Anyone who knows me knows I love IndyCar. However, as someone who has just gotten into it within the past year, I’m still a beginner of sorts. During the Super Bowl, there were a couple of promo videos, so if that peaked your interest you’re just in time. The 2025 season just started on Mar 2 and there’s a lot to it, but there’s also time to catch up before the next race on Mar 23. So, here’s a beginner’s guide to IndyCar for anyone looking to get into it this season.
Teams and Drivers
For anyone familiar with Formula One, an international racing competition, which has just 20 drivers and two people per team, IndyCar can feel like a big jump. At a minimum, there are 27 full-time drivers on the grid (a grid is the starting positions of the cars in the race. If you’ve seen the Cars movie, it’s the area where the cars line up behind the bracket looking lines). However, for other races, such the Indy500, there can be upwards of around 33 drivers on the grid at once. There also aren’t just two people on a team. Most teams have just two people but others have three or more.
In total, there are 11 teams: six that have two drivers and five that have three drivers. The following teams and their drivers are:
- A.J. Foyt Enterprises: David Malukas and Santino Ferrucci
- Andretti Global: Kyle Kirkwood, Marcus Ericsson and Colton Herta
- Arrow McLaren: Pato O’Ward, Christian Lundgaard and Nolan Siegel
- Chip Ganassi Racing: Alex Palou, Scott Dixon and Kyffin Simpson
- Dale Coyne Racing: Rinus VeeKay and Jacob Abel
- Ed Carpenter Racing: Alexander Rossi and Christian Rasmussen
- Juncos Hollinger Racing: Conor Daly and Sting Ray Robb
- Meyer Shank Racing: Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Armstrong
- PREMA Racing: Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman
- Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing: Graham Rahal, Devlin DeFrancesco and Louis Foster
- Team Penske: Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin and Will Power
Race Tracks
Since 1996, IndyCar has raced on 45 total tracks. Of those, 24 are ovals, 10 are road courses and 10 are street circuits. There are 17 races in a season, which means 17 tracks are used. The season starts in St. Petersburg, Fla. and ends in Nashville, Tenn. In total, there are four street circuits, six ovals and seven road courses in a season. The number of laps vary depending on the track being used.
Race Weekend
Not every IndyCar race weekend is alike. Each weekend has practices, qualifying and a race. However, the race at the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 at Iowa Speedway has two, with one on Saturday and the next on Sunday.
Practice:
Practices are simple. The drivers take laps in their cars to get a feel for it, test the set up, tire performance, overall track conditions, strategies, etc. in preparation for qualifying and the race. There are always at least two practices.
Qualifying:
At both race tracks and street circuits, qualifying closely resembles Formula One’s qualifying, where five drivers are knocked out in the three different quarters. One difference, though, is the drivers are split into two groups due to the bigger number of drivers.
The division is based on the last practice session. Drivers who finished in an even-numbered position are in one group and odd-numbered in the other. The first round of qualifying determines the Firestone Fast Six (the first six positions on race day). Then, they move onto the second round, which determines the second chunk, finishing with the third, which finalizes the grid line-up for race day.
Ovals work differently. The order at which drivers qualify is based on the reverse order of the entrant points. The rest of the order (for those without entrant points) is done through a blind draw.
Each driver entered is permitted one timed qualifying run. This run consists of two-warm up laps and two timed laps. The driver with the fastest times starts on Pole Position (otherwise known as first place pre-race day). The only difference is at the Iowa Speedway where lap one is their qualifying position for race one, and the second lap for race two.
The Indy500 is a whole different process. It still follows the random draw of ovals along with the warmup laps. However, qualifying laps jump from two to four timed laps where an accumulated time is recorded for the official qualifying position.
Race Day:
Races are simple. Everyone starts in their qualifying position, there’s a winner along with second and third places. On average, drivers pit stop between five and 10 times for tire changes, refuels, wing adjustments or anything that may be wrong with the car.
Understanding IndyCar
Points:
Circling back to the term entrant points, there are points awarded to those with a valid entrant license and registration.
Then there are positional points. First place is 50 points, second is 40, then 35, 32, 30, 28 and so on and so forth. Pole Position and leading at least one lap are both things awarded an extra point and Most Laps Led is awarded two.
The fastest qualifier is awarded 12 points, the second fastest 11 points and subtracting one down the rest of the grid.
Tires:
Something that all motorsports have is different types of tires for either different weather conditions or for a difference in performance and speed.
- Primary Black: used on all three track types, good balance between speed, corners and durability.
- Alternate Red: softer tires, don’t last as many laps, faster speeds, only used on road courses.
- Alternate Green: used on street circuits, use natural rubber, essentially the same as red but are “green” terms of eco-friendly tires.
- Rain: grooved for wet conditions, looks like a traditional car tire, used on road and street courses as they don’t race on ovals in the rain.
Flags:
While on the track, the drivers have a radio that allows their race engineer to talk to them; however, there are still signals that are more easily communicated through flags than through the radio. Also so that everyone on the grid receives the same message at mostly the same time.
- Green: signals the start of the race, qualifying and practices or after a red flag
- Yellow: signals the driver that the track is unsafe for full speeds and to be cautious
- Red: signals that the driver should make their way to the pit ASAP as the track isn’t safe
- Checkers: signals the end of the race, qualifying and practices
- Solid Blue: signals to a diver that a faster driver is behind and trying to pass them
- White: signals that one lap is left in the race
- Black: the driver is possibly in trouble and needs to head to the pit immediately for a consultation with race officials, typically shown alongside the driver’s number
- Yellow with red stripe: signals that there is oil or water on the track, a slippery surface sign
- Black with white cross: the driver has been disqualified, typically shown alongside the driver’s number
Awards:
At the end of the season, every driver and team officially has their total points and there are a few different awards given for those points.
- The Astor Challenge Cup: This is just the championship award. Alex Palou was both the 2024 and 2023 winner.
- NTT P1 Championship: An honor given to the driver who received the most P1 awards that season. Scott McLaughlin won it last season.
- Rookie of the Year: This is presented to the highest placing rookie of the season along with a $50,000 bonus. Linus Lundqvist won this last year.
- Engine Manufacturer Championship: This is awarded to the top two finishing cars for both manufacturers within IndyCar (Honda and Chevrolet). First place gets 50 points and second gets 40. Five points are also awarded to the race winning manufacturer throughout the season, one point to the manufacturer who’s on pole and two at the Indianapolis 500.
There’s still A LOT to IndyCar that I didn’t cover because unlike other motorsports, there’s no one set way of doing things for every race. This makes the sport harder to get into and understand, but it is also what makes it unique which is why I love it as should you. For everything that I didn’t cover here, here’s the official IndyCar 101 from their official site!