Michael Andretti and Roger Penske Need to Talk

NTT IndyCar Series owner Roger Penske and Andretti Global team owner Michael Andretti need to have a meeting Monday morning.

That has to happen. Bring in the staffers and other leaders, like Bud Denker, Mark Miles, Jay Frye and Rob Edwards, but these two long time competitors need to get on the same page, and it needs to be done ASAP after Sunday’s (March 10) race.

Since the IndyCar teams rolled into St Petersburg for the 2024 season kick-off event, there has been more focus on the dynamics of the series operational approach and growth than on the race. The highlight is an The Indianapolis Star story by Nathan Brown quoting Andretti with a very visceral statement: “…sell the series.”

This is high quality reporting, and it’s important not to jump at that one line, diving into the whole story is necessary to see where Andretti was going in his conversation. But even mentioning that as a counter to what he perceives as a lack of more investment by Penske Entertainment in the series just is a gut punch. 

After all, if not for Penske’s commitment to his investment in 2019 when he bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar from the Hulman family this weekend’s racing events may not exist. COVID shut the world down and IndyCar had to run a majority of their season in 2020 without fans. That included the critical Indianapolis 500 which is the biggest revenue generator for the series. Penske and his consorts of companies have further propped up Iowa Speedway, added the Milwaukee Mile back to the schedule, and rehabbed the grounds of IMS so much that it looks more like Augusta National than the world famous center of toilet troughs. 

Still it’s mind boggling what has happened to IndyCar over the last four to six months between video game challenges and delays in the hybrid deployment. It doesn’t matter who caused the issues, it all rests at the series feet because that’s where the proverbial buck stops. 

But this sharp opinion sharing in the media on the eve of the first race doesn’t need to happen. At least not now. The focus should be on the stories on the track, so the…