IndyCar has ‘outlined plans’ to offer charter memberships to Honda and Chevrolet

• Honda and Chevrolet’s current contracts expire at end of season
• Charters would provide equity to manufacturers for first time and could be sold for return on investment

IndyCar owner Penske Entertainment could offer charter memberships to manufacturers Honda and Chevrolet, according to Racer.

The series established a charter system in 2025, which granted 25 entries across ten full-time teams. The agreement was inclusive of the 2031 season with a maximum of three charters awarded per team.

The move was designed to create enterprise value for each entrant in the series, much like how Nascar has done with its own charter system. However, the option to extend this to individual manufacturers is unprecedented.

Both Chevrolet and Honda have engine supply agreements that expire at the end of this season, with Honda’s long-term future in IndyCar having been uncertain for some time. Offering manufacturers a direct stake in the charter system would significantly deepen their relationship with the series and mark a major evolution in IndyCar’s commercial structure.

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Rather than remaining partners in what has often felt like a one-sided collaboration, becoming fully chartered members would give IndyCar’s manufacturers access to meetings with team owners that help shape the direction of the series as a whole.

With a new engine formula set to debut in 2028, the move could also make IndyCar more attractive to additional manufacturers.

According to Racer, each manufacturer committed to the next engine cycle would receive a single charter, which could be sold in the future. These charters would not be eligible for sale to teams. Instead, Penske Entertainment would purchase the charter at market value if a replacement manufacturer could not be found.

A further provision under discussion would allow manufacturers to use their charters to field a single entry of their own. While this idea remains in its early stages, it would represent a significant departure from IndyCar’s traditional structure.

How such a move would align with IndyCar’s parallel efforts to reduce the size of its full-time grid remains unclear. What is clear, however, is that new minority owner Fox is beginning to exert influence over how the series is run – with a view to ensuring manufacturer partnerships become more of a two-way relationship.