IndyCar announces removal of West Coast dates, adds series of doubleheaders
IndyCar Series teams will not head to the West Coast this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the sanctioning body confirmed on Monday.
The 2020 NTT IndyCar Series schedule has been updated yet again. INDYCAR finally confirmed on Monday (July 27th) after a week filled with rumors, that the races originally scheduled for Portland International Raceway (Sept. 13th; Portland, OR.) and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (Sept. 19th and 20th; Monterey, CA.) have been canceled due to growing numbers of the coronavirus in Oregon and California.
To make up for the loss of the three dates, INDYCAR has added additional dates to previous-existing race weekends. As planned, the series will head to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, however, the series has added another race around the Lexington, Ohio course that weekend (Aug. 8th and 9th). Limited spectators will be allowed to attend the Honda Indy 200 weekend.
Then, the action speeds up with week-long practice sessions from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, before Indianapolis 500 Qualifications (Aug. 15th and 16th). The 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500 (Aug. 23rd) will host 25 percent grandstands capacity for all on-track activity.
The one “normal” element about the new schedule is that in less than one week from the running of the Indy 500, the series packs up and competes in a doubleheader weekend. However, this year the post-Indianapolis double is held on yet another oval. In St. Louis at the World Wide Technology Raceway (Aug. 29th and 30th), with fans in the grandstands, the series will run around the 1.25-mile oval with both ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series competition joining them.
There will be an entire-four week hiatus in September, with no races scheduled for the entire month, before racing resumes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a doubleheader event on the IMS Road Course (Oct. 2nd and 3rd), on a circuit they already competed on in July alongside the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
After yet another long hiatus, the 14-race NTT IndyCar Series season is slated to wrap up from Streets of St. Petersburg (Oct. 25th) for the only street-course event of the season. INDYCAR did not mention the status of these races in terms of the possibility of spectators.
All races will be full championship-points paying events under INDYCAR sanctioning, with the exception of the Indianapolis 500 only, which will multiply points by double.
A full look at the 2020 NTT IndyCar Series Schedule can be found below. Race times can be found on the IndyCar website, however, NBC Sports has yet to announce which network the races will be aired on.
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race will air live on NBC, with no local black-out for just the second time in Indy 500 history. All races will be broadcasted live on SiriusXM Radio.
Number – Date and Location [Race Name – Winner]
1 – June 6th at Texas Motor Speedway [Genesys 300 – Scott Dixon]
2 – July 4th at IMS Road Course [GMG Grand Prix – Scott Dixon]
3 – July 11th at Road America [REV Group Grand Prix #1 – Scott Dixon]
4 – July 12th at Road America [REV Group Grand Prix #2 – Felix Rosenqvist]
5 – July 17th at Iowa Speedway [Iowa INDYCAR 250 #1 – Simon Pagenaud]
6 – July 18th at Iowa Speedway [Iowa INDYCAR 250 #2 – Josef Newgarden]
7 – Aug. 8th at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course [Honda Indy 200 #1]
8 – Aug. 9th at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course [Honda Indy 200 #2]
Aug. 15th-16th at IMS [Indianapolis 500 Qualifications]
9 – Aug. 23rd at IMS [104th Running of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race]
10 – Aug. 29th at World Wide Technology Raceway [Bommarito 500 #1]
11 – Aug. 30th at World Wide Technology Raceway [Bommarito 500 #2]
12 – Oct. 2nd at IMS Road Course [Harvest Grand Prix #1]13 – Oct. 3rd at IMS Road Course
[Harvest Grand Prix #2]14 – Oct. 25th on the Streets of St. Petersburg [Firestone Grand Prix]
Tickets for any of the remaining races can be purchased with use of the hyperlinks above. IMS has stopped the sale for Indianapolis 500 tickets already.
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