IndyCar: Is a contingency date already in place for the Indy 500?

By Asher Fair | May 9, 2020

Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske, Indy 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) /

Could IndyCar have already factored in a contingency date for the 104th running of the Indy 500 when the most recent schedule overhaul was made?

Memorial Day Weekend won’t be the same in 2020 as it has been in 103 of the last 109 and each of the last 74 years, as Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be empty on Sunday, May 24, when 33 IndyCars would have roared past the start/finish line of the four-turn, 2.5.-mile (4.023-kilometer) oval in Speedway, Indiana in front of a crowd of over 300,000 fans.

But the coronavirus pandemic caused those plans to be wiped off of the schedule, and the race was rescheduled to Sunday, August 23, nearly three months later than it would have taken place without the threat of COVID-19 in existence.

As is the case with everything right now, especially with things such as sports, which are deemed “non-essential” (in most cases), this date is subject to change.

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IndyCar, which still hasn’t seen its 2020 season get underway, has already made two major overhauls to what was originally a 17-race schedule amid the pandemic, and there may be more.

The first featured the nearly three-month postponement of 104th running of the Indy 500.

But the second one could be the one which really affects the famed race, if it does not end up being able to take place as is now planned.

In the second overhaul, IndyCar, which had moved the race at the track’s 13-turn, 2.439-mile (3.925-kilometer) natural terrain road course from Saturday, May 9 to Saturday, July 4 in the first as a part of a new NASCAR/IndyCar doubleheader weekend at the Brickyard, added three races to three tracks which were already on the schedule, bringing the projected race total for the year to 15.

Two of these tracks, Iowa Speedway and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, landed doubleheaders as a result of this change. But one track landed a second race date that is nearly three months later than its first.

That track is, of course, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

The track is now scheduled to host a second race on Saturday, October 3. This is currently (key word, currently) the 14th and final race on the schedule with a confirmed date, although it is believed that the season finale is still in the works for a date after that on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, which were initially slated to host the season opener on Sunday, March 15.

Of course, the more races, the better, and from that standpoint in itself, the second Indy road course date made perfect sense. But with all things considered, this second Indy road course date carried with it a further hint, a subliminal hint that if the “big race” could not be run on Sunday, August 23, then the first weekend in October could be an easy landing spot.

Saturday, October 3 almost seemed like a “decoy date” of sorts — a date well-positioned to house the Greatest Spectacle in Racing had the first new date fallen through, since IndyCar is set to be at the track again that weekend anyway.

The Indy 500 would naturally make sense for Sunday, October 4. Plus, there is nothing on the schedule for the previous weekend (Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27), so traditional Indy 500 qualifying could take place like it would any other year.

Now IndyCar CEO Mark Miles has confirmed that this year’s running of the 200-lap race could very well be contested in October if need be, although he did not give a specific date.

Here is what he had to say, according to Autoweek.

"“Whether it was that weekend or another weekend, one of the things that, if we got 10 fans together and we said, ‘Let’s make a list of 10 things we might imagine as possibilities,’ one of them would be if you can’t do it at the end of August, we do it later.“I’m not going to focus on a particular week, but certainly that’s something you’d have to consider if it was advisable at the time when we had to make the call.”"

With all things considered, everything is on the table at this point, and this move would make sense from many angles if it needs to be executed.

Make no mistake about; IndyCar is going to do absolutely everything in their power to make 2020 the first year with an Indy 500 contested in a month other than May as opposed to the first year without an Indy 500 since 1945 and the end of World War II.

Whether or not fans will be in attendance to see it if it happens, however, is anybody’s guess. But you’ve probably heard that quite often over the last few months.

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Texas Motor Speedway is scheduled to open up the 2020 IndyCar season on Saturday, June 6 under the lights, albeit without fans in attendance. NBC Sports Network is set to broadcast the Genesys 300 live from the the four-turn, 1.44-mile (2.317-kilometer) oval in Fort Worth, Texas beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET.