It was truly fitting that during my first Reddit AMA on the r/IndyCar page, while wading through so many questions touching on the future of the IndyCar schedule, that we got a little 2026 schedule nugget dropped right in the middle. Though nothing Earth-shattering, St. Pete, long IndyCar's season opener seemingly with no plan to change that next year, will be held March 1.
I suspect that means we'll have one off weekend in between Race 1 and 2 (Arlington, March 15) on the calendar, but it still leaves more than one pivotal question as to next spring's IndyCar slate.