Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One app.

Start reading

Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles. One news app.

Start reading

Motorsport

Sport

Everything you need to know as the 2025 IndyCar season kicks off in St. Pete

IndyCar Indy (Organization) St Petersburg Christian Lundgaard Alex Palou Josef Newgarden Scott Dixon Alexander Rossi Chevrolet Christian Rasmussen

Welcome to the 2025 IndyCar season! Within just the first few laps put down in St. Petersburg, Florida this weekend... Chip Ganassi's Alex Palou will be fighting for a fourth IndyCar title while his veteran teammate Scott Dixon continues to chase a record-tying seventh crown for himself. And they aren't the only ones chasing history as Team Penske (and IndyCar darling) Josef Newgarden is eyeing an unprecedented three-peat in the Indy 500. Elsewhere in the field, a stacked rookie class includes both the reigning Indy NXT champion and the 2024 runner-up while a team already famous in Europe joins the IndyCar grid for the very first time.

But before the green flag flies for the first round of the 2025 season on the streets of St. Pete, we're going to get you completely caught up on all the off-season happenings. And let me tell you, there's a lot of ground to cover.

Series' news of note

Penske Entertainment appointed Doug Boles as the new president of IndyCar, replacing long-time series' president Jay Frye. Boles adds this new role to his current role of president at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The move came as a shock to many, happening just a few weeks before the start of the new season.

In the paddock, Arrow McLaren is officially owned by McLaren and without Sam Schmidt and Ric Peterson. The team also named 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan to the role of team principal after Gavin Ward departed the organization following the 2024 season. Kevin Thimjon joins as team president.

Winner Patricio O'Ward, Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, Tony Kanaan (Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images)

At Meyer Shank Racing, the team ended its technical alliance with Andretti Global, instead forming a new alliance with Chip Ganassi Racing. CGR will also only run three full-time cars this year, downsizing from five full-time entries due to the cap imposed by the newly introduced charter agreement. The agreement, which appears heavily inspired by NASCAR's established charter system with similar incentives, allows for 25 total charters and lasts through 2031. Prema Racing, a new entrant on the grid, is the only full-time team not in possession of any charters.

And that's just some of the changes entering 2025 with the biggest one involving where you can find each of the 17 races to be televised this year...

The new home for IndyCar coverage

In case you missed the multitude of commercials — a very enthusiastic FOX Sports will broadcast the entire IndyCar schedule in 2025. It's an exclusive media rights deal which will put all races on the primary FOX network. The season will also be available on the FOX Sports app and on FOX Deportes for Spanish-speaking fans.

FOX's coverage of IndyCar will feature some friendly faces and names in the broadcast booth: Will Buxton, who comes to IndyCar from F1, filling the role of play-by-play announcer, James Hinchcliffe, and Townsend Bell.

Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren Chevrolet (Photo by: Brett Farmer / Motorsport Images)

Schedule changes

The exhibition race at Thermal Club is back, but this time as a points-paying event. Milwaukee has lost its double-header weekend and will instead host a single race. Additionally, the series has chosen to increase the race lengths for Long Beach (+5 laps), Toronto (+5 laps), Mid-Ohio (+10 laps), Nashville (+19 laps), and Iowa (+25 laps). While most of the schedule remains unchanged, Gateway has also shifted slightly, moving from August to June on the calendar.

Races and start times

Race	Date	Coverage begins (EST)	Network
St. Petersburg	March 2	12pm ET	FOX
Thermal Club	March 23	3pm ET	FOX
Long Beach	April 13	4:30pm ET	FOX
Barber	May 4	1:30pm ET	FOX
Indianapolis Road Course	May 10	4:30pm ET	FOX
109th Indianapolis 500	May 25	10am ET	FOX
Detroit	June 1	12:30pm ET	FOX
Gateway	June 15	3pm ET	FOX
Road America	June 22	3:30pm ET	FOX
Mid-Ohio	July 6	2pm ET	FOX
Iowa #1	July 12	5pm ET	FOX
Iowa #2	July 13	2pm ET	FOX
Toronto	July 20	2pm ET	FOX
Laguna Seca	July 27	3pm ET	FOX
Portland	August 10	3pm ET	FOX
Milwaukee	August 24	2pm ET	FOX
Nashville Superspeedway	August 31	2:30pm ET	FOX

Silly season moves

The grid will also look a bit different this year. The most notable change involves the introduction of an all-new team, but it may sound familiar to European open-wheel fans. Prema Racing debuts in IndyCar for its first season with two full-time entries for 2025. Sporting Chevrolet engines, their cars will be piloted by Robert Shwartzman and Callum Ilott.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comest to the game of musical chairs in the paddock. At McLaren, Christian Lundgaard replaces Alexander Rossi, who moves over to ECR. The Ed Carpenter-owned team also parted ways with Rinus VeeKay after five seasons together. VeeKay later landed the last full-time seat left on the grid in mid-February, signing with Dale Coyne Racing.

Lundgaard's McLaren move opened the door for reigning Indy NXT champion Louis Foster who will step up to the main series for 2025, driving for RLL Racing. RLL has also signed Devlin DeFrancesco to take over the seat previously occupied by Pietro Fittipaldi. Foster won't be the only Indy NXT star taking the next step in their career as Jacob Abel joins DCR alongside VeeKay.

A.J. Foyt Racing has added David Malukas, who returns to full-time competition this year after a pre-season injury derailed his 2024 season and ultimately cost him his seat at McLaren. Malukas leaves an opening at Meyer Shank, Marcus Armstrong.

Juncos Hollinger Racing will have an entirely new lineup for this year, bringing in Conor Daly and Sting Ray Robb as their full-time drivers.

If you are now horribly confused, don't worry, as we've got a handy table showing all the new lineups for full-time drivers and teams.

2025 IndyCar grid

Team	Drivers	Manufacturer
Team Penske	Josef Newgarden Will Power Scott McLaughlin	Chevrolet
Chip Ganassi Racing	Alex Palou Scott Dixon Kyffin Simpson	Honda
Arrow McLaren	Pato O'Ward Nolan Siegel Christian Lundgaard	Chevrolet
Andretti Global	Colton Herta Marcus Ericsson Kyle Kirkwood	Honda
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Graham Rahal Devlin DeFrancesco Louis Foster	Honda
Prema Racing	Robert Shwartzman Callum Ilott	Chevrolet
Dale Coyne Racing	Rinus VeeKay Jacob Abel	Honda
A.J. Foyt Racing	Santino Ferrucci David Malukas	Chevrolet
Juncos Hollinger Racing	Conor Daly Sing Ray Robb	Chevrolet
Ed Carpenter Racing	Alexander Rossi Christian Rasmussen	Chevrolet
Meyer Shank Racing	Felix Rosenqvist Marcus Armstrong	Honda