IndyCar: 17-race 2021 schedule announced, fans underwhelmed

IndyCar released the 2021 schedule on Thursday, and it features 17 races but at only 14 different tracks across 13 venues.

One day after the NASCAR Cup Series confirmed their 2021 schedule, the NTT IndyCar Series has confirmed theirs as well.

Amid a 2020 season that looks nothing like what was originally planned as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, IndyCar has confirmed a 17-race schedule for next year that doesn’t look much like the original 2020 calendar.

The race on the streets of St. Petersburg is back to its usual spot as the season opener on Sunday, March 7 after being moved back to late October as this year’s season finale as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Barber Motorsports Park and the streets of Long Beach, two mainstays which were scrapped from the 2020 scheduled due to the pandemic, are back on the schedule, as is the doubleheader at the Raceway on Belle Isle.

The races on the streets of Toronto and at Portland International Speedway and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca are also back after being canceled this year.

Road America and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, two tracks that remained on the 2020 schedule despite the chaos of the season and actually hosted doubleheaders instead of the planned one race each, are also back on the 2021 calendar for one race each. Such is also the case for World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

Of course, the Indianapolis 500 is back to its traditional date of Memorial Day Sunday as well, with the race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course preceding it by two weekends, as usual.

But that’s where the changes begin, and many are changes which the fans are not pleased about because of how very little was gained compared to how much was lost.

The one new race on the schedule is at the streets of Nashville, but two other tracks that are already on the schedule are now slated to host an additional race.

Texas Motor Speedway, which traditionally hosts a race in early June, is now scheduled to host a doubleheader in early May, and IndyCar is set to make a return trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course for a race in mid-August as a part of a doubleheader weekend with NASCAR.

In total, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and the Raceway on Belle Isle are slated to host more than 40% of the season’s 17 races, a stat that is almost 2020-esque given how many tracks have hosted doubleheaders this year just to get to a 14-race calendar.

The changes don’t stop there.

Iowa Speedway has been on the schedule since 2007 and hosted a doubleheader in 2020. It won’t be back in 2021. Circuit of the Americas hosted its first IndyCar race in 2019 and was on the 2020 schedule before the pandemic. It also won’t return in 2021.

Richmond Raceway replaced Pocono Raceway on the 2020 schedule after a seven-year run for the latter but failed to host what would have been its first race since 2009 due to the pandemic.

Neither track is on the 2021 schedule, and as a result, IndyCar is left with a mere four oval races at just three different oval tracks, both respective lows since the reunification in 2008.

Half of the season’s oval races are scheduled to take place within 24 hours, and there is just one oval race after the Indy 500, that being the race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway nearly three months later.

Here is a look at the full 2021 IndyCar schedule.

Race # – Date – Track
1 – Sunday, March 7 – Streets of St. Petersburg
2 – Sunday, April 11 – Barber Motorsports Park
3 – Sunday, April 18 – Streets of Long Beach
4 – Saturday, May 1 – Texas Motor Speedway
5 – Sunday, May 2 – Texas Motor Speedway
6 – Saturday, May 15 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course
7 – Sunday, May 30 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway
8 – Saturday, June 12 – Raceway at Belle Isle Park
9 – Sunday, June 13 – Raceway at Belle Isle Park
10 – Sunday, June 20 – Road America
11 – Sunday, July 4 – Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
12 – Sunday, July 11 – Streets of Toronto
13 – Sunday, August 8 – Streets of Nashville
14 – Saturday, August 14- Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course
15 – Saturday, August 21 – World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway
16 – Sunday, September 12 – Portland International Raceway
17 – Sunday, September 19 – WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca

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There are still three races remaining on the 2020 IndyCar schedule, with two scheduled to take place this weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course (Friday, October 2 and Saturday, October 3) and the season finale scheduled to take place on Sunday, October 25 on the streets of St. Petersburg.