Penske Entertainment preparing to increase IndyCar Leaders Circle payout
Penske Entertainment is preparing to deliver a significant increase to its Leaders Circle program.
Developed in the 2000s by the former owners of IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Hulman George family devised the Leaders Circle payout program to spread most of the series’ annual outlay of prize money among the 20-plus entries who committed to participating in every race.
Prior to the Leaders Circle initiative, smaller teams were more prone to folding as the bigger teams earned the majority of prize money. With the formation of the Leaders Circle, the new system ensured smaller and midsize teams also prospered from the series’ financial enrichment, and as a result, greater stability has become a hallmark within the bottom half of the field.
In its modern guise, guaranteed prize money is awarded to the top 22 finishers in the previous season’s IndyCar Series Entrants’ championship. Leading into 2025, the new Penske-supplied charter agreements added a stipulation where only the 25 entries with charters—excluding the PREMA Racing team which debuted in 2025—could vie for the 22 contracts.
The amount of the stipend has changed throughout the years, but on average, a Leaders Circle contract has contributed approximately $1 million per qualifying entry. RACER understands the payout in 2025 was $1,160,000.
Multiple sources tell RACER Penske Entertainment, which sold 33 percent of the series and Speedway to Fox Corporation in August, recently informed its entrants of a plan to add $500,000 to each Leaders Circle contract for 2026. The rise to nearly $1.7 million per contract would represent the largest year-to-year increase since the program was created in 2002. More importantly, the sizable improvement would help IndyCar’s charter teams to combat the escalating costs to compete.
Through the halfway point of the 2020s, an annual budget to field each entry hovered between $6-8 million per year. A Leaders Circle valued at roughly $1 million was helpful, but at the median cost of $7 million per car, accounted for 14 percent of the budget.
In 2024 and 2025, most team owners have estimated their per-season costs with each entry to rest between $8-10 million, with select few pushing the ceiling to $11-12 million. For those at the lower end, the anticipated growth to almost $1.7 million for each Leaders Circle would contribute just over 20 percent of their yearly needs.
For those at the high end of the $8-10 million base, the Leaders Circle adjustment for 2026 would register as a 17-percent contribution to their annual budget fulfillment.
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