After ten updates over the past two months, we will find out what the 2014 IndyCar schedule looks like 8:00 p.m. ET Thursday night on NBCSN's IndyCar Championship Preview Show.
Recent reports are Milwaukee IndyFest may move to a new date and should be announced Wednesday October 16th in a press conference at the track. The past three years Milwaukee has been Fathers' Day weekend with the past two editions being held on Saturday afternoon.
The question is where would Milwaukee move to? Rumors Iowa could become a IndyCar-NASCAR Camping World Truck Series doubleheader and move to a different date. Houston is reportedly moving to the end of June.
Moving Milwaukee has to be mindful of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship date at Road America August 10th.
Here is a mock schedule with the ovals keeping the current position on the calendar or moving within the what is believed to be final weekend of the season, Labor Day weekend (confirmed dates in bold).
St. Petersburg: March 28-30th.
Long Beach: April 13th.
Barber: April 27th
IMS road course: May 10th.
Indianapolis 500: May 25.
Belle Isle: May 30-June 1st.
Texas: June 7th.
Milwaukee: June 14th.
Iowa: June 22nd.
Houston: June 27-29th (holding out the possibility of night races due to summer heat).
Pocono: July 6th
Toronto: July 19-20th.
Mid-Ohio: August 1-3rd.
Sonoma August 24th.
Fontana: August 30-31 or September 1st (depends if it is a Saturday night, Sunday, Sunday night, Monday or Monday night).
Milwaukee could move to the weekend of July 12-13th but I have been wary of putting a race that weekend, especially July 13th because that is the date of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final which had over 20 millions viewers in the United States in 2010. July 26-27th is the Brickyard 400 weekend and IndyCar has tried to avoid scheduling a race the same weekend as NASCAR's date at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
There are two weeks open in August but neither should be an option. The Tudor United SportsCar Series races at Road America August 10 and IndyCar racing the following weekend at the Milwaukee Mile would oversaturate the market by not allowing enough space between races.
I could see Milwaukee moving to the weekend between Pocono and Toronto. My hope would be if Milwaukee is that weekend, it is Saturday night.
To be honest, I don't see the right dates being available for IndyCar to move Milwaukee. It's bad enough the NASCAR Nationwide Series runs at Road America the weekend after Milwaukee IndyFest. Milwaukee should hold ground where it's at but I part of me thinks Andretti Sports Marketing will move that race.
So here is a final prediction of the 2014 IndyCar calendar before it is announced Thursday night:
St. Petersburg: March 28-30th.
Long Beach: April 13th.
Barber: April 27th
IMS road course: May 10th.
Indianapolis 500: May 25.
Belle Isle: May 30-June 1st.
Texas: June 7th.
Iowa: June 22nd.
Houston: June 27-29th (holding out the possibility of night races due to summer heat).
Pocono: July 6th.
Milwaukee: July 12-13 (I hope it would be a Saturday night event).
Toronto: July 19-20th.
Mid-Ohio: August 1-3rd.
Sonoma August 24th.
Fontana: August 30-31 or September 1st (depends if it is a Saturday night, Sunday, Sunday night, Monday or Monday night).
The other question when the schedule comes out is which races are on ABC and which are on NBCSN. ABC will have six races in 2014, same as 2013 with the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis 500 being the first two known ABC races. With the addition of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, this means one of the 2013 ABC races will not be shown on that network in 2014. Besides the Indianapolis 500, the Belle Isle doubleheader, Texas, Iowa and Pocono were the ABC races in 2013. Belle Isle will likely be ABC races because there is no way Roger Penske and Chevrolet allows that race to move from network TV. So that means anyone of the three ovals will not be on ABC in 2014. My guess would be Texas. They're prime time race was good but apparently Eddie Gossage and the series had to pay a little to get that race on network and I'm not sure after that investment paid off.
Good news is all this speculation will end Thursday night... and don't even bring 2015 up until July 4th, 2014.
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