IndyCar should not return to the Iowa Speedway any time soon. The open-cockpit racing series drew a much smaller crowd at the historic track than the ARCA Series.
It is a dying sport on oval tracks.
Maybe it is specific to the Hawkeye State. Maybe it is everywhere. Either way, this latest contrast in fan attendance officially established the hierarchy of racing in Iowa— if not the entire sport.
IndyCar has an Iowa problem.
Approximately 80,000 fans showed up to watch the IndyCar races at the Iowa Speedway in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Attendance fell off of a cliff in 2025.
Only 6,000 tickets were sold — in total — for a track with a grandstand capacity of more than 30,000. Images of the crowd before, during and after the races are pathetic.
Mind you, these numbers are slightly skewed! The last three IndyCar races at Iowa also featured high-profile concerts from Carrie Underwood, Post Malone and Blake Shelton. This year’s race did not.
In addition, ticket giveaways helped to boost the attendance in years past. A large number of fans did not pay to get in. They just showed up.
However, that only creates an even bigger issue for IndyCar. The people of Iowa do not want to attend its races without a concert or free admission, or both.
ARCA and NASCAR do not have an Iowa problem.
Part of the issue with IndyCar at Iowa Speedway might stem from fatigue. NASCAR held its annual race just a few weeks prior so many local racing fans did not want to double back to the same track for a race with less interest. The juice wasn’t worth the squeeze.
The ARCA Menards Series did not have that same issue on Friday!
ARCA serves as the minor league to NASCAR. You can consider it the Single-A level to the MLB.
And yet, ARCA still out-drew IndyCar at the Iowa Speedway.
It was not particularly close either.
This is what the crowd looks like right now. Kinda embarrassing for Indycar to have a smaller crowd than ARCA pic.twitter.com/SytsAHn3Pp
— The Evanator (@EvanFell52) August 2, 2025
The crowd was rocking as an incredible battle proceeded to unfold in front of them.
They even stuck around to celebrate the victory with Butterbean Queen.
ARCA, a quaternary series of stock car racing, drew a much larger crowd than IndyCar. I do not know how to explain this phenomenon but I believe it has to do with the oval.
Nobody wants to watch IndyCars drive in circles (other than the Indy 500) when the stock cars do the same thing on the same track. The people of Iowa have spoken!