IndyCar plans to keep Nashville Superspeedway as season-finale until street race return
After nearly a decade of lamenting its season-finale TV ratings against NFL games, IndyCar officials say they’re primed to eliminate that conflict as early as next year – helping to keep the hope of crowning a champion on the Nashville streets in play down the road.
As part of an expansive media call with a small group of reporters Thursday, Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles clarified the series’ plans for its season-ending race – both this year and beyond. IndyCar revealed two weeks ago that the plans for the Music City Grand Prix by its promoter were under-funded and would be impossible to execute in downtown Nashville.
Miles said IndyCar sees itself in Nashville – or, at least, its far-reaching suburbs – for the long-haul. It will operate on a year-to-year deal with Speedway Motorsports for the rights to use Nashville Superspeedway 40 minutes from the city center and Miles said there’s no reason America’s premier open-wheel racing series would leave (or be forced out) in the foreseeable future.
“As (construction on the new Titans’ stadium) develops, the day will come when we think we can get back in the city,” Miles said. “(Promoter Scott Borchetta) will continually monitor that situation, and we’re glad our friends at SMI are happy to have us and offer us this terrific opportunity under these circumstances. We’re going to make the most of it.”
In a media call to discuss the news Feb. 14, Borchetta mentioned 2027 as the likely earliest date that construction around the new Nissan Stadium – which played a major role in IndyCar moving from the new venue’s footprint to a largely downtown focal point for 2024 – would allow the series to consider its street racing return.
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Given the NFL’s resistance to announcing even select dates and locations for its regular season schedule until May, and the logjam hosting an IndyCar street race near an NFL game – something that was overlooked in the Music City Grand Prix’s now-dashed downtown plans – Miles said the series will simply choose to avoid the chaos.
As early as next year, and for the first time in at least 10 years, IndyCar will end its season before Week 1 of the NFL season, leaving perhaps just a preseason game to schedule around, which Miles has been assured would be far easier. The switch, he said, could very well come with the 2025 schedule reveal this fall, even with season finales to be run at Nashville Superspeedway in 2025 and '26.
In doing so, IndyCar’s season would end Labor Day weekend or earlier. TV ratings would likely not take their typical nosedive. The consequential effect, though, would be lengthening a six-month offseason. Teams, by virtue of the rules set by IndyCar to cut costs, would drastically limit testing, and be left to toil away in their shops while IMSA, NASCAR and Formula 1 run later into the year and resume sooner.
Schedule change: IndyCar shifts 2024 season-finale from Nashville streets to Nashville Superspeedway
As Miles explained, St. Pete is IndyCar’s choice to kick off the season, with no warm-weather permanent venues in the country willing to play host. And with that race’s weekend tied to spring break schedules, there’s little potential shifting.
“I’d like to start earlier, but we want to begin and end in North America, so it’s really about the availability to race where the climate is conducive to a great event,” Miles said. “I just don’t know how realistic it would be for us to start in February. There are very few places that would make that possible.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar clarifies plans for Nashville finale, end season before NFL
