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IndyCar's first oval race of the season at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) last weekend saw a “double-digit percentage” increase in attendance compared to 2022, as reported by Racer.
Confirmed:
- IndyCar did not release official figures, but Mark Faber confirmed the percentage increase
- 2022 attendance was estimated to be between 15,000 and 30,000
Context: Oval races are coming under increasing pressure to remain on the IndyCar schedule as attendances struggle. Fans who attended last weekend's race witnessed a titanic tussle between Team Penske's Josef Newgarden and Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward, but the high-quality racing will not be enough to retain the track if crowds do not follow.
TMS has the distinction of regularly hosting among the fewest fans on the IndyCar calendar, with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram claiming the 2021 attendance ‘looked to be no more than 20,000’. The grandstands looked noticeably busier last weekend, but plenty of empty seats remained.
With this being the first event held in a new contract between Penske Entertainment and TMS, the hope is that this percentage increase represents a positive trend over the coming years.
Comment: Mark Faber, executive vice president and general manager of TMS, told Racer: “We’re proud to have seen attendance increase by a double-digit percentage for [the race]. All of us at Texas Motor Speedway are working hard to ‘rebuild the house’ and those efforts were rewarded yesterday afternoon with many more fans in the grandstands to witness a highly competitive and action-packed PPG 375 race won by now three-time Texas Motor Speedway winner Josef Newgarden.”
Coming next: TMS is now just one of four hosts for oval races on the IndyCar calendar, the series having run six in a season as recently as 2018. All have experienced declining attendance, outside of the historic Indianapolis 500, which will be the next oval race on the calendar when it gets underway for its 107th edition on 28th May.