The NTT Data IndyCar Series has released its mildly revised calendar for the 2020 racing season, which sees Richmond Raceway return to the series in place of Pocono Raceway.
IndyCar last visited Richmond Raceway in 2009 – a race that was won by Scott Dixon after he beat Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dario Franchitti to the finish by a margin of just 0.3109s. The three-quarter-mile oval in Virginia will play host to a race under the lights on Saturday, June 27, 2020, which will be the 11th round of the season. This is the same weekend IndyCar race on at Richmond between 2001 and 2009.
“We are pleased to return to the Mid-Atlantic region, one we know to be full of IndyCar fans,” IndyCar CEO Mark Miles said. “We’re also excited to return to historic Richmond Raceway, which was recently reimagined with a $30 million redevelopment project that modernized the infield for a better fan experience.”
“Richmond Raceway’s history in motorsports dates back to 1946 when the track hosted two AAA Championship Car events,” added Richmond Raceway president Dennis Bickmeier said. “After hosting IndyCar from 2001-2009, we now look forward to the return of the NTT IndyCar Series for our fans at America’s Premier Short Track as part of a Mid-Atlantic festival of speed on June 26-27, 2020.”
The rest of the schedule is nearly identical to 2019 – save for a few small changes. Circuit of the Americas, which was the second race on the calendar last year, has been moved to the fourth round and will be held on Sunday, April 26, 2020. The series will also take a three-week break following the Iowa Speedway race on Saturday, July 18, 2020, as NBC and NBCSN will be airing coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. As such, Mid-Ohio has been moved from its usual date in late July to Sunday, August 16, 2020.
The long-standing round in Toronto will also return, however the Honda Indy moniker has been dropped for 2020, with the race simply referred to as the ‘Streets of Toronto’ for 2020.
Fans will also be introduced to IndyCar’s new aeroscreen next season, which has been developed in partnership with Red Bull Advanced Technologies and will protect drivers from debris like the nosecone that hit and fatally injured Justin Wilson at Pocono in 2015.
You can view the entire 2020 IndyCar Series calendar at this link.
Subscribe to GM Authority for more IndyCar news, Chevrolet news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
Too bad leaving Pocono. Track was built for Indycars. This new breed of drivers seem to be over their heads when it comes to high speed race tracks. Too much road racing in their backgrounds and not enough tight oval tracks. IMHO.
OT. Sam, since I sent an email to GMA that Ford is pulling factory support for the GT’s in IMSA GTLM for 2020 I’ll paste a link here. Perhaps you want to look into this as it seems very important to the C8.R’s. The BoP seems to be an issue and most will agree. Not sure what GMA’s problem is as you’ll see this article was posted 8-30-19 and when I sent the reply email. Keep up the great racing coverage as it’s something GMA was lacking.
https://autoweek.com/article/imsa/challenges-ahead-imsa-gt-le-mans-class?utm_source=daily-drive&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20190902&utm_content=article10-image
Hey C4, apologies I am just seeing this as I was on holiday for some of September and appeared to have missed your message. Will keep a closer eye out in the future and am very happy to hear you’reenjoying the racing content. Thanks so much!
Sam