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Essentials Inside The Story
- Why it made sense for America's two premier racing series to split marquee, one-of-a-kind events to celebrate America's 250th anniversary
- NASCAR may still race one day soon in Washington, D.C., with the 2027 NASCAR All-Star Race a likely candidate
- IndyCar had to expand its original 17-race schedule to 18 races when it added the Washington, D.C. event
When U.S. President Donald Trump announced a historic, first-time ever IndyCar race around Washington D.C.’s National Mall and the streets of the nation’s capital – on the weekend of August 21-23 as part of this nation’s 250 birthday year celebration – the Freedom 250 Grand Prix was met with great excitement.
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The free admission to all, another historic first, didn’t hurt.
Plus, the 1.7-mile, seven-turn street circuit will be like a tourist’s highlight film, passing by the U.S. Capitol, the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
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And for an added treat, IndyCar officials believe race cars could hit 190 mph driving down Pennsylvania Avenue. Let’s just hope the Secret Service, FBI and Capitol Police get the memo and don’t try to run radar during the race.
Why not NASCAR racing in the nation’s capital?
But after the excitement began dying down a few days later, NASCAR fans began to wonder why the truly American sport was not going to be roaring through the streets of D.C., rather than the sexy, European-styled open-wheelers.
After all, what’s more American than a Chevrolet or Ford tooling around the nation’s capital (okay, we’ll have to include Toyota because it’s patterned after those built here in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave, rather than the Land of the Rising Sun)?
Why not show American muscle, horsepower, and mechanical ingenuity at its finest? With a crowd expected to potentially reach 500,000 (some are even predicting a million-plus, given the lure of free admission) around The Mall, what could be more patriotic than NASCAR showing itself off on a national and international stage?
But hold on a second. NASCAR WILL have its day in the sun two months earlier, on the weekend of June 19-21, when the first-ever race on an active working military base – the American 250 (also called the Anduril 250) at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego – takes place.
NASCAR had already announced its temporary street course race before President Trump revealed the IndyCar race on The Mall. It certainly didn’t hurt that Trump is besties with legendary Team Penske founder and the winningest team owner in IndyCar history, Roger Penske.
Why it was too difficult to bring NASCAR to D.C. (for now)
But it’s more than just that. Even if Trump had decided he wanted to have NASCAR conquer The Mall instead of IndyCar, the logistics were too hard to overcome.
Consider the following facts and you’ll understand why:
* NASCAR had no room on its schedule. All 36 regular season and playoff race weekends were spoken for and assigned to specific tracks. This Sunday’s race at Bristol followed the first of only two off-weekends on the NASCAR schedule this season (for Easter on April 5, as well as August 2). Meanwhile, IndyCar, with only 17 races on its schedule, DID have the flexibility to add another race and, most importantly, a free and totally unencumbered weekend to do so.
* NASCAR could have potentially moved a nearby race (like at Richmond Raceway on August 15) to the nation’s capital, but that could have caused significant logistical issues not only for the track, but even more for the fans who had already spent hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for tickets, hotel reservations, airfare, rental cars, etc. The NASCAR race at Richmond – 105 miles away from D.C. – is always one of the most-anticipated events of the season for fans, especially those who love bullring racing on the .750-mile oval.
* Trump didn’t want to be looked upon as someone who favored IndyCar over NASCAR. He likely felt – and rightfully so – to let NASCAR have Coronado, which will be a spectacle in and of itself, while IndyCar will get equal footing and notoriety in D.C.
* Another thing to keep in mind: although NASCAR officials have not confirmed it, it’s very likely that the race on the naval base will be a one-and-done event. Tying up operations on one of the Navy’s largest bases for up to two months of preparation, followed by several weeks of putting things back to the way they were before the race, is a logistical back-breaker. To do it two or three or more years in a row seems very unlikely, especially if, God forbid, we’re involved in any military action elsewhere in the world.
* On the other side of the coin with IndyCar, it’s pretty much the same thing: the August 23 race will also likely be a one-and-done. When Trump signed an Executive Order authorizing the race, he said it would be a one-time, once-in-a-lifetime event.
Sure, it would be great to have a free admission race in our nation’s capital every year, but it’s not realistic for the government or IndyCar. Plus, while the logistics of setting up and tearing down a track layout are something that is doable, at what cost? And does the President want to spoil the beauty of the area around The Mall every year? To quote late comedian John Pinette, I say “nay-nay.”
* While this is speculative, it would not be surprising that if NASCAR had indeed been approached to add a race around The Mall, series officials might have balked at not receiving rights fees from the government or have to concede to free admission and no cut of ticket sales. It was likely that IndyCar was more willing to make it a free-admission event.
* That being said, reports have suggested NASCAR and White House officials have had preliminary talks about holding the annual NASCAR All-Star Race somewhere in the District (but not likely around The Mall) in 2027 or 2028, but those reports are speculative as of now.
* One other thing to consider is the impact of where both races fall on each series’ championship path. NASCAR’s playoffs don’t begin until nine races after its race at Coronado, while IndyCar has managed to incorporate its race around The Mall as significant to the overall championship race, but there will still be three more regular-season races remaining afterward, including the championship-deciding final race of the season at Laguna Seca.
The two special points-paying races this year are not only great ideas, but they will also indeed be historic, once-in-a-lifetime events that will serve to instill great pride in our country.
And hopefully, at least for a few days, minimize the constant political sniping between both parties and instead bring both sides together to argue about only one thing: which “my driver” is going to take the checkered flag?
