IndyCar may not have a flashy new car or a Netflix series, but the series appears to be building momentum the old-fashioned way: by putting a strong product in front of more people.
The 2026 season opened March 1 on the streets of St. Petersburg with an attendance level not seen there in decades. A week later IndyCar partnered with NASCAR at Phoenix Raceway during a stock‑car weekend and delivered solid crowds and TV interest. The most striking success, however, came with the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington.
Organizers fashioned a 2.7‑mile, 14‑turn street circuit that looped around the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium and the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Field, bringing open‑wheel racing back to central Texas in a venue not on NASCAR’s or F1’s calendars. The result was a sold‑out race that drew praise from drivers, teams 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, who has raced on many street layouts, agreed. “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.”
Taking races into city centers or wrapping circuits around major stadiums isn’t a new idea. In past decades IMSA staged metropolitan street events in places like Miami and San Antonio to expose exotic cars to broader audiences. IndyCar itself has tried similar concepts — Vancouver, Baltimore, Houston and, more recently, Nashville among them — while Formula 1 built a big event around Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
The logic is simple: dedicated fans will travel to permanent road courses, but to win over casual fans you must bring the sport to entertainment hubs — downtown districts, stadium complexes and convention areas with hotels, dining and suites that make a race weekend feel like an event. Arlington’s layout benefited from huge adjacent parking lots and streets that allowed a substantial course to be constructed without shutting down large portions of a city.
“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 has already added an 18th race to its 2026 calendar: the Freedom 250 in Washington, D.C., a one‑off timed to the nation’s 250th anniversary that uses the capital and the National Mall as anchors. Mayor Muriel Bowser has suggested that the event could become a recurring date, showing how one successful city race can evolve into a longer‑term commitment.
“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.”
