A couple of das ago Penske Entertainment announced that they were taking over the promotion of the Music City Grand Prix. Scott Borchetta and Big Machine Records will still be the title sponsor. Penske now has a promotional stake in Long Beach, Thermal, the races at IMS, Detroit, Iowa, and Milwaukee-seven venues accounting for eight races.

Nathan Brown reported in the Indianapolis Star that one of the reasons for the takeover of Nashville is that Borchetta wanted assurances that the championship would come down to being decided at Nashville. Since the title has gone to the final race in 18 of the last 19 seasons, I’m not sure what he was worried about. Alex Palou clinched the title in 2023 with one race to go. Other than that, the last race determined the championship.

I am happy that the series quashed that idea. It would have meant some sort of playoff, which I thin k would be hard to do in a 17 race schedule. Penske Entertainment presents a very good event. Things run smoothly for the most part, and the company seems to understand what fans out of a race weekend.

While it is unlikely that Penske Entertainment will eventually promote all the races, the ones they have in their control are the ones that need to be. Green Savoree, which owns St. Pete, Mid Ohio, Toronto, and Portland, does a fine job promoting their events. World Wide Technology Raceway, Road America, and Barber also have done a great job drawing fans.

I ave always wondered why the entity in charge of the IndyCar series did not do more to promote the races rather than leave it completely upto the track promoter. Many were very good, but as times changed, IndyCar has been slow to catch up. I’m glad to see that the series is finally exerting more control over their events.

as😘