The Auto industry obviously plays an incredibly pivotal role in motorsports, and vice versa. With Detroit being the home of the American Auto Industry, the North American International Auto Show at Huntington Place, right off the Detroit River, should be a showcase of the best of both sides of the Automotive world.

The downfall of the North American International Auto Show over the last 10 years has unfortunately hindered that mindset. Instead of showing off the best and newest, the show is little more than an automotive showroom without the salesmen, with a few ride-and-drives you can’t actually drive.

Mostly thanks to the Detroit Grand Prix, which takes place merely a couple of hundred feet down Jefferson Ave from Huntington Place, the Auto Show has a small representation of Motorsports in Detroit.

The Detroit Grand Prix

The Detroit Grand Prix is by far the biggest sporting event in the City of Detroit in the last several years, outside of the NFL Draft in 2024. With both the Lions and Tigers having Playoff games in the city in the last two years, the Grand Prix is still a significantly larger undertaking for the city. The great thing for motorsport fans, it is represented well at the 2026 NAIAS.

With not only a display in the concourse for the Detroit Grand Prix, but there is also a much larger display featuring not one, but two NTT IndyCars and a Cadillac V-Series R racer.

Ford

Ford has a fantastic global Motorsports presence that has done nothing but grow over the last few years. However, you’d never know walking around their show floor in Detroit.

Before we get into the show, yes, Ford featured a spectacular Ford Racing show at their new Headquarters at the former Detroit Train Station a few miles away on Thursday. This isn’t about that.

On the show floor, Ford Racing’s production performance cars are on clear display. As for racers? Just one. Ford Racing brought The 8050 Baja 1000 Bronco to the show. If you walk into Hall C, you can’t miss it.

But there is the problem. It’s just one car.

Representing F1 for Detroit

Cadillac F1 and Ford will represent Detroit in the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship, and we got a preview this week. Ford previewed their new Oracle Red Bull livery with Max Verstappen smiling with approval of Ford Blue all over the car. Problem is, no auto show representation.

Cadillac’s F1 team on the other hand has us covered. To the side of Detroit’s premier performance luxury brand’s display sits a (plastic) Cadillac F1 car.

NASCAR

In the Stellantis display, just past the Jeeps sits the biggest story in NASCAR in nearly the last 10 years. Ram Trucks.

In 2025, our friends at Catchfence broke the story and we confirmed it through a Stellantis employee that Ram would return to NASCAR in 2026. And it sits on full display here in the motor city.

The Kaulig Racing Ram 1500 sits in all its glory on the show floor just inside Hall C ready and waiting to show off.

All images via Tom Luttermoser