The three-time Indy 500 winner’s first race in the #06 Meyer Shank Racing-Honda will now be the 105th running of the Memorial Day Weekend classic at IMS, and this will be followed by the Music City GP (August 8).
Castroneves’ remaining IndyCar schedule for 2021 will include the August race on the IMS road course (Aug. 14), the Grand Prix of Portland (Sept. 12), WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (Sept. 19) and the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach (Sept. 26).
Castroneves, who never won on the Nashville oval but did land pole there in 2008, will be sponsored by Chattanooga, TN.-based company Transcard, “a leading global provider of solutions that help businesses, consumers, banks, and financial technology providers accelerate payments and related data.”
“We’re very excited to have Transcard come onboard for the Music City Grand Prix,” said team co-owner Mike Shank who will also run the #60 MSR-Honda fulltime for Jack Harvey. “The race in Nashville will hands down be one of the biggest races that we compete in this year.
“The event itself will give us a big platform to represent Transcard well and in front of a very large audience of people. The race will be Helio’s second one with us. Hopefully we will be coming off of a big and successful month of May so that we can move into Nashville with some momentum.”
Transcard president Chris Fuller said: “As a Chattanooga-based company, it means a lot to be a part of this inaugural event in Nashville. The attributes of a great NTT IndyCar Series driver like Helio – speed, control and strong results – are what Transcard brings to every transaction, whether it’s for a business, consumer, bank or technology provider.
“By partnering with Meyer Shank Racing and Helio Castroneves, we hope to introduce Transcard to those looking for those attributes in their payments.”
Castroneves, who has 30 IndyCar wins to his name is reigning IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar champion and was on Wayne Taylor Racing’s winning lineup in this year’s Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.
The Brazilian star said: “I’m so excited to be racing in Nashville. It will be the first street course that I’ve competed on since 2017, but I really love street courses. They bring a certain type of excitement that not many other tracks can do.
“And I couldn’t be happier to do this with Transcard on the #06. The Meyer Shank Racing crew and I will do everything to get the Transcard Honda on the top of the podium at the end of the weekend.”