Roger Penske touts notion of future IndyCar-NASCAR doubleheader weekends

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Roger Penske says he has not had any conversations with NASCAR about the topic, but the man who owns a championship Cup organization and the NTT IndyCar Series touts the notion of both series sharing a doubleheader weekend as they once did at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Penske made the comment Friday ahead of the NASCAR Awards, which will honor Team Penske’s Joey Logano for winning this season’s Cup championship.

When asked about what he saw as the next evolution in motorsports, Penske mentioned more manufacturers wanting to get into racing, diversity of tracks and risks by sanctioning bodies.

“We might see, as we did with NASCAR, doubleheaders,” Penske said. “I haven’t talked about this, I’m not announcing anything but think about it, Indy, we ran a doubleheader there with IndyCar and NASCAR.”

NASCAR and IndyCar had a doubleheader weekend from 2020-23 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

In 2020, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and IndyCar Series raced on a Saturday on the road course and the Cup Series raced on the oval the next day.

From 2021-23, the Xfinity and IndyCar Series each raced on the road course on Saturday and Cup ran on the road course on Sunday.

“I know it was successful,” Penske said of the doubleheader weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which Penske also owns. “We could see it with the fan base at Indy.”

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Penske noted that a doubleheader weekend could be a good concept for a temporary facility.

“We go to these temporary circuits, to have two racing series that could come in and help pay for those assets and that build and build out will be very important,” Penske said. “The fan base, think about it, you’re going to cross-pollinate people. It might be NASCAR fans will see Indy or something else. We see that, obviously, with IMSA running with us at Long Beach and places like that.”

Penske and Penske Entertainment announced Nov. 14 that they had acquired the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Outside the Indianapolis 500, the Long Beach race is the premier event of the IndyCar Series and will celebrate its 50th edition in April.

Erik Jones honored for the work of his foundation.

The three-day weekend event has attracted crowds of more than 190,000 people to the 1.968-mile street circuit that surrounds the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center.

The 2025 NASCAR and IndyCar schedules are set. NASCAR will not race in Southern California next year for the first time since 1996. NASCAR President Steve Phelps told NBC Sports in March that the sanctioning body was “committed to the market” in Southern California.

NASCAR has plans to make the facility a short track after selling most of the track’s land. Officials have not announced concrete plans for the project. Sports Business Journal reported in August that NASCAR had an interest in holding a street race in San Diego. The report stated that San Diego was among sites in Southern California NASCAR was exploring.