Marshall Pruett Mar 16, 2026, 01:29 PM ET
IndyCar is searching for its moment.
Formula 1 found a U.S. breakthrough with Netflix’s Drive to Survive in 2020. IMSA grabbed attention by rolling out its hybrid GTP cars in 2023, drawing larger crowds and factory commitments. IndyCar lacks new hardware and a reality-show boost, but the opening three races of the 2026 season show a simpler truth: a familiar product, promoted smartly, can create momentum.
The year began March 1 on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, filling the venue more than it has in decades. Six days later, IndyCar teamed with NASCAR at Phoenix Raceway during a stock-car weekend and produced strong crowd and TV numbers. Then came the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington, which may mark the biggest promotional win so far.
The Arlington race centered a 2.7-mile, 14-turn street course on the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium and the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Field, bringing open-wheel racing back into the middle of Texas in a location not already on NASCAR or F1 calendars. The result: a sold-out event and widespread praise from drivers and officials.
“Arlington is the best street course circuit and event we have in IndyCar right now,” Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward said after finishing fifth. “It is the benchmark when it comes to the size of the circuit, the IndyCar paddock, the suites and the overall experience. It really is the complete package.”
Six-time champion Scott Dixon, a veteran of many street circuits including Long Beach, echoed that sentiment. “I think it’s definitely the standard now,” he said. “The track and the presentation, the activation. With both the Cowboys and Rangers, you couldn’t ask for much better. I didn’t think I was turning up to an IndyCar event. I thought it was maybe an F1 event. Very cool.”
The idea of taking races into city centers and around major stadiums isn’t new. IMSA in the 1980s and ’90s focused on metropolitan street races — Miami, San Antonio, Columbus and others — to put exotic cars in front of larger, more casual audiences. IndyCar has long experimented with similar concepts: races around Vancouver’s BC Place, Baltimore’s Camden Yards, Houston’s Astrodome and NRG Stadium, and more recently Nashville. F1’s Miami race uses Hard Rock Stadium. Proposals and ambitions persist for Denver and other major markets.
The appeal is straightforward: hardcore fans will travel to purpose-built tracks, but the best way to attract newcomers is to bring racing to them — downtown, beside stadiums and in entertainment districts with hotels, dining and suites that broaden appeal and experiences beyond the track. Arlington’s setup, with massive adjacent parking lots and streets to build a proper course without crippling city-wide closures, demonstrated that formula can work exceptionally well.
“Fantastic event,” McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said. “Drivers loved it, sponsors loved it and it was packed. I think we should consider big cities around stadiums and convention centers. It’s a good model. Long Beach, Miami F1, Toronto, Vancouver and the Meadowlands in the past all provide good opportunities to build good circuits. I’m a fan of expansion within the Americas: Mexico, Brazil and Northeast.”
IndyCar recently added an 18th race to the calendar with approval for the Freedom 250 in Washington, D.C., a one-off designed around the nation’s 250th birthday, using the capital and the National Mall as anchors. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has also expressed interest in making the race a recurring event, an example of how momentum could translate into permanence.
“The whole idea of street racing and taking our product to the cities, if you will, is something that obviously we enjoy,” IndyCar president Doug Boles said after Arlington. “You are in and amongst the community, but you have the benefit of these massive parking lots and streets and a way to really build up a proper racetrack without having to shut down a city. This kind of formula for sure works in the right scenario… So this absolutely gives us another formula that we can have conversations with as we continue to think about the next places that we want to take our racing.”
