Nashville resident and championship contender Colton Herta tests at Nashville Superspeedway.

-- Photo By James Black | Penske Entertainment

A sellout they wanted. A sellout they’ll get. After all the twists and turns involved in the NTT IndyCar Series’ short-notice move from a downtown street course to Nashville Superspeedway’s 1.33-mile concrete oval in neighboring Wilson County, the season-ending fourth annual Big Machine Music City Grand Prix championship showdown will play out on Sept. 15 before packed grandstands.

Until recently, there had been plenty of speculation about whether the 25,000-seat facility could achieve a sellout, to the point that during a June testing session, Grand Prix CEO Scott Borchetta stated his case for wanting a full house.

“It’s incredibly important that we get this year right, having to change course in midstream and move everything out here, and integrate with the Nashville Superspeedway team,” Borchetta says. “We’re making sure that we’re not missing anything and it’s incredibly important that this year is successful.”

In the last year, due to construction of the new $2.1 billion Titans stadium that opens in 2027, the Music City Grand Prix has shifted gears from the original downtown course that started and ended at the current Nissan Stadium to a redesigned course layout that included driving along lower Broadway to the abrupt switch to Nashville Superspeedway.

Now, as race day approaches, it appears the combined forces of race and Superspeedway organizers have indeed pulled off the immense task of achieving the track’s second summer sellout, following June’s NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400.

Speaking with the Ledger 17 days out from the event, Borchetta confirmed that all the suites are sold out and that a sellout was imminent. A check of the ticket site showed about 1,000 tickets remaining as of the last week in August.

“It’s been an incredible mountain to climb but we’re climbing it,” Borchetta says with a laugh. “All of our club suites are sold out, all the tower suites, all the pit lane suites. We have a little bit of premium grandstand (seats) left and we still have a little bit of grandstand activity left to clean up, but we’re so far ahead of where they were last year at the end of the race.

“We’re probably 55% or 56% ahead of where they ended. So we’re in good shape and the finale for IndyCar this year is going to be a great show. We met with Roger Penske and his team (in late August) and they’re really happy with the way things are going. So, you know, it’s coming together really nicely.”

Borchetta’s efforts have caught the attention of not only those in the worlds of auto racing and sports marketing, but also of those who regularly observe and study the impact of sports on society.

“It seems that the Nashville area is committed to having an IndyCar race and they have adapted as needed to make sure that you get the yearly event here in Nashville,” says Vanderbilt communications professor John Koch, a senior lecturer and director of debate whose areas of interest are public memory and the intersection of political culture, rhetoric and sports.

“I think that’s important for getting eyes on it, maintaining support, not having a gap year (and) knowing that something is going to come every year. But at the end of the day, the market here in Nashville is not overly saturated. There’s still enough fans to fill the stands for multiple events in multiple types of auto racing.

“These events have an economic impact on Nashville for a lot of people. Having an IndyCar race or NASCAR race is a good excuse to come to Nashville.”

Are NASCAR fans IndyCar fans?

That was one of the looming questions as the Music City Grand Prix made the 35-mile move from downtown to the Superspeedway.

The Nashville market, deep in the heart of traditional NASCAR country, has been wooed before by what was then known as the Indy Racing League. They ran at the Superspeedway from 2001-2008, leaving due to lack of fan support. Three years later, NASCAR also exited in 2011 after the second-tier Busch (now Xfinity) Series struggled with attendance.

The track was shuttered for the next decade and reopened in 2021 with the first Cup race in the Nashville area since 1984.

Meanwhile, IndyCar took to the streets of Nashville that same year and the two speed sports never crossed paths until this year with the eyebrow-raising move.

It’s a major commitment from both IndyCar and Fox Sports, which will take over the TV package from NBC starting in 2025. While Fox and IndyCar are fully committed to Nashville Superspeedway hosting the championship finale on Labor Day weekend (Aug. 31 in 2025) for at least the next several years, many still wonder if IndyCar can ever match NASCAR’s popularity with Nashville fans.

Part of it may hearken to stereotype images of very different fan bases – a wine-and-cheese IndyCar gathering versus a beer-and-cheese fries NASCAR crowd. Koch pooh-poohs that image of motor sports fans today.

“Fans of auto racing are fans of auto racing, regardless of the type of racing,” Koch says. “Maybe those stereotypes don’t fly. NASCAR is probably still more of a blue-collar form of fan but if you look at the rise in popularity of Formula One, I think it’s because of younger audiences, maybe more educated audiences that found it through Netflix (the “Drive to Survive” series).”

Borchetta makes that same point. “If you’re a casual fan, differences between a Formula One car and IndyCar aren’t immediately obvious, and so it’s been really fun to educate (fans) because we have former F1 drivers in IndyCar, Romain Grosjean and Marcus Ericsson.

“And so, there’s a lot of crossover. So, with the incredible success and the passion for the Drive to Survive series on Netflix, it really crosses over. I mean, this is as close as you’re going to get to a Formula One car unless you’re going to one of the F1 races.”

Nashville-based IndyCar drivers Josef Newgarden and Colton Herta agree that while both sports have separate and distinct fan bases, they share a passion for motor sports.

“Well, I think the interesting thing you’ll find is that there’s a lot of motor sports fans in Nashville, which is different than saying you’re just a NASCAR fan or you’re just an IndyCar fan,” says Newgarden, the two-time reigning Indianapolis 500 champion. “I think you find that people like good motor sports – and that includes everything.”

As an example, Newgarden pointed to his own Team Penske, which fields multiple teams in four different series – NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA Sportscar and the FIA World Endurance Championship. The Hendersonville native says all the drivers in each series keep tabs on how the others are faring, and that rings true for race fans in general.

“I’m certainly like that. I like watching my teammates … and that happens the other way around. They’re watching our events, they’re wanting to see what we’re doing,” Newgarden says. “You’re just seeing more crossover between the sports, which I think is great for everybody and great for the health of the industry.

“So absolutely, I think Nashville is positioned to service both major championships. IndyCar has certainly been received very well here. I find a lot of people that are tuned into what we’re doing, so it’s good for racing as a whole.”

Colton Herta, a Nashville transplant from California a few years ago, cites the need for speed as what brings fans of both sports together.

“You know, (IndyCar is) a different way of racing (from NASCAR). The sounds and the speed are completely different. The way they race, that’s completely different to how we race,” says Herta, who drives for Andretti Global.

“And so, it’s kind of ‘to each their own,’ but I think there’s a common ground there that people like watching cars and drivers drive as fast as possible around whatever it is. I know a lot of modern NASCAR fans are here in Nashville and I hope that they give IndyCar a chance when we come here.”

Veteran driver Graham Rahal uses a boating analogy to explain why what’s good for one sport is good for the other.

“Yes, the IndyCar fan is traditionally a little bit different than the NASCAR fan but I don’t think that takes away anything from either sport,” Rahal says. “(For) motor sports in general, it’s like with a rising tide all boats rise, right?

“I mean, we want to see them both grow and be successful. A lot of us speak to each other. We watch (and) pay attention to what’s going on in the NASCAR world and vice versa. A lot of us have sponsors that are similar.”

Adds Borchetta: “In general, race fans are race fans. “I think there’s a good overlay. You’re going to have a hard core of each, but I think all race fans want to see a good race. So we put on a great show, they’re going to love it.

He notes that while a “significant chunk” of race attendees will come from within a 150-mile radius of Nashville, “We’ve got people coming in … from almost every state right now. I’ve got friends coming in from the UK. So it’s a great mix. It’s going to be predominantly Southeast but we’re going to be very well represented.

“You have such a hotbed for racing in California and we have a lot of people from California. Indianapolis and Indiana, of course, and people coming over from Charlotte. So it’s really well-rounded. But it’s going to be central to the Middle Tennessee (and) state area. We’re really happy with the participation from, really, the whole region.”

From checkered past to making history

When the Music City Grand Prix roars into Nashville Superspeedway, it will mark a crowning achievement in the checkered history of the Wilson County track.

Not only will this be the first open-wheel race in 16 years to run at the oval with 14-degree banking, but it’s also the first time the once-shuttered track has hosted a major motor sports national championship event. And it’s IndyCar’s first season-ending championship finale on an oval track since 2014 in Fontana, California.

Borchetta likes to call the season finale “the Super Bowl of IndyCar,” both on and off the track. That means lots of fan-friendly activities, food and music taking place before, during and after the race. And unlike the downtown Nashville location, things won’t be as spread out at the Superspeedway, which should make it easier for fans to soak in the race weekend atmosphere.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to make sure that you’re putting on a great show and entertainment for the core and for family and people who are just curious. Today, it’s about entertainment,” he says.

“Yes, we’ve got an IndyCar race, but we’ve also got Riley Green (performing). We’ve also got Diplo. We’ve got Daughtry. We’ve got a bunch of our new artists and we’ve got DJs. So there’s going to be music from the time you hit the Nashville Superspeedway till the time you leave.”

And Nashville isn’t being left out of the IndyCar loop. Even though the racing has moved to the Gladeville track, lower Broadway will host Friday’s kickoff party, capped by the Hy-Vee Battle on Broadway, a pit stop competition between five of the fastest pit crews from the Series. The winning team will receive $50,000.

Following that, Brantley Gilbert will host what’s being billed as “the world’s largest album release party.”

“That’s just to kick off everything on Friday night and keep the aesthetic of downtown Nashville attached to our event,” Borchetta says. “And then, it moves out to the Nashville Superspeedway.

“You’ve got to build it. You’ve got to be patient. There’s a lot of competition for people’s attention and their entertainment dollars, so we’ve got to make work. Our whole mission is to superserve and over-serve and have people walking out of there going, ‘man, we had a great weekend and we’ll come back next year.’ That’s really been the focus.”