Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, one of the Indianapolis area's own teams, is returning to full-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition in 2027.
IndyCar released the first slice of its 2027 schedule on August 12, and the headline detail is one we’ve essentially seen before: three consecutive race weekends to open the season, at St. Petersburg, Phoenix, and Arlington. That’s the second year running IndyCar has front-loaded its calendar this way, and only the fifth time in the series’ 118-year history that a season has opened with three straight race weekends.
The Phase One Slate
IndyCar is calling this partial reveal “Phase One.” Here’s what’s locked in so far:
- Streets of St. Petersburg — Sunday, March 7
- Phoenix Raceway — Saturday, March 13
- Streets of Arlington — Sunday, March 21
- Barber Motorsports Park — Sunday, April 4
- Streets of Long Beach — Sunday, April 18
- Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course — Saturday, May 15
- The 111th Indianapolis 500 — Sunday, May 30
- Streets of Detroit — Sunday, June 6
Everything past Detroit — the back half of the season, plus the entire Indy NXT by Firestone development-series calendar — is still being sorted out. IndyCar says Phase Two arrives “in the coming weeks,” which in scheduling terms usually means promoter contracts and sanctioning fees aren’t fully signed yet.
Why Open With Three Straight Races
St. Petersburg has now hosted the season opener 17 times, and it works as IndyCar’s spring training: a forgiving street layout, reliable Florida weather, and low competitive stakes before anyone is really up to speed. Phoenix is the more interesting piece of the opening stretch — it’s a joint weekend with NASCAR on FOX, run on a historic 1-mile oval, and last season’s race set a series record at that track with 565 on-track passes. Pairing an oval that actually produces side-by-side racing with a NASCAR crossover audience is a smart way to put IndyCar in front of viewers who wouldn’t otherwise tune in.
Arlington is the newest piece, and it fits a broader pattern. IndyCar has spent the last two seasons aggressively reworking its footprint — this year alone the series swapped nearly four decades of history in Toronto for a new street circuit in nearby Markham, Ontario, while also expanding into Texas for the first time. The Java House Grand Prix of Arlington runs through a partnership between IndyCar, the Dallas Cowboys organization, and REV Entertainment, which also handles Texas Rangers events. Its first running in 2026 sold out and produced the fastest street-circuit trap speed of the season — 192.298 mph, set by race winner Kyle Kirkwood — the kind of debut that earns an immediate return date instead of a one-and-done tryout.
The Rest of the Spring Run
From Arlington, the calendar moves through a mix of proven venues. Barber Motorsports Park returns for the 17th time on April 4 — a rolling, technical road course cut into the Alabama countryside, known for blind crests and long, committed corners that punish drivers who get greedy on entry. Two weeks later comes the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the 43rd time IndyCar has raced there and the longest-running street circuit on the calendar; the 2026 edition drew a modern-era record crowd of more than 200,000 people.
Then it’s the Month of May: the IMS road course on May 15, qualifying weekend on May 22-23, and the 111th Indianapolis 500 on May 30. That race has a genuinely hard act to follow — the 2026 Indy 500 produced a record 70 lead changes and the closest finish in the event’s history, with Felix Rosenqvist beating David Malukas to the line by 0.0233 of a second. The spring run closes June 6 in Detroit, where Alex Palou’s win in 2026 produced the most on-track passes of any street circuit race that season.
The TV Deal Is the Real Flex
Every one of these eight races will air on FOX, marking the third consecutive season the network has carried the full IndyCar schedule, plus three extra broadcast windows for Indy 500 qualifying and Carb Day coverage. That makes IndyCar the only top-tier motorsport series in North America with every race on network television rather than split off to cable or a streaming paywall. It’s not just a broadcast footnote — IndyCar’s viewership is up 16% this season, its healthiest number since 2008, and a full-season, no-exceptions network deal is real leverage when a series is trying to convince host cities, sponsors, and manufacturers that showing up is worth the investment.
One Last Season Before the Rulebook Changes
There’s a bigger story sitting underneath this schedule reveal. In late July, IndyCar unveiled the IR-28, an all-new Dallara chassis paired with 2.4-liter twin-turbo V6 engines from Chevrolet and Honda producing up to 760 horsepower — but that car doesn’t make its competitive debut until 2028. Every race on this newly announced 2027 calendar will run with the current car, which means teams get one more full season to wring out setups, aero packages, and driver development before IndyCar resets its technical rulebook.
Honda’s engine program isn’t only looking ahead these days, either. The manufacturer has also been busy putting its historic race cars back to work, a reminder that Honda treats its motorsport heritage as an active asset rather than something to keep behind glass.
For fans, the practical takeaway is straightforward: if you’re planning travel around next year’s season, the March-through-June stretch is safe to book — dates, venues, and TV windows are locked in. Just don’t expect the full picture, including where the summer and fall rounds land, until IndyCar wraps up those remaining sanctioning conversations. And if you want to see the current car at its absolute limit before the IR-28 era begins, 2027 is effectively last call.
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