IndyCar set for rare season opener not seen since 2008

For the first time since 2008, an oval race is set to open up an IndyCar season, as the Genesys 300 is set to get things underway at Texas Motor Speedway.

Just as it has done in many recent years, Indianapolis Motor Speedway was scheduled to host the first oval race, the Indianapolis 500, of the new IndyCar season when the 2020 schedule was revealed last September.

This race was the sixth of 17 races on the schedule, as once again, several road and street course races were scheduled to kick off the season in March, April and May.

But the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on those plans. The season was set to commence on Sunday, March 15 on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, the site of the season opener every year going back to 2011.

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However, two days before that race was scheduled to take place at the 14-turn, 1.8-mile (2.897-kilometer) temporary street circuit, it was called off because of the pandemic.

Here we are now in early June, and the 2020 season still hasn’t gotten underway. For the first time ever, the Indy 500 is scheduled to take place in a month other than May, as it was rescheduled for Sunday, August 23. It hasn’t not taken place in May since 1945 when it didn’t take place at all for the fourth consecutive year due to World War II.

It practically goes without saying that for the first time since Phoenix Raceway hosted the season’s second race back in 2016, Indianapolis Motor Speedway was replaced as the host of the first oval race of the season.

The Brickyard was replaced by Texas Motor Speedway, which is scheduled to host the season opener this Saturday, June 6 under the lights.

Yes, an oval track is scheduled to host an IndyCar season opener.

The last time that happened was in the 2008 season, when Homestead-Miami Speedway, which hasn’t been on the schedule since the 2010 season when it served as the finale, got things underway.

In 2009, the season began on the streets of St. Petersburg. In 2010, it began on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Ever since then, St. Pete has kicked off the new year.

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NBC, not NBC Sports Network as originally planned, is set to broadcast this Saturday night’s race, the Genesys 300, live from the four-turn, 1.44-mile (2.317-kilometer) Texas Motor Speedway oval in Fort Worth, Texas beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET.