IndyCar Ends 2022 Season On High Note, Plans For 2023 And Beyond

The business of IndyCar was solid in 2022 with a championship that came down to the last race of the season and record television viewership. While it wasn’t perfect, top executives with the racing series feel upbeat about the prospects of 2023.

Maybe the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series may best be described as a car setup: it was balanced. Car setup is rarely perfect, so could a “bit more wing” have made the car better still? Certainly, but all involved have to feel on the whole “balanced” was a great way to take the season on.

For one, full crowds and a sense of coming out of the pandemic afforded the entire schedule to feel more “normal”, whatever that is now.

The jewel of the series – the Indianapolis 500 – saw 325,000 in attendance, making it the second-largest attended race in 20 years behind only the 100th running of the event in 2016.

The event was a mixed bag on television. On the plus side, the race was the most-watched on U.K.’s SkySports pulling in an average viewership of 231,000 and peaking with 372,000. And normally in the U.S., when there’s high interest regionally and big numbers through the gate, the national TV numbers mirror. Whether it was better weather on the East Coast, or who knows what, viewership on NBC was surprisingly low drawing an average of 4.8 million compared to 5.581 million in 2021.

“It’s hard to explain,” said IndyCar CEO Mark Miles. “It feels like it’s the collection of all the things going on in all the major markets and if they had something competitive going on. I’m not sure but I’m not happy about that. We want to get that back up to where to what is expected.”

If the Indy 500 was down, overall the series was a success.

“Our total average audience is up and meaningful,” said Miles.

With the series championship still up for grabs up to the final race at WeatherTech Raceway in California, fans pushed the needle slightly higher with a total.

The series ended up +5% compared to 2021 on NBC making it the most-watched in six years and the most-watched, ever, on NBC. Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 1.30 million viewers across NBC, USA Network, Peacock, and NBC Sports digital platforms, marking the most-watched season for the INDYCAR SERIES since 2016 (1.31 million viewers, NBCSN TAD/ABC TV-only). Half of the season’s 16 races on television delivered a TAD of more than 1 million viewers, the highest mark since 2008.

On the track, IndyCar’s continued plan through 2018 continued on pace. Car count is robust, pushing engine suppliers Chevy and Honda to the limit. The series continues to try and find a third powerplant provider, which has been one area the series just can’t seem to get over the hurdle over.

For 2023, both Miles, and Jay Frye, the president of IndyCar, said the series will go to a 100% renewable race fuel when they go to Shell as their partner.

By 2024, the car will see some of the most significant changes when engines will move to a 2.4 liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 with hybrid technology. That will add weight to the car. Frye said the car will also see reduced weight reduction through a “catacomb” infrastructure to the Aeroscreen. Dubbed Aeroscreen 2.0, the design will look much the same, yet shave nearly 18lbs off the weight while retaining the weight load to project drivers should they land upside-down or have another car somehow land on top of the driver.

Coupled together, there will be a slight change in the aerodynamic packages on the car which will give it a bit of a different look, “but not as drastic as the change from 2017 to 2018.”

Beyond the car, one thing that fans could see is some form of exotic post-season exhibition race. It’s clear that NASCAR, with the LA Coliseum race, and F1 entering a night race into the schedule in Las Vegas, the IndyCar has seen the value in promoting the sport in ways that don’t impact the schedule.

“There are two possibilities in that regard,” Miles said. “One may materialize, and you’ll hear more about in the coming weeks. And that could not be a race per se but our season opening test could be in a different kind of place and a different kind of different kinds of way to expose us.”

While IndyCar is technically International, it means races in the series for points are held in North America. But could there be something outside the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to consider?

“The exhibition would be outside the Western Hemisphere – outside North America,” Miles said.