IndyCar: Full schedule prediction for the 2024 season

As the 2023 IndyCar season nears its conclusion and a champion has already been crowned, let’s look ahead at what the 2024 calendar might look like.

Just one race remains on the 17-race 2023 IndyCar season schedule, and as more and more drivers are confirmed as a part of next year’s lineup, all eyes are slowly but surely turning toward next year.

The 2024 schedule has not yet been announced, but amid several hints about new dates, new tracks, and date continuity throughout the rest of the schedule, fans looking at which races to attend can probably deduce what much of the calendar will look like in an effort to start making plans.

Here’s how next year’s 17-race schedule might look.

2024 IndyCar schedule prediction

Sunday, March 10 – St. Petersburg

Not much to say here, other than the fact that the season opener being a week later eliminates the much-maligned long break between the season’s first two races.

Sunday, March 24 – Laguna Seca

With Nashville set to host the season finale next year, Laguna Seca sees its date shift to much earlier in the season. But even as the scheduled season finale from 2019 to 2023, it only got to host the closing race three times (including this weekend).

Sunday, March 31 – Texas Motor Speedway

While a number of fans would still prefer to have Texas Motor Speedway two weeks after the Indy 500 and under the lights, this beats the track being lost from the calendar, which seemed like a good possibility not too long ago. If the old school pack racing the 2023 race produced is truly back, this race should be good regardless.

Sunday, April 14 – Long Beach

No changes to speak of here. Hopefully the days of Long Beach being canceled or moved to the end of the calendar are long gone.

Sunday, April 28 – Barber Motorsports Park

Barber’s race date has shifted around a few times before, but its current date fits well with the rest of the schedule and there is no reason for a change.

Saturday, May 11 – Indianapolis road course

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course will host its lone — yes, lone — race weekend of the season on its traditional date. It was added to the calendar in 2014 but hasn’t hosted just one race since 2019.

Sunday, May 26 – Indianapolis 500

The last time a Team Penske driver won the Indy 500, we had to wait 15 months for the next one. Let’s hope that’s not the case this time around and we don’t see a COVID-23 outbreak in the meantime.

Sunday, June 2 – Detroit

It appears as though IndyCar is content without having any off weeks following the Indy 500 (at least it’s not a doubleheader), and keeping the Detroit race in the same slot for year number two of the post-Belle Isle era is expected.

Sunday, June 16 – Road America

No changes expected for Road America.

Sunday, June 30 – Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

Here’s where things get interesting. Given how Independence Day falls in the middle of the week next year, Mid-Ohio could technically host a race on either Sunday, June 30 or Sunday, July 7. But the former is far more likely as the series aims to avoid a three-week break, a stretch of four races in 15 days, and then another three-week break.

Sunday, July 14 – Toronto

Instead of four races in 15, we get three in eight, leading off with the street race in Toronto.

Saturday, July 20 and Sunday, July 21 – Iowa Speedway

One of the most hyped race weekends of the season outside of the Indy 500 is again set to host a doubleheader in the middle of summer. Who will finish in second place behind Josef Newgarden this time around?

Sunday, August 11 – Milwaukee Mile

There’s a three-week break here because of NBC’s commitment to the Summer Olympics in Paris. But instead of another trip to Indianapolis for another road course race, IndyCar is set to return to the Milwaukee Mile for the first time since 2015.

On a side note, this move could coincide with a NASCAR move back to the Indy oval instead of the road course for a more traditional Brickyard 400.

Sunday, August 25 – World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway

It would be great for Gateway to host a doubleheader like it did in 2020, given the promotion that goes into the event, but IndyCar and the Bommarito Automotive Group remain committed to placing the focus on one big event. They haven’t skipped a beat since the track’s 2017 return. Unfortunately, however, it doesn’t look like night racing is in Gateway’s immediate future.

Sunday, September 1 – Portland International Raceway

Aside from its 2020 cancellation, Portland has become a mainstay toward the end of the IndyCar calendar since it was brought back in 2018. It always puts on a good race.

Sunday, September 15 – Nashville

With a brand-new street circuit, Nashville is set to host the season finale for the first time in 2024, and with an off-week beforehand to build up the suspense. The only question is if the championship will already be decided for the second striaght year.

There is also a chance for a post-season exhibition race in Argentina, but not much more about that possibility is known at this point.