Rumor: NASCAR moving Texas race to kill IndyCar race

Never underestimate NASCAR’s desire to kill off the IndyCar Series. The pesky little open wheel series has been a thorn in its side for years.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

With races on NBC (like NASCAR), scheduling conflicts, and battles over sponsorship and fans, it’s likely that NASCAR brass would just as soon see IndyCar go away – like a gnat buzzing in your ear.

History has shown that everything IndyCar tries to do – be it venues, TV deals, types of races, etc. – NASCAR moves right in to ensure IndyCar fails and eventually goes out with a whimper.

Maybe someday I’ll write an article listing all the moves NASCAR has made in the last 30 years that hurt IndyCar.  It would be voluminous.

NASCAR Latest Move to Thwart IndyCar (per IndyStar)

As Penske Entertainment brass continue to work to put the finishing touches on its 2024 IndyCar calendar, the series runs the risk of seeing its longest continuous-running stop (outside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway) not being run — even for just next year.

After 27 consecutive visits, dating back to the Indy Racing League’s stop as part of its 1996-97 campaign, and 36 races overall, there’s a legitimate chance Texas Motor Speedway will be absent from IndyCar’s final 2024 schedule.

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As sources explained to IndyStar, NASCAR is eyeing March 24 for its stop at Circuit of the Americas — a race that, for the past couple years, has been run and promoted by TMS. With Easter weekend immediately following, IndyCar had April 7 slotting in nicely to the current schedule.

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But TMS, having seen its slate of NASCAR Cup series stops trimmed in recent years from two races to a points-paying race and the All-Star race (2021-22), and this year just one single, is said to have been reevaluating when to hold that event.

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Shifting that Cup and Xfinity weekend out of the playoffs and back to the spring — a move that, if IndyCar’s race was scheduled as wished, could have the two largest racing series in the country on back-to-back weekends at the same track. Indianapolis Star