Throughout his career as a business leader and the most successful team owner in major auto racing history, Roger Penske has been hailed as an innovator.
Ironically, in 2024, Penske and his staff that operate IndyCar had to fend off criticism by some members of the IndyCar paddock for not being more aggressive in marketing the series. They believed instead of swinging for the fences, Penske and IndyCar were more interested in moving the runner into scoring position with a bunt.
Penske often countered that rationale by his record of success in business which is a very measured approach that shows over 60 years of steady success and growth.
On October 7, Penske and his staff at IndyCar stepped up to the plate, took a big swing and knocked it out of the ballpark with the announcement of the Grand Prix of Arlington in 2026.
It sent the critics reeling with a walk to the mound to bring in a relief pitcher.
It might be one of the most important moves Penske has made since he purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar from the Hulman George Family on November 4, 2019.
The reason it is so important is the marketing partnership that are part of the Grand Prix of Arlington.
It includes one of the most iconic sporting franchises in the world, the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League, one of the most successful teams in Major League Baseball, the 2023 World Series Champion Texas Rangers, and the Penske Corporation and its Penske Entertainment company that manages and operates IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The Cowboys, the Rangers and REV Entertainment, are partners with Penske Entertainment in the new street race that will take place in March 2026. The 2.73-mile temporary street course will race around both AT&T Stadium, the audacious and spectacular home of the Cowboys, and one of MLB’s finest stadiums, Globe Life Field, home of the Rangers.
A key part of the race course footprint will be Texas Live! It’s an entertainment district shared by both stadiums that makes this city of 400,000 in between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas one of the most vibrant areas in the DFW Metroplex.
More importantly, the Grand Prix of Arlington will have the full-strength of the marketing expertise of the Cowboys and the Rangers. That opens a new avenue for potentially new IndyCar fans who have never been to a race but are season-ticket holders for the Cowboys and/or the Rangers.
If he wanted, the 87-year-old Penske could circle the bases and tip his cap, if he wore one, after bringing together an ownership group with this much horsepower to IndyCar’s newest race.
In the process, Penske also proved to his critics that he didn’t become a billionaire by making bad decisions and spending money unwisely without a guaranteed return on investment, as some former IndyCar Series owners such as Michael Andretti advocated earlier this year.
“Well, look, as I always say, when you’re over the target, they want to shoot at you,” Penske told NBCSports.com in an exclusive interview at the IndyCar Victory Lap Awards Ceremony at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on September 30. “I think that we’ve got a lot of great things going here at IndyCar. People were up in the seats at our tracks. So many good things happening.
“But we’re focused on 2025 now.”
Jerry Jones, owner and president of the Dallas Cowboys, left, and Roger Penske, chairman and chief executive officer of Penske Corp., right, during an interview in Arlington, Texas, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is planning to bring IndyCar racing to the streets outside the team’s stadium in Arlington, Texas. Photographer: Johnathan Johnson/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Jerry Jones (left) and Roger Penske (right) — Bloomberg via Getty Images
The 2025 season begins on March 2 with the annual Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg followed by a long break before the next race at The Thermal Club in Thermal, California on March 23.
That break in the action won’t be an issue in 2026 when the Grand Prix of Arlington is added to the schedule with a date sometime in March.
The new race was officially announced on Monday, October 7. A public celebration was held the following day at Texas Live!
It featured longtime Texas Rangers public address announcer Chuck Morgan, Arlington Mayor Pro Tem Barbara Odom-Wesley, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Texas Rangers owner Ray Davis and Rangers CEO Neil Leibman, and Penske.
Also on stage at the celebration was former Dallas Cowboys great and member of the Pro Football Hall of Famer DeMarcus Ware, and 14-time All-Star, 13-time Gold Glove winner and member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez.
They joined two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion and back-to-back Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden of Team Penske and three-time IndyCar Series Champion Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing.
For Penske, the event was a full circle moment because of his previous relationships with both Ray Davis and Jerry Jones.
“Ray Davis, we go back when he was selling us carburetors for our NASCAR cars, so we have a long history of knowing about carburetors,” Penske quipped. “But Ray, really your team and with Neil to come together to have this happen is a real pleasure. You’ve got a first-class organization.
“We are so thrilled to have our brand next year brand and next to Jerry Jones is here in this great opportunity.”
Penske recalled a moment from several decades ago when he had to speak in front of NFL Owners in an attempt to land the Super Bowl for Detroit.
Penske was the leader of the Super Bowl Committee for Detroit and was successful in the NFL granting Detroit as the host city for Super Bowl XL, which was held at Ford Field on February 5, 2006.
“Jerry what can I say when it comes to our friendship?” Penske said. “Let’s go back 22 years, and I was standing up at a mic like this, trying to pitch Jerry Jones to bring the Super Bowl to Detroit 22 years ago. And here I am today thanking Jerry and his family for giving us this opportunity to come here and race at Arlington.
“It’s magic.”
Because of his ability see the marketing prowess that Jones, the Cowboys, Davis and the Rangers bring to IndyCar for Grand Prix of Arlington creates a tremendous moment for Penske’s series.
“It’s an opportunity for us to showcase our sport around the world and certainly to bring the best racing to Arlington,” Penske said. “But to me, Neil Leibman, with your support and everyone else here, it’s really something.
“I look at this as an opportunity coming together.
“No place in the United States can we race to have this kind of a community, a diverse community, but also sports fans, as we do with the Grand Prix of Arlington.
“As my son Greg says, we’re going to have a lot of guests come into Arlington, so thanks for the opportunity.
“It’s a real pleasure to be here, thank you.”
Jones is perhaps the NFL’s most public and upfront owners who has been successful in turning the Dallas Cowboys from “America’s Team” into one of the most recognizable professional sports teams in the world.
When the NFL’s “International Series” features the Cowboys, the fan support for the team in countries outside of the United States is impressive.
Jerry Jones, owner and president of the Dallas Cowboys, during a press announcement at the Texas Live! event in Arlington, Texas, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is planning to bring IndyCar racing to the streets outside the team’s stadium in Arlington, Texas. Photographer: Johnathan Johnson/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Jerry Jones at Grand Prix of Arlington announcement — Bloomberg via Getty Images
Jones has always thought big, and big thinking is something that can help IndyCar expand its fanbase.
“I really don’t think I could have dreamed as big as our imagination was that we could be sitting here when we joined Arlington and all the great citizens of Arlington to build AT&T Stadium,” Jones said. “I don’t think I ever could have imagined that we would be sitting on the stage today with these former great athletes, and I hate to call them former.
“I’ll tell you this right now, DeMarcus Ware, we need you out here this next weekend. And if you have three or four snaps in you at the right time, we’d be ready for you, for sure.
“But I couldn’t have imagined sitting here today, with Roger Penske, one of my true role models about how to involve sports, if you will, and the fundamentals of sports and involve it in a way that it works, and it does the business that we see that is involved in sports today. I couldn’t have imagined it, Roger, to be sitting here with you.”
It didn’t take Jones long to pledge his full support to Penske and the Grand Prix of Arlington, which brings IndyCar Series racing back to the DFW area since the PPG 375 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 2, 2023.
That was the final IndyCar race at Texas Motor Speedway, which had hosted the series every year since June 1996.
“We jumped, the Dallas Cowboys jumped, to be with the Rangers and Ray Davis,” Jones admitted. “We jumped to be with the great city of Arlington. We jumped to get a chance to be a part of this great event.
“That stadium was built, our stadium next door was built, really not for the 100,000 that sit in it on Sundays. It was built for the 30 million people that watch it when our Michaels and the great John Madden would say, ‘Folks, you ought to be here. We ought to see this place. You ought to be a part of it.’
“Now, that’s going to happen here in Arlington, thanks to you, Roger, thanks to your great team, thanks to the work and the coordination that we’ve got here. Most of all, thank you, the representative of our fans and the people that really support this. This is a labor of love.
“The Dallas Cowboys are honored to join Roger Penske and join the Texas Rangers in the city of Arlington and bring IndyCar Racing, crying around these streets out here and going to town around a great sports capital of this country.”
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - NOVEMBER 01: Texas Rangers President of Business Operations and CEO Neil Leibman hoists the Commissioner’s Trophy after the Texas Rangers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 in Game Five to win the World Series at Chase Field on November 01, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Texas Rangers CEO Neil Leibman hoists the Commissioner’s Trophy after winning the 2023 World Series - Getty Images
As the CEO of the Rangers, Leibman plays a key role in this event through a company the team created known as REV Entertainment.
“When REV Entertainment was created, it was supposed to be an entertainment division of the Texas Rangers. It was launched for that purpose.
“Now we get to see its vision.
“Its vision was to bring the best and biggest events to Arlington for its fans, for them to enjoy events, concerts, sporting events, and all other opportunities. I can think of no other vision that would be represented better than bringing the Indy Grand Prix of Arlington race here in Texas. We’re so looking forward to it.
“I truly believe this race and transform our Arlington Entertainment District into something spectacular, something so spectacular that the world will come and watch.
“Mayor, we’re looking forward to participating. We look forward to working with our partners to making this a successful event.
“And I, for one, cannot wait until March of 2026 to watch the race.”
In addition to racing around AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field, there are some other interesting aspects to the course layout, that was unveiled at Texas Live!
The Streets of Arlington circuit is the longest street course on the schedule featuring the longest straightaway (0.9-mile) of the season.
Speeds are expected to reach over 180 mph before testing the drivers into the right-hander of Turn 10.
The 2.73-mile, 14 turn layout also features sweeping curves and technically challenging sectors that are both aesthetically pleasing and uniquely demanding.
Other highlights of the innovative design include:
Two areas where the track goes underneath circuit hospitality and suites.
Two coliseum-like atmospheres featuring a double-sided pit lane and a “horseshoe” like carousel of Turn 6.
There are four (4) enticing passing zones: Turn 1, Turn 10, Turn 12 and Turn 14.
As the race date approaches, additional city improvements are coming to the circuit.
The course is designed by longtime and well-respected circuit creator Tony Cotman.
“It’s going to be fast,” Palou said. “I’m ready. I’m pumped I think everybody here did an amazing job. Thank you, guys, for making it possible.
“It’s a shame that we’re not starting like next week I would be ready to race it you said 180 miles an hour I think it can be a little bit more looking at that straight okay be almost a mile long so I’m excited.
“It’s going to be a great event and hopefully everybody’s here to enjoy it in March 2026.”
Newgarden believes the Grand Prix of Arlington has the potential to become one of the iconic events on the IndyCar Series schedule, joining such spectacles as the Indianapolis 500 and the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
“This is a big deal,” Newgarden said. “Roger Penske talking about the opportunity is what I think of when I was a young kid, and I wanted to be a race car driver.
“I dreamed of winning iconic events like the Indianapolis 500, and I think the Grand Prix of Arlington will be one of those events that you want to circle that you have to win every single year. So, this is this is a big opportunity for us in IndyCar and really, it’s an honor for us to come race here in Arlington.
“To be a part of an iconic brand like the Cowboys and the Rangers, we want to be here, and I think we’re going to put on a good show, but more importantly as a driver I’m focused on, ‘How are we going to win it?’ because I know it’s going to be a big deal.
“That’s what you show up for the pressure to win these big events and love to see that it’s going to be on our calendar.”
Arlington, Texas is known as the “Dream City.”
Roger Penske proved he can still dream big and continues to have a big vision with the creation of this impressive event.
There were some IndyCar fans that wanted IndyCar to return to Texas Motor Speedway, but when attendance dropped off the charts, Penske had a bigger vision for IndyCar.
With the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones, the Texas Rangers and Ray Davis as his partners, the Grand Prix of Arlington has the potential to an iconic event for Penske and IndyCar.
Follow Bruce Martin on Twitter at @BruceMartin_500