The 2026 IndyCar schedule came out yesterday morning, and it is about as we all expected it.
There were no real surprises. The changes we had known about for a few days if not a few weeks, or in the case of Arlington, a few years. The less exciting stuff turned out to be real, and if there were any surprises, they were not that staggering.
However, it is a good schedule. It isn't that different from what we have seen for the better part of the last decade. There are six road course races, somehow six oval races and five street course races. The usual places are at their usual dates. A race or two have moved for seemingly no reason and so begins the cycle of how a race falls off the IndyCar calendar.
There are 16 races weekends, and it ends Labor Day weekend.
The good is good. The bad is not that bad, but it continues to remain and not be taken care of. It is an IndyCar calendar. You know the flaws and you can live with it.
The Entire First Quarter Takes Place in March
If the story of the last few seasons has been the slow start to the season, IndyCar addressed that and crammed four race weekends into the five weekends that make up March 2026.
St. Petersburg opens the season on Sunday March 1. The following weekend, IndyCar joins the NASCAR weekend at Phoenix and the race will be held on Saturday March 7. The inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington will be run on Sunday March 15. After a week off, Barber Motorsports Park will hold the fourth round on March 29, and a quarter of the season will be over.
The Lengthy Gap has Been Addressed but not Entirely Eliminated
While the first quarter of the IndyCar season will be taken care of in 29 days, that means there will be some downtime, and that is in the form of one race taking place over the next 40 days.
There will be two weeks off between Barber and the Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday April 19. After Long Beach, there will be another two weeks off before the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on Saturday May 9.
IndyCar has hidden a problem more than it has solved it. Sometimes hiding is a solution.
But it Picks Up From There
Once we get to May, action ratchets up, as we have seen in any previous IndyCar season.
There will be five consecutive weekends at the racetrack.
Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Indianapolis 500 qualifying, Indianapolis 500 on May 24, Detroit on May 31 and Gateway will host another Sunday night race on June 7.
After That, There is Rhythm
Once IndyCar is pass Gateway, the second half of the season is essentially running every other weekend.
Road America is two weeks after Gateway (June 21). Mid-Ohio is two weeks after Road America (July 5). Nashville is two weeks after Mid-Ohio (July 19). The exception is the two weeks between Nashville and Portland leading into August. Then the IndyCar season ends as it begins with four race weekends in a five-week span.
Portland and Markham, Ontario will be held over consecutive on August 9 and August 16 respectively. Then there will be one final off-week before Milwaukee uses a doubleheader over August 29-30 and the season finale returns to Laguna Seca to be held on September 6.
The Good
There are early races. IndyCar doesn't disappear after it gets started. It gets started and then it keeps going. There is at least a chance for some momentum.
There is rhythm. There is the one race in 40-day period, but once you get into May, there is pretty much a race every other weekend.
Nashville will be held after the FIFA World Cup final, and it will be a 400-mile race. Over 25 million people will likely watch the World Cup final in the United States. Nashville has a chance to be the most-watched non-Indianapolis 500 ever.
Milwaukee returns to a doubleheader weekend. After the last two years, why wouldn't you want two of those races in a season?
The Bad
Again, IndyCar hid the lengthy gap. If Easter was on April 19, Long Beach would have been April 12 and we would be looking at a three-week gap between Long Beach and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The three-week gap would have shifted from March to April/May. What is better? One three-week break or two two-week breaks with one race between them? It is essentially the same thing. IndyCar can still afford to add another race in the spring.
It is odd how IndyCar didn't take advantage of open weekends. There are two Sundays during the World Cup that do not feature matches, and IndyCar is not racing on either of those. I am curious to see how June 21 goes with Road America. Is it sandwiched between matches? Is it first thing in the afternoon? The same goes with Mid-Ohio. That is a quarterfinal weekend. I would guess Mid-Ohio will be early and lead into the World Cup games that afternoon, but if it is a lead-in, that means if it goes long the broadcast will end immediately, and if it goes stupid long, it will end on FS1. You have been warned.
Worst of all, there is no NASCAR race nor Formula One race scheduled for August 2. So what is IndyCar doing? Not racing on August 2 as well. But it will race on August 9 at Portland, which will likely be head-to-head with the NASCAR Cup race at Iowa. No one has said it yet, but there is a chance Nashville will go head-to-head after the World Cup final with North Wilkesboro. I don’t believe NASCAR will race head-to-head against an event that will have 25 million viewers and when it 95° F. North Wilkesboro does have lights after all.
Also, IndyCar was attempting to race in the biggest city in North America in Mexico City, and it ended up getting Markham, Ontario instead. Is there any bigger encapsulation of where IndyCar stands in 2026 than this?
Honesty
This is basically the same IndyCar schedule we have been looking at for the last decade. It is essentially equal over the three track disciplines, there is a doubleheader somewhere, the end will sneak up on us. It is nothing new.
I am at the point in my life where I don't care where IndyCar races as long as they are successful events. That is what IndyCar needs. IndyCar needs events that are filling the grandstands and people are enthusiastic about attending. It doesn't matter if it is an oval, road course or street course.
What we need to see is IndyCar have actual notable growth at the track and viewership. It doesn't matter where IndyCar is racing if most of the races cannot attract more than 800,000 viewers. Until we start seeing those numbers inch upward and at least match what we saw two years and three years ago, there is no reason to feel all that excited either way.
There must be a realization that IndyCar is making a calendar work with a lack of excitement or belief in the series.
IndyCar isn't returning to Phoenix because there is a fervor for people to see an IndyCar race and there are 45,000 people ready to purchase tickets. It is returning because NASCAR is doing Roger Penske a favor, and maybe 20,000 people stick around on Saturday afternoon to watch.
It is nice that IndyCar gets that race, and this is how IndyCar should use a combination weekend with NASCAR, but let's recognize if NASCAR didn't run at Phoenix in March, neither would IndyCar. That is the problem the series must address.
While it hid its lengthy gap for 2026, IndyCar is still geographically locked into the Midwest. Yes, it is going back to Phoenix and it is returning to Texas with the Arlington race, but its eastern-most race is going to be Markham, and the second-most east race is St. Petersburg. There is a lot of East Coast between those places, and we are looking at seven years with nothing in the most populous part of the United States. There was the rumor of a street race in Washington, D.C., but IndyCar needs an event that has a shelf life beyond three years.
IndyCar must have some sort of initiative to spread itself across the country. Whether that is running a race at Richmond, Pocono, Watkins Glen, Loudon or even Virginia International Raceway, it has more to gain from staging a race and seeking to accommodate race fans on the East Coast than remaining absent for another year. If it is willing to put on a doubleheader in front of barely 6,000 people each day at Iowa, it should have no problem putting on a race in front of 20,000 people at any of the five facilities listed above.
There should be some applause that it is lengthening Nashville to a 400-mile distance. There is an argument that every oval weekend outside of the Indianapolis 500 should be a doubleheader. There is no value in an oval weekend ticket, especially if there is one race and it is only going to last an hour and 45 minutes. If it isn't going to be a 500-miler, or in the case of Nashville a 400-miler, then race on Saturday and Sunday. It makes the weekend more valuable for spectators, it makes the weekend an event rather than something that is a little longer than a church gathering. Another race is another chance for IndyCar to be on television, which wouldn't hurt the series, and have you see the Milwaukee races? Yes, there should be two of those on a weekend. There should be two Gateway races as well.
As for Nashville moving from the season finale spot to after the World Cup final, it is understandable to put on one of your better races in such a valuable spot. Is it robbing Peter to pay Paul? Yes. IndyCar is moving a rather successful (in IndyCar term's) finale venue from that spot to a venue everyone was lambasting for lacking energy just three years ago. It isn't quite a lose-lose, but it will be stretch to call it a win-lose scenario either.
Could Gateway have slid back a month and taken the post-World Cup final window while Nashville remained the final and Laguna Seca took place at another time? Maybe. The Laguna Seca finale shows where IndyCar is still lacking. It reverted to a lackluster option because it is all IndyCar believes it has, but IndyCar does have better options.
As nice as it is for Milwaukee to be a doubleheader, is there a venue better suited to host the season finale? The grandstands were full, it would probably sell more tickets if it was the finale, and the racing was pretty incredible. It would at least be an event worth showcasing and celebrating as IndyCar's big send off before next season. It is actually a pretty obvious place to end the season when you consider what IndyCar has been lacking in a finale for the last 20 years or so.
As for 2026, it is familiar. Even the new stuff is familiar. It is what IndyCar has been for the last decade or so. It is fine. There is plenty to enjoy, but we know it isn't perfect.
