Zak Brown was in North Carolina yesterday to announce Kyle Larson is running ‘The Double’ in 2025. Following the announcement, He made the quick journey to Mooresville to visit Dale Earnhardt Junior and be on his podcast, the Dale Junior Download. Junior has guests from all over motorsports and pop culture. The two had quite an interesting conversation, discussing various topics ranging from Brown’s former racing career to McLaren’s future and future partnerships with Hendrick Motorsports.
Zak Brown calls himself the #1 fan in motorsports, and I think he is right. He wakes up every morning and gets to command a racing empire, Formula One, IndyCar, Formula E, Extreme E, and more. Zak raced himself, racing open-wheel cars and sports cars. Zak founded Just Marketing International, which he sold to focus on his career at McLaren. He even mentioned that he had an opportunity to work for the Formula One management group, second in command to Chase Carey. Brown ultimately chose the CEO position at McLaren.
Zak Brown and NASCAR:
Brown was a businessman with a passion for racing. He did spend some time working in NASCAR. He sold sponsorship for David Green and Jason Keller. Brown also brought spirit sponsors into the sport with Crown Royal. He worked with every major team in the garage, Hendrick, Joe Gibbs, RCR, and more.
Dale Jr. asked if NASCAR would be in the future cards for McLaren. Brown responded that NASCAR is a huge commitment, but mentioned a start in the Daytona 500 was not out of the picture. Junior also said that is a goal for his race team, Junior Motorsports, is to field a car in the 500 one day.
Zak Brown is a car collector, with a fleet of retired racecars from NASCAR to IndyCars to Formula One. Brown currently owns a 1984 Wrangler Monte Carlo that his father Dale Earnhardt drove. McLaren and Brown in 2021, awarded Daniel Ricciardo with a joyride around the Circuit of the Americas for his win at Monza.
But Brown also owned a Busch Series car Earnhardt drove in the 1980’s. Junior is very proud of the car and the restoration he and his team undertook to bring the car to running status again. Earnhardt Jr thanked Zak Brown for his stewardship of the car before him, and that if he hadn’t taken such good care of the car, it would not be here today.
A popular topic in motorsports circles currently, is the debate on who is the better driver, Max Verstappen or Kyle Larson. Brown wouldn’t weigh in on the Kyle Larson vs Max Verstappen debate, but Larson does drive for McLaren, so I think there might be some bias.
Formula One and IndyCar:
Coming from the NASCAR side of the motorsports world. There is no one better to discuss Formula One with than the CEO of a race team. Junior mentioned how he has only ever interacted with Daniel Ricciardo, who runs the #3 in honor of his father, who he is a fan of. Junior spoke highly of F1, calling it ‘the palace’ and the technology the sport possesses is mindboggling.
McLaren’s turnaround under Brown:
Junior was curious to know how Zak was able to turn McLaren around so quickly. Brown said that before he was hired, McLaren’s CEO was just a revolving door. No one knew who was in charge. So his hiring brought stability back to the team. That problem was fixed but other issues came to the attention. They rebuilt the technologies at the McLaren factory and brought in a happy environment where the team’s potential could be unlocked.
Brown mentioned they had around 100 million in sponsorship when he arrived, and now they have 300 million and are running out of space to place sponsorship on the car. He spoke highly of his board, calling them ‘the best people, they’re racers’ and that he was at McLaren ‘until the lights turn off or they kick me out’.
Norris and Piastri
Brown says the focus is to win both the drivers and constructors championship, which would be the first since 1998. Junior was incredibly interested in the talented drivers, Lando and Oscar. The CEO said he has ‘two number one drivers’ and that each driver has their particularities.
He described Lando as ‘wearing his heart on his sleeve’ and ‘he is hard on himself’ on little issues. Brown has worked with Norris for ten years, four before the duo even joined McLaren. Junior mentioned his sim-racing, which Earnhardt is the executive director of I-Racing. The pair talked about Oscar. Brown said he is ‘deadly serious’ and ‘very brave’ referring to his driving style.
Again speaking on the championship, Brown and McLaren are fully committed to Lando winning the WDC and they will work as a team to do so. But Brown mentioned the importance of doing right by both drivers and ‘let the boys race’.
Junior expressed his interest in attending a Formula One race. Brown welcomed him to any of the remainder of the schedule.
Transitioning to IndyCar:
The conversation moved to the IndyCar side of McLaren. Brown told the story of how Fernando Alonso decided to race in the Indy 500. Brown said the pair were at dinner in China, poised the question to Alonso.
“Everyone thought I was nuts, even I thought I was nuts and I said it was just a joke. Alonso’s manager said he would say no, next morning he said let’s do it”
He briefly spoke about the DNQ for Alonso in 2019. He called it ‘a rude awakening’ and learned that the top forms of all motorsports are incredibly tough.
Brown spoke highly of Pato O’Ward who was just announced to be practicing the MCL38 at Mexico City. This comes after IndyCar drivers were upset that the series was beaten by NASCAR for a race there. Brown did mention that he would love to see Pato in an Xfinity car for the race, as the Cup Series race does conflict with IndyCar. Again, the partnership with Hendrick Motorsports was brought up, as Hendrick fields the #17 Xfinity Series car. Brown even mentioned a future Daytona 500 for Pato.
The new IndyCar TV deal was discussed, which Brown thinks highly of. He wants to see IndyCar expand, and new tracks in new markets. Both Jr and Brown said that IndyCar needs to bank on the colorful and diverse personalities on the grid, mentioning Will Power. But what was the most striking statement made by Zac Brown, was that IndyCar racing is ‘second to none’.
‘The Double’
One of the first topics of discussion, and the reason for these two to sit down, was to discuss ‘The Double’. Brown was in town for the announcement and both had similar beliefs about the undertaking. Brown said that ‘The Double’ excites him because he just loves racing. He references Mario Andretti, Jackie Stewart, and AJ Foyt as drivers ‘who would race everything’ and how that doesn’t happen anymore. Jr. shared his side, that he always wanted to see crossover drivers understand it was hard. But he ultimately wanted them to succeed in their efforts. Said it ‘raised the profile of NASCAR’.
Brown spoke on where the direction of McLaren is heading. Brown said there is an interest in competing for triple crowns (Indy, Monaco, and Le Mans) in the future in WEC/IMSA. Currently, the team is in the GT class, but Brown wants to be in HyperCar competing for overall victories. He wants this team to win another Triple Crown soon.
This was such an interesting episode of the Dale Junior Download. Brown is an interesting CEO with a wealth of knowledge. I learned a lot about the goals of the team, which is purely racing. I’m excited to see if the Hendrick/McLaren partnership grows in the future. Maybe Larson practicing a McLaren at a Grand Prix? Time will tell.
