Last week, IndyCar released its 2025 schedule along with the announcement of the new broadcast partnership with Fox. The next media rights deal we expected. The schedule we didn’t. That was something we likely thought we had a few months until we would see it.
Instead, we got it as a surprise, preventing three months of speculating of what was to come in following year. Like a plane dumping an ungodly amount of water on a forest fire, any hope of returning oval races, filling gaps in the schedule and trips to new places were doused before the blaze could rage. That doesn’t mean people didn’t get upset. All they know is hope must turn to 2026. That isn’t helping.
However, the 2025 schedule is here, mostly looking the same as 2024. There is nothing new, per se. All the tracks are the same. A few have new dates. One weekend will have one fewer race. One weekend will now count toward the championship.
There is much to breakdown about the calendar, though we still aren’t halfway through 2024. With the news still fresh, and some time to digest, let’s go over what we already know about 2025, where and when races take place, and what some of these decisions mean.
March 2 - St. Petersburg
The traditional season opener remains the season opener, though St. Petersburg will be a week earlier than previously announced. Not that anyone complain about the season starting a week earlier than intended. The offseason will still be 167 days long from Nashville 2024 to St. Petersburg 2025.
March 23 - Thermal Club
No longer a non-championship race, the Thermal Club will be the second round of the championship, three weeks after St. Petersburg on the same weekend Thermal was in 2024.
The answer to all of your questions is money. Thermal Club was willing to pay for a non-championship race. It is willing to pay for a championship race. There has been plenty of pushback on Thermal’s presence since it was first announced. It isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
There were plenty of questions about Thermal going into this year’s event. Live pit stops were not possible due to pit lane constraints. Some of the runoff area was question. There is really one, maybe two passing zones. Work will be done but skepticism remains.
What we do know about Thermal is it was a high tire-wear circuit. With a full race and a full field, it could be a fascinating race to watch. There are reasons for optimism even if Thermal disgusts some viewers.
April 13 - Long Beach
Long Beach remains in the middle of April. It will be the only race in April, three weeks after Thermal. Nothing much to say about this one.
May 4 - Barber Motorsports Park
Barber moves into May, but this was likely out of necessity. Easter is April 20, and you can likely pencil in Talladega for April 27. Barber will kick off what will be five consecutive weeks of action as immediately after this will be the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Indianapolis 500 qualifying, the Indianapolis 500 and then Detroit.
Normally, the week prior to the Grand Prix of Indianapolis is a week off. Likely, the Indianapolis 500 open test will be in late April. Something will be going on, but it keeps a busy period busy. It only has an extra race in May.
May 10 - Grand Prix of Indianapolis
This is still the Saturday 15 days prior to the Indianapolis 500. It is a tighter turnaround with Barber the week before. With how much time IndyCar spends on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, I almost expect this to be a condensed weekend. Practice mid-Friday afternoon, qualifying almost Friday evening with a warm-up Saturday morning ahead of the race that afternoon.
May 25 - Indianapolis 500
Memorial Day weekend. Where else would IndyCar be?
June 1 - Detroit
Week after Indianapolis with Roger Penske running the series. Where else would IndyCar be?
June 15 - Gateway
The first truly significant change is Gateway moving up two months to the middle of June from the middle of August. It does spread out the oval races as six of the final eight races are on ovals.
This was a bit shocking because IndyCar loves to shout date equity and Gateway had a consistent date. Moving Gateway to June allows some other scheduling decisions to take place. The NASCAR race from Gateway has been the first weekend in June the last three years. With NASCAR also having new television partners in 2025, some of those races could be moving around. IndyCar’s move could signal the NASCAR weekend at Gateway is moving as well, whether that is forward into spring or deeper into summer remains to be seen.
There were plenty upset as Gateway will run on Le Mans weekend, but this is what IndyCar must do to fit in its schedule on Fox. As much as we love seeing IndyCar drivers attempt other disciplines, IndyCar is their first responsibility. We also don’t see many IndyCar drivers run Le Mans to begin with. The five drivers entered for Laguna Seca a week after Le Mans is the most since seven in 1988. It isn’t the case of a dozen drivers or 15 drivers going to Le Mans. It isn’t the 24 Hours of Daytona. We will live.
June 22 - Road America
Summer starts at Road America, a back-to-back with Gateway. No concerns here.
July 6 - Mid-Ohio
Mid-Ohio remains around Independence Day weekend. It has been working. Why change it?
July 12 & 13 - Iowa
Iowa retains its mid-July doubleheader. That’s fine.
July 20 - Toronto
A third consecutive weekend will take IndyCar across the border to Toronto, which will be the final street course race of the season.
July 27 - Laguna Seca
This is where the next significant change occurred. Laguna Seca moves back a month to July. Every weekend in July has a race weekend and there will be five races during the month as it will rush IndyCar into the final quarter of the season.
Again, nothing says date equity like taking a struggling event and giving it a third different date in as many years in three different months. I guess Laguna Seca must go somewhere if it isn’t going to be the season finale, but it will be a cross-continental trip from Toronto.
I think there should be great concern about Laguna Seca’s long-term health. It is the weakest race on the schedule. It practically had the season finale for four seasons and it never felt like an event. Moving it to the start of summer might not help in 2024. It is hard to see it drawing more people in this June/July timeframe. I am hopeful, but I am not expecting a significant change.
We will know how 2024 looks in late-June in a few days. It should give us an idea of what is realistic for 2025.
August 10 - Portland
It isn’t quite a western swing because there is a week off between Laguna Seca and Portland, but it is two consecutive western races. I am not sure how much it helps the teams, but it looks sensical on paper.
August 24 - Milwaukee
Milwaukee will be back for a second consecutive season, but it will be a week earlier and it will only be a single race instead of a doubleheader. This allows the championship to remain at 17 races with the inclusion of Thermal as a championship round. It will make Milwaukee an easier weekend for the teams as there will only be one race instead of two with a potential tight turnaround from Saturday evening to Sunday afternoon.
I wonder how much losing a doubleheader hurts an event. When you can get two races for a respectable price it is a great deal for a spectator and makes a race weekend more enticing than others. It isn’t the worst change in the world but it something to keep an eye on.
August 31 - Nashville Superspeedway
The season finale remains at the 1.333-mile oval in Lebanon, Tennessee but it moves up two weeks and will take place on Labor Day weekend. This allows the IndyCar season to end before the NFL season begins, something that takes up a great deal of real estate on Fox’s broadcast schedule on Sundays from September through January.
I have said for some time if IndyCar was going to end the season on week two of the NFL season, it should work to squeeze all those races in and end on Labor Day weekend. This is about ratings, and taking one race, even if it is the season finale, out of NFL season where it is completely forgotten and in almost no way has a chance of garnering attention, it is the best decision.
It must be kept in mind Labor Day weekend will likely be the hard end date for IndyCar as long as it is on Fox and commitment to putting every race on network television. With the amount of football Fox has, Sunday afternoon will be off the table come September. The same goes with college football on Saturdays. If IndyCar is flexible, the season could go into September if the finale and any additional races are on FS1, but it would be sacrificing viewership numbers in that case. This move to Fox signals IndyCar wants to maximize viewership as much as possible to increase exposure and value of the series.
If IndyCar is going to race into football season, it needs to be more than one race. If there were four or five races spread over September and October, IndyCar would still take a dip in viewership but it would have some substance to stick around and keep an audience. One race during football season, especially the IndyCar season finale, is an unnecessary ratings hit. Avoiding it is the smartest play.
Final Takeaways
There are plenty of IndyCar schedule discussions we still must have but we will take those on at a later date. For 2025, IndyCar got a television partner that is giving it the world and it kept all the pieces in place. Race retention is a positive thing. No track is losing a date. No current local fan base is losing a race weekend and are left wondering if they can afford to take a trip to see IndyCar. Stasis is good.
This schedule is no different than where IndyCar has been for the last decade. The season has basically been completed in six or six-and-a-half months since 2012. Even before then some of those later IRL seasons prior to reunification were completed early September. We have been here for a long time. I don’t think it is changing any time soon. It likely will never change.
It is the same old tune. One schedule comes out and everyone believes the year after that will be the year of great change. IndyCar is always 18 months away from that big shakeup. It hasn’t ever really come. With a new television partner and more money pouring into IndyCar coffer’s on an annual basis, maybe 2026 will finally be the year. Don’t count on it.
