“I love hearing stories from our fans about what this race means to them, to their families.” Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boles said these words last week, highlighting IndyCar’s revamped approach. Since 1951, the open-wheel racing series has had a local TV blackout in place to protect TV sales for the Indianapolis 500. However, last year’s inclement weather resulted in a four-hour delay, and convinced the series to adopt a new strategy. Not only has it benefited IndyCar fans, but also Fox Sports.

The media giant has concluded its duties for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, giving way to Amazon Prime for the next races. Now, Fox Sports is focusing on its IndyCar schedule. With several storylines spicing up the Indy 500 race already, the relaxed media schedule is also welcoming for Fox.

Fox Sports is pumped for the revamped Indy 500

Last week, all the pointers were in place for a grandstand sellout of the 109th Indy 500. Doug Boles said, “We are within four digits in terms of tickets remaining.” As it turned out, his prediction was accurate. On Monday, Boles announced that the roughly 230,000 grandstand seats had been sold out for the first time since 2016. General admission tickets were still available, and he expected a total of 350,000 people to attend the grand event. One reason for this jaw-dropping turnout is the shift in strategy, as IndyCar lifted the local TV blackout. This has allowed local media channels to trumpet the event to fans. It is also good news for Fox Sports, which will broadcast the race for the first time.

NASCAR journalist Adam Stern updated Fox Sports‘ take on this fresh churn of events. He posted on X, “@FoxSports’ president of marketing, Robert Gottlieb, said the network is thrilled that the Indy 500 blackout is lifted. 🗨: “The blackout being lifted is a great indication of what the support is on the ground and that will certainly help us as a broadcaster. … We love that.” Normally, the race would be aired locally after its conclusion on Sunday evening. That would create a conflict with the Pacers set to host the Knicks in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference final the same night.

This time, however, the relaxed TV schedule will raise the event’s prestige by a notch. Among the eyeball-grabbing storylines are Kyle Larson‘s much-anticipated Double attempt, Josef Newgarden’s bid for a third Indy 500 victory despite starting from the rear, and rookie Robert Schwartzman’s chances. So Fox Sports chief executive Eric Shanks cannot wait. He said, “Fox Sports is all in on IndyCar, and this is an incredible accomplishment to celebrate with our first Indy 500 broadcast. As a lifelong fan, I am also personally thrilled to see the grandstands filled on race day. And look forward to broadcasting the race live in central Indiana.” And it is a good time for Fox to concentrate on what’s in their hands. This is because NASCAR has already slipped away for the season.

The NASCAR All-Star race was the last Cup series race of the year that Fox would cover. Even though the Truck Series and ARCA Menards will still be broadcast on Fox Sports, the impact the Cup series had on the network will not be back. And the reason why they should be concentrating on IndyCar more now is that they never made such impactful driver introduction advertisements for NASCAR drivers. Did you watch the IndyCar ad of Alex Palou and Josef Newgarden? Well, at least Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, and Joey Logano deserved such videos. They have been at the forefront of NASCAR for quite some time now.

But clearly, the surrounding hype for the IndyCar broadcast is in place for ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.’ Similarly, the race is also gearing up to be a unique affair this time.

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Adapting to a novel strategy

Years ago, IndyCar manufacturers Chevrolet and Honda wanted to better align their racing programs. They were focusing on a shift in consumer demand toward hybrid and electric vehicles. Hence, the first hybridization project was unveiled last year. It offered a quick boost to the existing 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 engines before recharging to be used again. The system was introduced at Mid-Ohio midway through the 2024 IndyCar season. However, it is going to debut at Indianapolis, a venue where speeds hit 240 MPH. Here, the difference between winning and losing can be measured in thousandths of a second. Hence, IndyCar drivers are rolling up their sleeves to implement the hybrid strategy optimally.

Doug Boles presented a positive outlook among drivers. “I’ve had some really interesting conversations with drivers about how of all places where the hybrid is going to make a huge difference, it’s going to be at Indianapolis. I asked why and they say, ‘Well, you think about Indianapolis, how trimmed out we are — especially in qualifying. Any incremental difference in horsepower makes a difference. We’re going to see some exciting racing. And the strategies that I have heard from drivers in terms of talking about how to deploy the hybrid vary wildly. It’s going to be fascinating to watch how this goes.”

From Fox Sports’ arrival to hybrid racing, things will be super exciting for the upcoming Indy 500 race. We can only wait with our buckets of popcorn and hearts brimming with anticipation for the event!