MONTEREY, California – The 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season ends Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, but IndyCar owner Roger Penske won’t be there.
He was in Fuji, Japan, for the World Endurance Championship race, where the Porsche Penske Motorsport team is competing.
Before Penske left for the six-hour endurance race, he spoke with NBC Sports for an overview of the 2023 season.
It wasn’t quite “Penske Perfect,” but it was a season of renewed growth that fuels the optimism for the 87-year-old captain of industry and an immortal figure in international racing.
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In addition to running the Penske Corporation, which specializes in auto sales and trucking industry, he is also the owner of Team Penske, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar, and the Indianapolis 500.
He purchased Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Nov. 9, 2019. A few months later, the world shut down because of the COVID pandemic and Penske was forced to dramatically readjust to adapt to the changing world.
That included moving the Indianapolis 500 to Aug. 23, 2020 and staging it without spectators.
“When we walked in, in 2019 and on into COVID in 2020, we really got hit in the back of the head not knowing what to do,” Penske told NBC Sports. “It was really play catch-up and a lot of defense.
“Coming off COVID, it has certainly been challenging in all of our businesses but for me, looking back and compare where we are in 2023 to 2019, and we are way ahead.”
In 2023, IndyCar has enjoyed further growth. This was really the first year where much of Penske’s influence and business savvy was implemented without restriction.
That has created a bigger buzz and a clear path forward for IndyCar.
“The organization led by Mark Miles and Jay Frye and Kevin Sublette at IMSP (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Productions) has been amazing,” Penske said. “I think we’re on a roll here. We’re all in unison.
“It’s not IMSP. It’s not IndyCar. It’s not the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It’s one organization together and I think it has paid off. We could see it at Indy this year.
“We looked at our net promoter score coming out of Indianapolis, and it was over 85, which is world-class.
“We can still make it better and we are trying to demonstrate that as we go across these other venues to give them the benefit of who we are and what we want to do and make it better.
“We want people to come with their friends, with their kids, their friends. The best thing in the world is when you can tell your friends or your neighbor, ‘I had a great time at the Indy race.’ That’s repeat referral as far as I’m concerned.”
That “repeat referral” model was used at several venues this year, including the successful Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway. The only doubleheader on the schedule is as much a music festival as two IndyCar races, creating a “big event” feel beyond just another race weekend.
Promotion is important in today’s sporting landscape, but it’s IndyCar’s deep competitiveness that truly fuels the racer within Penske.
“I think the main thing is the competitiveness of the series,” Penske said. “When you see some of these qualifying weekends where there is less than 1 second covering all 28 cars.
“On top of that, go back a number of years ago early in CART and in the Indy Racing League, we would have 17 or 18 cars. We are seeing 27 and 28 cars coming to these events and that is really amazing.
“And the teams are really sharp. We’ve got good sponsors coming in. The quality of the drivers, these young guys coming in that have come up through in Indy NXT or Formula 2 or Formula 3, whatever it might be in Europe, have made a huge difference.
“To me, it’s competition. The tracks are stepping up to provide a better fan experience. We have tried to do that at Indianapolis at the races we have there.
“Overall, it’s competition. The TV ratings are the best we’ve had in many years.
“To me, I think we are on a roll.”
Penske Entertainment President and CEO Mark Miles told NBC Sports in a related story that he believes 27 to 28 car fields for the races outside of the Indianapolis 500 are about as much as he would like to see.
Penske agrees for a variety of reasons.
“We have Leaders Circle, which is 22,” Penske said of IndyCar’s season-ending bonus program for teams ranked in the top 22 in the points standings. “At some of the tracks, we don’t have space for more than that. That is going to be a discussion as we go forward. The engine manufacturers would each like to have 12, not 13 or 14. They are committed to 2024, but it’s something we have to look at in the future.
“Of course, we would have to have support for the Indianapolis 500. Those are things we have on the drawing board, and we will have to look at and come back once we have them figured out over the next several months.”
Because the Penske Corp. is one of the largest automobile dealers in the country, Roger Penske has tremendous relationships with car manufacturers from around the world.
He was seriously involved in trying to entice one of them to become the third engine supplier to IndyCar. But so far, it has not yielded the result IndyCar was hoping for.
“We were very close to a number of them, but COVID came in and drove a lot of the interest away,” Penske said. “With the new hybrid system, we hope to introduce this year, could be a key to getting someone else to come into the series.
“We would love to have a third engine manufacturer. Right now, it’s very competitive with Chevrolet and Honda. We would certainly like to have one come in, but at the moment, we are where we are.
“I look forward to this hybrid world we are going to live in for sustainability and some of the things we are looking at to meet the requirements people around the world want for the atmosphere where we live.
“Overall, it’s going to be interesting. There is certainly enough interest among the teams. You have drivers coming out of Indy NXT. We have 16, 17, 18 cars in Indy NXT. When we took over the series, we had eight or nine.
“Levi Jones has done a wonderful job growing that series for us.”
Penske believes it is important for IndyCar to conclude its season before the NFL gets started.
There are some race fans who would like to see the IndyCar season go deep into autumn, but Penske’s metrics show a definable drop-off in ratings that make it difficult for partners such as NBC Sports to create programming opportunities.
“We can see on weekends when we have certain competition it takes away from some of our fan base,” Penske said.
The landscape of IndyCar will look different in 2024 because of driver movement to other teams. For instance, Marcus Ericsson has left Chip Ganassi Racing for Andretti Global and will be replaced by 2022 Indy NXT champion Linus Lundqvist.
IndyCar owns Indy NXT and Penske is proud to see the system work with a champion driver landing a position at IndyCar’s best team.
“It’s great to see Linus get a chance on a world-class team,” Penske said. “Ganassi sets the bar around here, no question. For him to get that chance is terrific.
“For Ericsson moving on, he took a rookie driver coming in with great experience, drove the Shank car at Nashville and did a heck of a job on the street course. I see him being a real player going forward.
“It’s a great series to get into, and we are trying to run as professional as we can because people want to be able to connect Indy NXT to the IndyCar Series. Firestone has done a terrific job coming in to sponsor that series for us.
“The technology, the way we are running that series is as professional as we do the IndyCar Series by itself.”
In 2023, IndyCar finally had its docuseries, known as “100 Days to Indy” on The CW. It was created to bring the sport to new eyeballs that normally don’t watch IndyCar and hopefully create some new interest in the series.
“I think it was a great job the team put together with the IndyCar marketing group,” Penske said. “It was a plus, there is no question. We had 500,000 to 600,000 between the first and second run, the social media around it and we are looking at some distribution internationally. It was certainly a plus.
“Our goal is to try to have it again next year.”
There are also several key elements to next year’s schedule. The Big Machine Music City Grand Prix moves from early August to the final race of the season in September beginning in 2024.
That gives IndyCar a chance to celebrate its champion in the bright lights of the entertainment destination city.
“Nashville is Nashville,” Penske said. “Think about all of the artists living there that perform there. For us to get the city to go along with us and move the date is a big deal. It’s exactly what we want. We have been out West a long time, and this is an opportunity I didn’t think we could put together. Mark Miles and the team down in Nashville came forward and made it happen.
“They met with the mayor and the key people in the city.
“To me, it’s going to be a big deal and it’s going to take some time to get it done. I’m thrilled about it. From what I can see, our sponsors, the key players and the teams think it’s a great opportunity to end the season.”
The famed WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca will remain on the schedule, but it will be moved to late June from its early September date.
“I raced back in the 1950s at Laguna Seca, so I like it a lot,” Penske said. “I love Monterey and the people love it there. The fact they had flexibility in their schedule was important to us. We certainly didn’t want to lose that race.”
It’s all but announced that The Milwaukee Mile will return to the IndyCar schedule, giving the series a much-needed additional oval.
That is important for a number of reasons, according to Penske.
“We used to leave the Indianapolis 500 and go right to The Milwaukee Mile,” Penske said. “It’s got a lot of history. We’ve met with the governor, who was very pro having it come back. The State Fair Board worked well with us. We’re not ready to announce what we are going to do there. They have spent considerable money to make the track safer and the things we need to do. That is point No. 1. We have some things to do to elevate the weekend to make it world-class.
“I want to see five or six ovals. I want to see road courses and I want to see temporary circuits, so we have a mix of different circuits.
“That’s IndyCar.”
Penske Entertainment will promote the race at Milwaukee, just as it does with the Indianapolis 500, Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, and the Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway.
“Let’s think about the crew we have and our ability to utilize the folks we have in Indianapolis,” Penske said. “People that we have that can work with Michael Montri.
“It’s our business. We had Penske Speedways for a number of years. We ran a number of races at multiple tracks. This is about taking the best ideas we have, the best execution of people whether it’s the track, marketing, ticketing or whether it is concessions.
“To me, it’s another event and if they are not stacked on top of each other, we can do that realistically. We proved that with Hy-Vee working with them in Iowa. It would be a great showplace how we can executive more than one event, not just Indianapolis.”
The NASCAR Cup Series is expected to return to the 2.5-mile oval at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2024 with the return of the Brickyard 400. That likely means it won’t include IndyCar as part of an IndyCar/NASCAR Weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the road course.
“As we look at this, it’s been a great weekend,” Penske explained. “One of the bigger challenges is logistics. As we go forward, if we are not running on the road course, it’s almost impossible to turn overnight from a road course to a speedway race. These are all things we will bring out as we put out our schedule, exactly what we are going to do at Indianapolis that weekend at the Brickyard.
“NASCAR loves getting together with us, and we have talked about other venues where we might go and race with them in other parts of the country.”
May 28, 2023; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; IndyCar Series team owner Roger Penske celebrates after winning the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Roger Penske celebrated winning his 19th Indy 500 this year (Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images Network).
When Penske returns from Fuji, the IndyCar season might be over, but the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will be heading for its first cutoff point with next Saturday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
After Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway, there will be eight races remaining in the 10-race NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Team Penske’s Joey Logano is the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion.
“It’s been a year since we won that championship,” Penske said. “A lot of water has flowed over the dam since then. We’ve had a decent year. Joey and (Ryan) Blaney have won races and we are in the championship fight.
“We’ll see what happens.
“Look, we’re in it. We have to be in it if we are running at the top. The competition has never been tougher. Technology is driving this success with all the teams. The cars are similar, but it’s the little things that make the difference.
“Then you have the driver base. A lot of these young kids coming up are doing a terrific job. This ladder series, whether it’s Xfinity, Indy NXT, or the formula cars they run, this is all part of the success of all the series they run in.
“Hopefully, we can get in that Final Four as we have done for a number of years with one of our drivers.”
As for IndyCar, the offseason will be a very busy time as Penske demands results.
Usually, Roger Penske gets what he wants and it’s for the betterment of his company.
“The good news is with Michael Montri and Mark Miles looking at the schedules, things we have done with Hy-Vee in Iowa is some great stuff,” Penske said. “The promotions have been great.
“It’s my understanding coming out of the office that every one of the tracks has seen a bigger increase in their fan base in 2023, which is very positive going into next year.”
