{"id":149978,"date":"2025-09-17T08:15:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T08:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/149978\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T08:15:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T08:15:14","slug":"indycar-returns-to-phoenix-by-crashing-nascars-2026-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/149978\/","title":{"rendered":"IndyCar Returns To Phoenix By Crashing NASCAR\u2019s 2026 Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Copper<\/p>\n

PHOENIX – MARCH 21: Tony Kanaan driving the #11 Andretti Green Racing Team 7-Eleven Dallara Honda on his way to winning in the Arizona desert at the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series Copper World Indy 200 on March 21, 2004 at the Phoenix International Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Darrell Ingham\/Getty Images).<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n

The spring race weekend next season at Phoenix Raceway just got louder. Beginning in 2026, the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series \u2014 the series most fans still call Xfinity \u2014 will share the Saturday billing with the IndyCar Series. IndyCar hasn\u2019t raced at the one-mile oval since 2018, but when it returns on March 7, it will do so in front of a crowd that\u2019s already primed for NASCAR\u2019s Cup race the following day.<\/p>\n

If this sounds familiar, that\u2019s because it is. A few years ago, in 2020, NASCAR and IndyCar shared a doubleheader weekend on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Back then, the novelty was watching IndyCars carve through the infield at warp speed after the stock cars thundered through the turns, all on the same Saturday card. Now Phoenix becomes the stage, a track with more than 50 years of open-wheel history that has also become one of NASCAR\u2019s most important markets.<\/p>\n

Phoenix Raceway President Latasha Causey called the move a reunion: \u201cThis track has deep roots in open-wheel history, so we\u2019re pleased to bring that tradition back to our race fans as part of a doubleheader Saturday with the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s more than nostalgia, though. This marks the first time NASCAR and IndyCar will stage two doubleheaders in the same season. Earlier in 2026, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will race at St. Petersburg on the same weekend IndyCar opens its season. For a sport often accused of moving in parallel lanes, that\u2019s suddenly two weekends where the worlds of stock cars and open-wheel collide.<\/p>\n

ForbesIndyCar\u2019s 2026 Schedule Features World Cup Final Lead-In For NashvilleBy Bruce Martin<\/a><\/p>\n

And on the NASCAR side, the drivers aren\u2019t just supportive \u2014 they\u2019re genuinely excited. Ryan Blaney, who knows a thing or two about winning in Phoenix after securing his 2023 Cup championship there, welcomed the announcement:<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it. I was really excited that they announced that. I have a super close relationship with the IndyCar guys. We\u2019re all under the same building and we all root each other on. I loved when we had the doubleheader with them at Indy\u2026 I think it\u2019s gonna be fantastic, and I like that IndyCar is going back to Phoenix. It\u2019s been a while since they\u2019ve run in Phoenix and I think it will put on a really good show. I\u2019m looking forward to going and standing in one and two as those guys are just hauling butt around there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blaney isn\u2019t exaggerating \u2014 IndyCars are expected to lap Phoenix nearly six seconds faster than their stock-car cousins. That sort of contrast makes a doubleheader work. You can feel the ground shake under 3,400-pound NASCAR machines on one run, then watch IndyCars slice the air like fighter jets the next. It\u2019s the motorsport equivalent of getting Beethoven and Metallica on the same ticket.<\/p>\n

For Phoenix fans, the weekend now becomes a three-day festival: IndyCar and NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series on Saturday, capped by the Cup Series race on Sunday with ARCA also on the bill. For the sport as a whole, it\u2019s another sign that NASCAR and IndyCar are realizing they\u2019re stronger \u2014 and draw bigger crowds \u2014 when they run side by side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX – MARCH 21: Tony Kanaan driving the #11 Andretti Green Racing Team 7-Eleven Dallara Honda on his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,51933,8455,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-149978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-ntt-indycar","12":"tag-phoenix","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}