesses, even though NASCAR was well-aware of their existence and knowledge regarding the facts at issue in the case. Indeed, NASCAR subpoenaed the Penske and Hendrick Cup Series teams seeking extensive discovery about their financials and documents related to the 2025 Charter negotiations, among other things.”

The two teams, through lead attorney Jeffrey Kessler in their motion, also accused NASCAR of sandbagging the participation of Hendrick and Penske and suggested they were well within their rights to ask that both not be allowed on the stand.

Instead, they are only asking for the chance to interview both men.

“As detailed above, NASCAR amended its initial disclosures multiple times, but inexplicably waited until more than two months after the close of discovery to disclose Messrs. Hendrick and Penske. Exclusion of their testimony would be appropriate under these circumstances. Nonetheless, Plaintiffs do not seek the exclusion remedy at this juncture. Instead, they ask that the Court grant them leave to depose Messrs. Hendrick and Penske before trial.”

NASCAR has not objected to the motion to depose them. Just hours later, Judge Kenneth D. Bell granted that motion, and both Hendrick and Penske will be deposed before the trial.

“THIS MATTER is before the Court on Plaintiffs’ Motion for Discovery, which seeks leave to depose Rick Hendrick and Roger Penske before trial. Plaintiffs’ motion states that ‘NASCAR has indicated it takes no position on this motion.’ For good cause shown, the Court will GRANT the motion and permit Plaintiffs to depose Mr. Hendrick and Mr. Penske prior to trial.”