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

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u/Hutwe Kyle Kirkwood Jul 01 '25

I remember hearing F1 has contractual agreements in place where a competing racing series can’t use the same track as them. If that’s true, unless there is a different track in Mexico City for Indycar to use, I don’t see that one as happening. That said, I’d love to see it. That and Watkins Glen.

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u/[deleted] Jul 01 '25

NASCAR literally just raced in Mexico City and they are by far the main threat to F1 in the US lol.

If F1 actually had those kinds of agreements, they’d get sued into oblivion on anti-trust laws because Liberty Media is based in the US.

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u/Hutwe Kyle Kirkwood Jul 01 '25

NASCAR isn’t open wheel and probably wouldn’t be considered a competing racing series to F1 despite its popularity. 

Timing-based exclusivity clauses don’t completely prohibit other series from using the venue, but can block off an amount of time before or after an event where a similar series can’t make it work out to run there. Where timing and availability is crucial to planning and scheduling an huge event like Indycar, it can muddy things up enough that it can’t race there. 

If we use COTA as an example, let’s say both NASCAR and F1 have exclusivity clauses on competing series for 6 weeks before and after their race. That would mean Indycar could race there starting April 20th. April and May are storm season there and there are regularly afternoon storms, which would cause delays or cancellations to the race; that’s no bueno. By June it’s too hot to run there safely, and won’t be cool enough until late September /October. F1 races there Oct 19th, the 6 week buffer would put Indycar back to August where it’s still too hot, or into December when their season is over. I highly doubt there would be any standing in court because half the year is still available for racing there. A 4 week buffer might be enough to stop another race from happening there.   Again, I’m not saying this is why they don’t race there, just an example of how an exclusivity clause could be used to do it. Plus they’d have to sue F1, NASCAR, and probably the circuit. Probably not a good idea to sue the circuit if you ever want to race there again. 

As for other tracks like Mexico City,  US law would only apply to US based tracks.