A big applause has to go out to the NTT INDYCAR Series right now. In the midst of a global pandemic, Saturday marks the sixth race already. None of the stick and ball sports have really been able to get their seasons back going yet and here INDYCAR is right in the middle of theirs.

Six races soon to be down, eight to go. But, the remaining eight may very well be fluid in nature.

NASCAR has a set plan for the remainder of their season. The regular season is set with all 10 playoff tracks expected to remain the same. But, out of IndyCars next eight races, I’d be shocked if they remained status quo. In fact, only two of the final eight I can even see running on their current scheduled dates at all. Here’s why.

I can still see Mid-Ohio occurring on Aug. 9, but after that, it can get crazy.

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The Indianapolis 500 is supposed to still race on Sunday, Aug. 23, but I just can’t humanly see that happening on that date now.

On Saturday, Indiana reported 855 new cases of the coronavirus, which according to the Indy Star, is the highest number of new cases in weeks. I see these daily updates and since we’ve moved to Phase 4, they’re going up. It doesn’t take the smartest guy in the room to figure out why we’re delayed in moving to Phase 5 and if we keep going this direction, we may never get there — at least any time soon being.

As a result, Mark Miles says that they are now trying to learn a new normal, because maybe where were at now, is going to be this way for a while. He notes that Indiana was supposed to be in Phase 5 of the reopening plan on July 4. They’re still not there yet. They will remain in phase 4.5 for at least another couple of weeks. Remember, these numbers are rising.

The city of Indianapolis has been operating between 10-14 days behind the state’s plan. We most certainly will get into August without restrictions being able to get lifted in Indiana in terms of capacity limits.

“You know what I think is happening is society is trying to define a new normal,” Miles said last Thursday. “There is probably a point in time when we thought in Indiana stage five is normal, we’re back completely. Now I think nobody has a clue when stage five happens.

“What we’re trying to do is figure out what a new normal looks like so that we can continue to operate, continue to do that in the most responsible, safest way, and take care of our fans and communities. That’s what we’re all about. I think Michael and the team are doing that in Iowa. You can be sure we’re all over it for Indianapolis.”

So, how will Indianapolis look next month? The Brickyard 400, Pennzoil 150 and GMR Grand Prix all took place behind closed doors because Indianapolis wasn’t going to be to stage 5 by that weekend. How can the Indianapolis 500 host over a quarter of million people a little more than a month later in the same conditions? We’re no different here now than we were then.

If they wouldn’t do it in July, how would they do it with more people a month later? Schools here are now starting to push their start dates back. How can the Indy 500 just ignore all of this and host that many fans anyways?

That’s why Miles and his team are doing their homework each race weekend to at least keep the option open. They’re trying to figure out a new safe normal and one that includes fans in that.

“We like other sports, have to operate locally even if the series is national and international,” said Miles. “What drives how we approach things is in Iowa the governor, Michael, the mayor of Newton, the local officials, they’ve met with them, they’ve talked with them, worked out a protocol that makes sense according to the situation on the ground there, which would be different in Ohio and different in Indianapolis, wherever we race.

“It’s not like it just builds on itself as a whole. It’s really the parts, where we race, the local conditions there that determine the procedures.”

See, INDYCAR doesn’t have the luxury to race that often without any fans. Their TV deal with NBC Sports isn’t like NASCAR’s. For NASCAR, they pay tracks millions to show up. For INDYCAR, they expect tracks to pay them a 6-7 figure fee for them to even show up. Why would tracks host and INDYCAR race without fans then? They’d lose millions. In turn, why would INDYCAR waive the fee? They’d lose millions.

It’s a lose-lose-lose for fans, tracks and the series to race behind closed doors. They need fans there. That’s why Texas got a sweetheart deal to run without fans in June and why the GMR Grand Prix on July 4 (NASCAR brought money). That’s why Road America was moved from June to July so they can host fans. All these moves are to accommodate fans but as were trending now, how can most of the remaining tracks now host fans?

Indianapolis’ local procedures won’t allow for that many fans right now. Neither will Portland’s or Monterey, California’s. That’s five of the next seven races right there.

Gateway, like Mid-Ohio should be fine, but you have the rest of the races if you throw the season finale at St. Pete in there that could be in peril on running on their scheduled dates.

Does the Harvest Grand Prix get moved again to get a race in once Indy can host even a select amount of fans? Does it become a doubleheader if so? Can St. Pete host a race with Florida having rising cases?

Yes, things can certainly change for the better between now and this October, but with how things are right now and what’s scheduled between now and the next couple of months, I don’t see how we run these races with fans and uninterrupted.