Last weekend, the IndyCar series kicked off their 2026, 18 race schedule with the season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.
I had the privilege of obtaining media credentials for the weekend, which gave me access to areas around the track that I’ve never had before, and it was incredible. On Sunday, during the main race, we were so close to the action that my shoes picked up pieces of warm rubber coming off the tires.
It was an action-packed weekend which also included the NASCAR truck series, the Indy NXT series (an open-wheel developmental league for IndyCar), the USF 2000 series (another open-wheel series featuring smaller cars), and the IMSA Mazda MX-5 sports car series.
Despite an uncertain weekend forecast, the weather cooperated. On Friday, we had sunny skies until late in the afternoon, when the NASCAR truck series hit the track for practice. Unfortunately, they only got four or five laps in before it began to sprinkle, and that was the end of the day. However, Saturday, which was supposed to include rain for the first half of the day, opened with cloudy skies and a couple of early sprinkles, before the skies cleared, and it became a beautiful day. Sunday was perfect from start to finish.
The weekend highlights included a Friday practice session for the IndyCar series. Saturday included another practice session for the IndyCar series, followed by the NASCAR truck series race that afternoon. On Sunday, the Indy cars were on the track in the morning for a warmup session prior to their race. The IndyNXT series kicked off the activities on Sunday with their season opening race won by Nikita Johnson, a 17-year-old from St. Petersburg.
There are several story-lines for the 2026 season to watch unfold. First, will anyone be able to dethrone Alex Palou as the defending series champion? The number 10 DHL team was dominant last year and ran away with the championship.
Second, all eyes will be on the new independent officiating team, which is being run by longtime friend Nick Allen, who was a former crew chief for the Andretti team. Nick has had years of experience as a crew chief in the series so he is aware of all the tricks the teams will try and pull to gain just that little bit of extra speed on the track. The new inspection team was put in place because of infractions last year by Team Penske, which led to the firing of several of the team’s top personnel.
Another story-line to follow will be how Team Penske bounces back from the disastrous 2025 season by their standards. The personnel shakeup was a top story and longtime driver Will Power left the team to join Andretti. Power has been replaced by David Malukas.
Other drivers to watch for 2026 include Frenchman Romain Grosjean returning to the series and Norwegian Dennis Hauger advancing to the series after winning the 2025 IndyNXT championship. Those 2 will be teammates driving for Dale Coyne Racing. The other big driver news is the involvement of former Formula 1 driver Mick Schumacher, the son of 7-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher. Mick will be driving the number 47 car for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team in 2026. The competition seems stronger than ever.
There will also be some new races and venues for 2026. The series returns to Phoenix Raceway for the first time since 2018 right after St. Petersburg. The third race of the season will take place on a 2.73-mile circuit on the streets around AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Also, a race was added to the schedule to be run on the streets of Washington, D.C. on August 23 to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday.
The main event on Sunday started with Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske on the pole. However, on the 1st lap, in just the 3rd turn on the track, there was a 3-car crash. The accident took out the cars of Santino Ferrucci from A.J. Foyt Racing, Mick Schumacher and Sting Ray Robb. Later in the race, one of the favorites, Scott Dixon, lost a tire coming out of the pits ending his day.
The race was competitive until the end, when Alex Palou once again pulled away from everyone, finishing almost 13 seconds ahead of second place Scott McLaughlin. Christian Lundgaard completed the podium by finishing third. It was a clean race with only 7 laps run under the caution flag.
I looked for official attendance figures but haven’t been able to find them yet. Having been to several of these races in the past, the crowds seemed larger than I’ve ever seen, especially on Friday for the opening day of practice. I walked the entire circuit on Sunday during the race, and it looked like every seat in the grandstands was full, and all the general admission areas were packed. There were people everywhere, and they were all enjoying the racing action on the track.
It appears, just from the first race, that the series will be as competitive as it’s ever been. And 2026 should be an amazing season going forward.
Here are the final race results.
http://www.imscdn.com/INDYCAR/Documents/5515/6732/indycar-officialraceresults.pdf
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