Over the last few weeks, we’ve been hearing about the release of the 2026 schedule, and after a few delays, it’s finally here.
17 races, starting as usual in St. Pete on March 1 and finishing at Laguna Seca on September 6.
There’s a lot to unpack, but here are some of my (very) hot take thoughts.
What I like
The first thing is that there is a ton of date/track equity. Many events are on or around the same weekends they were in 2025, and those tracks that have moved around a bit (like Barber), are still on the schedule, so that’s a great thing.
I’m also happy to see the early part of the schedule is a little more packed. Six races in the first nine weeks is a good thing for the fans. It is a little rough on the teams, especially the St. Pete-Phoenix-Arlington opener, but one of the things that has hurt IndyCar is the long breaks early in the season.
Now, the longest break is three weeks between Barber (Mar. 29) and Long Beach (Apr. 19), which, given the past, isn’t awful.
I like the fact that Milwaukee is back on the same weekend for the third year in a row. Late August seems to be a nice sweet spot for The Mile, the weather the last two years has been amazing, the racing has been decent, and people have responded in kind.
I’m not thrilled that it’s a doubleheader weekend because I think that drags down overall attendance, but
On paper, having new races in Arlington and Markham, Ontario, will hopefully help. It’s always good to get back into the Dallas Metroplex, although being back at Texas Motor Speedway would be ideal, and keeping a race in Ontario was necessary. Toronto has been a staple of the schedule since the mid-1980s, and while the new race is a bit out of town, it’s still in the market, which is perfect.
What I didn’t like
Iowa dropping off of the schedule.
How did that happen? I know that attendance has been dreadful (I’ve seen that firsthand, especially this year), but if the Hyvee sponsorship years proved anything, is that if you promote a race hard enough, people will come.
Maybe that involved sinking more money into it than was worth it…I don’t know. But when Iowa was good, it was really good. It’s a shame if the series never goes back there.
Then there is moving Nashville to July, and moving Laguna Seca to the season finale in September.
I get it, they want to tie the World Cup Final on Fox to a night race on an oval. Cool, but will anyone show up? Nashville in July is the same as Iowa in July — hot, humid, and miserable. On this most recent July 19, in the early evening the temperature was in the 90s and the heat index was over 100.
Who is going to want to sit through that, especially for a race that has been stretched to 400 miles? It’s going to (allegedly) have more TV viewership, cool, but how empty will the grandstands be?
I am enough of an IndyCar purist that I think the season finale should be on an oval, and if anything, moving it to Laguna Seca is a mistake. Think of how exciting Nashville was coming down the stretch…imagine what it would’ve been like with a title on the line?
Meanwhile, Alex Palou won at Laguna Seca this year by close to four seconds, and only two drivers led laps all day.
Yawn. Not excited.
What intrigues me
Phoenix.
There has long been talk about a collaboration with Cup and IndyCar on an oval, and here we are. It will be interesting to see how the crowds and TV audiences will crossover each other.
The only problem is that Phoenix isn’t a great place for racing for either series. In 2017, Simon Pagenaud won by close to 10 seconds, and the next year saw a closer finish but was still mostly single-file racing.
And, as Abby mentioned to me today, how much will all of the different tire compounds affect the racing?
One thing they need to do, just like they did on the last crossover event in 2023 on the IMS road course, is to hit it hard with social media. Do everything you can to get drivers from all of the series involved to talk with IndyCar drivers and learn about all of the things in common and the things that are different between the two series.
And this is a big ask that would probably never happen, but find a way to get Connor Zilisch into a car. I’ve mentioned on this blog a couple of times how much I like him, and how I’d love to see him in an IndyCar someday, especially at IMS.
Between his success in IMSA and stock cars, I think he has a big crossover appeal, more than any other driver in the garage.
I don’t know how to logistically make it work, but someone has got to have a spare car lying around somewhere, right? Even if it is just for the open test prior, I would love to see it happen.
What are your thoughts on the schedule.
Your INDYCAR Experience 