IndyCar Switching To Nashville Superspeedway For Season Finale
Source: Gavin Lawrence / Getty
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Up until Wednesday, it had been assumed that the NTT IndyCar Series would be capping off the 2024 season on a brand-new street circuit in that included portions of downtown Nashville.
It seems those plans have changed as the series announced that the series final date on the calendar will not be a street race, but a race on the oval at the Nashville Superspeedway.
The move has a lot to do with logistics over the building of the new street circuit, mainly surrounding the need to change the circuit because of planned renovations on the city’s football stadium where the Tennessee Titans of the NFL play.
“With several key locations around the (Titans’) stadium not available as in years past and with the proposed course change to run through the streets of downtown Nashville, we simply don’t have the proper space needed by the race teams nor the proper access for downtown businesses and residences to execute the world-class event that is expected,” said Music City GP organizer Scott Borchetta.
With no other options available, IndyCar and Big Machine Label Group have moved the race off the streets of Nashville and over to the oval at the Nashville Superspeedway.
The move will put open-wheel Indy cars on the track for the first time since 2008.
“Nashville Superspeedway is ideally suited to our highly competitive and extremely intense style of racing, and we look forward to adding a Speedway Motorsports track to our schedule,” Penske Entertainment President & CEO Mark Miles said. “Our fans will eagerly anticipate watching a championship be decided on a high-speed oval.”
The schedule change also means that for the first time since 2011, the IndyCar schedule will feature seven oval races, quite the about-face given the recent departure of Texas from the calendar.
They include the Indianapolis 500, a doubleheader at Iowa in July, WWT Raceway in August, then the doubleheader at Milwaukee Mile, and finally Nashville to close the season in September.
Six of the last eight races will be on ovals.
Penske Entertainment added that the Indy NXT Series will also be shifting its scheduled race on the Nashville streets to the Superspeedway.
