“No night races is a tragedy”: Fans react as broadcast times of IndyCar’s 2025 schedule emerge

IndyCar fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to express their disapproval of the series' 2025 schedule. They were unhappy with the race broadcast times decided by IndyCar and its new broadcast partner FOX Sports.

On Wednesday, December 18, SBJ reporter Adam Stern shared an image of the final broadcast times via his X (formerly Twitter) handle and wrote:

".@FoxSports today is announcing broadcast times for the 2025 @IndyCar campaign, including that it will start Indy 500 pre-race coverage at 10:00am ET, an hour earlier than NBC this year. 🔲 25 to also mark the first time that the entire IndyNXT Series has been aired live on TV."

A positive to the new timings was the earlier start time of 10 am for the year's biggest race, the Indy 500, which facilitated two hours of pre-race coverage. While FOX had also promised 'unrivaled' exposure to IndyCar when they signed the deal in June this year, they didn't seem to get off on the right foot with the fans.

The start time for all races being in the afternoon, with the latest time of 5 pm for the Iowa Speedway Race 1 bothered fans, who were expecting at least one night race next year.

Expressing disappointment over the same, a fan wrote:

Another fan tagged the Iowa Speedway and the WWT Raceway X accounts to question why they weren't hosting a night race like they have done in the past.

"No night races?? @iowaspeedway @WWTRaceway ??" the fan asked.

"No night races at all is insane" another fan added.

"No night race at Gateway or Nashville..." one X user commented.

A few fans were also disappointed with IndyCar signing with FOX Sports, a media partner that allegedly didn't do justice to their partnership with NASCAR.

"Don't care, still not excited about fox taking over. If their NASCAR coverage is any indication...," a fan wrote.

"Still dumbfounded how Indycar gets more Fox attention than Nascar. Convinced that Fox wants to drag nascar down at this point." another added.

This isn't the first time IndyCar has received criticism for its schedule. Earlier this year, the series' drivers were unhappy with the 2025 race dates.

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Alex Palou and Scott Dixon criticize IndyCar for scheduling mishap with 2025's 24 Hours of Le Mans

Alex Palou at the NTT IndyCar Series Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey - Source: Getty

In 2025, IndyCar has scheduled the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 on the June 14-15 weekend, overlapping with the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This comes as a letdown for the drivers who have been participating in both IndyCar and Le Mans for the past two years.

3x defending IndyCar champ Alex Palou, who drove for Cadillac in the 2024 Le Mans, said about the scheduling conflict (via Road & Track):

"Hopefully [IndyCar] changes it, because I think it's a joke that we overlap with one of the biggest races in the world, especially when we can avoid it."

His Cadillac teammate Scott Dixon echoed the stance, saying:

"It's frustrating, obviously, my real job is racing IndyCar, so that schedule takes precedence. But I figured through most of the years they tried to give leeway for Le Mans, Daytona, and Sebring. A lot of us drivers like to have that crossover, so it's a bummer."

IndyCar teams also faced a big snag in the 2024 schedule in July when two consecutive races at Iowa (in peak summer) followed by the Grand Prix of Toronto exhausted the paddock.