INDIANAPOLIS — Currently, the NTT IndyCar Series is slated to begin their 2020 season on June 6 at the Texas Motor Speedway. A couple of weeks ago, the series confirmed as much as the first eight races (St. Pete, Barber, Long Beach, COTA, Indy road course, Indy 500, Belle Isle doubleheader) have all either been postponed or canceled all together. That now makes the Genesys 600 being No. 1 if all goes to plan. But, if that race is going to happen in June though, it’s going to have to occur with the NASCAR Cup Series racing on June 7 too.

Yes, the IndyCar-NASCAR Double will occur for the first time a full month earlier than expected (Brickyard weekend is a doubleheader in early July) if we want to see open wheel racing on the 1.5-mile Fort Worth area race track this year.

IndyCar started going to Texas in 1997. It remained as the first race post Indy 500 from their first date in ’97 through the 2005 season. Also, from 1998-2004, the series came to Texas twice for a fall date, with this trip being a day race compared to a night race in June.

From 2005 on though, Texas has hosted just one IndyCar race weekend a year, the June one. Now, if IndyCar wants to keep it’s 24 year streak going, they’re likely going to need some of NASCAR’s help.

See, Texas’ governor said that he’s ready to see sports again and is opening the Lonestar state up for racing. The only kicker is, no fans aren’t allowed though.

Notice it said “NASCAR” and not “IndyCar.” The reason? Texas Motor Speedway isn’t willing to host an IndyCar race on their grounds without any fans. While the next question would be, why would they want to host a NASCAR race without fans but not IndyCar? The answer to that is simple — TV money.

IndyCar doesn’t have the same lucrative TV deal that NASCAR has. As a result, reports show that IndyCar doesn’t pay out TV money to their host tracks. NASCAR is the opposite. They are still in the midst of a multi billion dollar TV deal and they give a large percentage of that TV money to race tracks that host them. Word is, payments from TV to NASCAR occur up to five days after the race is completed. Then, NASCAR issues a payment to the race tracks.

Some track promoters have told me in the past that they make money based off the TV deal before a single fan steps foot on the grounds. In terms of IndyCar coming to town, the gates need to be open in order for tracks to make money as they aren’t getting paid if not.

IndyCar has a sanctioning fee, like every other series, so entitlement sponsors help cover that. So do “official” sponsors of the race track. But, in order for tracks to really make money off IndyCar races, they need fans in the stands in order to make it happen.

So, for Texas, it’s not in their best interest for IndyCar to come in June since the governor just said that he’s not allowing fans in the grandstands of events in his state yet. That’s not going to change come June. That’s not likely to change for a while either. If June doesn’t work for NASCAR, then IndyCar may need to accommodate to a weekend that does for them, so long as NASCAR is willing to share — which all signs point to them willing to do that.

But, if nothing can be worked out, then IndyCar won’t be in Texas in 2020.

There’s no vaccine for this virus yet and there won’t be one this year. The best way to not allowing this thing to spread is social distancing like we’re doing. Hosting thousands of fans in grandstands will only add fuel to this virus, not help mitigate it.

Expert doctors are saying that we shouldn’t expect fans in grandstands at sporting events until the Fall at the earliest. So, in terms of IndyCar and Texas’ relationship for 2020, IndyCar needs NASCAR because NASCAR has the TV money to help eliminate the concern of needing fans at their race weekend.

If IndyCar and NASCAR share a weekend, like the one in early June at Texas, NASCAR brings their TV money with them. That allows the grounds to be open which in turn allows IndyCar to come too.

It’s a win/win.

If NASCAR doesn’t help IndyCar and host a joint weekend, then forget about IndyCar in Texas for 2020. It’s not going to happen at all.