That's a single control that's located in a highly ergonomical position - you take your hand off the wheel, and the stick is just right there. Contrast to radio/AC with inadequate/zero tactile feedback. "Stop looking at the stick, it's not going anywhere" is literally one of the first things I had drilled into me when learning to drive. (The involuntary movement comes from looking away from the road: you drop out of the feedback loop for a moment.)

I drive manual normally - I don't think ive looked at the stick in probably 10 years. For the first week or two maybe, but since then I haven't needed to.

On the other hand, I still don't know whete my A/C knob is without looking.

I'm European, I didn't even know automatic transmission existed before I was 30 :)

The gearstick is one control with a very limited set of never-changing options that you have to use all the time, basically the best you can get as muscle-memory goes. Despite all this, it's not used where hyper-attention on the road is really necessary, i.e. in racing. And where do we get gearshift controls in racing? On the wheel.

There are plenty of racing cars with stick shifts in them. Or are you thinking of a specific type of racing?

Wherever the car is built only for racing, like LeMans or Formula*, it typically doesn’t feature a stick.

No one looks at the shifter.