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St. Petersburg, Fla. — It’s OK if INDYCAR hasn’t been front of mind for you since the 2025 season ended in August.
That’s why we’re here: To get you up to speed as the 2026 season goes green this weekend on the streets of St. Petersburg (Sunday, noon ET on FOX).
Here’s a primer with everything to know for the 2026 season:
How many races?
The schedule announced last fall was for 17 races. But wait, there’s more. An 18th race was added just last month when it was announced that the streets of Washington, D.C. had been added to the schedule.
Which are the new venues?
There are four new venues this year:
-A return to Phoenix Raceway (March 7) after an eight-year hiatus
-A new course on the streets of Arlington, Texas (March 15) that includes going by the stadiums of the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers
-A new course on the streets of Toronto suburb Markham (Aug. 16) as it replaces the Expo Centre course
-The Aug. 23 race in Washington in celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary
INDYCAR will head to four new locations in 2026, including a race in the nation’s capital.
So that makes how many of what type of circuits?
The 18 races consist of six races on ovals, six races on temporary street courses, and six races on permanent road courses. The Milwaukee Mile will play host to a doubleheader race weekend.
Are they racing with NASCAR at the same place?
Yes. Next week at Phoenix, INDYCAR will race on Saturday before the O’Reilly Series race, with the Cup Series race the following day. This weekend in St. Pete, NASCAR’s truck series will race Saturday — the first truck race ever on a street course.
OK, What About On The Track? Who’s New And Where?
Seven cars have new drivers, we’ll do it by car number:
4-Caio Collett replaces David Malukas at A.J. Fouty Racing
12-David Malukas replaces Will Power at Team Penske
18-Romain Grosjean replaces Jacob Abel at Dale Coyne Racing
19-Dennis Hauger replaces Rinus VeeKay (No. 51 last year) at Dale Coyne Racing
26-Will Power replaces Colton Herta at Andretti Global
47-Mick Schumacher replaces Devlin DeFrancesco (No. 30 last year) at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
76-Rinus VeeKay replaces Conor Daly at Juncos Hollinger Racing
How did Will Power end up at Andretti?
Power couldn’t land a long-term deal at Team Penske and Andretti had a spot open when it moved Colton Herta to Formula 2 in hopes of getting him ready to race in Formula 1. After 17 years at Team Penske, Power has a new home.
Is Mick Schumacher related to Michael Schumacher?
Yes, the 26-year-old Mick is the son of the seven-time Formula 1 champion. Mick Schumacher raced in F1 from 2021-22 with Haas F1. The INDYCAR race at Phoenix will be Mick’s first on an oval.
Former F1 driver Mick Schumacher joins the INDYCAR circuit this season.
Are there 27 or 25 full-time cars this year?
There are 25 full-time cars this year. Prema Racing is still trying to find the financing to race this year, and it is possible that it rejoins the series (maybe with one car) at some point. Prema drivers Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman are not on the grid for St. Petersburg.
Where did the Penske executives land?
Team Penske parted ways with three executives last year after a technical violation in Indianapolis. They are all back in the garage this year.
-Ron Ruzewski, the team’s INDYCAR managing director, is now the team principal at Andretti Global.
-Kyle Moyer, the team’s INDYCAR general manager, is now competition director at Arrow McLaren.
-Tim Cindric, the team’s INDYCAR president, is … back at Penske, but only in a strategist role for Scott McLaughlin.
-Jonathan Diuguid, who was running the team’s sports-car program, has taken over as the Team Penske president.
-Travis Law also came from the sports-car program to be Penske’s competition director.
Are there any major rule changes?
Mainly just one for street courses, where drivers will have to run at least two sets of the alternate “soft” tires and at least one of the primary tire. It previously was a minimum of one set each. The hope is that will increase the number of pit stops and potentially limit strategy of saving fuel/tires.
Can anyone beat Alex Palou?
Sure they can. But will they? Palou won eight races in a dominant season for this third consecutive (and fourth overall) INDYCAR title.
The three drivers who followed him in the points — Pato O’Ward, Scott Dixon and Kyle Kirkwood probably will be the biggest threats.
Dixon has won six titles in his career. And there are other past champions you can’t look past: Will Power and Josef Newgarden have two titles apiece.
Alex Palou has been utterly dominant in securing three straight INDYCAR titles.
When is the Indianapolis 500?
The Indianapolis 500 is in its traditional spot, the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, May 24th. It is the 110th running of the world’s most famous automobile race.
Where can I see the races?
All the INDYCAR races will air on FOX. Practices and qualifying sessions will air on FS1 or FS2. All three networks (and other FOX networks) are also available on the FOX One app.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
2026 INDYCAR SEASON PREVIEW:
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