IndyCar Series Returns to Nashville in 2022

Last August, Nashville TN held its first ever Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, representing the first time the city had hosted a major IndyCar series street circuit race. To host the event, Nashville shut-down its downtown hub for the 2.1-mile circuit to include drive-by’s of Nissan Stadium, home of the AFL-league Tennessee Titans, the Korean Veterans Memorial Bridge, and Cumberland River, making it the first ever professional race to cross over a body of water as part of its track – creating such a spectacular visual event that it was pretty much a foregone conclusion when NTT announced the series will return to this city previously recognized for its music and now, street circuit racing, August 7, 2022. 

“Nashville is the number one destination outside of the Indianapolis 500 to race,” two-time IndyCar Series Champion Josef Newgarden, a local Nashvillian, reminded performance racing enthusiasts during a pre-race interview last year. Unfortunately, Newgarden crashed during the 2021 race, precluding claiming his third winning title in his native town, turning over the victory to Marcus Ericson of Chip Ganassi Racing, representing Ericson’s second win of the season.

In true Nashvillian fashion, the race turned into a three-day festival that included concerts, family fun zones, food trucks, volunteer areas, and live music city-wide, putting the city’s balancing sheets back in the black with this event that took six months of preparation for 110,000 people who came to town from around the globe to watch IndyCar street racing at its finest – and most Southern. 

After the success of 2021, the ownership group of IndyCar Series and NTT signed with the city of Nashville to host the Music City Grand Prix for three additional years with an option for additional bookings, which is very much welcomed in this city economically hard-hit by the lost travel and tourism revenue during the COVID pandemic but showing every sign of a brilliant recovery, particularly in August, when the city welcomes it’s second Indy Series competition. 

Keep those engines tuned!