INDIANAPOLIS — On Thursday, the NTT IndyCar Series announced that they will still race at the Texas Motor Speedway on June 6. While that plan was growing more and more in doubt, both sides reached an agreement in order for the 1.5-mile track to host an Indy Car race in June for the 24th consecutive year.

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Now, while the race will go on, several changes were made. First off, no fans will be allowed to attend. Secondly, the race will be a one-day show with practice, qualifying and the race being all on Saturday only. Thirdly, the race distance went from 600km to 300 miles, meaning the race lost 48 laps in distance from 248 to 200. Other distancing measures for the at track personnel has been made.

With that being said, what about the rest of the schedule? IndyCar says that the revised one released on April 6 will remain in tact without any changes. That means they also plan on going to Road America on June 21 too.

Now, will that realistically happen? It’s still too early to tell. What we do know is, fans going to the early races on the schedule aren’t likely going to happen.

Road America is in Wisconsin and while a race there is closer to the team shops than Texas is, the state issued their reopening plan dubbed the “Badger Bounce Back Plan” towards the end of last month. Their second phase could potentially allow for the race on June 21 to go on, but that phase also says to have a max of 50 people in one gathering. That eliminates any fans from attending that race unless they can get to phase three which has no limit on the amount of people in a social gathering. It could be possible that Wisconsin gets there in June, but I just don’t see how they are going to speed through the first two phases in a little over a month’s time.

Now, we know that IndyCar and Texas had to work out some kind of deal to cut the sanctioning fee in some capacity, will the series do that with Road America too? I mean, you have to think about it, the race tracks aren’t receiving any money from IndyCar in terms of the TV package. Texas isn’t and there’s a good possibility Road America won’t have fans either, so the biggest revenue gaining stream for race tracks in allowing fans to come is now not an option. So, how do the tracks get any money when they have to fork out a 6-7 figure sanctioning fee to host an Indy Car race? There’s some tracks where even a decrease in the sanctioning fee isn’t going to work.

From there, it’s supposed to be to Richmond to close out the month of June, but there’s really no way that the return to the Virginia short track happens.

Virginia’s governor laid out his plan to phasing the state back to a somewhat new normal too. His plan would keep fans away from their race tracks until the third phase which is an expected “10-12 weeks away, or more.” That would make the soonest a return for fans could be in attendance being July 13.

IndyCar races there on June 27. The second phase is for no social gatherings of more than 50 people. That eliminates fans for Richmond and with a vague description of the second phase, may even eliminate the series coming to Virginia during the month of June in general too.

So, that takes us to July, which all signs are pointing to the GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway not only being able to continue on it’s new Fourth of July date, but for also having fans in attendance as well.

Last Friday, the Hoosier State announced that they are going to start opening back up and have a five phase plan. The last two phases will allow for larger crowds and the return to sports inside of the state.

Stage 4 – June 14

Marion, Lake and Cass counties will continue on their delayed timeline.

More businesses will be able to open and larger gathering will now be allowed.

• Social gatherings up to 250 people
• Retails stores and malls at full capacity
• Dining room services to 75 percent capacity
• Bars and nightclubs can open at 50 percent capacity

• Cultural entertainment and tourism can open at 50 percent capacity (Including zoos, museums, etc.)
• Sports venues and amusement parks at 50 percent capacity

The last stage of this would start on July 4 and that’s will be to open all sports venues and other large facilities.

Stage 5 – July 4

Marion, Lake and Cass counties will continue on their delayed timeline.

The state will begin to open sports venues and other large facilities.

• Fairs and festivals will be allowed.
• Retail and restaurants can function at full capacity.
• Restrictions will be lifted at amusement parks, water parks, etc.

During stage 5, state officials will look at how to approach and handle the new school year.

While social distancing will likely still be recommended on July 4, IMS has plenty of ground available inside of their massive facility to spread out 70-80k in attendance. Even that figure is going to be high for that weekend, so July appears to be the best case plan for fans to see an IndyCar race live and in person.

After Indy is then to Toronto, but that race is going to be a tough one. The USA-Canada border is closed, so how can teams get across it to race? Plus, Toronto says that not until June 29 can they even entertain sporting events — albeit behind closed door then too. It wouldn’t be until Aug. 10 to when fans could attend sporting events in the city and even then they’d have to social distance. The race is set for July 12. Plus, with all of the social distancing measures, how can they build a race track from scratch without being around a bunch of workers? Either way, if they can run the race, it won’t be with fans in attendance.

An Iowa doubleheader would be on tap next and as we sit here today, the state is welcoming sporting events but they can’t be held with fans in attendance. The race is still more than two months away, so that could change between now and then meaning Iowa could be a destination fans can watch the race at, especially with it being in a rural part of the state.

That takes us to August where it’s way too far out to determine what COVID-19 will look like and what kind of limits we will have by then. Ohio (Mid-Ohio), Indiana (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) and Illinois/Missouri (Gateway) are the three states with Indy Car races in them during that month. If all trends the way it has been, all three races could be run with fans at them.