NASCAR and IndyCar have partnered to share the race weekend at St. Petersburg in 2026, with the Truck Series race being held on Saturday, February 28, while IndyCar will take over the street course on Sunday, March 1. This marks the first collaboration between the two forms of motorsports on a street course.
The race at St. Petersburg is the opening round for IndyCar, also marking the Truck Series’ first event on a street course. Both races are set to be broadcast by FOX Sports. Fans could expect to witness the best of both worlds, starting with the IndyCar qualifying on Saturday, followed by the Truck race. Sunday will feature the IndyCar race.
The NASCAR Xfinity and Cup Series will be held on the same race weekend at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin. Speaking on the partnership between the two forms of motorsports, co-owner, chairman, and CEO of Green Savoree Racing Promotions, organizers of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Kim Green, said in a statement:
“What a great new racing addition to the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to include the NASCAR trucks into Saturday’s show next year. Saturday will be packed for our fans with entertainment. We have INDYCAR qualifying and now an historic first with the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race. And, as usual, it all culminates on Sunday with the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season-opening event on the downtown streets of St. Petersburg.”
The St. Petersburg collaboration between NASCAR and IndyCar could pave the way for more partnerships of a similar kind in the future. Speaking to Motorsport.com, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Venue & Racing Innovations Officer Ben Kennedy said:
“Yeah, potentially. We’re going to collaborate with them on the St. Pete race next year, and the good news is we have such a good relationship with Doug, with Bud, with Roger, the entire team over at IndyCar, and there are a lot of synergies as well, with them having FOX as a broadcast partner, we have FOX for the first part of our season. There are a lot of natural opportunities for us to work closer together, in particular on some of those races in the season.
“Something that we’ll continue to explore with them. I think St. Pete next year will be a good kind of case study for us. We’ve had examples of it, of racing at Indianapolis in the past, and even though we didn’t have as big of a presence there, IndyCar going to Iowa for a number of years, they came and raced at Richmond for a handful of years as well.
“Really important for us to continue to have the relationship. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more opportunities for us to work closer together with them.”
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