Why did IndyCar stop racing in Japan?

The IndyCar series’ primary sponsor is a Japan-based technology company, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation. Yet, no American open-wheel racing series event is held in the land of the rising sun. However, there used to be one, long before NTT joined as the title sponsor in 2019.

The series first planned to introduce a race in Japan on the calendar in the 1980s, with Suzuka and Fuji as the primary contenders. However, its rule that any race outside North America has to be an oval, and a clash with F1 put these plans to rest.

It started reconsidering a race in Japan only when the Twin Ring Motegi circuit, a 1.549-mile Superspeedway, opened in 1997. Honda also joined as an engine supplier in the mid-90s, and favored a race in Japan.

Japan 300 Practice and Qualifying - Source: Getty

The first race was held in 1998 at the Twin Ring Motegi Oval. Amid the drama surrounding the CART and Indy Racing League series, which eventually were combined in 2007, Honda moved to IRL in 2003, and so did the oval race in Japan, then famously known as the Indy Japan 300, a notorious 200-lap, 304-mile race around the superspeedway.

However, calamity struck in 2011 when the Tohoku earthquake damaged the oval. With a race not possible at the oval, the series decided to race at the Twin Ring Motegi road course and utilized the oval's pit lane. However, the declining popularity of IndyCar in Japan and the damage to the oval forced the series to stop racing in the country.

The race in Japan is also famous for being the first IndyCar race won by a woman when Danica Patrick crossed the checkered flag in P1 during the 2008 race at the superspeedway.

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When Alex Palou expressed his desire for IndyCar to return to Japan

Three-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou raced in several Japanese open-wheel racing series in the late 2010s, which included the Japanese Formula 3 championship in 2017 and Super Formula in 2019. IndyCar's CEO, Mark Miles, came out in 2022 and expressed how the series was focused on the US market and that Japan was off the table.

IMSA WeatherTech Championship Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring - Source: Getty

Amid this, Palou came out and expressed his desire for IndyCar to race in Japan, as he said (via Motorsport):

“I had a great experience in Japan and I sometimes miss the fan atmosphere there. It’s insane how many people they get at the races for what is a kind of junior series. I had many nice experiences in Japan, and some day I would like for IndyCar to go back there, because then I would have the best from the two worlds, right?!

It would be amazing, and I think it would make sense. We did that before and we have a Japanese manufacturer, and I think especially as we have Takuma here – a two-time Indy 500 winner.”

The series has introduced plans for expanding its race calendar beyond the USA and Canada, which includes plans for a possible race in Mexico, but Japan is still not a consideration.