INDIANAPOLIS — For the first time since the IRL was formed in 1996 and the Texas Motor Speedway opened in 1997, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES won’t be visiting the 1.44-mile high speed oval next season. While the two sides agreed upon a multi-year extension last year, they couldn’t come to an agreement on where to place the race weekend for the 2024 schedule.

The big reason is due to a number of factors. First off, Miles said he found out late in the game that they needed to look for a new weekend. He felt like INDYCAR would had a date of April 7 or 14 again. But, NASCAR is hopeful of moving their date up from a playoff race to one in the spring though too and Miles just found out about that recently.

“It was really fairly late in this process for us that it was clear what their schedule was going to look like, and therefore the implications for us,” he said.

“I think it’s in the best place possible under the circumstances. I think both of us would have preferred to be able to keep a pretty normal schedule and to be there, returning there next year. That wasn’t possible.”

Texas as a result can’t host NASCAR and INDYCAR in a few weeks time. With COTA in March and Texas using a lot of their staff down here, it really makes life difficult for INDYCAR to now find a slot. March 10 being St. Pete, March 24 Thermal and March 31 Easter, where does INDYCAR find a slot?

April 21 in Long Beach and April 28 Barber. There’s not really any other spring avenue.

Then, with the couple week shutdown to the Olympics from July 26-Aug. 11, it left INDYCAR without any real date to offer.

“I think everybody understands we have basically zero flexibility after the Olympics next year, and with NASCAR’s move into the spring there, there really wasn’t an opportunity from TMS’s perspective for us,” Mark Miles said on Monday afternoon.

After the Olympic break, INDYCAR had World Wide Technology Raceway, Portland, Milwaukee and Nashville to fill in in a six-week gap.

Nashville contractually is set for Sept. 15 for the season finale. The race at Gateway was desired to be a night race. They couldn’t do that on the final weekend of August due to NASCAR being at Daytona on network NBC. So, you move them as the first race after the Olympics. That leaves 3 weekends left for 2 races.

Milwaukee on Labor Day weekend made the most sense. Portland the weekend before was the only date left for them to take. You’re not going to have those off weeks, run St. Louis, off week, run Portland, Milwaukee and Nashville.

So, where could Texas fill in there?

Some may wonder why not pair Portland with Laguna Seca in the early portion of the summer? Well, there’s no room there either.

Long Beach and Barber close out the month of April before a jammed packed May and June.

May 11 is the Gallagher Grand Prix. A weekend later is Indy 500 Time Trials. A weekend after that the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500. A weekend after that is Detroit. The next week Road America.

That’s 5 straight weeks of action and if you go back to April, that’s 7 weekend’s out of 8 with INDYCAR on track.

Weather wouldn’t cooperate to run Portland in March. Could April 14 have worked? That’s iffy too. Then with that stretch of races from April through the end of June, the only race weekend it could have worked was Fathers Day but that’s two weeks before them hosting a Formula E event. They also host the NASCAR Xfinity Series in early June too. That’s too much for one track in one month.

Plus, from the GMR Grand Prix through Fathers Day weekend, INDYCAR would have been on track for 6 straight weeks if Portland ran before Laguna Seca.

Then, with the success of Mid-Ohio around the Fourth of July weekend, you can’t risk moving that. As a result, you get Portland going in late August.

Would Texas has worked for a June date?

“Yeah, I think that the calendar is just slammed after the Olympics, and there really wasn’t a good opportunity that would make sense for everybody,” said Miles. “It’s not exactly weather like we have in Indianapolis today in Texas in the summer, although we’ve been through that before, so that was just a consideration. We just didn’t really see the opening that would work for us, so we thought we’ll hit pause and then we’ll see what we can do moving forward.”

Miles made it clear that it truly is a pause button. It’s not the end of the road as he’d like the two sides to still work together again soon.

“I think there’s an opening, and it certainly doesn’t mean that we’re not going back, the fact that we’re not there in 2024,” he said. “I think that market is really important to us, so it’s not something that will be neglected.

“We value our relationship with SMI. There’s been fabulous racing there. That sort of north Texas market is very important to INDYCAR. We’ll go back to work as we have some of the other building blocks like our own media partner in place for 2025.”

In saying that, if this scenario crept up a few years ago, I think all sides including the fan base would have rather seen this event go by the wayside.

However, the last two years has seen the racing at Texas actually improve.

An insanely close finish, 15 lead changes with 12 of the 27 starters leading at least one lap, I’d say Texas delivered in 2022.

How would this year look?

With some more downforce added and similar race conditions, this year’s PPG 375 delivered an even better show than the one of last year. The 26 lead changes back in April were the most there in over two decades. The 2001 race was the last time that we had as many lead changes on the 1.44-mile-high-banked track.

The 482 passes for position was nearly 200 more passes last year.

This year’s race started chaotic with four lead changes in the first five laps then five more in the final eight. Between pit strategy, a somewhat pack race in the end and some edge of your seat moments, Texas delivered.

It started off dicey but then became a fuel strategy race in order for those up front to hit their fuel number. Takuma Sato bringing out the first caution on Lap 48 helped aid in that strategy. The next few stints spread things out with there being just two cars on the lead lap on Lap 160. The top car led the second car by 7-seconds.

Texas was starting to not deliver. Then Felix Rosenqvist brought out the Lap 179 caution and the rest was history. Thrilling racing and pit strategy in the end helped make this race a memorable one that will be discussed all season.

“We’re going wheel-to-wheel like 226 miles an hour or something. It’s a little wiggle from somebody can be really big,” said Pato O’Ward.

“So hats off to everybody. It’s pretty insane, I have to say. I don’t know how it looks. It must look cool, I’m assuming. It looks insane. But inside of the car, you’re going in, you see two guys there, then you’re just like keep it in. It’s commitment.”

Part of the improvement was that the second lane came in. Last year, you couldn’t fully run there. This year, it was there.

“I think a mix of both, track and pieces,” O’Ward said. “There was a legit second lane, for sure.”

Third place finisher Alex Palou agreed.

“Both. This year you could run the second lane,” said the 2021 series champion. “Last year it was like a 1.5.”

Race winner, Josef Newgarden said both were significant factors.

“There’s a lot more load on the cars,” he said. “The entire last stint, I was flat the whole time, flat for the first half of the stint. It’s a big jump from last year. That’s definitely factor number one.

“I think factor two is just the track seemed better this year. Like, it was not quite as dark on the PJ1 patches. I know the last time they coated was September last year. That’s what I was told at least in our briefing. Maybe that’s incorrect.

“But the track was better. It was less dark in the area where the PJ1 has been applied. It didn’t seem as low-grip initially as times when we’ve been here in the past.

“Even when everyone tried the high line running, it wasn’t like you ventured up there just to start out and it’s really low grip. Pretty much immediately when we went up there, it was okay grip. I think that was much more inviting for people to have more downforce. We were able to more successfully apply rubber to it from our cars.

“I think all of that contributed and led to the type of racing that we had today.”

O’Ward notes that with the aero creating a strong two and the second lane being open to race on now, you couldn’t afford to back off or you’re going to get freight-trained by somebody.

“It’s like keep your foot in it, keep your position, maybe get a position, or lose one. You kind of have to go,” he says.

Palou said you have no other option not to.

“You just put your right foot there and close a little bit one eye (smiling),” said the Spaniard. “You hold everything tight, that’s it.”

O’Ward did note that it could have been sketchy if everyone had tires midway through a stint.

“I think that would have been, yeah, maybe not very safe. I just think everybody feels like a hero when everybody has fairly fresh tires.”

As far as what led to this being a role, Newgarden credits Jimmie Johnson for how this race looked.

“Man, I think it’s the Jimmie Johnson effect. We were here last year. People were like, This Jimmie guy, look at him, he can do it. I think Jimmie Johnson basically gave everybody confidence this weekend,” he said.

“It’s obviously more than that. We’ve got a lot more downforce on the cars. The lanes were working pretty well. How great was that to see, there was a second lane. This was a real race today, which was fantastic.

“But I think in this sport you definitely can’t think about the potential. It’s just you got to go pretty flat out if you want to drive the cars at a high level.

“It’s impossible to drive these things at the level you need to without blocking everything else out. I think that’s what you get from a lot of drivers here.”

This race that was once left for dead had been revived. In fact, this track was almost left for dead as it wasn’t putting on good racing for any series.

It was so bad in NASCAR that Texas went from two dates, to one of which being the All-Star race to just one race weekend. Fans stopped showing up for those races too which is why NASCAR needed changes made.

However, the last two years have shown that maybe Texas and INDYCAR could have had a happy marriage after all. Now this.

“I just want to see Texas race the way it should race,” said Newgarden. “I think most people would look at today and say that’s how Texas should race.

“You look at the past, it’s even been taken up a notch from that. Three-wide the entire time. I wouldn’t want to see that. I think you can go too far nowadays.

“I really like high tire deg. I like when people come and go and you’ve got to work your advantage. You’ve really got to work to try to keep the car underneath you.

“We’re kind of a step above where I like to see the cars at. I know from an entertainment standpoint this had to be significantly better than last year. It just had to be. It felt packed up for most of the race and definitely at the end.

“Where we go from here, it’s hard to say. Old Texas is hard to beat. The configuration was great. The track surface was better for us, we could run all three lanes. I’d like to see that back, then we can start peeling off downforce off the cars. If you go and try and find that again, we might not get it right.

“So I don’t think I have a great answer for you. We’ve had the product we’ve had, at least as far as the track. We’ve just chipped away at it. By this year we’ve gotten it really good. I don’t have a good answer for you.

“It’s a tricky balance. They’ve been doing this. They’ve been putting downforce on every year. You don’t want to go too far.

“I know I don’t want just a straight-up pack race. I really don’t. I think it takes out too much of the skill. I mean, you want the skill of tire degradation where you’ve got to make a good car and you’ve got to learn how to drive it, but you need some element of a packed-up race, certainly in the beginning of stints, to make the show good, to make that also part of the challenge in the race. I just don’t want that the whole way.

“INDYCAR is always walking a fine line. They’ve been adding downforce every single year. So I think it’s been a combination of finding enough downforce on the cars. Unfortunately just sometimes takes this long to get that right combo.

“I think more than the downforce, it’s really been the track. I think two, three years ago, it wouldn’t have mattered how much downforce you put on the car, you still weren’t going to use the second lane. It was unusable.

“It’s not just been the downforce. It’s been a combination of getting the track better and stopping the PJ1 being laid down has greatly improved that.

“I wouldn’t put it just on the downforce or configuration thing. It’s also been the track kind of coming back to where we needed it.”