By Matt Reigle

Copyright outkick

The 2026 IndyCar schedule is here, and there are quite a few changes, and a lot of that appears to have had to do with the 2026 FIFA World Cup. But, oddly, while the biggest sporting event in the world hosted the IndyCar series in a couple of ways, it also managed to help it in another. First of all, how great is that almost perfectly even split between street circuits, road courses, and ovals? A thing of beauty. While a bunch of changes were known ahead of time, like when the first-ever Grand Prix of Arlington will take place, the Toronto race moving to nearby Markham, Ontario, a NASCAR double-header in Phoenix, and the Thermal Club getting dropped from the schedule, there were some other surprises. One was full confirmation that IndyCar will not be going down to Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez next season. According to Sports Business Journal, Penske Entertainment President and CEO Mark Miles said that this was because of the FIFA World Cup. The World Cup is also the reason that the Toronto race moved to Markham (using a track layout that I kind of dig, honestly). One other big change involves the World Cup, too, but this time it presents a massive upside for the series. Nashville is moving out of the season finale spot and is being replaced by Monterrey. Laguna Seca had previously hosted the season finale until 2023, when Nashville took over. I was kind of surprised by this, because it seemed like having Nashville as the finale was a popular decision, but take a look at Nashville’s new date. It’s July 19, which is the date of the FIFA World Cup final. The race will now have a direct lead-in on Fox from the World Cup Final, which is going to be massive for IndyCar. That’s as good, if not better than, racing immediately after the Super Bowl on the same network. I don’t know that it will eclipse the kind of numbers the Indianapolis 500 draws, but I think it would be safe to assume that Nashville will be at least the second most-watched race of the season. All in all, I think that’s a pretty solid-looking schedule even with those World Cup hurdles. The season-opener in St. Pete can’t come soon enough.