Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
Max Verstappen raced on the Nordschleife. Scott McLaughlin raced at Suzuka, and finished on the podium. There was plenty of action at Goodwood. Formula One is talking about adding more sprint races. Apparently, those weekends sell more tickets. Four drivers had their championship hopes end at Bristol, as NASCAR continues to have a nonsensical relationship with tire wear at the circuit. MotoGP completed the main part of its European season. Nine drivers are alive for the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters championship after the penultimate round. With victory in Chile, Sébastien Ogier took the World Rally Championship lead despite skipping three rounds this season. Calendar news appears to be imminent for IndyCar, and we received a dour statement on Saturday.
On the Verge of a Calendar
This post has changed about a half-dozen ways in the last three days because IndyCar is inching closer to its 2026 schedule being released, and there will be a few changes, but it appears there will be more than expected. Since the 2025 season concluded on the final day of August, the only official news we have heard is the Toronto race is moving to Markham, Ontario for August 16, 2026, and then we heard the second bit of news, this much more deflating on Saturday morning.
IndyCar announced it would not be racing in Mexico City in 2026 with eyes looking forward to 2027. Logistical concerns involving the 2026 FIFA World Cup and difficult securing the right date were stated as causes that prevented a deal from being reached. IndyCar had been in negotiations with returning to Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez for nearly an entire year, and prior to the last few weeks, all discussions about a race in Mexico's capital city were rather encouraging.
We unofficial know the first half of the 2026 calendar, though one of those dates has only been rumored with no official word from IndyCar, nor the circuit, which would be returning to the calendar.
St. Petersburg will host the season opener on March 1 before a speculative return to Phoenix Raceway in combination with the NASCAR weekend over March 7-8. The week after that would be the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington. Three weeks, three consecutive races, and March would host a fourth race with Barber Motorsports Park moving up a month to clear the schedule congestion around the month of May, as well as because of Easter being in the middle of April and the NASCAR Cup weekend at Talladega being held on the final weekend of the month. Barber's move was made public when Porsche Carrera Cup North America announced its 2026 calendar on August 27.
Long Beach has announced its place on the 2026 calendar for April 19. The Grand Prix of Indianapolis will be held on Saturday May 9 before the 110th Indianapolis 500 is run on May 24. The Detroit Grand Prix will be run on May 31.
After that, the only settled event is Markham in August, as IndyCar navigates its summer around the FIFA World Cup, which Fox is broadcasting in the United States. While the tournament takes up over a month of Fox's attention, we have covered earlier there are two open Sundays during the tournament when no matches will be held. It would make sense for IndyCar to run on those Sundays.
The belief is due to the World Cup, Gateway will be held on the weekend of June 6-7 and cap a five-consecutive-week run at the racetrack starting at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Those two open Sundays are June 28 and July 12.Tthe remaining pieces from the 2025 calendar without a date confirmed for 2026 are Road America, Mid-Ohio, Iowa, Laguna Seca, Portland, Milwaukee and Nashville. We all believe Iowa will not be happening in 2026. That would leave six race weekends and IndyCar hasn't even competed once during the summer.
Theoretically, IndyCar could avoid conflicting Sundays with the World Cup, and Road America could be held on June 28 before Mid-Ohio slides to July 12. Placing the final four events is where it gets complicated, and a little controversial.
There are plenty of rumors the 2026 finale will shift back to Laguna Seca after the last two seasons ended at Nashville Superspeedway. There is also some belief IndyCar would like to race immediately after the World Cup final on July 19, which would be a race that would not start until 6:00 p.m. ET at the earliest. For certain venues, such a late start would not work, but for a west coast venue, it would be fine start time. If Laguna Seca is moving to the finale spot, that leaves only Portland to be the World Cup lead-out programming.
Milwaukee will be returning to a late-August date, though the exact weekend has not been confirmed. Labor Day is at its latest point in the calendar, meaning the 2026 season finale will likely be held on September 6, whether that is at Laguna Seca, Nashville or elsewhere.
Just based on existing venues, there appears to be a large gap in the calendar from a potential race on July 19 post-World Cup final and Markham on August 16. A rumored street race in Washington, D.C. has been linked to early August.
As IndyCar has had a disjointed and awkward silly season on the driver's market, the calendar silly season has been equalling unsettling.
The failure to secure Mexico City should not surprise anyone, and it cannot be a disappointment. IndyCar has been reportedly trying to secure a race in Mexico for a decade and has not once secured a weekend. International races never work out for a series. Remember a decade ago, IndyCar was allegedly going to have a street race in Dubai and it was supposed to open its season in Brasilia. Despite all the experience IndyCar's front office has with international events in other fields beyond motorsports and the financial power of Roger Penske's ownership, the series has an inability to expand beyond the Midwestern corridor it calls home.
Though you shouldn't be disappointed because we had decade of evidence Mexico City would not be formalized, it is a little depressing because it felt legitimately close only for it to come apart. Liberty Media increased its stake in the company that operates Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez earlier this summer, and the increase in track fees made it difficult for a date to be secured. That probably also played a part in NASCAR not returning to the facility for 2026 as it was looking to move out of June and into a spring window.
However, it felt like some sort of deal could have been reached before Liberty Media increased its stake, and IndyCar could have avoided this altogether. It is a series that is constantly weary of not making the wrong deal that it would rather drag its feet and make no deal at all. Remember, at the start of 2025, everyone saw Mexico City as potentially filling the gap in the schedule in the early portion of the season, especially since Thermal Club was believed not to be returning for 2026 before IndyCar even raced at Thermal this year. There was a window where IndyCar could have made a deal early and secured its spring 2026 plans. It is not as simple as that, but an opportunity was there and the series didn't capitalize on it.
Ultimately, not much is changing with the 2026 calendar. The problems we have seen in 2025 and other recent years still exist. They have just shifted around. Three consecutive weekends with races to open the season should help with visibility, something IndyCar has not had in recent years. IndyCar has started and then disappeared for the better part of month, a poor way to for people to get excited about your upcoming season. However, the abundance of off weekends remain.
Of course, let's not find a reason to be negative, but the three-week gap has now became a one race in five weeks swing with two weeks off between Barber and Long Beach with the next two weeks off between Long Beach and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
The week prior to Long Beach can be forgiven because it is Easter, and IndyCar does need a breather before the start of the month of May. Is there any race that could have been held on April 26 and prevent a second two-week break in a five-week span? Not likely, but it shows IndyCar still has still room for another event in the spring.
With races shifting around, IndyCar is looking at a front loaded calendar and a spread out summer. The season is going to be halfway over before we get to the first day of summer in 2026. Between June 14 and September 6, we are looking at only six races with a possible seventh if Washington, D.C. formalizes. That is essentially a race every other weekend, but it does feel to be lacking. It is weird to start the month of June and the season already be half over.
As for the potential finale shift back to Laguna Seca, it is almost a neutral move. While many will be disappointed to see Nashville move from that weekend, let's not act like Laguna Seca hasn't had decent races in recent years, but also remember the season doesn't currently end in Nashville. It ends in Lebanon, Tennessee. It is 45 minutes from Nashville.
It is unsatisfying IndyCar is moving its finale from Nashville, which drew about 20,000 spectators to Laguna Seca because it is a nicer area for sponsors and dignitaries and the finale will now end in front of 8,000 spectators, but this has been part of IndyCar's problem for years. It hasn't had a great finale venue since... pretty much ever. Pretty much since Laguna Seca was full to the brim during the CART glory days.
The best finale IndyCar has had since reunification was 2021 when Long Beach had to move to be the finale due to the pandemic, allowing the race to be held with fewer public gathering restrictions in place. The Nashville street race was supposed to be IndyCar's big event finale, and we all saw how that crumbled.
If the finale isn't going to be an astonishing event with a breathtaking crowd, IndyCar is going to use it as a hospitality weekend. We know Laguna Seca in the 2020s isn't going to be filled with 50,000 people for IndyCar's final race. Laguna Seca hasn't filled up for anything since MotoGP last raced there 12 years ago.
The truth is the most promising event IndyCar has for a finale is Milwaukee, but who is attracted to a weekend in Milwaukee?
We are looking at a 2026 calendar which is going to look and feel the same as most IndyCar calendars over the last decade. There are holes, there is room for growth, most of the events are familiar and we are comfortable with them. It is a little underwhelming, but don't worry everyone, something great is 18 months away!
Champions From the Weekend
The #17 CLX Motorsport Ligier-Toyota of Adrien Closmenil, Theodor Jensen and Paul Lanchère clinched the European Le Mans Series LMP3 title as it won its fourth race of the season out of five rounds at Silverstone.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Sébastien Ogier, but did you know...
Marc Márquez won MotoGP's San Marino and the Rimini Riviera Grand Prix, his 11th victory of the season. Marco Bezzecchi won the sprint race. Celestino Vietti won in Moto2. José Antonio Rueda won in Moto3, his eighth victory of the season. Alessandro Zaccone and Matteo Ferrari split hte MotoE races.
Christopher Bell won the NASCAR Cup race from Bristol, his fourth victory of the season. Aric Almirola won the Grand National Series race, his second of the season. Layne Riggs won the Truck race, his third victory of the season.
The #32 Team WRT BMW of Kelvin van der Linde, Raffaele Marciello and Charles Weerts won the Suzuka 1000 km.
The #18 IDEC Sport Oreca-Gibson of Jamie Chadwick, Mathys Jaubert and Daniel Juncadella won the 4 Hours of Silverstone. The #50 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari of Riccardo Agotini, Custodio Toledo and Lilou Madoux won in LMGT3.
Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood won Supercars' The Bend 500.
René Rast and Ricardo Feller split the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters races from the Red Bull Ring.
Hunter Lawrence won the SuperMotocross round from St. Louis (1-3). Jett Lawrence was second (4-1). Jo Shimoda won the 250cc round (2-2) as Haiden Deegan won Moto 1 but finished 14th in the second race. Tom Vialle won the second race after finishing tenth in the first race.
Coming Up This Weekend
Formula One ends summer in Azerbaijan.
NASCAR begins its second round of the playoff in Loudon, New Hampshire.
IMSA's penultimate round takes place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Super GT races at Sportsland SUGO.
GT World Challenge Europe closes out its Sprint Cup season in Valencia.
The SuperMotocross championship is decided in Las Vegas.
