Nashville poised to host 2024 IndyCar season finale

The Nashville Grand Prix is expected to receive a new contract from the NTT IndyCar Series that will keep the popular Tennessean street race on the calendar after its three-year contract with the series concludes once the August 4-6 event is held.

Multiple sources have told RACER the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix will not only continue, but two significant changes are in the works for next year’s race.

The first is a shift in when the three-day event takes place. With IndyCar’s broadcast partner NBC set to focus on its coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympics from late July through early August — the same window where Nashville has been held — a move to the end of the season as IndyCar’s championship finale is in motion.

The positioning of Nashville as the last race on the IndyCar calendar is said to be the subject of an impending announcement and once it’s confirmed, the upcoming September 8-10 championship finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca will be its last for the track in that role. RACER understands the California road course is poised to leap forward on the schedule with a new race date in March.

Under the schedule’s current construction, the season starts at the onset of March in St. Petersburg and goes dark for nearly a month before the second race of the year runs in the beginning of April at Texas Motor Speedway. With an expressed desire from the series to fill the void, Laguna Seca would provide a solution.

The location of the Nashville race is also evolving for 2024 and beyond, thanks to the upcoming construction of a new stadium for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans that will consume approximately half of the streets where the current circuit is positioned.

Although the need to devise a new Nashville street circuit layout is well known, at least one of the alternate routes being explored could generate additional excitement if the mayor and city council lend their approval. RACER has learned a track that includes a section of Lower Broadway, which hosts the many bars, restaurants and live music venues which attract big crowds to the area.

The portion of Broadway between First and Third Streets should be familiar to fans of the IndyCar event. It’s the same stretch that has been blocked off and used for pre-event promotions where pit stop demonstrations were performed.

Reached by RACER, representatives from the series and event organizers declined to discuss the subjects.

For more information: www.racer.com