Arlington & Phoenix Join 17-Race IndyCar Slate For 2026

For the 13th time in the past 17 seasons, the NTT IndyCar Series calendar opens next year on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. (Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment photo)

INDIANAPOLIS – A blend of new and familiar is the prevailing story of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series calendar, released Tuesday morning and again featuring 17 races.

While the Iowa Speedway doubleheader and Thermal Club will not return to the series next year, races at Arizona’s Phoenix Raceway and on the streets of Arlington, Texas, join the circuit to provide a fresh flavor.

The weekend at the famed Milwaukee (Wis.) Mile also returns to a doubleheader format for 2026 after featuring just a single 250-lap event, balancing out the oval portion of the slate.

Among those races back in their traditional dates are the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.; the 110th Indianapolis 500-Mile Race on Memorial Day Sunday; and the post-Memorial Day visit to the street circuit in downtown Detroit, Mich.

“Once again IndyCar will have the most challenging schedule in all of motorsports with its nearly even mix of ovals, road courses and street circuits,” said IndyCar President J. Douglas Boles regarding next year’s calendar. “This championship format and diverse schedule test driver and team adaptability and truly celebrate the most complete driver and team at the end of the season.”

The St. Petersburg opener on Sunday, March 1 is the kickstart to a packed opening stretch of four races in the month of March, with Phoenix following on Saturday, March 7, the new Arlington event set for March 15, and Alabama’s Barber Motorsports Park rounding out the quartet on Sunday, March 29.

The Phoenix event, in particular, comes as a big moment for IndyCar as it joins the NASCAR Xfinity Series for a double-dip Saturday televised exclusively on the FOX Sports family of networks.

It’s the first time that Indy cars and NASCAR stock cars will race at the same venue on the same day since the two sanctions teamed up at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course from 2020-’23.

“We’re going to kickstart the season in fitting fashion, with four races in five weeks,” Boles noted. “Our joint weekend in partnership with NASCAR and FOX at Phoenix Raceway will be a can’t-miss for motorsport fans across the country and a truly special celebration of fast, fearless racing across the motorsport landscape.”

Phoenix returns to the IndyCar Series schedule for the first time since 2018, but the one-mile desert oval has a rich history in the discipline dating back to the inaugural visit in 1964.

Past Indy car winners at Phoenix include a ‘who’s who’ of the sport, including A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Bobby Unser, Al Unser, Gordon Johncock, Johnny Rutherford, Tom Sneva, Bobby Rahal, Rick Mears, Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, and Josef Newgarden.

The cornerstone of American open wheel racing, the 110th Indianapolis 500, takes place on Sunday, May 24 at iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway and will go a long way toward crowning the Astor Cup champion – as Spain’s Alex Palou goes for his fifth title in six years with Chip Ganassi Racing.

The Greatest Spectacle in Racing will return to the FOX broadcast network for the second straight year, as all 17 races are again televised live on FOX after a debut year of huge growth for the series.

Viewership of this year’s NTT IndyCar Series season jumped 27 percent from 2024, with a year-long average of 1.36 million viewers watching the historic campaign that saw Palou become the first three-peat title winner in 14 years.

“Our growth is industry-leading, and will only accelerate faster as we continue our powerful partnership with FOX Sports and increase investment in our events,” Penske Entertainment Corp. President and CEO Mark Miles said. “The 2026 NTT IndyCar Series schedule provides a dynamic showcase for our sport and its stars, blending fan-favorite race weekends with incredible showcases at exciting new venues.

“We cannot wait for 2026.”

Other fan-favorite tracks back on the calendar next year include the streets of Long Beach, Calif., home of the long-running Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach; the IMS road course during the month of May; World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill.; Wisconsin’s Road America; Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course; Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway; and Portland (Ore.) Int’l Raceway.

Of particular note regarding the Nashville race is that it will directly follow FOX’s coverage of the FIFA World Cup Final, as well as expand to a 400-mile race around the 1.33-mile concrete oval.

Canada’s lone IndyCar event moves from the streets of Toronto north to the city of Markham in a multi-year deal, while the season finale heads back to California’s WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the first time since 2023.

The Grand Prix of Monterey wraps up next year’s IndyCar calendar on Sept. 6 during Labor Day weekend.

2026 NTT IndyCar Series Schedule

Date – Venue – Location

March 1 – Streets of St. Petersburg – St. Petersburg, Fla.
March 7 – Phoenix Raceway – Avondale, Ariz.
March 15 – Streets of Arlington – Arlington, Texas
March 29 – Barber Motorsports Park – Birmingham, Ala.
April 19 – Streets of Long Beach – Long Beach, Calif.
May 9 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course – Speedway, Ind.
May 24 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Indy 500) – Speedway, Ind.
May 31 – Streets of Detroit – Detroit, Mich.
June 7 – World Wide Technology Raceway – Madison, Ill.
June 21 – Road America – Elkhart Lake, Wis.
July 5 – Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – Lexington, Ohio
July 19 – Nashville Superspeedway – Lebanon, Tenn.
Aug. 9 – Portland Int’l Raceway – Portland, Ore.
Aug. 16 – Streets of Markham – Markham, Ontario, Canada
Aug. 29 – Milwaukee Mile Race 1 – West Allis, Wis.
Aug. 30 – Milwaukee Mile Race 2 – West Allis, Wis.
Sept. 6 – WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca – Monterey, Calif.