The NTT IndyCar Series confirmed on Wednesday that the series is heading to the Music City in 2021.
The Music City Grand Prix, in partnership with INDYCAR, will be the first new street race on the calendar since the 2013 season. The inaugural running is set for August 6-8, 2021 on the streets of Nashville, Tennessee.
The Music City Grand Prix displays a show car on the bridge the league will compete over next summer. (Picture Credit: Music Row)
The three-day “festival of speed” will also include live music performances and chef-curated food experiences. The circuit is mainly located around the Nissan Stadium campus, home of the Tennessee Titans.
The Titans and Nissan Stadium partnered with the Music City Grand Prix officials to bring IndyCar to Nashville.
The course layout for the 2021 Music City Grand Prix, as confirmed by IndyCar and the organization on Wednesday. (Credit: IndyCar / Music City GP/ WSMV Nashville)
The Layout
On Wednesday, the league and venue also revealed the circuit, being a 2.17-mile temporary track that includes racing over the Korean Veterans Memorial Bridge in downtown Nashville.
The race will become one of the only motorsports events to cross a major body of water, traveling over the Cumberland River twice per lap.
The 11-turn circuit is the first track added by Roger Penske and the Penske Entertainment Corporation. Penske took over IndyCar officially at the beginning of 2020.
Above all, Adam Stern confirmed the deal is on for three guaranteed years, with a two-year option. Recent street courses added in IndyCar have often failed lasting more than four years at a time.
Role in the Schedule
If IndyCar were to remain a 17-race slate for 2021, the track to lose a date has yet to be made clear.
Tracks in danger of losing dates appear to be either Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, or the 7/8th-mile Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa, with both circuits currently struggling financially wise, after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, both circuits lost their Formula One and NASCAR dates, respectively in 2020. COTA became one of several races not brought back on the revised 2020 schedule, because of the pandemic.
You can watch the entire press conference on IndyCar’s YouTube channel, or the direct link here.
