The 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season gets underway with the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg presented by RP Funding. With it, we have a new broadcast partner, Fox, which will become the exclusive home of INDYCAR and the INDY NXT presented by the Firestone championship. Will Buxton joins the team as the main anchor and is joined in the booth by former INDYCAR drivers Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe.
Away from the broadcasting side of things, we have a new team with the arrival of European powerhouse PREMA Racing. PREMA Racing has won in every discipline it has competed in. On Monday at Sebring, Callum Ilott set the tenth-fastest combined time of the day.
There are new faces in new places this season, with several teams making driver changes during the off-season.
To maximize the thrilling, wheel-to-wheel racing action for fans during the record number of FOX race broadcast windows, lap counts at several NTT INDYCAR SERIES races have been extended in 2025, creating added dynamics for race teams. Race distances have been updated for:
Streets of Long Beach – 90 laps (+5 laps)
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – 90 laps (+10)
Iowa Speedway doubleheader – 275 laps (+25)
Streets of Toronto – 90 laps (+5)
Nashville Superspeedway – 225 laps (+19)
New this season, use of the hybrid power unit will be allowed to start or restart the 2.2-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engines on pit lane. As in 2024, hybrid assist will be allowed to restart a stalled race car on the racetrack on non-ovals.
At select road and street circuits (Streets of St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Detroit and Toronto and Barber Motorsports Park, Road America, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Portland International Raceway), weekend tire allotments this season will include:
One additional set of Firestone Firehawk alternates (five total)
One less set of Firestone Firehawk primaries (five total)
Race teams will be allowed the freedom to use their weekend allotments as they see fit, reserving one set of new alternates, per the rulebook, for use during the race. Tire allotments for event weekends at The Thermal Club and Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course remain unchanged from last year.
Also on road and street circuits, split group practice sessions in Practice 1 will expand to all tracks except for Road America and its lengthy 4.014-mile layout. All cars will receive an initial 45-minute practice session before the start of two 10-minute segments, with groups split by odd and even numbered pit boxes. As in qualifying, the clock in Segments One and Two will stop for the first red flag condition of each practice segment.
Popular high-line practice sessions will continue on all short ovals in 2025. The additional track time allows for drivers and teams to work in the upper groove of the racetrack, providing more grip ahead of the race.
An annual INDYCAR review also has led to adjustments to procedures and rules for the upcoming NTT INDYCAR SERIES season:
- Ahead of a race start on ovals, there will be a mandatory “pair up” location with “one to go” to reduce the chance of incident and the need for waved-off starts.
- Where feasible for oval restarts, INDYCAR will extend the beginning of the restart zone to give the leader wider discretion on the choice to accelerate. The ending location of oval restart zones will remain the same as in previous seasons.
- A multistage pit lane speed limiter, as utilized at pit in at Road America and at pit out at World Wide Technology Raceway and Nashville Superspeedway, will be expanded to pit lane entry at WWT Raceway, Iowa Speedway and Nashville. The update prevents cars from overextending from the apron onto the racetrack after the pit-in commitment point.
- The 2024 road and street circuit restart line, where drivers must remain in single file and are prohibited from passing until reaching the designated line in the last corner, remains intact for 2025.
- Additional EM Motorsport light panels, first used in 2022, will be used at all circuits. The additional lights will enhance the forewarning of conditions, particularly around blind corners.
- Also for safety, drivers will be alerted of local yellow conditions by a notification on driver cockpit dashes in addition to the light panels and traditional cloth flag notifications at marshal posts around each circuit.
Also noteworthy, alternate tires at Nashville Superspeedway again will be available for the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season finale at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. Last season, the breathtaking championship race featured 653 on-track passes – the most on record for the series at the track.
INDYCAR Senior Vice President, Competition and Operations Mark Sibla said:
“From the mid-year integration of the hybrid power unit to the on-track passing records and another championship decided at the final race, 2024 was truly a phenomenal year for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. “This is a testament to the hard work by the teams, drivers and naturally our partners Chevrolet, Honda, Firestone and Shell. As our attention turns toward 2025, we will continue the series’ energy, momentum and incredibly close competition on the track. We are excited to get the new season started.
The INDY NXT presented by Firestone championship will have plenty of intrigue this year as, for the first time since 2007, defending INDYCAR SERIES champions Chip Ganassi Racing will field a team in the series with Ireland’s Jonathan Browne and Dutch driver Niels Koolen.
Speaking about the upcoming season, INDY NXT presented by Firestone series director Richard Buck said:
“This will be a season of incredible and unprecedented exposure for INDY NXT by Firestone. “The continued integration of this series with INDYCAR has clearly raised the quantity and quality of INDY NXT. The championship has never been more fierce and difficult to win, but it will prove to be all the more gratifying for the driver advancing to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.”
The 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season gets underway with the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg presented by RP Funding from February 28 to March 2 and is live on Fox. For more information, click here