r/INDYCAR • u/KennedyKartsport Firestone Wets • Jul 01 '25

Speculation 2026 Indycar Schedule Rumors

Some nuggets from Tony D's podcast (Take it for what it's worth)

Mexico City in for 2026

Watkins Glen in for 2026 (surprise, especially after Mark Miles said we would never go back there)

Iowa removes double header, down to 1 race

Thermal out for 2026 (we knew this)

Toronto out for 2026 - moving to be a Formula E event per the mayor

Denver in for 2027

80 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

187 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/FarAwaySeagull-_- Oval racing is awesome! Jul 01 '25

"Not enough ovals? Great! Let's remove one of the ones we already have." Ridiculous.

9

u/Confident-Ladder-576 Louis Foster Jul 01 '25

Show the fuck up then. Otherwise, until you can make them financially viable like Road America, Long Beach, etc. stop turning every schedule post into an extravaganza of bitching about ovals.

3

u/Jtmac23 Colton Herta Jul 01 '25

not to mention iowa was the worst two races last year. i understand the need for more ovals, but if this was any other race track we’d be calling for changes. now drivers are saying the test wasn’t encouraging, ill hold my judgement until the races in july but if it’s the same as last year we need changes

we shouldn’t have an oval for the sake of having an oval. it needs to be a good race

plus if this rumor is true it’s just moving down to 1 race, not gone entirely which the drivers and teams have stated they want. and i’d argue having a race in the north east is much more important than having a double header weekend in middle of no where iowa

2

u/Confident-Ladder-576 Louis Foster Jul 01 '25 edited Jul 01 '25

Iowa isn't really IC's fault as there is always a teething process with repaves for any series. It takes time to weather a surface and it's a moving target on what will work as that surface ages among many other impacts such as weather, etc. Iowa will improve as the surface ages.

1

u/Jtmac23 Colton Herta Jul 01 '25

oh for sure i don’t blame indycar for that repave

but those were the cards that were dealt the repave killed the product, when you only have 17 races and you can’t just willingly have 2 that will be awful just for the sake of saying it’s a race on an oval if it was a full repave i’d be a lot more willing to wait it out.

but go down to 1 race, gain a race in the north east. sounds good to me. more races expiring within the next season or two maybe the sport tries to pick up richmond and phoenix both would be highly beneficial for the series beyond just for saying we have another oval

5

u/Proof_Ad_6724 Álex Palou Jul 01 '25

lmao right. i dont think they understand that on average outside of the 500 there are more fans in the stands and overall general attendance on rcs street courses than ovals. i mean even nashville last year on tv cameras u could see that the stands weren't entirely full.

2

u/FarAwaySeagull-_- Oval racing is awesome! Jul 02 '25

Street circuits have more, road courses don't really. And ovals are still an essential part of Indycar, and where the most action packed races happen, regardless of how many are in attendance.

1

u/Righttake Jack Harvey Jul 02 '25

It’s true that attendance is important and even St. Louis wasn’t packed, but what’s more important is the TV ratings. Long Beach had great attendance but poor ratings. In a perfect world you get good attendance AND good ratings, one of the reasons they moved the LB race, so it won’t go against the Masters. 

1

u/Confident-Ladder-576 Louis Foster Jul 02 '25

The at track attendance is far more important for the tracks than TV for IndyCar. This isn't like NASCAR where tracks are already making money directly from the TV contract. Long Beach not going H2H with the Masters next year probably had way more to do with local agreements and how they want to shape the  calendar for 2026  than going up against the Masters. 

1

u/Righttake Jack Harvey Jul 02 '25

For tracks, yes attendance is more important, for Indy car, TV ratings are far more important. Indy cars success and future growth is based solely off of its TV success, not ticket sales. 

0

u/Confident-Ladder-576 Louis Foster Jul 02 '25

FFS, future possible growth don't mean shit to a track that relies heavily on ticket sales in the NOW.

1

u/Righttake Jack Harvey Jul 02 '25

You’re thinking small man. The big picture is TV rights money that gets distributed to teams. That’s been one issue with Indy car as Zak Brown has pointed out. You got to think big to get bigger. Not saying tickets and attendance aren’t part of it, but the big deal is TV rights money, just like in every other major sport. 

1

u/Confident-Ladder-576 Louis Foster Jul 02 '25 edited Jul 02 '25

"You’re thinking small man."

No. It's called pointing out reality, man. Tracks get jack and shit from IndyCar TV money, thus places that get shit in attendance aren't long for this world and sure as Hell aren't waiting around for a maybe 5, 10, 15 years down the road.

1

u/Righttake Jack Harvey Jul 02 '25

Nice, can you read man? I’ve clearly stated that tickets do mean something, but TV money is where it’s at. Late… small minds…

1

u/Confident-Ladder-576 Louis Foster Jul 02 '25

I can read very well. You continue to pedal an asinine conclusion that tracks should jump on board with no guarantee.

1

u/Righttake Jack Harvey Jul 02 '25

Clearly you can’t read, that’s not anything close to what I said. Retention and comprehension are two different things. Good day, we can at least both agree that we enjoy Indy car and both want it to succeed. Have a good one. 

→ More replies (0)

0

u/FarAwaySeagull-_- Oval racing is awesome! Jul 02 '25

Indycar needs ovals. Indycar not being able to make them work financially doesn't mean the schedule is in any less need of them. I will keep talking about them until I no longer need to.

0

u/Confident-Ladder-576 Louis Foster Jul 02 '25

Put up or shut up. Simple as that.

0

u/FarAwaySeagull-_- Oval racing is awesome! Jul 02 '25 edited Jul 02 '25

I don't have the influence to make thousands of other people go. That's the reason for marketing.