The biggest car news and reviews, no BS
Our free daily newsletter sends the stories that really matter directly to you, every weekday.
The idea of guaranteeing certain cars a spot in the Indianapolis 500 has never sat well with race fans, but four-time 500 winner and team co-owner Helio Castroneves would like to see chartered cars guaranteed a slot in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
Castroneves argues that the idea of “guaranteed entries” makes sense from a business perspective, particularly now that IndyCar has implemented a charter, or franchise, system that allows teams to amass value independent of their physical assets. In NASCAR, a similar strategy has resulted in skyrocketing valuations.
IndyCar
“When you have the franchise, it helps the valuation of the team,” Castroneves told select media ahead of the 2026 Indy 500. “It’s not only just the toolbox or the shop or the truck. Now, it’s something more.
“I believe we’ll get even better, similar to what NASCAR does to [the] Daytona 500, every franchise has the right to be here. I think that would be something important to have because it adds even more to the valuation for the teams, because they’re doing the whole season. It makes sense.”
For decades, race teams were only worth their assets. If a team folded, or if an owner made the call to sell, the team itself was worth nothing; it was the race shop, the equipment, the cars, and the intellectual property that had value—and that value was limited, since no one is paying top dollar for used equipment.
NASCAR, and then IndyCar, implemented a so-called “charter system” to combat that. In effect, a charter is a guarantee of the right to race and to earn a specific amount of money via television deals. The right to race is inherently valuable, so NASCAR teams have been able to sell these charters to other interested buyers without having to close their operations or sell other assets. Limiting the number of entrants in an event also allows the series itself to create a sense of demand, further raising the value of a charter.
But the right to race is only as valuable as the events in which you can compete, and the Indianapolis 500 is arguably the most valuable race in the world.
For the first few years, the right to race at the Indianapolis 500 has been excluded from IndyCar’s charter agreement, and that’s because the idea of a guaranteed entry comes replete with plenty of baggage for many fans, hearkening back to the so-called “25/8” rule implemented during one of the sport’s most contentious eras.
Chris Owens via IndyCar
Back in 1996, track leadership announced that, of the 33-car starting field, 25 entries would be guaranteed for participants of the Indy Racing League — the race series owned by the same company that owned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That meant teams from the rival Championship Auto Racing Teams series would be left to fight amongst themselves for the final eight slots on the starting grid. The ruling was so contentious that CART boycotted the Indianapolis 500 that year, opting instead to stage a rival race, the US 500, at Michigan International Speedway. It was a move that damaged the credibility of both series and drove an even greater wedge between rival factions of the American open-wheel racing contingent; since then, the idea of a guaranteed entry at the Speedway has become taboo.
That said, the situation in IndyCar is much different today than it was 30 years ago. In an era when two rival series were competing for real estate, the 25/8 rule felt like an intentional effort to spite CART for defecting. For the 2026 Indianapolis 500, exactly 33 cars qualified—meaning that there was no need for “bumping,” or for racers to fight for the right to start the event.
But that doesn’t mean the idea of guaranteeing entries to chartered teams sits well with many fans, who cite the drama inherent in the possibility that a storied team or top-level driver could somehow fail to make the field for the biggest race in the world. In 1995, for example, Team Penske—the most successful team in Indianapolis history—failed to qualify for the race in what remains one of the biggest shocks in the motorsport world. The lack of a guarantee, fans argue, is integral to the 500’s appeal.
Yet Castroneves was clear during the roundtable conversation: from the team-ownership perspective, guaranteed entries at the Indy 500 only bolster the finances backing the charter system, thereby allowing both the teams and the series overall to amass more value. It may not be popular with fans, but for those actually competing in IndyCar, it does make a whole lot of sense.
Got a tip? Email us at tips@thedrive.com
Elizabeth Blackstock is a motorsport journalist, historian, author, podcaster, and contributor at The Drive. While she’s centered the bulk of her work around Formula 1, if it has wheels and races, she has loved and covered it.
