Some F1 drivers have come over and done well, but not all of them, and the leaders still tend to be the people who grew up in the stock car tracks. Currently, the deal is that there is more money in NASCAR than in any other motor sports, and people will follow the money.
But I do watch F1, and in the last few years the radical redesign of the cars, combined with the limits on engines have produced the same problem they have at NASCAR, the cars are just about even-Steven, and they have become so big that they can't pass on corners anymore. So its become, like a lot of other racing, a jump to get out front, and then you can just hold it. Indy and the use of restrictor plates in NASCAR have created the same situation.
As for why we don't do it anymore, I don't know. We had a few F1 races in Long Beach, Sebring, Riverside, over 20 at Watkins Glen. Phoenix and Las Vegas, Dallas and Detroit have all tried to hold them. Last one was at Indy in 2005, but that one was all sorts of messed up with problems in the turns and with the tires.
I think there is just not as much money in F1 in the USA as NASCAR has, and that makes a lot of difference, though this year I've noticed a ton of empty seats in the stands, especially in the Northern races (NASCAR was/is a traditionally Southern deal, centered around North Carolina, that evolved out of the moonshine runner days).
And not all NASCAR events are round and round - the one we hold here in Sonoma County in the heart of wine country, at Infineon Raceway that is a road course, it's called, naturally enough the Beer and Beaujolais race.
