A totally vaccinated Roger Penske is difficult at work at Indianapolis Motor Speedway getting ready for a full season of racing that can embrace spectators at his showcase occasion.

There will probably be followers at this 12 months’s Indianapolis 500, Penske mentioned Monday, however what number of stays a transferring goal primarily based on COVID-19 restrictions. Greater than 170,000 tickets have already got been bought for the Could 30 race, he mentioned.

His first Indy 500 as proprietor of the historic property was held in entrance of empty grandstands final 12 months.

“We’re not making any predictions in any respect as a result of something I’d say at the moment could possibly be utterly flawed,” Penske mentioned. “Our purpose is to have 250,000. I imply, that is what we need to have. It is outdoors. We have the most important stadium on this planet right here and it is a matter of the place we’ll be with the CDC and the governor and the mayor, so I haven’t got any quantity that I would need to hold my hat on.”

Indianapolis Motor Speedway boasts about 250,000 everlasting seats with further area in suites, hospitality areas and an infield that every one mixed can accommodate at the very least 400,000 spectators on race day. Penske spent $15 million on upgrades to IMS after closing on his $300 million buy of the property in January 2020, two months earlier than the pandemic upended his debut as proprietor.

The five hundred was pushed from its conventional Memorial Day weekend date to August and restricted to rivals solely. Penske wasn’t capable of open the gates to his showplace till October, when 10,000 followers a day have been allowed onto the sprawling grounds for a late-season IndyCar occasion.

Penske famous Monday that the positivity price for COVID-19 for Marion County, the place Indianapolis Motor Speedway is situated, was 3.1%. The NCAA event at present is being performed in Indianapolis and surrounding areas, and Penske mentioned he believes the Kentucky Derby — about 120 miles away — will cap attendance at 50% capability.

The speedway has hosted vaccination occasions that Penske, 84 and inoculated – “I hit the highest age bracket, in order that’s one time the age labored out,” he joked – believes will bolster attendance choices for the Indy 500.

“We did 16,000 in three days and we’re on the point of do a mass vaccination in April,” he mentioned. “We have not labored out the small print but with the state, however we expect there’s a possibility to make a big effect right here, the place we might give again to the neighborhood.

“With the dimensions of our facility and what we have been capable of accomplish simply in three days, we expect we are able to actually assist this complete space right here – town of Indianapolis and the encompassing counties.”

Penske additionally believes IndyCar can have spectators in any respect 17 races on its calendar.

There have been slight schedule adjustments already, with the Grand Prix of Lengthy Seaside transferring from April to September due to restrictions in California, and the season opens April 18 at Barber Motorsports Park at Atlanta. Barber, St. Pete and Texas Motor Speedway, the primary three occasions on the schedule, all have tickets on the market.

Different matters addressed Monday, the day after Ryan Blaney gave Staff Penske its first NASCAR Cup Collection win of the season:

CONTRACTS

Brad Keselowski in NASCAR and Will Energy and Simon Pagenaud from IndyCar are all in contract years, however Penske mentioned early talks on extensions have began. All three have gained sequence championships for Penske, and Energy and Pagenaud are each Indy 500 winners.

“We’re in dialogue with all of them,” Penske mentioned. “With COVID we have not been capable of get collectively, however we have had conversations with Brad earlier than. I feel we’re transferring in the fitting route. There is not any cause we would not renew, for certain.”

ATTENDING RACES

NASCAR didn’t allow workforce house owners to enter the storage due to the pandemic, so in the event that they attended, they needed to watch from a collection on the opposite aspect of the observe. IndyCar did grant entry final 12 months, and NASCAR this season has opened one roster spot inside its bubble for every workforce. Penske mentioned he attended the Daytona 500 and the race at Las Vegas however has but to enter the storage.

“In each instances I both needed to make the choice to be down within the storage on the field, or be up within the suite, the place we had a few of our sponsors, so I elected to try this,” he mentioned. “Perhaps I have been within the flawed bubble, however that is been my standing thus far for the primary six races.”

THE DAYTONA 500 DISASTER

Staff Penske was in place to win the Daytona 500 in February with Keselowski and Joey Logano working 1-2 on the ultimate lap. Logano tried to dam Keselowski’s move for the win and it triggered a multicar crash that additionally collected Austin Cindric in a 3rd Penske automobile.

He mentioned he is had conversations with all of the Penske drivers and a plan will probably be made earlier than the sequence races at Talladega Superspeedway, which has related situations to Daytona.

“I will sit down with them face-to-face, all of them, earlier than Talladega so we’re all working on the identical web page,” he mentioned. “I feel we simply must make an settlement on simply precisely the way you need to play ball for those who get into that very same state of affairs as we had with two of us working in addition to we had with a half-mile to go, after which find yourself with three vehicles within the trash bucket.”

TV CONTRACT

The IndyCar tv contract with NBC expires on the finish of this season and the community is taking away its NBC Sports activities channel that hosts a lot of the sequence’s content material.

NBC mentioned earlier Monday it was transferring a few of its NASCAR content material to its Peacock streaming service, however Penske acknowledged he is “not likely an skilled” on streaming choices. He would not talk about the place IndyCar might land in 2022.

“We definitely need to have a broadcast associate as we go into the long run, and if that entails streaming and different elements of what could be out there, we’re taking a look at all of these,” he mentioned.