Hy-Vee Race Weekend at Iowa Wrap-up with winning drivers Scott McLaughlin and Will Power, plus Penske Corporation President Bud Denker

ROGER:

This is Roger Penske and you're listening to Pit Pass Indie, sponsored by Penske Truck Rental.

BRUCE:

IndyCar fans, it's time to start your engines. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy, a production of Evergreen Podcast. I'm your host, Bruce Martin, a journalist who regularly covers the NTT IndyCar Series. Our goal at Pit Pass Indy is to give racing fans and insiders view of the exciting world of the NTT IndyCar Series in a fast-paced podcast featuring interviews with the biggest names in the sport. I bring nearly 40 years of experience covering IndyCar and NASCAR, working for such media brands as NBCSports.com, SI.com, ESPN SportsTicker, Sports Illustrated, AutoWeek and SpeedSport. So let's drop the green flag on this episode of Pit Pass Indy. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental and Hy-Vee, as we continue our fourth season of giving IndyCar fans a behind-the-scenes look at the NTT IndyCar Series and the drivers and teams that compete in the Indianapolis 500. Our friends from Hy-Vee has returned as Penske Truck Rental shares the show with Hy-Vee as we wrap up the big Hy-Vee IndyCar race weekend at Iowa Speedway that took place this past weekend. It's such a popular event, Hy-Vee announced on July 11th that it has signed a contract extension with IndyCar to remain a partner in the big race and with IndyCar for multiple years. This year's Hy-Vee IndyCar race weekend at Iowa Speedway was a hot one. But for the first time since this concept began in 2022 with four major concerts and two NTT IndyCar Series races, there was a night race on Saturday night followed by an early starting Sunday race the following day. There wasn't much turnaround time for the teams or the fans, so both of Sunday's concerts, featuring Kelsey Ballerini and Post Malone, were after Sunday's Hy-Vee One Step 250. On Saturday night, the Luke Combs concert was before the Hy-Vee Homefront 250, followed by a really cool nighttime concert by Eric Church. With two full days of entertainment, the two IndyCar Series races are just part of the overall Hy-Vee IndyCar race weekend at Iowa Speedway. But the big names of the NTT IndyCar Series were met with another unique challenge as Iowa Speedway track owner NASCAR had repaved the lower lanes in turns one and two and in turns three and four, leaving the upper groups with the older asphalt. That created two different grip levels for the much faster IndyCars, and instead of producing two races with plenty of passing, the teams and drivers had to scratch a claw and fight for position. That's why the two winners can be very proud of their accomplishments, as Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin won the July 13th Hy-Vee Homefront 250 for his sixth career IndyCar Series win, but his first on an oval track. On July 14th, Team Penske's Will Power scored his 43rd career IndyCar Series race victory to move in the fourth place on IndyCar's all-time victory list. But it was Power's first win at Iowa Speedway. Combine those two wins with 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney's Team Penske victory in the June 16th Iowa Corn 350 presented by Ethanol it gave Team Penske a sweep of all three major races at Iowa Speedway in 2024. It was also a big weekend for one of our sponsors at Pit Pass Indy, Hy-Vee, as once again the major supermarket chain that covers nine states in the Midwest did an outstanding job of making it a memorable weekend for the fans and guests that came to Iowa Speedway for another summer festival that showcases the state of Iowa. Let's hear from our winning drivers from last weekend's Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway. First up is Scott McLaughlin, who joins me for this exclusive Pit Pass Indy interview after his victory in the July 13th Hy-Vee Home Front 250. I guess now we can call our next guest an IndyCar driver. It's Scott McLaughlin, winner of the Hy-Vee Home Front 250, the first race of the Hy-Vee IndyCar race weekend at Iowa Speedway. Scott, it's your first Oval victory, and you said that you weren't going to call yourself an IndyCar driver until you won on an Oval. Now you did. You led 164 laps. How does it feel?

SCOTT:

Yeah, in my mind, I didn't call myself an IndyCar driver. Some people might think that's harsh, but ultimately, you got to win on an oval to feel anywhere close near one. So, yeah, I'm very proud. Xpel Chevy was great. Team Chevy did a fantastic job with fuel mileage as well, and I think we're in a really good spot. I think our car from the get-go has been really fast, and I think we can definitely win again tomorrow.

BRUCE:

This is the first time in a few years that it's been a night race at Iowa Speedway made for a very long day, a very hot day. How did you deal with all that heat and time at the track?

SCOTT:

Yeah, look, it's tough, but at the end of the day, you know, I've invested a lot in looking after myself via physios or at least having the bus as well and being able to go and just cool off in the air con. So I had a cold shower before we got out here. Used the cool suit today as well, so that was OK, but it wasn't like cool, cool, because it was just too hot. But ultimately, you put these measures, you work hard in the gym to make sure you can perform when you need to at those hot temperatures, and I felt really good in the car.

BRUCE:

You're not going to have a lot of time to rest. The Eric Church concert's going to start here at about 10 p.m. Early start for Sunday's race, it's going to be an 11.30 green flag start locally. How are you going to deal with turnaround? It's going to be a little difficult to not really get maybe as much rest as you normally would at a race weekend.

SCOTT:

Yeah, ultimately it's the same for everyone though. So I'll just try and do my normal thing. I struggle to sleep. I'm not going to overthink it, but yeah, normally before I'm in the car, I'm all over the place. So yeah, no, I'll just, I'll learn from tonight, look at some footage with Benny and figure it out. But yeah, I thought we really built a really good race car as the run went on yesterday. So, oh, today, sorry. And yeah, we're in good shape tomorrow.

BRUCE:

You're in good shape tomorrow because you're going to start on the pole. You set the track record on Saturday for this track. Very impressive speed. How important is that going to be on this track since with the half paving job that was done in turns one and two and three and four, it doesn't go all the way up to the wall. It's only the lower lanes. How important is it going to be to start on the pole?

SCOTT:

No, tremendously important. End of the day, the racetrack is definitely one lane now, unfortunately. The bottom lane is a lot more built in than the top, but it is workable at the start. I need to make sure that I get a good run and hopefully we can put it there or thereabouts come the end of the race.

BRUCE:

The good news with the race starting earlier in the day is it should only be about 84 when the race starts. It'll get hotter by the time the race ends. But how much of an improvement will that be as opposed to the high 90s that you raced in on Saturday?

SCOTT:

Yeah, no, slightly better. But ultimately, I want it to be hot because I think our car performs really good in the hot conditions. And that's just down to Team Chevy. That's down to Team Penske as well. Yeah, like I said before, it's the same for everyone, but hopefully I'm prepared and ready to go tomorrow.

BRUCE:

Colton Herta started on the pole in Saturday night's race. You were on the outside of the front row. Pretty fierce battle. He led the first 86 laps. But once you got the lead, you were in front for the next 164 laps. What was that early battle like with Colton?

SCOTT:

That was good. I had a lot in the tank. I was looking after it. And just before that first yellow, I was coming back at him quite a bit. I don't know if I would have been able to pass him, but I certainly felt like I was saving a lot more fuel than he was. So ultimately, I feel like we would have got the lead regardless of a yellow or not. you know, thankful that we were able to, you know, take control with the pit stop. The pit stop on the guys was unreal. And then I was just able to control the race from there.

BRUCE:

Toward the end of the race, it seemed like a rash of yellow flag fever broke out. There were a lot of restarts toward the end of the race. Was that nerve-wracking to be the leader and to have to fend everybody off?

SCOTT:

It was a little bit. You know, going to the Turn 1 each time with cold tires is not the best feeling. But, you know, I got the best position in pit lane by being able to just run, you know, whatever spot I wanted to be. So, you know, I was super stoked.

BRUCE:

A couple of times on restarts, it seemed like whoever the leader was, once they got on the power, the back end would swap out. What was the reason for that?

SCOTT:

Just low grip, you know, cold ties. But yeah, like I had one restart where it was really bad for me, but I learned from that. So thankfully, I actually had two or three, four restarts to get right. So it worked out good.

BRUCE:

Back on June 16th, NASCAR had its first Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway. Your golfing buddy, Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney won the race. You said you already got a text from him that now you're corn brothers by winning in the cornfields of Iowa. How cool is that to, so far it's been a team Penske sweep here at Iowa Speedway, the big races.

SCOTT:

Oh, it's fantastic. I mean, we all support each other as much as we can. So yes, like he's a great friend of mine and I was stoked when he won here and got himself in the playoffs. So I'm just glad I won here and almost got myself back in the championship. So I was going to keep working and be there where they're about.

BRUCE:

Speaking of the championship, you're in the top five now. So how do you view the remainder of the season? I believe now there's seven races left in the 2024 season. You're in the top five. It's anybody's game at this point.

SCOTT:

Yeah, it is. I mean, Alex crashing today was, you know, unfortunate for him, but it's opened it back up a lot. So, you know, we've got to keep working. We're still 50 odd points behind. It's a race, but at the end of the day, we're in good shape for sure.

BRUCE:

And final question here with Scott McLaughlin, your teammate Joseph Newgarden, who's a dominant driver is six time winner at Iowa Speedway. He started way back in 22nd, made it up the fourth at the end of the race tomorrow. He starts 14th. So I imagine you probably think you're going to be doing some battling with him for this victory. I'll be too far ahead, hopefully.

SCOTT:

See how we go.

BRUCE:

Well, that's certainly one way to win it. And now that we can officially call you an IndyCar driver, Scott McLaughlin, good luck for winning the Hy-Vee Home Front 250 at Iowa Speedway. Good luck in tomorrow's or in Sunday's Hy-Vee One Step 250 at Iowa Speedway. And thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy. Thank you, Bruce. Appreciate it. When Sunday morning's Hy-Vee One Step 250 began, it was 1130 a.m. local time, making it IndyCar's version of brunch. Our next guest was able to feast on the competition as two-time IndyCar Series champion Will Power once again drove a brilliant race to defeat Alex Palou in a very hot race at Iowa Speedway. Power joins me for this exclusive Pit Pass Indy interview. Hey, he's back on Pit Pass Indy. It's our pal Will Power, who's another winner here on the NTT IndyCar Series 2024 season. It's your first Oval victory since Pocono in 2019, your first victory at Iowa Speedway. You won the Hy-Vee One Step 250, the Sunday race of the Iowa Doubleheader. You came from deep in the pack, 22nd starting position all the way up to the victory. How did you do that?

WILL:

A lot of fuel save. You know, I think we thought that the best chance for a yellow is through sequences when people are coming in and out on the aprons. So if we can go really long, we might be able to catch a yellow. But even so, we were able to jump people through that sequence anyway when the fuel's low and people peel in and just go fast. But that was a key. That's what got us to the front. Then we just had to jump Palou in the next sequence, save a bit of fuel, go longer than him.

BRUCE:

The overcut, which for some fans that they don't know what that is, that staying out longer before making a pit stop, which gives you an advantage over the drivers who pitted sooner. You did that with Alex Palou, who at that time was the leader. You were able to get serviced. Your pit stop was a full second quicker than his final pit stop, which allowed you to blend into the backstretch ahead of him at when he was at speed. So I guess you owe a lot of that to your pit crew.

WILL:

I do. Yeah. The pit crew has been phenomenal for last three years. The group I've got is the best on pit lane. Actually they've won the pit stop I think it's a competition over speed over the whole season for the last two years, so I expect them to win it again this year. They've been so good, so lucky to have them. Great car, great strategy. I think the boys really enjoyed that one because it was my screw-up yesterday that cost us a great result, so I felt bad for them.

BRUCE:

So what do you think of the Hy-Vee concept, the Hy-Vee IndyCar race weekend at Iowa now in its third year. Back-to-back races, this year for the first time they had a Saturday night race followed by a Sunday. late morning start really made it tough for the drivers and the crew guys for the turnaround. Did you like having a night race and then a day race? Would you rather had two day races so you could get more rest? What did you think of all that?

WILL:

Yeah, I mean, it was fine. I think we should probably just have one race on Sunday. It would be nice concert Saturday night, maybe qualify on Saturday, but, um, uh, But yeah, it can be. Yeah. I mean, you can have a great weekend or a terrible weekend here with the double points available, but, but yeah, it's, it's tiring. There's no question about that. It's a tough two races and also it's hot.

BRUCE:

It's always hot here in Iowa and you were coming off of a week where you didn't feel very well. Has that taken its toll on you?

WILL:

It has, yeah. Yeah, definitely. Definitely struggled massively last weekend, but you just don't recover. You know, you sleep, everything. You know, I just need, I just want to go and rest now and try to fully recover from last weekend.

BRUCE:

Well, we'll let you go ahead and fully recover because, you know, one thing here, you know, we're very excited. I'm sure that you want to savor this victory and it is hot, but it's your 43rd career victory breaks the tie with Michael Andretti. You're now number four on the all time list of winners in IndyCar. It's got to make you feel proud.

WILL:

Does, yeah, very, very lucky and fortunate to be up there and I've had the cars and the team around me to do that. So over the moon to finally get an Iowa win. And yep, you've got to like to win in this series is so hard. So when you do, it's a it's a big deal, a big deal.

BRUCE:

And finally, a team Penske sweep of all the major races at Iowa Speedway in twenty twenty four, starting with Ryan Blaney's victory in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa back on June 16th. Saturday night, Scott McLaughlin won the Hy-Vee Home Front 250. And then today you win the Hy-Vee One Step 250. So every major race here at Iowa Speedway in 2024 was won by a Team Penske driver. How proud are you of the team of that?

WILL:

Yeah, I think Roger will be very happy with that. I think Roger would have been real happy today to just, you know, having Scott myself up there and, you know, right in the championship as well.

BRUCE:

Ryan Blaney has called Scott McLaughlin after he won last night, one of the corn bros. Does this win make you one of the corn bros?

WILL:

Yeah, I don't know. You have to ask them. Will they let me in the corn bro group?

BRUCE:

Well, I know that when it came to the Bus Bros group, I think you decided not to really be part of that crowd.

WILL:

I wasn't a part of that, yeah.

BRUCE:

Yeah, but Will Power is a man to himself, and he proved it today. He's one of the greatest drivers in IndyCar history. Will, get some rest, cool off. Good luck next weekend in Toronto, and thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Realm.

WILL:

Yes, thank you, Bruce.

BRUCE:

We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break.

WILL:

This is Will Power of Team Penske and you're listening to Pip Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

BRUCE:

Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy. Our next guest is one of the co-promoters of the big event at Iowa Speedway, along with Hy-Vee. It's Bud Denker, president of the Penske Corporation, who oversaw an impressive team that included Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway president Michael Montry, general manager Anne Fischgrund, communications director Meryl Kane, and many, many others that helped manage the race. Danker joins me on this exclusive pit pass in the interview as we break down all aspects of the third annual Hy-Vee IndyCar race weekend at Iowa Speedway. Another Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway is over, and once again it was a very big show. It was an event, entertainment, festival, plus two IndyCar Series races that ended up with pretty good storylines. Our guest is Penske Corporation President Bud Denker, who is overall in charge of promoting the Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend of Iowa Speedway in partnership, of course, with Hy-Vee. But as you review the day after this year's Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway, what are some of the things that jump out at you?

BUD:

Well, thanks, Bruce, and appreciate you being on here and staying here on Monday as well, doing our recaps as we're doing as a team. We're tearing down right now and getting prepared for Toronto just a few days away. And of course, we got a big event at the Brickyard this weekend with the NASCAR race. But anyway, just an amazing weekend again, as you said, relative to what Hy-Vee, our partner, has provided us. You used the word event. And that's a key word in this discussion because this is no longer just a race or races. This is an event. As I look at what Hy-Vee's provided us in terms of the opportunity for the entertainment, the incredible atmosphere, the festival that we have created here, their people, their dedication to this sport and this event, obviously to the state of Iowa, we can't thank them enough. And I also wanna say to begin with too, Thanks to Anna Stormer and Matt Nichol and Jeremy, and of course, Randy Edeker, who's retiring now as the chairman of Hy-Vee. He's the visionary for this thing, as we've talked about before. They really are innovative. And when Hy-Vee does something, they do it enormously big. For that, we thank them. But we'll talk about the entertainment. It was amazing. The on-track action, obviously, with the winners we had here as well, were pretty darn good, too. But I'm very happy for the weekend.

BRUCE:

From an IndyCar perspective, the track surface proved to be a challenge, and that's completely out of your control and IndyCar's control for the simple reason that NASCAR owns Iowa Speedway, and for the first time in their history, they had a sprint cup race here June 16th, which was a very good race. Ryan Blaney of Team Penske won the race. great show for nascar they paved the lower two lanes in the corners turns one and two and turns three and four worked great for nascar did not work very good for indycar and there's a lot of things that you can't do that are out of your hands, that track paving process was probably one of them. In some ways, was it a disappointment to you that it produced the show that wasn't quite up to the standards that a lot of IndyCar fans are used to at Iowa Speedway?

BUD:

I want to comment on that because that's very important. You're right. I mean, last year we had over 1,200 passes in both races, and this year we were around 200 or so, so significant reduction. When NASCAR mentioned they were going to repave the track because the cup car is coming here, it was a huge concern of everybody's, right? We tested here, we saw the issues with the one-groove track, we saw the issues with not being able to expand that. Although the Indy next series had a heck of a race here, two wide in many cases. We weren't able to do that. So it manifested itself that way, but there's so many variables involved. The repaving of the track, the heat that was here that weekend, obviously the hybrid system as well, and the weight of that. There's so much new to us. this weekend that we didn't have before. Repaving, hybrid, the weight, the tire, the downforce combinations, add them all up. The good news is the fact is that we had a safe race. We had, you know, a new winner in enrollables, which is Scott McLaughlin, of course, and Will Power probably won a race here after, I think, 19 attempts, if I remember the number, and a safe race. And I'm really happy. I want to mention out and throw a shout out to Stingray Rob, That flip he had on the last lap over Alexander was incredible. And it shows the safety of these race cars, the aero screen, the roll bar, and the great, great, great assistance we get from AMR to be there on site to ensure Stingray was taken care of, was out of the hospital later that night for a checkup, and hopefully back going and racing this weekend. So yeah, it's disappointing in the performance on the racetrack. But you're right, we had no control over that. I've talked to the governor and talked to NASCAR and hopefully there will be some changes to that in the future. Not sure what the date of that is, but let this thing see what happens over the course of the next year as it weathers in. We like that rough aggregate that lets the tires degrade. We also got to work with Firestone as well and with IndyCar to understand the right combinations of downforce and tire compounds too.

BRUCE:

So just to explain how the relationship works in case any of our listeners don't understand it, NASCAR owns Iowa Speedway, IndyCar, Penske Entertainment, Hy-Vee lease Iowa Speedway from NASCAR to be able to put on the Hy-Vee IndyCar race weekend at Iowa Speedway after the big event is over. You turn it back over to NASCAR, they own the track for the rest of the year. So in a lot of ways, as the track owner, NASCAR can pretty much do as they see fit for their property, which is in a lot of ways similar to what you may do at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indianapolis 500 compared to the Brickyard 400.

BUD:

Yeah, you've hit it right in the nose though. I mean, we own IMS obviously, and we are gonna have NASCAR there this weekend. We're the host and they're our partner. NASCAR is the host here and we're their partner. So this event's a bit different because our people obviously put the event on, they operate it. Tyler Clement's team here locally and Pat Warren from the Kansas City organization with NASCAR help us put the event on. But for the most part, it's IndyCar putting this event on with Hy-Vee, their support obviously, a high number of people that are out here helping us, but we rent the track each year from NASCAR. And you're right, they can do what they want to do here, but they're a good partner. They counseled with me before they did the repave. We talked about it with their surface folks of the track. I would have much rather had just kept it the way it was, obviously, because it worked pretty well for us. It's water over the bridge, it didn't. Now we've got to plan for the future and make it better next year.

BRUCE:

In Race 1 of 2023, there were 1,502 total passes with 319 for position. This year's Race 1, the numbers dropped to 192 on-track passes with 100 for position. On Sunday's race, which was in a much hotter time of the day, in 2023 in race two there were 1168 total passes with 379 for position on sunday that number was 204 on track passes with 95 for for position a lot of it is heat dependent it was pretty hot day it was pretty hot weekend but if july is really the best time to have the event But it's a pretty hot time to maybe have the races. Do you envision a day when maybe both races end up being night races like they were here in 2020?

BUD:

Well, that's really dependent upon our TV partners with Fox. You know, we know our times for next year when they are. The night race worked out well. What was tough, though, this year was it was great having the night race, but the next day's race was too early. It was 11 o'clock. They didn't give the teams the time to prepare if you had a problem. We knew that. That was the only time windows we had with NBC at the time. So we had to take that. Our times are better for next year. I can't give this to what those times are yet. We're still having divulged all of that, but our times are going to be more applicable for the teams, for the fans, more fan friendly when we have next year. But you're right, that Eric Church concert in the evening was terrific. The racing in the evening under the lights was fantastic, so we'd like to see more of that. But it's for a lot of us dependent upon our partner at Fox next year, which I once again want to thank because of the fact we're going to have all of our races on that network channel.

BRUCE:

Well, as I described at the starting time for the Sunday race was IndyCar's version of brunch. And for a lot of the fans that may be coming from Des Moines or further west or further away, they didn't have much time for a turnaround. And do you think that affected the actual on-site crowd that were in their seats for Sunday's race, the turnaround, early start, and the heat?

BUD:

Yeah, majority of fans, people know, buy a two day ticket, right? So our numbers for Saturday and our numbers for Sunday attendance are very similar. I mean, they're just hundreds off, not thousands, but hundreds off is all. So it shows you that people are buying the combo ticket. But you're right. I mean, it was a long day on Saturday. It was a long day on Saturday that the concert went into about 11 o'clock at night. People had to have plans on Sunday morning, but still. So we saw it build. To your point, the seats weren't filled when that race started. It began gradually getting filled as people came. But we also saw thousands of people under the grandstands taking shelter. People take shelter from weather, whether it's lightning or rain. They were taking shelter yesterday because of the heat. So we had a lot of people that were looking for shade yesterday during the course of the entire weekend because it wasn't seasonably hot. I mean, look at the forecast later this week. I think it's in the seventies, a high, you know, high of us in the late, in the high seventies. So unseasonably hot. We've had a couple of those who can, who can plan for what they are next year. We know we're back here racing in July again next year. There's dates that we look at with Hy-Vee to ensure we're not competing with other events during there that are important in Illinois. There's a huge bike event that goes on here that circles the state. Got to look at the Iowa State Fair. You can't compete with those events. So those all factor into when we race here.

BRUCE:

And I'll also help explain, from your point of view, there's tickets sold. Does not actually mean the tickets that are sold, the people are all going to be there at the same time for the start of the race. I understand the whole point of having the format the way it is combining big name entertainment with two IndyCar series races is to expose fans that may not have seen IndyCar race before, but came out for the concerts to see something. Now, when you had two big name concerts that followed Sunday's race, as opposed to having one that led in the Sunday's race. Did that also affect the number of spectators that came to Sunday's race?

BUD:

Sure did. We knew it would. I don't know the percent of people that come here that never seen a race before, but it's got to be pretty high, right? Is it 40%, 50%? I don't know. And that's great because we're introducing them to a great new sport they haven't seen before. But to have a concert on Sunday morning before 11 o'clock, It'd have to be a gospel choir, right? Gospel choir, because you'd be up there performing at nine o'clock in the morning for tracks set up and stage set up. That was impossible. So we know that with Hy-Vee, and they know this as well, with us as well, the optimal thing is to have a concert before the event, right? The name before the event to get people here. We know that, we appreciate that, and we'll work toward that as we plan our event for next year. Now, the good news is we know our date, You know, we know Hy-Vee is the one that does the entertainment. It's TBD right now, what we're looking at for next year, how it's going to be executed. But the good news is, as I mentioned last week, we've signed a multi-year deal with Hy-Vee. We're so grateful for that. We're so blessed to have their support. From a B2C standpoint, business to consumer and consumer to consumer, we couldn't ask for a better partner. And thanks to Randy, thanks for Jeremy for having the trust and confidence to move forward for future years.

BRUCE:

Entering the race weekend, you had said that the ticket sales were up 32% for both races, the Saturday night race and the Sunday race, which kind of creates an expectation level from some of the people that tune in and they see. Well, they're not in their seats, but as you described, that doesn't mean that the revenue and the tickets didn't happen. Maybe those people are showing up, and I'm sure as we talked after the race yesterday, you had to hold the campers from leaving because there were still people coming in to watch the concert.

BUD:

Right, that's true, that's true. We can't control the folks that don't come and show up, right? And that's out of our control. But our revenue is up this year, our ticket sales were up this year. That shows me the building of this event. And I use this other analogy, if you look at these huge festivals in our country, there's nothing bigger than South by Southwest. This year, I think is the 35th or 36th year of South by Southwest. Look at Lollapalooza in Chicago, it's over two decades in the making. And then Coachella Valley Festival out in California, it's now 25 years in the making. Over two decades, three decades for some of these events, we're in our third year, right? We're all impatient, like we all wanna see things just full, full, full, but we're building this thing. And then when you think about that number I mentioned before too, 44% of the people that bought tickets were from outside the state of Iowa. I told our governor, Governor Reynolds, that number. And she was here, by the way, both days. I gotta give a huge shout out to her. She was here for the Eric Church concert and the racing all day long on Saturday. So thanks to her support. And when she heard that the number of 44%, she said, this is working. Thank you, Hy-Vee. Thank you, IndyCar. And thank you for having the trust in our state. And we're gonna keep building this thing. We have 20 plus, 30 plus years in front of us to build what these other festivals have built. We're only in year three.

BRUCE:

And also, don't you believe it is a slow process sometimes to create IndyCar fans from the simple standpoint, I'll use the. Indianapolis 500 is a perfect example. When I was a student at Indiana University, a lot of people went to the Indy 500 to go into the infield when it was still a snake pit and it was to party. A lot of the people that were in that infield were not there to watch the Indianapolis 500. They were there because it was Woodstock. But over the years, as time goes by, they say one day, hey, let's see what it's like on the other side of the track in those grandstands. And then that's how these long streaks happen with people that come to 30, 35, 40, 50 Indianapolis 500s. So what you're trying to do is to create a fan base by enticing them to come in with the concerts. How do you judge when that starts to work and they become IndyCar fans?

BUD:

Well, I think we see it at the Indy 500 with Snake Pit. The demographic there is between 18 and 25 years of age. People age out, I guess you could call it, after about 25, 26 years of age in EDM music. And that is an amazing, powerful combination to get those people inside our Speedway, to give them a taste of festivals, but also a taste of racing. And as you know, in racing, you've got to see it to understand it, to watch it on TV, to talk about it, to hear it on radio. This is one sport. You have got to experience yourself live to become a real indebted fan to the sport. So our goal is to bring this festival atmosphere here with Hy-Vee's help, bring people into our sport that way, but we're also seeing other events. You saw it this year at St. Petersburg. They had probably one of their biggest concerts, maybe one of their first concerts they've had there this year. They didn't have that in the past. Detroit, we had a downtown concert on Saturday night, EDM. We had 11,000 people. coming down. Many of them probably weren't even race fans at all, but we brought them into the sport that way. Long Beach has done a great job for that for years, haven't they? So this is a formula that we in the IndyCar series, since we own it, is important for us. The other thing is, you know, important markets, right? Where are we competing in? Where are we going to be at in important markets that are important to our fan base, important to our OEMs and our partners? Iowa is unique. We're in Des Moines, Iowa. We're outside Des Moines, Iowa, 40 miles. But this place works because the racing has been so good, and we'll get it better. But the event that we're building here, this festival of speed, is what's gonna be built upon to make it more successful in the future.

BRUCE:

We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break.

SCOTT:

Hi, I'm Scott McLaughlin, driver of the number three team Penske Chevy, and you're listening to Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental.

BRUCE:

Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy. Here's the rest of my exclusive interview with Penske Corporation president, Bud Danker. I also want to touch on the new contract with Hy-Vee, the extension, the multi-year agreement that Hy-Vee signed with the Indianapolis, with IndyCar and with Penske Entertainment to continue the Hy-Vee IndyCar race weekend at Iowa Speedway. Obviously, there's still a lot of details that need to be worked out, who's going to be responsible for what. I've had many people at Hy-Vee tell me, will still probably be involved with the music aspect of it, because that's something that they really like to be involved with. They may try to get your side to do a little more of the activation or the promotional aspect. How are those things negotiated, and when do we get a better idea of what the details may be for next year?

BUD:

Yeah, it's a good question, and you're right. The most important thing is we've announced that we've We've announced a multi-year extension with Hy-Vee here in Iowa. I want to thank them also for their support and sponsorship of what they're doing in Milwaukee for our two races over Labor Day weekend. And of course, they're coming to Indiana, right? They're coming to Indiana soon. So I look for hopefully their integration there at the Speedway in the future as well, as we talk to them more about it. But we're, you know, you've got to get through this event first and we've done that. And then we've talked about what worked this weekend. But as we work, as we look at who's going to do what next year, Those are TBDs that we're talking about. Because they've invested a lot of money here with a lot of great partners of theirs. I continue to see them to invest in our event next year as well. I know they will. But to what areas are defined right now, it's TBD. Anna Stormer, as I mentioned, and Jeremy Goche, their new CEO and soon-to-be chairman. Those are discussions that we'll have. But the good news is, is that We work so well together, our two companies. If you look at the values of Hy-Vee, the core values of Hy-Vee are about integrity and trust and innovation and transparency and customer service. Those fit so well with who we are at Penske. And that's why we get along so well together. They're partners, but they're also great friends of mine and ours. And because of that trust and confidence, we know we're going to build a continued successful event here together in the future. What it may look like, the changes to it,

BRUCE:

One of the things the Hy-Vee people told me is there's an awful lot of their employees, store managers, people that volunteer. They're the ones wearing the red shirts that are here to help the customers, help park cars, concessions, help people get to their seats, etc, etc. And they say that does take away from them running their stores. Is that an area that Penske Entertainment may take over? And then Hy-Vee can concentrate more on the entertainment and maybe even some of the marketing aspects of the event.

BUD:

Perhaps, I mean, today here we are on Monday and you look around outside there and it's probably, I think Hy-Vee said they wanted 100 volunteers to come here and work today to get the place on teardown mode. And you have them out there, the registrars as you call them, they're just amazing people. They love being here, by the way, and I love probably being out of their stores for a few days as well. I know many of them that I talk to do so. Who's going to do what is something we'll work on here and over the next few months with the Hy-Vee team. But we know that, you know, as I mentioned, the most important thing is Hy-Vee is going to be here. We're going to be here. We love Iowa. We love coming here. The drivers coming here. Look at the drivers' wives and their partners. You have to ask them, were you here to support your boyfriend or your husband? Were you here to watch the entertainment? Most of them are here to watch the entertainment. That's become, that's what it's become. And we're proud of that fact.

BRUCE:

I was here the day, I actually was at the Hy-Vee headquarters. in 2021 when this whole deal was announced with Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Randy Edeker, Roger Penske was there. That was the one year since this place has been open that there was no IndyCar race here because you had a doubleheader in 2020 during the COVID shutdown. You had to have doubleheader races in order to have a 14 race schedule, limited attendance, But it wasn't on the schedule in 2021. It's very easy to say that if that relationship that was announced in 2021 had not happened, you and I aren't sitting here at Iowa Speedway on the Monday after the race talking about an IndyCar race. How important was it to you to see that that announcement really helped save Iowa Speedway and in some ways the success that IndyCar and Hy-Vee had encouraged NASCAR to put a race at their own track?

BUD:

You're right on. I mean, this is a track that never had a cup race since it was built in 2005. And when we came here with the assistance of NASCAR, it was our painters, many of our people that were here for months on end, getting this place up to our standards and their standards as well too. We repainted every suite. We repainted every railing, repainted every door well, all of those things that we did to prepare for our event in 2022 because of Hy-Vee's support. So, and NASCAR was able to come here and kind of plug and play with their cup race this past year. And they thanked us obviously for that too. So, but I want to say, you know, thanks to Bobby Rahal and to Graham. You know, Graham, I'll never forget, was in the parking lot at IMS before the Indy 500. in the driver-owner lot and said, Bud, we got this new partner out in Des Moines. We just met them. They're called Hy-Vee. And I'd like to get you with their CEO, Randy Edeker. And the next step was a few weeks later, Randy and I had a Zoom call together. That was our first introduction. over the phone via Zoom to understand our goals and their goals. And from there, we have built this platform in that three-year period, which is remarkable. And now, as I mentioned, we're going to build it and build it. And here we have a great saying in this state, if you build it, will they come? We built this festival of speed and we'll continue to do that and continue. But Hy-Vee is the one behind it, as you know them so well, Bruce, being a partner with you as well. They're amazing. We're blessed. And the other good thing about our sport is I believe now 19 of our races, nine of our races, eight or nine of our races out of our 17 are in Hy-Vee covered markets. So that's pretty important as well.

BRUCE:

And also how cool is it to walk into a Hy-Vee store, it can be in the middle of Iowa, it could be in Sycamore, Illinois, it could be in areas where IndyCar doesn't have races and there's IndyCar displays.

BUD:

Yeah, I love that. That's just a part of They're the amazement of them being an amazing retailer, but also an amazing partner. You're right. You've got merchandise you're selling in there. Their displays are all decked out with, you know, the checkered flag or Hy-Vee, you know, Christian Lungard, the driver. Their support to the sport and also what they provide to NBC and the USA in terms of advertising, we can't lose sight of. They invest in this sport and probably invest in it like no other in terms of the focus against the consumer. And you're right, in-store and out-of-store, they do an amazing job.

BRUCE:

And I stayed at a small hotel down the road in the middle of a cornfield and come back Friday night and they're tailgating in the parking lot of the micro-tel in Colfax, Iowa. Saturday morning, get up, get ready to come to the track and there's people wearing the Hy-Vee jerseys for Christian Lungard. Generally, most races you go to, you look at the fans, if they're wearing IndyCar jerseys, they're usually Padua Ward fans with Errol McLaren or they're team Penske fans. You see a lot of those jerseys at the races. But it is really cool to see how much of the Hy-Vee jerseys were in the crowd yesterday, and also around town and staying at the hotels.

BUD:

Yeah, they're the biggest employer in the state of Iowa, and that's important. But people also appreciate what they've brought to this place, this sport, and this state. Jeremy and I, Jeremy Gosch, the CEO, were up in the campgrounds on, I think it was Friday night, And a person came up to Jeremy and I introduced this fan to him. And he said, you know what? I now shop at Hy-Vee because you're supporting this event. That's what Jeremy wanted to hear. And that's what I wanted to hear. And how many other fans are saying the same thing because of their support here? So that's resonating. But Randy and Jeremy also understand and Anna Stormer also understand the fact that why they're in this sport is because of the future of our sport. What we're doing next year with 17 races on Fox is going to elevate our attendance and viewership. What we're doing regarding the markets that we're in now, but also the future markets we'll be announcing in the future are important to them as well. And what we're doing to build the sport with the hybrid systems and what's going to be coming out differently each year with more generation and more deployment and more excitement for the drivers and fans. We're just on the start of this journey. including the start of this journey with Hy-Vee here in Iowa. So they're with us for a good reason because they have the faith and confidence in this sport, the faith and confidence of Penske Entertainment to make the right decisions. And we have the faith and confidence in Hy-Vee that they're going to continue to help us to build it as well.

BRUCE:

And also a lot of IndyCar fans show up in an area where there are Hy-Vee stores and they go in just to see what Hy-Vee is all about. And I'm one of them. I've walked the first time I walked in the Hy-Vee store, I was stunned at the cleanliness, the quality, the customer service, and there's IndyCar displays all over a store.

BUD:

Yeah, and they're saying there's a smile in every aisle. go check it out. If you haven't been to a Hy-Vee store, or the listeners across the country, if you can't because they're not in the market for you, when you're in a market that Hy-Vee is, check it out. It's unusual, it's different, and it's very pleasing in terms of the customer aspect of it. The food preparation they have is incredible. The floral, the pharmacies, everything they have, it's just they're at a different standard in terms of how they deliver their service to their customer.

BRUCE:

And also, they're part of the IndyCar series from the first race of the season all the way to the championship race. And they'll be back as the title sponsor at the Milwaukee Mile, another doubleheader. It won't be the same activation that fans may see at Iowa, but they're still playing an important role in an important market for IndyCar.

BUD:

They are an important market for them too. Hy-Vee's now in markets across the state from Eau Claire down to Madison and Green Bay as well. So important markets for them as well as they develop these new markets. So there's a reason they're there. It's because they have faith and confidence in the sport and us, but also it's an important market for them from a marketing standpoint as well.

BRUCE:

The IndyCar series is off to Toronto for the Ontario Honda dealers on the streets of Toronto, but... The NASCAR Cup Series is going to be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway back on the oval for the 30th anniversary of the Brickyard 400. I imagine you'll be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that day. How important is it to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Brickyard 400?

BUD:

You're right, Bruce. 30th anniversary now when that race started and Jeff Gordon won the first race 30 years ago. We see it, our ticket sales, also for IMS. You know, our ticket sales are higher than they were in 2018 when we had our oval back on there in 2019 as well. So we're very pleased with the excitement of what's going to happen this weekend at IMS. If you haven't got your tickets, come on out and watch racing at the Xfinity Series on Saturday, but also on Sunday, the Cup Series. I'll be there Friday, Saturday. Haven't decided if I'll be in Toronto or at IMS yet, but we're looking for great excitement at both events, looking forward to getting back to Toronto. It's a great street event, challenging street event, bumpy track, challenging track, tight pit lane. So we'd love going to Toronto as well, looking forward to another battle on the street course, but also looking forward to a battle on the smoothness of IMS this weekend with the NASCARs. We're also excited to see how these cup cars perform. This car has never performed yet on this racetrack in competition, so we're excited to see how these cars perform versus the previous car.

BRUCE:

And there's also a lot of drivers and teams that have never raced the IMS Oval before, including Trackhouse, which is now a major team. Justin Marks, the team owner, is thrilled to have a chance to finally get a chance to run on the IMS Oval.

BUD:

Yeah, they all want to kiss the bricks. And that iconic nature of running on the Oval is not lost on anybody. And you're right, a lot of drivers, but also a lot of crew chiefs and crews that haven't been there on the Oval. We have I think a 50 or 60 minute practice on Friday to let people get acclimated back to the oval and the tires to see how they're going to wear with Goodyear, et cetera. So a lot of unknowns again this weekend in IMS. But one thing I do want to mention is go back to our hybrid system. We have now, through years of innovation and development, now tested it and run it Successfully, at MidOhio, over 97% of the laps were produced at MidOhio without a problem. We ran it now for our first oval here successfully as well. Not one failure on the racetrack on Saturday or Sunday with the hybrid system. Some software issues during qualifying that were not related to the system. It was more race control generated. But how successful of it, we can't lose sight of that, the fact that it's now performed on the ovals, it's now performed on the road course, and done very successfully. So we never should lose sight of that or take it for granted. Thank you to Honda, to Ilmor, to Chevy for that combination of collaboration to make that happen.

BRUCE:

Penske Corporation President Bud Denker, congratulations on another successful Hy-Vee IndyCar race weekend at Iowa Speedway. Good luck in all of your roles and duties. You're always on the go when you work at the Penske Corporation, especially when you're the president. Good luck the rest of the season, and thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental and Hy-Vee.

BUD:

Thank you, Bruce. Thank you for being here. Thanks to the fans who are listening, and thank all of our partners, especially Hy-Vee, for the successful weekend we had here in Iowa.

BRUCE:

And that puts a checkered flag on this edition of Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental and Hy-Vee. We want to thank our guests, Hy-Vee Home Front 250 winner Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske, Hy-Vee One Step 250 winner Will Power, and Penske Corporation President Bud Denker for joining us on today's podcast. Along with loyal listeners like you, our guests help make Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental and Hy-Vee, your path to victory lane in IndyCar. On the highways, the raceways, and every pit stop in between, Penske Truck Rental keeps you moving forward. Gain ground with Penske. We also want to thank Hy-Vee for helping support Pit Pass Indy the past few months. For all your shopping needs, be sure to visit your local Hy-Vee, where there's a helpful smile in every aisle. On Friday, be on the lookout for a special bonus edition of Pit Pass Indy, previewing this weekend's big street race north of the border in the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. For more IndyCar coverage, follow me at X, previously known as Twitter, at BruceMartin, one word, uppercase B, uppercase M, underscore 500. This has been a production of Evergreen Podcast. A special thanks to our production team, executive producers are Bridget Coyne and Gerardo Orlando. Recordings and edits were done by me, Bruce Martin, and final mixing was done by Dave Douglas. Learn more at evergreenpodcast.com. Until next time, be sure to keep it out of the wall.

ROGER:

you