IndyCar Preview: Grand Prix of Arlington
- Dan Jones
- 2 hours ago
- 10 min read
'What da heck is an IndyCar doin in Arlington Texas 😭😭😭'
Ok, it may not be as preposterous as the infamous polar bear that roamed the Arlington streets but it can also only signify one thing. IndyCar's fast start to 2026 continues with a third race in as many weeks as the show heads to Arlington, Texas for the first time in an event that is being provisionally billed as the marquee event on the schedule outside of the Indianapolis 500. After 18 months of planning, it is finally time to go racing on the Streets of Arlington, Round 3 of 18 in the 2026 IndyCar Series schedule.
What happened in Phoenix?
IndyCar will make its return to Texas this weekend but last weekend's return to Phoenix, Arizona was one to be remembered.
David Malukas took his first career pole position in his second race with Team Penske, as he lined up alongside Josef Newgarden on the front row. Malukas led the opening exchanges which saw the early championship picture turn on its head after championship leader Álex Palou collided with Rinus VeeKay exiting Turn 4, meaning Palou was out of the race. Malukas continued in the lead from there, but as is always the case on an oval, Christian Rasmussen was on the attack. The Danish driver was making his way up the order from 18th on the grid in his usual 'go big or go home' style of racing on ovals.
Pato O'Ward had cycled to the lead after the first round of stops but Rasmussen's charge did not stop as he stormed into the lead with everybody helpless in defence as he aimed to add to his maiden victory earned in Milwaukee last year.
However, ingenious strategy promoted the Andretti pair of Will Power and Kyle Kirkwood to the lead, albeit on older tyres. In order to win, Rasmussen had to get back past the pair but collided with Power in doing so, giving Rasmussen damage and Power a puncture.
On the final restart, Rasmussen opted to stay out with Kirkwood and Malukas whilst Newgarden and O'Ward amongst others opted for fresher Firestones. As Rasmussen struggled to hang on, Newgarden's new tyres prevailed as he took his second win in three races and catapulted himself on top of the championship standings. Kirkwood finished second with Malukas earning a third Penske podium in third. Rasmussen, who hit the wall a second time, plummeted down to 16th.
The series shared the weekend with the NASCAR Cup Series, with both races being broadcasted by FOX. The race saw average viewership figures of 1.247 million - a 95% increase on the average for Saturday races in 2025 and a 77% increase on the viewership figures at the second round last year.
You can read the full race report here, the DIVEBOMB IndyCar Podcast's race review here and my gradebook here.
Newgarden's victory propelled him to the top of the championship standings with Palou's difficult day meaning he relinquished the championship lead for the first time since 2024. Top 10 are as follows:
Newgarden - 78
Kirkwood - 73
McLaughlin - 66
O'Ward - 63
Palou - 59
Malukas - 56
Lundgaard - 54
Armstrong - 50
Ericsson - 43
Rossi - 42
All you need to know about Arlington
IndyCar's return to the Lone Star State this weekend will signify the first race in three years in one of the series' most major markets after Texas Motor Speedway fell off the calendar at the end of the 2023 season.
The circuit also marks the first of three new street tracks on the 2026 calendar, with further races to come later in the year on the Streets of Washington and Streets of Markham.
The race has had almost 18 months of build-up, first being announced on the 7th October 2024. The event will see the 2.73 mile (4.39 km) circuit weave its way around the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium and the Texas Rangers' Globe Life Field - with the event being marked as a partnership between IndyCar, the Cowboys, the Rangers and the City of Arlington.
The circuit is the second-longest on the IndyCar calendar, only behind that of Road America and features a 0.9 mile (1.4 km) backstretch, which is the longest flat-out section on a road/street course on the IndyCar schedule. The circuit begins with a tight, technical section all the way into Turn 9 before the very long backstretch begins. Turn 10 provides the best overtaking opportunity on the circuit but also expect to see action at Turns 12 and 14.
Drivers have been in their respective simulators to learn the circuit but with no understanding of where bumps may be located and the grips levels at each section of the track, a lot of the field heads into the weekend partially blind.
It was a topic Alexander Rossi expanded on earlier this week: "But for a place like this that's brand-new, you don't have a full surface scan. You only have essentially a GPS scan with walls kind of placed around the perimeter. Both Honda and Chevy have kind of the same track model, so you don't have any sort of the bumps modelled or grip differential depending on surfaces.
"I think it's a great tool to at least know what corner comes next. But in terms of, like, brake points and grip levels, how fast you can actually go, the line, where bumps are, that sort of thing, everyone will be figuring that out together kind of starting from zero."
That lack of in-depth understanding means that drivers spend less time in the sim in comparison to other races as the initial renders in the simulators are not precise enough.
The race will take place over 70 laps on Sunday, with drivers having access to 200 seconds of push-to-pass. Five sets of primary and five sets of alternate tyres will be brought to the weekend, with rookie drivers being allowed another set of primary tyres. As per the new ruling that was introduced prior to St. Petersburg for street courses, drivers must use one set of primary and two sets of alternates during the race.
This weekend will also mark the trial of an adjusted qualifying format. The group segments and Fast 12 elements of qualifying will remain unchanged, but the Fast Six will see an updated format to "create a greater opportunity to spotlight and translate the challenge and expertise required by teams and drivers competing for the top positions on the starting grid."
Each driver who reaches the Fast Six will leave pit lane and get the opportunity for a singular timed lap which begins at the alternate start/finish line. Once that car enters the pits at the conclusion of their attempt, the next car will go out on track. The new format also sees FOX increase their broadcast window to two hours.
It is a format that Rossi, amongst others, had high praise for. "I'm thrilled about it. I think it's been talked about internally for a while. I think it will add a huge amount of excitement to what is already a pretty awesome and entertaining qualifying format.
"I think the big thing that's really cool is if you make it to the Fast Six, it's quite an accomplishment. To be able to reward your partners by getting kind of three minutes of focused TV time on your car 'cause you made it into the Fast Six is a win-win for everyone. It will make the commentators' jobs easier. It will make the broadcast, as I said, even more exciting.
"Obviously we don't know what we don't know. I'm sure there's some things that we haven't thought about yet that potentially could change that opinion. Certainly going into this weekend, I know that everyone on the drivers' side is super pumped. Hopefully it will continue after this."
What to look out for in Arlington
With no track history to go off and even more unknowns in regards to the surface and who's style the circuit might suit, it is certainly a weekend of unknowns.
Chip Ganassi Racing have won the last two events on new street courses, with Palou winning the first race in downtown Detroit in 2023 whilst Marcus Ericsson won on the Streets of Nashville in 2021. Palou also won at the last new road course to the calendar at The Thermal Club in 2025. Newgarden is the double-defending winner in Texas having won at the Motor Speedway in 2022 and 2023.
Palou will come in as an obvious contender considering his pedigree on every venue on the schedule and his track record on new circuits to the calendar. His crash at Phoenix has also left him in a rather unfamiliar situation of not being top of the championship standings. Considering how early it is in the season though, Palou will not be panicking at this stage but would very much like to get his season back on track.
Kirkwood is one of two drivers to start the season with consecutive top fives and has generally been the lead driver on street courses in recent years. Kirkwood won on both the Streets of Long Beach and Streets of Detroit last year - with sixth place being his lowest street course finish in 2025. Kirkwood has also not finished outside the top 10 on a street course since Toronto 2023.
Andretti have been strong on street courses on all accounts, with Ericsson's only top 10 finishes in the last two seasons all coming on street courses as well as his sole Andretti podium. St. Petersburg looked like a slightly-revitalised Ericsson before a difficult Phoenix weekend. Could he replicate his Nashville drive of five years ago and make sure his season does not spiral away unlike 2025?
It has been a crazy start for Power at Andretti, enduring four crashes in just two weekends. With the team's street course pedigree, could this bode a chance for him to stand on the podium for the first time in Andretti colours?
Newgarden's win in Phoenix moved him to the top of the standings, with his bounce-back 2026 season off to a particularly good start. Street courses have been Newgarden's achilles heel in recent seasons but Team Penske showed strong pace at St. Petersburg once again and will Newgarden have momentum on his side?
Scott McLaughlin is one that cannot be counted out either. The New Zealander was the class of the field other than Palou at St. Petersburg but has generally struggled on most other street courses on the schedule. On the other side of the Penske garage, Malukas will be looking to continue his good start to life with the team.
Texas represents somewhat of a home race for Pato O'Ward, who grew up and was educated in San Antonio. Like Kirkwood, O'Ward has finished in the top five in both races thus far in 2026 and has been on a mighty run of form since the summer of 2025 (O'Ward has been in the top five for the last 10 races in the row bar the two he retired from the lead with a mechanical failure). Street courses haven't always been a strong spot for O'Ward, but Arlington could prove a new opportunity.
Christian Lundgaard has starred on road/street courses for Arrow McLaren and stood on the podium at St. Petersburg. He has mostly had the upper hand on his more experienced teammate on those track types and the expected nature of the Arlington circuit could be one that suits the Dane's style.
In the Rookie of the Year battle, Arlington could be a particularly insightful opportunity to assess Dennis Hauger, Caio Collet and Mick Schumacher's learning ability as they aim to be crowned ROTY at seasons end. Hauger currently holds a 12 point lead to Collet with Schumacher a further seven points back.
Indy NXT preview
Arlington marks Race 2 of 17 for the Indy NXT field as they also race at the circuit for the very first time.
Nikita Johnson kicked off his season the right way on the Streets of St. Petersburg as he overtook polesitter Max Taylor on the opening turn and never lost the lead from there. Taylor finished second ahead of debutant Tymek Kucharczyk in third.
Top 10 in points: Johnson - 54
Taylor - 41
Kucharczyk - 35
Murray - 32
Hughes - 30
Rowe - 28
Pierson - 26
De Alba - 24
Correa - 22
De Tullio - 20
Johnson was a surprise winner at St. Petersburg, winning for Cape Motorsports powered by ECR in their first entry as an partnered team. Early championship favourites of Lochie Hughes and Myles Rowe had surprisingly quiet days in fifth and sixth respectively whilst Enzo Fittipaldi suffered a difficult debut in 17th after crashing in qualifying.
Drivers will race over 27 laps on Sunday, with access to 65 seconds of push-to-pass. Three new sets will be used during the weekend, with one to be used in qualifying and one during the race with two carryover sets from St. Petersburg allowed for pre-qualifying practices.
It will be the first time the series has raced in Texas since they visited the Circuit of the Americas in 2019.
Andretti Global were particularly quick in all pre-season tests including street course simulations at Sebring International Raceway. This was backed up at St. Petersburg, where Taylor was the class of the field but could not navigate his way back around Johnson. Don't be surprised to see such form carry over into Arlington.
HMD Motorsports had a tougher weekend in St. Petersburg between their four cars in fourth, eighth, 11th and 17th respectively. Based on their historical form in the series, don't expect such results going into Arlington and beyond.
Timings
Indy NXT Practice 1: 14:00 CT (19:00 GMT) Friday
IndyCar Practice 1: 15:05 CT (20:05 GMT) Friday
IndyCar Practice 2: 08:35 CT (13:35 GMT) Saturday
Indy NXT Practice 2: 10:15 CT (15:15 GMT) Saturday
IndyCar Qualifying: 13:35 CT (18:35 GMT) Saturday
Indy NXT Qualifying: 15:30 CT (20:30 GMT) Saturday
Warm-up: 09:05 CT (14:05 GMT) Sunday
Indy NXT Race: 10:06 CT (15:06 GMT) Sunday
Grand Prix of Arlington: 12:17 CT (17:17 GMT) Sunday
A new marquee event outside of the Indianapolis 500 begins its IndyCar chapters this weekend. With such little data to go off and so much learning for the drivers to do, it is anybody's game in the Lone Star State. Can Palou bounce back after his Phoenix crash? Can Newgarden lay down his early 2026 marker further? Can Andretti Global continue their street course form? Will somebody cause an early surprise?
DIVEBOMB will bring you all the news and updates throughout the weekend as well as post-race analysis. The final question that remains is who will come out on top at IndyCar's first race in Arlington?
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