IndyCar News: Sunday Morning Update From the GP of St Pete

Good morning from the Firestone Grand Prix of St Pete presented by RP Funding. The weather is predicted to be in the mid-70s at race time, which is early afternoon today. Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden was fastest in the morning warmup.

This is an exciting time with the new Fox Sports television package producing today’s race.  All the drivers are pumped about the vibe that Fox has created to promote our series, like commercials during the Super Bowl LIX last month.

Yesterday, Eric Shanks, CEO of FOX Sports, spoke with the media and expressed the network’s direction for IndyCar racing.

“As you guys can imagine, open-wheel racing is cool, but you really kind of got to work to attach yourself to it. So we’re doing simple things, like every 15 minutes telling you what the rules are, right, because it’s kind of complicated.

“We are deploying new technology to take you places that you haven’t been before, but then also simple things like who is in what car? We put transponders in the car along with INDYCAR that for the first time you can actually — like during practice on a wide shot you see who is who. These cars all kind of look the same, and they don’t have big numbers.”

“Then it really all comes down to the drivers. You take Alex, Josef, Pato, Marcus, Rossi. They have not said no to us yet, right, of doing anything. When these guys are all in and they think that they’re with somebody that truly has their brand at heart, highlighting their personalities along with new technology, making it approachable, and we’re going to learn as we go. Yesterday’s broadcast was different than today’s.”

“Sunday is actually kind of a really cool day because it’s the first time that we’re going to take INDYCAR and lead straight into NASCAR at COTA. As much as we’re talking about INDYCAR here, I do think that sometimes that’s going to be reversed. Sometimes NASCAR will lead into INDYCAR. I think these two properties have the ability to elevate each other to talk to both fans. Who knows where that leads in the future with events and things like that.”

Here is the schedule for today—all times in ET.

IndyCar Warmup            9:02 – 9:27 am

Indy NXT Race                10:10 – 11:05 am

IndyCar Race 1               12:29 pm green flag

Newgarden Tops St. Pete Morning Warmup

Lucille Dust reporting live from St Pete