Why the IndyCar-NASCAR crossover was a success at Phoenix after previous failures

Phoenix International Raceway is one of Indy car racing’s most traditional venues, with history dating to 1964 preceded only by the Milwaukee Mile and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The first 31 years were far more successful than the last 31; Phoenix hosted two races a year during the USAC era and was the site of the first CART-sanctioned Indy car race in 1979, but track owner Buddy Jobe butted heads with CART management and switched loyalty when the Indy Racing League started up in 1996.

It was a terrible decision, as attendance plummeted from an annual sellout in the first half of the 1990s to barely 5,000 within a couple years. International Speedway Corp (nee NASCAR) soon purchased and rebranded the track as Phoenix Raceway, but it continued to fail to draw Indy car crowds even as the IRL gained strength and credibility in the early 2000s. When the IRL began to incorporate road racing, Phoenix was dropped after 2005. Meanwhile, Phoenix took on an increasingly important role for NASCAR after joining the Cup Series schedule in 1988. Reprofiled in 2011 and extensively renovated eight years later, Phoenix hosted NASCAR’s championship finale weekend from 2020-25.

The Phoenix Indy car race made a brief comeback from 2016-18, but it remained a commercial dud. High-downforce aero kit cars produced ridiculous speeds the first two years on the asymmetric 1.022-mile oval (Helio Castroneves set the track record at 18.87 seconds for an average speed of 194.975mph in 2017), and the introduction of the current Dallara IR18 spec car in 2018 produced one of the better races seen at the Desert Mile; Josef Newgarden made a late stop for tyres and slashed through the field, passing Robert Wickens for the win with three laps remaining.

A strong belief persisted that promotion was weak from the NASCAR-owned track, but regardless, drawing a paltry crowd in an important and historic market was a huge source of frustration for the IndyCar Series as it continued to struggle to attract fans to oval races besides Indianapolis.

There’s much more of a cooperative working spirit between NASCAR and IndyCar these days, and Phoenix is back on the IndyCar schedule - this time as part of the Saturday card on a weekend bill headlined by the NASCAR Cup Series. Inspired by a July 2020 double-header at the Indianapolis road course that was a product of COVID-19, this year’s ‘Desert Double’ was the first time that the IndyCar Series and the NASCAR Cup Series were billed as co-headliners. Still, there was the feeling that the open-wheel side of the Garage Area was playing second fiddle to what is admittedly a far more popular form of racing in America by almost every metric.

“I’m sick and tired of IndyCar being, like, the support race,” popular star Patricio O’Ward said during a media availability a week earlier at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix. “I don’t mind races on Saturday, but I know every time we race with them, we’re always the support show. I’d say I’m neutral on my opinion. If they added more, great. If they don’t add more, great. I don’t really care.”

O'Ward didn't give a glowing review of the IndyCar-NASCAR double-header but the overall signs were positive

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

O’Ward made a fair point; at St. Petersburg, the NASCAR Truck Series served as the Saturday headliner in what was the first ever street race for the Trucks. Whether through sheer novelty or guest-star appearances from former IndyCar racers Dario Franchitti and James Hinchcliffe and current IMSA start Colin Braun, the Trucks attracted an inordinate amount of attention and a huge crowd.

It’s impossible to say what kind of crowd IndyCar would have drawn at Phoenix this year as a stand-alone event, but even a reduced role as the number two to NASCAR was a step in the right direction because more people attended this year’s Saturday afternoon show than any Indy car race at Phoenix since 1995. And those fans saw a heck of a show. IndyCar got the balance just right between downforce, power, mechanical grip, and tyre degradation, and it produced a highly entertaining race, even if the result – another late Newgarden charge for the win – pretty much duplicated what happened last time around.

Added to that, the on-track storylines abounded. Mick Schumacher was an impressive fourth fastest in qualifying for his first-ever oval race, one spot behind Team RLL team-mate Graham Rahal, who hadn’t started that close to the front of a short oval field since 2009. David Malukas earned his first pole driving for Team Penske, while Will Power, the man he replaced at Penske, continued to grapple with his move to Andretti Global and crashed in qualifying.

Crossover weekends like St. Petersburg and Phoenix are good for the growth of the sport, and fans of any kind of racing surely liked what they saw

At least half a dozen drivers were in the mix for the win, but IndyCar champion Alex Palou wasn’t one of them, eliminated in a lap 22 accident with Rinus VeeKay. Power showed speed and confidence as he worked his way steadily to the front before being eliminated in a clash with the other star of the race – ECR’s Christian Rasmussen. Like in his first and only career IndyCar win at Milwaukee, Rasmussen was electric, passing cars high and low. The high line ended up biting him, as Power squeezed the Dane into the wall, and while Rasmussen was able to continue leading, the contretemps ultimately cost him the race.

The Rasmussen-Power incident brought out the caution on lap 207 of 250, when the field was between 10 and 20 laps into their final stint. O’Ward and Newgarden led a group that chose to pit for tyres, while Rasmussen, Kirkwood, and Malukas stayed out.

Wary of Rasmussen’s bent suspension (not to mention his reputation for wildness), a cautious Kirkwood finally passed Rasmussen with nine laps to go. His joy was short-lived, because Newgarden was already on their tail and the Penske driver swept past just two laps later. Kirkwood held on for second over a charging Malukas and O’Ward.

A quality race was just what IndyCar needed in front of a captive NASCAR audience. Crossover weekends like St. Petersburg and Phoenix are good for the growth of the sport, and fans of any kind of racing surely liked what they saw on display at both venues.

NASCAR's Blaney catches up with Newgarden after his IndyCar race win

Photo by: Penske Entertainment