IndyCar to evaluate Thermal return after event

The $1 Million Challenge at The Thermal Club was a perfect concept to shorten the long six-week span between IndyCar’s first race of the season at St. Petersburg and its second in late April at Long Beach.

The series’ debut at Thermal in 2023 came as a pre-season testing event, and it’s been upgraded to an in-season test and non-championship race for money this year, so where does it go from here? Penske Entertainment CEO Mark Miles says it will be a topic of discussion once the final day of the $1 Million Challenge is run.

“You could list the things that we will take on board: How the drivers and the teams felt about it; how the racing turns out; the calendar going forward,” Miles told RACER. “Is there a whole there, and what’s the optimal way to fill it? But really it’s the sum of the takeaways from the experience. We had a great experience last year and this is year two, and different. We’ll see.”