IndyCar: Pocono Raceway to return to the schedule in 2019

Pocono Raceway is set to return to the IndyCar schedule in the 2019 season. The track has hosted one IndyCar race each season since the 2013 season.

Pocono Raceway is set to return as a venue on the IndyCar schedule for the seventh consecutive season next year. The track hosts the annual ABC Supply 500, the only other 500-mile race currently on the IndyCar schedule aside of the Indianapolis 500.

The three-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Pocono Raceway triangle in Long Pond, Pennsylvania has hosted one IndyCar race each season since the 2013 season. Before that, it had not hosted an IndyCar race since the 1989 season.

The 1989 season was the 19th overall season and the 19th consecutive season during which at least one IndyCar race at the track was held.

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There was one USAC race held at the track in each season from the 1971 season through the 1981 season, and there was one CART race held at the track in each season from the 1980 season through the 1989 season except in the 1981 season.

Since Pocono Raceway returned to the IndyCar scheduled for the first time in 24 years back in 2013, five different drivers have won the six races that have been held at the track. Scott Dixon won the race in 2013, Juan Pablo Montoya won it in 2014, Ryan Hunter-Reay won it in 2015, Will Power won it in both 2016 and 2017 and Alexander Rossi won it this year.

The confirmation of the return of Pocono Raceway to the IndyCar schedule next season means that there are now four confirmed oval races on the schedule, although the date for the race at the track has not yet been confirmed. There are six oval races on this year’s schedule.

Here is what Pocono Raceway president Ben May had to say about the date for the IndyCar race in 2019, according to The Times-Tribune.

"“We like it. It works for us. We had July 4th for those first few years. Then we shifted to August. It’s worked really well. It works with our motorsports calendar, so we have our NASCAR, NASCAR, IndyCar…It flows well.”"

The only three oval races that had been confirmed for next year are the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway and the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Gateway Motorsports Park.

The future of the DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway is still unknown, and the Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Phoenix Grand Prix at ISM Raceway is not returning to the schedule next year. It is also unknown if any oval tracks that are not on this year’s schedule will be added to next year’s schedule.

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Are you excited to hear the news that Pocono Raceway is set to be back on the IndyCar schedule for the seventh consecutive season next year?