The Verizon IndyCar Series will continue racing at Texas Motor Speedway for at least the next four years after a new contract extension was confirmed today. The speedway will remain on the calendar until 2022 and will ensure that the partnership between the speedway in the series will continue into its twenty-fifth year.
Today’s news also came with a confirmation of the 2019 race date for Texas in the Verizon IndyCar Series. The race – once again held under the floodlights in the evening – will take place on Saturday, June 8, 2019, and will once again be sponsored by DXC Technology.
The president of Texas Motor Speedway, Eddie Gossage, was understandably delighted with today’s announcement, stating that the speedway had played host to “many great moments” since first entering the world of IndyCar in 1997.
“Texas Motor Speedway is the second home of Indy car racing, and we are thrilled to extend our partnership with the Verizon IndyCar Series and with DXC Technology,” said Gossage,“We are pleased to have negotiated a sanction agreement that allows Texas Motor Speedway to move forward with INDYCAR. Our company has invested significant dollars into the sport and a tremendous amount of effort growing the sport through the years.”
“So many great moments in this sport have occurred at Texas Motor Speedway,” Eddie went on to add, “This is and always will be ‘America’s original nighttime Indy car race.’ Photo finishes and victory lane drama have been the standard over the years.
“No other track has seen as many Verizon IndyCar Series races over the last two-plus decades. Texas Motor Speedway has been good for Indy car racing and Indy car racing has been good for Texas Motor Speedway.”
Texas Motor Speedway first joined the IndyCar series twenty-five years ago, hosting its first race on June 7, 1997. From the next year until 2005, Texas hosted two races a season. From then, the series has descaled back to one race a year, with the exception of 2011 when a unique format saw two races held on the same night.
During those thirty races, some of the most intense and unpredictable racing in IndyCar history has taken place on the banked turns of Texas Motor Speedway. Of the nine closest margins of victory in the series’ history, three of those have taken place at Texas, with the closest coming in 2016 when Graham Rahal memorably took the win from James Hinchcliffe by a scarcely believable eight-thousandths of a second.
Today’s new contract announcement will hopefully see many more amazing memories made at Texas Motor Speedway. Mark Miles, CEO of IndyCar’s owners Hulman & Company, stated today that he was glad that Texas will remain on the calendar for the next few years at least.
“INDYCAR is pleased to continue its long relationship with Texas Motor Speedway, a partnership that stretches to 1997,” said Miles, “This oval track annually produces some of the most exciting racing of the season, contributes to the diversity of the schedule and helps us continue the oval heritage of Indy car racing. It’s good to know that Texas will remain a mainstay of the Verizon IndyCar Series for years to come.”
The remaining dates on the 2019 IndyCar calendar will be confirmed at a later date. The next round of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series, the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Gateway Motorsports Park, will take place this Saturday night, August 25.
