AllRacing

IndyCar leadership keeping an open mind about Iowa’s future

Penske Entertainment VP Michael Montri says there is no immediate decision to offer regarding Iowa Speedway’s future place on the NTT IndyCar Series schedule.

As last weekend’s doubleheader event progressed, the on-track product returned to a familiar style of action as drivers went side-by-side in the corners, and Sunday’s race was generally hailed as a vast improvement over the single-file doubleheader from 2024. Taken in isolation, the racing was better than expected, and could continue to improve if the series makes a return.

Viewed from a wider perspective, the extreme drop in attendance after the departure of promotional partner Hy-Vee was alarming even if not entirely unexpected. Without the heavy involvement and investment from the Midwest grocery store chain in 2025, Penske Entertainment was left to handle all aspects of running and promoting the event; the mostly empty grandstands meant few were there to see Pato O’Ward and Alex Palou earn victories at the Sukup-sponsored weekend.

As the person in charge of creating the IndyCar Series’ annual schedule, Montri says the IndyCar Series’ executive team will evaluate the merits of continuing at Iowa Speedway, but wasn’t prepared to say whether they were leaning in one direction or the other.

“This year was definitely a reset for us after three years of having A-List concerts, two per day over the course of the weekend with Hy-Vee support there, and this year not having any of that,” Montri told RACER.

“And this was a reset, focusing more on the on-track product. I thought the on-track product was better than last year. There’s no doubt. It’s like a racetrack coming in after the new asphalt went down last year created what it created. And this year, with a year through the Iowa winter and everything else, I thought it raced better, for sure.

“I feel like we connected more with what I would call a more traditional race fan this year than we have over the last three years. Through a couple different metrics that we use, it was pretty evident that the crowd was race-oriented, as far as the reason that they were there, and that’s fairly obvious to say, based on the program (without large music acts) we had at the track. Obviously, we would have loved to have more people in the grandstands, but that’s something that you sometimes face with a reset.”

Montri says Iowa Speedway’s fate will be revealed once the 2026 IndyCar calendar is published, and thanked the event’s home state sponsor — a farming equipment manufacturer — for its support.

“Any scheduling decisions that we make, no one person makes those; it’s made with the leadership at IndyCar,” he said. “Scheduling is a part of it, particularly with some of these ovals in the Midwest that happen to fall in the middle of the day. I think we saw some positive results this year with St. Louis (WWTR) and what we were able to do there, with FOX’s help, to move it to a night race. So that’s something I think would be positive there if there is such a window available, that would probably weigh in its favor.

“But there’s so many other variables. It’s not any thing in particular about one event year to year, or one date year to year, but how it all fits together like a puzzle. I’ve been doing the schedule now for a number of years, and just when you think you have it all set, one little variable happens, and all of a sudden it’s a set of dominoes, and you’re shuffling half of the schedule. There’s a lot of things to consider here as we go through and finalize the 2026 schedule, which I’m hoping will be very soon, then we’ll see what shakes out.

“I will say this. Sukup was a great partner for this year. They were very supportive. They came in, late, and just were great, great partners, a local Iowa-based business that that really feeds into the community.”