Series owner Roger Penske and IndyCar officials met Thursday at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, with organizers for a proposed street race in the NTT IndyCar Series.
In a statement Friday, the promoters and organizers said they are working on “finalizing an agreement to bring an urban racing festival to Nashville with a presence at Nissan Stadium … to be clear, this process is not finalized.”
The Tennessean reported that the target date for the inaugural race is August 2021, and it would be held on a downtown layout about 1.5 miles in length.
Addressing future races during a news conference last week, Penske Entertainment Corp. CEO Mark Miles said IndyCar’s 2021 schedule would resemble the 17-race slate for 2020. The series hopes to release its schedule for next year by the Oct. 25 season finale at St. Peterburg, Florida, and possibly by the end of September.
“We’ve just got to live in a world where it’s unclear,” Miles said. “We think our schedule will look a lot like the schedule that was put out for 2020 initially. The promoters want to be back. Nobody has the crystal ball to tell us when they’re back and what conditions we’ll run in.”
Here’s the full statement from the event promoters and organizers with the proposed Music City Grand Prix:
We are pleased to confirm that plans to bring an annual NTT IndyCar Series urban street race to Nashville progressed this week bringing us one step closer to establishing the inaugural Music City Grand Prix. Event promoters and organizers from Music City Grand Prix hosted Roger Penske and members of the IndyCar team at Nissan Stadium alongside key staff from the Tennessee Titans and other key stakeholders. We collectively agreed to work toward finalizing an agreement to bring an urban racing festival to Nashville with a presence at Nissan Stadium. While we are all excited by the Music City Grand Prix plans, to be clear this process is not finalized.
MCGP has been very deliberate in our planning, particularly in light of the evolving challenges that COVID-19 has presented. MCGP will continue to be thoughtful and thorough in our preparation and communications in order to create an event that meets our vision, delivers for INDYCAR and reflects the high standards Nashville has set for major annual events. We look forward to sharing more information once agreements are fully completed.
