WHAT: Texas Motor Speedway opens its 26th season of racing with the XPEL 375 NTT INDYCAR SERIES race weekend. This will be a stand-alone, two-day race weekend for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and the first of five oval races on the 17-race INDYCAR schedule.
WHERE: Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth.
WHEN: Saturday-Sunday, March 19-20.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
· NTT INDYCAR SERIES practices, Saturday, March 19, 10 a.m. & 4 p.m.; TV – Peacock. Radio – INDYCAR Radio Network.
· NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying, Saturday, March 19, 1 p.m.; TV – Peacock. Radio – INDYCAR Radio Network.
· NTT INDYCAR SERIES XPEL 375 race, Sunday, March 20, 11:30 a.m.; TV – NBC. Radio – INDYCAR Radio Network, SiriusXM Radio INDYCAR Nation Ch. 160 and 95.9 The Ranch (local).
RACE LENGTH
· XPEL 375: 248 laps | 372 miles
2021 RACE WINNERS (DOUBLEHEADER FORMAT)
· Race 1 – Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing
· Race 2 – Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren SP
MULTIPLE INDYCAR RACE WINNERS AT TMS
· Scott Dixon 5
· Helio Castroneves 4
· Sam Hornish Jr. 3
· Scott Goodyear 2
· Will Power 2
· Scott Sharp 2
Note-Bold indicates active driver in XPEL 375 field.
TMS SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE (all times CT)
Saturday, March 19
7 a.m. – 4 p.m. TMS/INDYCAR Credential Office open
7 a.m. INDYCAR garage opens
10-11 a.m. NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice #1
1-2 p.m. NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying
4-5 p.m. NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice #2
Sunday, March 20
7 a.m. – Noon TMS/INDYCAR Credential Office open
7 a.m. INDYCAR garage opens
11:15 a.m. NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver introductions
11:40 a.m. NTT INDYCAR SERIES “Drivers, Start Your Engines command” by Conner Landers
11:45 a.m. NTT INDYCAR SERIES XPEL 375 race
NOTEWORTHY
Texas Motor Speedway will serve as the second race of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, following the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg that was held on Feb. 27. Last season, Texas Motor Speedway held a doubleheader weekend on May 1-2 and served as the third and fourth races of the season. … This is the earliest schedule date for an INDYCAR race in the 26-year history of Texas Motor Speedway. The previous came last season when Texas Motor Speedway hosted the May doubleheader. … Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin won the season-opening race at St. Petersburg, Fla., over defending series champion Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing. It was the first career NTT INDYCAR SERIES win for McLaughlin, who was the 2021 series rookie of the year. McLaughlin’s teammate, Will Power, finished third to round out the podium. … The top five in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship after Round 1 is McLaughlin (54 points), Palou (41), Power (36), Colton Herta of Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian (32) and Romain Grosjean of Andretti Autosport (30). … Good news for McLaughlin: the winner of the season-opening race has gone on to win the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship the past three seasons. Josef Newgarden of Team Penske started the trend in 2019 and was followed by the Chip Ganassi Racing tandem of Scott Dixon (’20) and Palou (’21). … Veteran Ed Carpenter will be making his season debut in the XPEL 375. Carpenter is running just an oval schedule in the No. 33 entry for his team, Ed Carpenter Racing.… It turned out to be a milestone day for both winners of the 2021 doubleheader at Texas Motor Speedway. Dixon won the opener for his record-fifth career win at Texas, breaking a tie with Helio Castroneves of Meyer Shank Racing. Pato O’Ward (pictured above) of Arrow McLaren SP won the finale the following day for his first career win in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. … Dixon, O’Ward and Castroneves are among the seven previous TMS winners in the XPEL 375 field. The others are Graham Rahal, Power, Carpenter and Newgarden. … Power is tied with Tomas Scheckter for the most INDYCAR poles in TMS history with three. He also is the leader among active drivers with 63 and trails only Mario Andretti (67) in INDYCAR history. … … Dixon is one victory shy of tying Mario Andretti for the second-most wins in INDYCAR history (52). The all-time leader is A.J. Foyt with 67. Dixon has recorded at least one win for 19 seasons and 17 in a row, both INDYCAR records.
TICKETS:
Texas Motor Speedway is offering a $48 special promotion for two tickets to the race. Tickets for children 12 and under are only $10. For more information on tickets and the race, please visit www.texasmotorspeedway.com.
Tickets for Texas Motor Speedway’s 2022 major event season, including the March 20 NTT INDYCAR SEREIS XPEL 375/American Flat Track races and, May 22 NASCAR All-Star Race, are on sale now at https://www.texasmotorspeedway.com/events/season-tickets/.
MORE INFO:
Keep track of all of Texas Motor Speedway’s busy schedule by following on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Keep up with all the latest news and information on the speedway website and TMS mobile app.
