The 2023 Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend delivered impressive results, as the July 21-23 event featured record crowds at Iowa Speedway, along with tremendous television viewership and fan engagement across multiple platforms.
In its second consecutive year with Hy-Vee as the event’s promotional partner and driving force behind the unique combination of premier live music and the only NTT INDYCAR SERIES doubleheader weekend of the season, Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend raised the bar even higher in 2023.
Surpassing total attendance numbers from the 2022 event at Iowa Speedway, Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend drew approximately 85,000 fans over the course of three days to the “Fastest Short Track on the Planet” – an all-time high for an INDYCAR event at Iowa Speedway. Both the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart on Saturday, July 22 and the Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade on Sunday, July 23, surpassed a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of over 1 million people, according to Nielsen ratings information. Highlighted by back-to-back days of live coverage on NBC and streamed live on Peacock, the 2023 Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend attracted a combined audience of more than 2 million and averaged a combined TAD of 1.121 million viewers, an increase of 31% from the 2022 INDYCAR doubleheader weekend in Iowa.
“We didn’t know if it was possible to surpass the results we saw from the incredibly successful 2022 Iowa weekend, but this year’s Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend delivered even more entertainment for fans and impressive returns across the board,” said Bud Denker, president of Penske Corporation, which owns INDYCAR. “Thanks to the support of our partners at Hy-Vee, the fans at Iowa Speedway and those watching on TV and online experienced one of the most exciting weekends of the INDYCAR season.”
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and the No. 2 Hitachi Chevrolet team dominated both NTT INDYCAR SERIES races with Newgarden sweeping the doubleheader weekend to secure his fifth and sixth career series victories at Iowa Speedway. The competition was fierce throughout the field over the course of both races, with a track record 1,502 total passes on track during Saturday’s Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart and an Iowa record 379 passes for position on track during Sunday’s Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade. In Saturday’s INDY NXT by Firestone race, Christian Rasmussen of HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing beat Jacob Abel by .1227 of a second for the closest finish in series history at Iowa Speedway.
The world-class entertainment on the Hy-Vee stage before and after each NTT INDYCAR SERIES race featured unprecedented star power for fans Saturday and Sunday in Iowa. Country music superstars Carrie Underwood and Kenny Chesney drew huge crowds with live concerts Saturday while popular country performers Zac Brown Band and pop music icon Ed Sheeran rocked the stage Sunday.
The impact of the 2023 Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend was also felt across the digital landscape. The INDYCAR social media channels delivered 1.14 million engagements over the weekend, an increase of 122% from the 2022 event at Iowa Speedway. There were 12.19 million video views across the INDYCAR channels over the course of the weekend, representing a whopping increase of 324% from the video results during last year’s Iowa weekend.
For more information on the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend, visit https://www.hyveeindycarweekend.com/.