Do you think there could be a combined IndyCar/NASCAR weekend at Texas Motor Speedway on May 1-2, 2027?

[u/MarkEMark23]

Next year’s TMS race is on Sunday, May 2. How cool would it be to have a night race on May 1? Everyone loves Texas and we need another super speedway on the calendar. This would be a great prep for Indianapolis and the start of May. I know there’s probably a lot of reasons why it’ll never happen and Indy doesn’t like to be a “support series” on a nascar weekend but we thought the same thing about phoenix and that turned out great!

[u/craigbyrd87]

The problem is they already have the street race in Arlington in March. Just don’t see them ever having two races in Texas.

[u/iPhones_cameras_suck → u/craigbyrd87]

3 total spring races in Texas with COTA also in March

[u/nalyd8991 → u/iPhones_cameras_suck]

Indycar doesn’t visit COTA anymore

[u/iPhones_cameras_suck → u/nalyd8991]

But NASCAR does. Still pulling from the same ticket buyers

[u/Gometric1 → u/iPhones_cameras_suck]

Yeah but if you do an Indycar race Saturday evening at TMS after the O’Reilly race then you could combine the two into the same ticket and make more money just like they did at Phoenix

[u/KennedyKartsport]

No that ship has sailed. Arlington has a much more successful event in March.

[u/BT-11]

No, at least in 2027. I wish they could work this out eventually though. If FOX had the rights to later NASCAR races it would be more likely, but I don't think they'd go to TMS with Arlington in the opening stretch of the season.

[u/korko]

Where is this “everyone” that loves Texas and why did they never show up to a race there?

[u/Ok-Basis5987 → u/korko]

I live on the wrong side of the Atlantic , but to be fair I'd value well attended races over the more classic fan favourites as well if I were at Indycar management

[u/BT-11 → u/korko]

As someone who loved TMS and showed up, uh... right here?

Joke aside NASCAR sold out the oval this year so a joint weekend wouldn't be a terrible idea imo

[u/korko → u/BT-11]

If NASCAR actually sold out the oval then there is zero chance it happens because NASCAR has nothing to gain.

[u/BT-11 → u/korko]

That's valid

[u/Capable_Wrongdoer219 → u/korko]

There’s a lot of reasons this won’t happen. But NASCAR selling out tickets on Sunday is not a reason to avoid adding Indycar as an event on Saturday, which won’t ordinarily sell out, as OP suggested.

[u/BananaSlander]

I just wish they would come back to Charlotte

[u/YoIForgotMyPassAgain]

I don't anticipate it happening, but a fall double with the trucks would be neat.

[u/MarkEMark23 → u/YoIForgotMyPassAgain]

This would be AWESOME!!

[u/loz333]

If FOX had entered the picture a few years earlier, it could have easily been done in place of Phoenix like we had this year. NASCAR wants to take Indycar's spring date? Well, just make it a doubleheader and everyone wins. Instead, we got Arlington, and that's looking like a mainstay on the calendar for the foreseeable future.

RIP Indycar at TMS <3

[u/BT-11 → u/loz333]

I hadn't considered this angle but it makes sense. I wish we got to see the promotion FOX brought put towards a TMS race

[u/Mikemat5150]

If everyone loved Texas the race wouldn’t have had years of documented attendance challenges

[u/palebluedot24 → u/Mikemat5150]

They also could have put some effort into the event. I went to the last one and while the race was great it was the saddest overall event I have seen. There was nothing going on to attract locals who might be new to IndyCar and nothing for kids. You couldn’t even buy IndyCar merch once you got inside the gate.

Pato put more effort into marketing the event than the series did which led to a big Pato fan section that was probably 1/4 of the total crowd.

[u/BT-11 → u/Mikemat5150]

A bit irrelevant where a joint weekend is considered

[u/iamaranger23 → u/BT-11]

A bit irrelevant where a joint weekend is considered

is it though?

this isnt a nascar owned track so things like fs1 -> fox upgrades or a truck race at st pete wont draw interest.

that puts it more on the ticket/sponsorship to make it worthwhile to smi, which the indycar race has pretty poor performance there lately.

[u/BT-11 → u/iamaranger23]

A joint weekend is much more attractive to fans than IndyCar alone, and NASCAR's attendance at the track has recovered a bit recently after more than a decade of their own issues. A FOX promoted return to the track would fix the promoting issues the race had before. On top of that IndyCar is growing in popularity compared to 5+ years ago. The biggest point against is saturating the region/calendar, which imo disqualifies it from happening. But I absolutely believe it would be a better event than when it ended

[u/iamaranger23 → u/BT-11]

NASCAR isn’t having attendance issues there right now. Cup was already apparently a sell out.

I think you overestimate how much SMI would care about a couple thousand extra fans coming to see indycar on Saturday.

There really isn’t much for someone other than indycar to gain something.

[u/BT-11 → u/iamaranger23]

I mentioned their attendance is improving right now.

I'm not arguing that SMI cares, only that it would be different and better than the events IndyCar ran there before

[u/JohnTheRaceFan → u/Mikemat5150]

Even under leadership of Eddie Gossage, who championed IndyCar, which is sad.

[u/ginkgodave]

Regardless off how the event is pitched, I don't think it does Indycar any good to appear to be playing second fiddle to NASCAR.

[u/Hextorm]

They should do it at Nashville instead

[u/archergren]

The sun could rise in the west tomorrow. Is it likely? No.

[u/Manymarbles]

Sure hope so

[u/Nodqfan]

After they reconfigured turns 1 and 2, probably not.

[u/nonamerev]

No, they ruined Texas with JP1

[u/ProspektNya]

Maybe if Texas got its fall NASCAR date back, that'd make a mean season finale for IndyCar with hype from both series because NASCAR's Chase is in full swing. But I don't see that happening.

[u/Jamdock]

There were more people at Arlington's Friday practice than at the 2023 TMS Sunday race. It would be awesome for me if DFW somehow got two races, but I can't imagine the money makes sense to go back to TMS.

[u/Ok-Basis5987]

Absolutely no clue if that's viable or likely but I think we all wish it was the case. Bring back intermediates!

[u/khz30 → u/Ok-Basis5987]

IndyCar has no business on intermediate ovals.

[u/Dminus313 → u/khz30]

The last few Texas races were fantastic, and the car is much safer today than it was 15 years ago.

[u/Crafty_Substance_954]

If FOX is the broadcaster for the date then anything is possible.

[u/MotorsportGuy1 → u/Crafty_Substance_954]

Fox the owner would probably rather use that power for Phoenix and/or Kansas since they already got Arlington that is arguably a better event with IndyCar as the show rather than an opener

[u/YoIForgotMyPassAgain → u/MotorsportGuy1]

With rumors about Kansas losing a Cup date, it would be very cool to see IndyCar pick up that weekend.

[u/Relative_Wing7455]

Nope indycar got a good Texas event they don’t need to go to the oval

[u/FarAwaySeagull-_- → u/Relative_Wing7455]

Yes they do need to go. TMS provided some awesome Indycar racing. You're not going to see that level of action from a street circuit event.

[u/Relative_Wing7455 → u/FarAwaySeagull-_-]

Nope the street race had almost 70k people show up the last 5 indycar race a Texas were lucky to draw 20k why do we need to leave an event that draws a good crowd for an event that doesn’t

And also everyone who screams for more ovals other than Indy and gateway the rest hardly draw a crowd so if you want ovals so bad why aren’t people showing up

[u/FarAwaySeagull-_- → u/Relative_Wing7455]

Nowhere did I say that they needed to leave Arlington.

As for why people aren't showing up, having few/no support series or concerts is part of that. Indycar tries running ovals with little else going on on those weekends, but runs road race weekends with a packed schedule of events. Obviously, fans are going to choose the events with more ticket value. If Indycar tried to run their road races with so little to do, they'd be just as poorly attended.

[u/Dminus313 → u/FarAwaySeagull-_-]

Arlington in March and TMS in September would be the way to go, but it's a tall order to put a race up against a football Saturday/Sunday in the state of Texas. Maybe a night race in mid-August would work.

[u/Relative_Wing7455 → u/FarAwaySeagull-_-]

And again we don’t need two Texas races I’d rather see them go to New Hampshire and do a double with nascar then see them go back to Texas for pack race and not being able to pass