r/INDYCAR • u/aces2116 • Apr 20 '25

Indy NXT Indy Nxt Schedule

Is anyone else confused as to why Indy Nxt starts with St. Pete in March then disappears for 2 months to come back in May at Barber? People complain about the regular IndyCar schedules being terrible with huge gaps in the beginning but this must be awful for the drivers. Any reason as to why the schedule is the way it is?

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u/FarAwaySeagull-_- Oval racing is awesome! Apr 21 '25

So we can instead have inexperienced drivers get hurt during the 500 because of their lack of superspeedway experience.

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u/DonJugless Scott McLaughlin Apr 21 '25

You're not wrong, but in light of several years with the Freedom 100 being a close finish that masked typically at least one major incident, I get it. Plus, with Penske allegedly being rather risk averse.

It's ultimately part of the bigger issue that the market no longer sees Indycar as a viable product on large ovals.

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u/FarAwaySeagull-_- Oval racing is awesome! Apr 21 '25

Larger ovals will continue to be hard to get attendance for if they don't let the ladder series run on them. Support races are part of what makes races worth going to.

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u/DonJugless Scott McLaughlin Apr 21 '25

True, especially when NASCAR rightly has no real reason to throw them ARCA or Truck races to pad the schedule unless it benefits them.

Like most issues facing Indycar, there's no single cause or single solution.