IndyCar has struggled to attract the audience that the drama of the series warrants for a long time now.
Fans appear to be far more engaged with NASCAR, and the viewership figures indicate that it’s not even close.
IndyCar had less than a third of the viewers that its rival had at the start of the season, proving that there is more work to be done.
Judging by the popularity of Formula 1, as the world’s biggest motorsport platform, you would expect IndyCar to hold a similar level of authority as the next biggest single-seater series, but that’s not the case.
Mark Miles hopes IndyCar will be seen as a ‘major league’
Whether is the marketing, the tracks, the drivers, or the drama – there is plenty of room for expansion and officials have already started to attack that problem.
The brand new Grand Prix of Arlington will be situated around both the Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboys’ stadiums.
Whether or not that brings them a new fanbase from the MLB or NFL remains to be seen, but the new state-of-the-art facility won’t do any damage to the series.
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Speaking to Sports Business Journal, IndyCar CEO Mark Miles believes that the Arlington race will help elevate its sporting status.
“The event we’ll pull off in Arlington will facilitate IndyCar being seen as major league.
“I feel like our racing and our sport deserves that and these kinds of initiatives will help us be positioned that way and recognize that way.”
How Arlington shows parallels to the Miami Grand Prix
The new Grand Prix of Arlington is akin to Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix, which made its debut back in 2022.
Circling another NFL stadium – the Miami Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium has been a spectacular backdrop for Formula 1.
Attracting a lot of A-List celebrities and great attendances, it’s the exact sort of injection that IndyCar could do with.
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Hailie Deegan’s move to Indy NXT could boost figures too, with NASCAR’s most popular driver for three consecutive years between 2021 and 2023 embarking on her first foray into single-seaters.
The combination of all these factors could set the series up for an explosion of popularity by the time the 2026 season arrives.