Sports
Nashville Grand Prix sponsor says race is taking a break in 2027 as organizers eye downtown return
The Music City Grand Prix will not be part of IndyCar’s 2027 schedule, sponsor Scott Borchetta says. He said organizers want to focus on bringing the race back to downtown Nashville, where it ran from 2021 to 2023.
The Music City Grand Prix will not return to Nashville in 2027, Scott Borchetta, whose companies have sponsored the event since it began, confirmed Oct. 22.
Borchetta said the race’s long-term goal remains a return to downtown streets. The event has been held at Nashville Superspeedway since 2024, after construction began on the new Nissan Stadium.
“SMI and Nashville Superspeedway have been great partners in hosting the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix for the last three years,” Borchetta said. “But the original vision for the grand prix still stands — to become ‘The Monaco of the South.’ If we don’t put our complete focus and investment into returning downtown, it won’t happen.”
He said IndyCar and broadcaster FOX are enthusiastic about Nashville and that there is “a great desire to return to its downtown streets.” Borchetta is founder, chairman and CEO of Borchetta Bourbon and also leads Big Machine Records; the companies have sponsored the race since its inception.
The Grand Prix debuted on downtown streets in 2021, with a course that crossed the Cumberland River on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge. Marcus Ericsson won the inaugural race, Scott Dixon took the 2022 event and Kyle Kirkwood won in 2023.
The race moved to Nashville Superspeedway in 2024. Colton Herta won that year’s event, which served as the series championship, while Alex Palou secured the title. Josef Newgarden won in 2025, and Palou won the 2026 race on July 20, according to the report.
IndyCar previously raced at Nashville Superspeedway from 2001 to 2008. The series is adding a race in Barcelona, Spain, for 2027, but no date for a potential Nashville return was announced.