The Thermal Club is a private racetrack located in the gorgeous Palm Springs desert of California; exclusive to those who own sports cars and like the finer things in life. The Thermal Club is unique as it can change its road course to various configurations to give its members a new experience in every turn. (See what we did there?)

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES had its first appearance at the motorsport club in 2023 for pre-season testing on the 3.067-mile, 17-turn permanent road course; the same course they will be driving this weekend.

Quick gameplan:

The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge is an opportunity for the series to showcase its drivers and talent in the same way your classic North American sports teams do with all-star games. All full-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers will be onsite to compete for the grand prize and bragging rights.

Set the scene: The Draw Party

The most important information coming out of Thursday’s draw party is drivers will be randomly selected and placed into their qualifying groups. Now, on a normal race weekend, qualifying groups are determined by alternating the Practice 2 results to keep groups balanced. This random selection could create an interesting, but potentially favorable or unfavorable, group to be in. *insert dramatic sound

Next step: The Practice Run

All teams have five hours of testing available on Friday and four hours of testing on Saturday to tune their cars to ideal settings for qualifying.

Qualifying will be cut short this time around. There will only be two 12-minute sessions with the previously chosen groups from the draw party. No Fast 12, Firestone Fast Six or NTT P1 Award-winning car. Those two sessions will be ranked by, of course, fastest times and be the starting lineup for each group's respective heat races on Sunday.

Oh, one more thing: cars will be allowed to use 40 seconds of push-to-pass boost. What does this mean? Faster speeds. Higher risk.

Heat Races

Once all cars have qualified, we head into eliminations. As they say in March Madness, “Survive and advance.”

Each group will partake in 10 laps or 20-minute heat race, whichever comes first. Only the top six from each race will advance to the main event.

The Heist

The top six drivers from each heat race will complete the 12-car field for the first ever $1 Million Challenge.

The fastest driver from qualifying, who advances from the heats, will be the driver leading the field to the green flag during the All-Star Race. Drivers will fill the rest of the field based on their qualifying time.

Then, we race.

The main event will be 20 laps, divided into two 10-lap sprints with a 10-minute halftime break. Yes, Usher will be doing an encore to his Super Bowl performance. (not really)

During the break, all cars will return to its respective pit box; however, teams can only add fuel, adjust wings, tire pressure and tend to the driver. No other adjustments can be made to the car.

Once the cars are sent back on track for the final 10 laps, all bets are off. The winner from the final segment will secure the bag.

P.S. There are multiple bags.