Two races remain in the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season, and the schedule for the next season has yet to be finalized.
Let’s do that to fill the void, as the days tick down to when that drops.
Every fan has a wishlist for the IndyCar calendar. Most dream scenarios involve two items: more ovals and a longer schedule.
Both are legitimately challenging to pull off. In previous years, the only way to achieve more than the commonly targeted 17 races was to start the season earlier in the spring, as bleeding into football’s window hinders viewership. The hold-up there is that there are only so many venues in warm-weather markets that are available, and the partners willing to host a race are fewer than that.
For ovals, it comes down to cracking the stranglehold of facilities owned by the two dominant powers: NASCAR (formerly International Speedway Corporation) and Speedway Motorsports. There are five independently owned oval tracks 1 mile or more in length across the country, and IndyCar races on three. Likewise, they used to compete at Pocono Raceway, one of the remaining two.
Currently, Iowa Speedway is the only NASCAR-owned facility that IndyCar visits, and it won’t be maintained on this wishlist based on the dismal crowd in July. The season finale at Nashville Superspeedway, which is SMI-owned, was borne out of the complexity in hosting the Music City Grand Prix downtown, as was done from 2021 to 2023. Neither are partnership events with the facility owners, as IndyCar rents the track to host the races.
Frankly, more ovals means stronger relations with one of the two track conglomerates.
Heading into 2026, there is one massive change that might turn the tide on the schedule challenges IndyCar has experienced — that’s the recent one-third ownership stake purchased by FOX.
While it might not see immediate dividends, this wishlist will assume that there is some influence from the media empire in arranging a schedule that is different then years past.
This exercise will not jump the shark, so no oval-only schedule or 28 races on the docket. Reality will be a deciding factor based on the trends, challenges, and the series’ approach. However, if there are significant changes, it is meant to accomplish two things: lengthen the schedule beyond 17 races, and fill the gaps in the spring that destroy IndyCar’s momentum leading to the Indy 500.
That latter point is pivotal for one major reason, and it was the 1.4 million viewers that tuned in for the 2025 season-opener in St. Petersburg, a number not achieved again until Indianapolis.
February – April
Since 2011, except for the COVID years, the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg has held top billing as the IndyCar season premiere. It’s a warm-weather climate and has the date equity to sustain its longevity. The 2026 date is already set in stone for the Feb. 27th to March 1st weekend. FOX influence has already made inroads, as the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will join the weekend as well.
But can a wishlist truly be real if it didn’t include an earlier race? Daytona 500 weekend is two weeks before St. Pete, and with FOX fully invested as an owner in Penske Entertainment, there is a great opportunity to eventually tie the kick-off of IndyCar’s season to NASCAR’s. In seasons when rain doesn’t impact the Great American Race, over 8 million people tune in. How many might stay over to catch a primetime IndyCar event somewhere? Of course, rain delays have become the annoying little brother to the race since 2019.
Maybe that’s too much of a hill to overcome, because if Daytona is delayed, no way IndyCar is about to go live on the network if that race has a chance to happen. With FOX no longer holding the rights to the newly rebranded NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, there’s a window on Saturday that could offer a full weekend of racing, including the Truck Series on Friday. How about a Saturday night race opening the IndyCar season, bumped up by the entire run-up of Daytona Speedweek?
Warm-weather climates that can host include Homestead, Texas, Las Vegas and Phoenix. Two of those tracks are NASCAR-owned, so they will require FOX to sway the stock car brethren to allow a competitor to compete. Texas isn’t feasible anymore with the Arlington Grand Prix in March. Homestead is too close to Daytona, not to mention St. Pete, so that doesn’t seem like a starter.
Can Phoenix work in this slot then? Both it and Las Vegas have NASCAR dates three and four weeks, respectively, after Daytona weekend. If NASCAR balks, would Vegas and SMI be willing to bring IndyCar back? The big hold-up there is the drivers who competed there in 2011 when Dan Wheldon was killed. Only three full-time drivers still compete who raced with Wheldon in that event, two are Will Power and Scott Dixon, who carry a lot of weight when they speak.
For the wishlist, let’s lock down a season premiere race at either Phoenix or Las Vegas the Saturday before Daytona, knowing Fox will be a major player in making it happen.
After that, the schedule works as traditionally set. St. Petersburg in late February, followed by the new Arlington Grand Prix, and stalwarts Barber Motorsports Park and Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The key is ensuring no lost momentum. If the season starts in mid-February with a kickoff event around Daytona, then it’s a two-week break until St. Pete on March 1. It’s critical not to stall the viewership gains. St. Pete had 1.417 million viewers, a great number, but three weeks later, Thermal Club lost 50%, dropping to 704,000.
Arlington is on March 15 and Long Beach is on April 19. Barber, which can’t be early May due to NASCAR’s spring Talladega date, will not be able to land anywhere in late March or early April to ensure a two-week break between races, which is the goal. A preferred solution is Barber taking up a date two weeks after Arlington, and another race falling either a week after Barber or before Long Beach. That erases any early three-week gaps.
Therefore, this is a perfect spot for Homestead-Miami Speedway, two weeks after Barber and right around Spring Break for the Midwest. It’s the perfect oval for the current IndyCar speedway aero package.
Saying that, there will be a gap leading into May due to Barber moving further up, from April 19 until the Indianapolis Grand Prix on May 9. Well, let’s put the Indy open test on April 25 and 26, and stream that bad boy on YouTube. Perfect. That allows the teams to rest up before the very long stretch in May.
May – July
The Month of May goes as normal. It’s perfect in this racing environment. The next big chance is the weekend after. Roger Penske has maintained a stranglehold on the ensuing race with his Detroit Grand Prix. That must stop. The wishlist commands it. In its place goes World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. The track has been a stellar partner and has had amazing racing the last two seasons. Reward it, and its fans, with a Sunday night primetime race, like this year, and follow the Indy 500 with another oval.
Then go to Detroit the week after because it’s essential not to lose post-Indy 500 momentum. In 2025, there was a two-week gap between the first race after Indy and the next one. Erase that and maximize exposure. Then head to Road America and maintain Mid-Ohio’s 4th of July date; they are making it work.
The rest of July has some flexibility. According to reports, the Toronto Indy may move to August. If that’s the case, there is a massive hole to fill, as Iowa is likely off the schedule. WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca can move up to the second weekend of July to replace the short oval in corn country. Then Mexico City is a critical target with Mexican star Pato O’Ward’s fan following, so it gets Toronto’s old date during the third weekend of July. To offset the busy early July, after Mexico City, this wishlist will keep the fourth Sunday open, July 26, because that’s when the Brickyard 400 is, and FOX won’t want two of their assets competing against each other.
August – September
From February 14 to July 19, there are 14 races, Indy 500 qualifying, and an open test on this wishlist, consuming 16 of 25 weekends. The season has one three-week break, and that’s heading into the Month of May.
The first weekend in August will include Portland, followed by Toronto. Then, mid-month is the return of the last unicorn race track from IndyCar’s heyday, absent from the schedule: Michigan. That’s right, the Michigan 500 returns to its rightful August date. If needed to make the race bigger, which it can easily become, then the race can shift one week later to give the series more time to amp it up after Toronto. The Milwaukee Mile falls on the last weekend of August, which is basically Labor Day weekend.
Now the hard part. IndyCar can’t live in a world where there is no racing for six months. Some of that has been solved with an earlier mid-February start date. With FOX as a partner, a thrust into September is a must to extend the year. Can the network make a deal to ensure Tennessee Titans games don’t fall on the date and time of the Nashville race? That’s asking a lot. But let’s say they can, so the season concludes the second weekend in September, either on a Saturday or Sunday, depending on the football kickoffs.
That’s it, 19 races in this wishlist. There are still some areas for improvement, and maybe some further massaging, but fairness and reality were a deciding factor. Well, except for the Detroit and Gateway swap, I highly doubt Penske goes for that one.
It’s not a perfect schedule, but it met the two goals – extend the season, which it has by a month, and maximize momentum after both the season starts and the Indy 500.
Wishlist Schedule
- Feb. 14: Phoenix/Las Vegas
- March 1: St. Petersburg
- March 15: Arlington
- March 29: Barber Motorsports Park
- April 12: Homestead Speedway
- April 19: Long Beach
- May 9: Indianapolis Road Course
- May 24: Indianapolis 500
- May 31: Gateway
- June 7: Detroit
- June 21: Road America
- July 5: Mid-Ohio
- July 12: Laguna Seca
- July 19: Mexico City
- Aug. 2: Portland
- Aug. 9: Toronto
- Aug. 16: Michigan
- Aug. 30: Milwaukee Mile
- Sept. 13: Nashville
Tom is an IndyCar writer at Frontstretch, joining in March 2023. Besides writing the IndyCar Previews and frequent editions of Inside IndyCar, he will hop on as a fill-in guest on the Open Wheel podcast The Pit Straight. A native Hoosier, he calls Fort Wayne home. Follow Tom on Twitter @TomBlackburn42.