IndyCar: Texas Motor Speedway to return to the schedule in 2019 and beyond

Texas Motor Speedway is set to return to the IndyCar schedule through at least the 2022 season. The track has hosted at least one IndyCar race each season since the 1997 season.

Texas Motor Speedway is set to return as a venue on the IndyCar schedule for the 23rd consecutive season next year, as IndyCar and the track have reached a new four-year agreement to keep it there through at least the 2022 season.

The four-turn, 1.455-mile (2.317-kilometer) Texas Motor Speedway oval in Fort Worth, Texas is one of only three superspeedways currently on the IndyCar schedule along with Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway.

Texas Motor Speedway’s annual race, the DXC Technology 600, is held in early June. The 2019 DXC Technology 600 is scheduled to be held on Saturday, June 8, which is the night after the NASCAR Truck Series race at the track.

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Texas Motor Speedway hosted one race in the 1997 season and two races per season in each season from the 1998 season through the 2004 season. It has hosted one race per season in each season from the 2005 season through the 2018 season except in the 2011 season when two half-distance races were held at the track.

In all, Texas Motor Speedway has hosted 30 IndyCar races over the course of the last 22 seasons. Those eight extra races have come in the eight seasons during which the track hosted two races, as there were no seasons during this span during which the track did not host any races.

Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage previously had a non-compete “radius clause” in the track’s last IndyCar contract, effectively meaning that there could not be any other IndyCar races held within a certain radius of the track.

However, with IndyCar having been seriously discussing adding a race at Circuit of the Americas, the 20-turn, 3.427-mile (5.513-kilometer) road course in Austin, Texas to replace the current race at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Arizona in April, Gossage has compromised seeing as how Texas Motor Speedway is set to return to the schedule.

Here is what Gossage had to say about the track renewing its deal with IndyCar, according to Motorsport.com.

"“Texas Motor Speedway is the second home of Indy car racing, and we are thrilled to extend our partnership with the IndyCar Series and with DXC Technology. We are pleased to have negotiated a sanction agreement that allows Texas Motor Speedway to move forward with IndyCar. Our company has invested significant dollars into the sport and a tremendous amount of effort growing the sport through the years.“So many great moments in this sport have occurred at Texas Motor Speedway. This is and always will be ‘America’s Original Nighttime IndyCar Race.’ Photo finishes and Victory Lane drama have been the standard over the years. No other track has seen as many Verizon IndyCar Series races over the last two-plus decades. Texas Motor Speedway has been good for Indy car racing and Indy car racing has been good for Texas Motor Speedway.”"

With the confirmation of Texas Motor Speedway returning to next year’s IndyCar schedule, a total of five oval races have been confirmed first next season. A total of six oval races are on the 2018 schedule.

The Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is set to return to the schedule next season, as are the Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway, the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway and the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Gateway Motorsports Park. The aforementioned race at ISM Raceway, the Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Phoenix Grand Prix, is not returning to the schedule in 2019.

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