With IndyCar’s recent spotlight in Superbowl LIX, there are some new fans looking to learn more about the series. Here is a beginner’s guide to anyone watching IndyCar for the first time.
IndyCar’s Beginners Guide:
Whether you’re a Formula 1 supporter seeking a fresh racing experience or you stumbled upon the IndyCar through the ads during the Super Bowl and want to discover more, now is the perfect time!
The first race of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is less than a month away and if you’re keen to jump into North America’s leading open-wheel series, here’s the most basic rundown of everything you need to know before you watch your first race.
Teams and Drivers
IndyCar is mostly a spec series with major components being the same like the Dallara chassis and aerodynamic parts but there are many places for team development. All IndyCars use a 2.2L turbocharged V6. In the middle of the 2024 season, IndyCar made the switch to a hybrid engine, allowing for additional horsepower for drivers and strategies for teams.
For the 2025 season, IndyCar will have 11 full-time teams, with the newest addition of Prema. Those teams are split between two engine manufacturers: Honda, and Chevrolet.Each team has a different number of entries totaling 27 full-time entries. However, unlike in previous years, there is now a cap of three drivers per team.
Honda: Andretti Global, Chip Ganassi Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Meyer Shank Racing, Dale Coyne Racing.
Chevrolet: Arrow McLaren, Team Penske, Ed Carpenter Racing, Juncos Hollinger Racing, AJ Foyt Racing, Prema Racing.
The only time you will see more than 27 cars on track is at the Indianapolis 500, which has a 33-car starting field. Many teams will add one or two additional cars for that race in hopes of bettering their odds of winning. Other teams prepare a car specifically for the 500.
Following drivers in IndyCar may be difficult for new fans, as there is much more flexibility in driver changes. In 2024, 43 drivers competed in at least one race.
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What Tracks Does IndyCar Race At?
IndyCar is unique compared to other top-level racing series in terms of the diversity of its tracks. Throughout the season, drivers compete on three types of tracks: street circuits, road courses, and ovals.
All tracks require drastically different skill sets and setups which we explain in a later article.
The IndyCar season starts March 2 in St. Petersburg and runs until Aug. 31 in Nashville. This season’s schedule has 17 races at 16 different race tracks across the U.S. and one in Toronto, Canada.
Street Circuits: St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Detroit, Toronto
Road Courses: Thermal Club, Barber, Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Road Course), Road America, Mid-Ohio, Laguna Seca, Portland
Ovals: Indianapolis 500, World Wide, Iowa, Milwaukee, Nashville
Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race in Iowa is the doubleheader weekend of the year. A doubleheader, in this case, means there are two races during the entirety of the weekend, usually one on Saturday and one on Sunday.
The Thermal Club Million Dollar Challenge, will not return in 2025, and it will become a points race.
What Does A Race Weekend Look Like?
The format of race weekends varies from race to race; however, the most common is that Friday consists of two practice sessions: one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
On Saturday, there is a morning practice session followed by qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday is race day and it begins with a warm-up session but only at road and street courses.
A driver’s qualification run determines their starting order in a race. Depending on the type of race circuit, qualifying can work in different ways.
On an oval, qualification is determined by the combined time for two consecutive timed laps while on street and road courses qualifying is divided into three stages.
Every INDYCAR race begins with a rolling start, during which the pace car leads the field until it enters the pits. The number of laps varies from track to track and ranges from 20 to 206.
And like every race the driver to cross the checkered flag first is determined the winner unless a late disqualification occurs.
Points Scoring and Championship
In INDYCAR, points are distributed based on finishing positions. The winner receives 50 points, while second place gets 40, the third earns 35, fourth is awarded 32, and fifth takes home 30 points. The points continue to decrease down to five for the last-place finisher.
Additionally, drivers can earn bonus points: 1 point for securing pole position, 1 point for leading at least one lap during the race, and 2 points for leading the most laps overall.
At the close of the season, the entrant and driver with the highest number of ranking points respectively shall be declared the NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion.
How to Watch?
If you live in America, you can watch every IndyCar race live on Fox and Fox Sports 1 and 2 thanks to a new deal signed this past June. For any international viewers, you can check out IndyCar’s website for more viewing info.
LWOS IndyCar will provide more in-depth previews and break downs of each race in the 2025 season.
Featured Image Credit: Penske Entertainment/Karl Zermin. 5/27/2024
