Haven't talked much about IndyCar lately (unless you count matching drivers with Thanksgiving dishes) but there has been plenty of news in the past few days.
First, the IndyCar television schedule has been announced. Thirteen of the eighteen races will air on NBCSN with five rounds, including the season opener at St. Petersburg, inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Indianapolis 500 and Belle Isle doubleheader airing on ABC with ABC also providing Indianapolis 500 qualification coverage.
NBCSN's first race of the season will be the Long Beach Grand Prix and will show the following event at Barber Motorsports Park before ABC takes over for the month of May and the first day of June. NBCSN will then pick up coverage at Texas through the season finale at Fontana.
Once NBCSN takes over, majority of the races will air at 3:00 p.m. ET with all the ABC races starting at 3:30 p.m. ET except for the Indianapolis 500 which coverage will begin at 11:00 a.m. ET.
Here is a full list of races by start time (all times Eastern):
11:00 a.m: Indianapolis 500 (May 25).
Noon: Pocono 500 (July 7).
2:30 p.m: Barber (April 27).
3:00 p.m: Houston (June 28 and 29), Toronto (July 19 and 20), Mid-Ohio (August 3), Milwaukee (August 17).
3:30 p.m: St. Petersburg (March 30), Grand Prix of Indianapolis (May 10), Belle Isle (May 31 and June 1).
4:00 p.m: Long Beach (April 13), Sonoma (August 24).
8:00 p.m: Texas (June 7), Iowa (July 12).
9:00 p.m: Fontana (August 30).
Indianapolis 500 qualification coverage on ABC will begin at 4:00 p.m. Saturday May 17 with coverage continuing the following day (May 18) at 1:00 p.m.
Few things:
1. Interesting to see the schedule say Indianapolis 500 qualifications are day 1 and day 2, not pole day and bump day. I smell changes coming. Be prepared. Also, not sure how long ABC's coverage of qualifying will be. It isn't crazy to think they will do 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on "day 1" but five hours on "day 2" seems to be a stretch. Not sure how one will be able to see first few hours of "day 1" qualifications. The last couple of years any un-televised hours of qualifying have been available on IndyCar.com. I'd like to see ABC/ESPN step up and broadcast them on ESPN3.com but that's just me.
2. Houston at 2:00 p.m. local time is going to hot. Start hydrating now.
3. Overall, not a terrible schedule. There is one, count it one break of two weeks. There is no need to complain that there is too much off time between races. These teams will have three stretches of three consecutive races or more, one includes a doubleheader (Indianapolis, Belle Isle, Texas), another is bookended by doubleheaders. (Houston, Pocono, Iowa, Toronto) and the other ends the season (Milwaukee, Sonoma, Fontana).
A few IndyCar races go head-to-head with NASCAR:
March 30th, St. Petersburg and Martinsville go head-to-head.
Long Beach is the day after NASCAR at Darlington.
Barber is the day after NASCAR at Richmond but is the week before NASCAR heads to Talladega.
Grand Prix of Indianapolis is the same day as NASCAR at Kansas but Kansas is a night race.
Of course, Indianapolis 500 is the same day as NASCAR at Charlotte but Charlotte is a night race.
Belle Isle goes head-to-head with NASCAR at Dover, Nationwide on Saturday and Cup on Sunday.
Texas is the day before NASCAR at Pocono.
The first race at Houston is the same day as NASCAR at Kentucky but Kentucky is a night race.
Pocono is the day after NASCAR at Daytona.
Iowa is the day before NASCAR at New Hampshire.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is off the Toronto race weekend. However the Nationwide Series will be at Chicagoland the same day as race one. However, Chicagoland could be a night race and not happen simultaneously.
Mid-Ohio will go head-to-head with NASCAR at Pocono.
Milwaukee will go head-to-head with NASCAR at Michigan.
Sonoma is the day after NASCAR at Bristol.
Fontana is the day before Sprint Cup at Atlanta but could be head-to-head with the Nationwide Series that weekend.
By my count, four IndyCar races will happen simultaneously with Sprint Cup races with possibly another three happening simultaneously against the Nationwide Series.
In case you are Leigh Diffey and the lead commentator for both IndyCar and Formula One coverage on NBCSN, four weekends feature both IndyCar and Formula One races. Texas is the day before the Canadian Grand Prix. I don't see why he couldn't do both (and why he couldn't bring some Formula One drivers down to Texas the night before). Pocono and the British Grand Prix, race two at Toronto and the German Grand Prix and Sonoma and the Belgian Grand Prix all occur on the same day and on the same network.
Three other weekends feature both IndyCar and Formula One but IndyCar will be on ABC (St. Petersburg and Malaysia, Grand Prix of Indianapolis and Spain (though Spain is the following day) and the Indianapolis 500 and Monaco).
In case you are worried about IndyCar offseason being too long after the end of the 2014 season, don't worry, Hulman and Company CEO Mark Miles said he is target the Middle East, India and South Africa to host races in February and March in 2015.
Some non-schedule related news, Paul Page will return as the lead commentator for the IMS Radio Network and the voice of the Indianapolis 500.
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