PHOENIX – MARCH 21: Tony Kanaan driving the #11 Andretti Green Racing Team 7-Eleven Dallara Honda on his way to winning in the Arizona desert at the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series Copper World Indy 200 on March 21, 2004 at the Phoenix International Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Darrell Ingham/Getty Images).
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The spring race weekend next season at Phoenix Raceway just got louder. Beginning in 2026, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series — the series most fans still call Xfinity — will share the Saturday billing with the IndyCar Series. IndyCar hasn’t raced at the one-mile oval since 2018, but when it returns on March 7, it will do so in front of a crowd that’s already primed for NASCAR’s Cup race the following day.
If this sounds familiar, that’s because it is. A few years ago, in 2020, NASCAR and IndyCar shared a doubleheader weekend on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Back then, the novelty was watching IndyCars carve through the infield at warp speed after the stock cars thundered through the turns, all on the same Saturday card. Now Phoenix becomes the stage, a track with more than 50 years of open-wheel history that has also become one of NASCAR’s most important markets.
Phoenix Raceway President Latasha Causey called the move a reunion: “This track has deep roots in open-wheel history, so we’re pleased to bring that tradition back to our race fans as part of a doubleheader Saturday with the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.”
It’s more than nostalgia, though. This marks the first time NASCAR and IndyCar will stage two doubleheaders in the same season. Earlier in 2026, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will race at St. Petersburg on the same weekend IndyCar opens its season. For a sport often accused of moving in parallel lanes, that’s suddenly two weekends where the worlds of stock cars and open-wheel collide.
And on the NASCAR side, the drivers aren’t just supportive — they’re genuinely excited. Ryan Blaney, who knows a thing or two about winning in Phoenix after securing his 2023 Cup championship there, welcomed the announcement:
“I love it. I was really excited that they announced that. I have a super close relationship with the IndyCar guys. We’re all under the same building and we all root each other on. I loved when we had the doubleheader with them at Indy… I think it’s gonna be fantastic, and I like that IndyCar is going back to Phoenix. It’s been a while since they’ve run in Phoenix and I think it will put on a really good show. I’m looking forward to going and standing in one and two as those guys are just hauling butt around there.”
Blaney isn’t exaggerating — IndyCars are expected to lap Phoenix nearly six seconds faster than their stock-car cousins. That sort of contrast makes a doubleheader work. You can feel the ground shake under 3,400-pound NASCAR machines on one run, then watch IndyCars slice the air like fighter jets the next. It’s the motorsport equivalent of getting Beethoven and Metallica on the same ticket.
For Phoenix fans, the weekend now becomes a three-day festival: IndyCar and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series on Saturday, capped by the Cup Series race on Sunday with ARCA also on the bill. For the sport as a whole, it’s another sign that NASCAR and IndyCar are realizing they’re stronger — and draw bigger crowds — when they run side by side.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregengle/2025/09/16/indycar-returns-to-phoenix-by-crashing-nascars-2026-weekend/
