Here’s how to watch the 2020 IndyCar season on NBC Sports

By Michael EubanksMar 2, 2020, 11:00 AM EST
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There’s less than two weeks until the first round of the NTT IndyCar Series, and NBC Sports will return as the exclusive broadcast and streaming partner of America’s premier open-wheel racing series for the entire IndyCar 2020 schedule.

This year, NBC Sports will broadcast more than 300 hours of IndyCar content across NBC, NBCSN, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app and NBC Sports Gold’s INDYCAR Pass.

NBC will air eight total races in 2020, highlighted by the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 24.

The other seven races on NBC are the GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course (Saturday, May 9), both races of the doubleheader weekend at Detroit’s Belle Isle Park (Saturday, May 30 and Sunday, May 31), Road America (Sunday, June 21), Mid-Ohio (Sunday, Aug. 16), and the final two races of the season at Portland (Sunday, Sept. 6) and Laguna Seca (Sunday, Sept. 20).

Extensive Indy 500 coverage

NBC also has expanded its Indianapolis 500 qualifying coverage for 2020, adding a second day of broadcast coverage and two additional hours on NBC. Indy 500 qualifying will air on Saturday, May 16 from 2-5 p.m. ET on NBC with additional coverage on NBC from 1-3 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 17.

The remaining nine events of the 2020 season will air on NBCSN, beginning with the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Sunday, March 15. NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app also will stream all races during the 2020 IndyCar season.

NBC Sports Gold’s INDYCAR PASS will provide more than 200 hours of programming in 2020, including more than 50 hours surrounding the Indianapolis 500. The pass (which is available for $54.99 annually) offers live coverage of all IndyCar practice and qualifying sessions plus live coverage of Indy Lights races and full replays of all NTT IndyCar Series races. Click here for more information on NBC Sports Gold’s INDYCAR PASS.

Below is NBC Sports’ IndyCar 2020 schedule:

Date Race/Track Network Time (ET)
 Sun, March 15  Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg  NBCSN  2:30 p.m.
 Sun., April 5  Honda Grand Prix of Alabama  NBCSN  4 p.m.
 Sun., April 19  Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach  NBCSN  4 p.m.
 Sun., April 26  AutoNation INDYCAR Challenge at Circuit of The Americas  NBCSN  3:30 p.m.
 Sat., May 9  GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway  NBC  3 p.m.
 Sun., May 24  The 104th Indianapolis 500 Presented by Gainbridge  NBC  11 a.m.
 Sat., May 30  Chevrolet Dual in Detroit – Race 1  NBC  3 p.m.
 Sun., May 31  Chevrolet Dual in Detroit – Race 2  NBC  3 p.m.
 Sat., June 6  Texas Indy 600  NBCSN  8 p.m.
 Sun., June 21  REV Group Grand Prix at Road America  NBC  Noon
 Sat., June 27  Indy Richmond 300  NBCSN  8 p.m.
 Sun., July 12  Honda Indy Toronto  NBCSN  3 p.m.
 Sat., July 18  Iowa 300  NBCSN  8:30 p.m.
 Sun., Aug. 16  Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio  NBC  12:30 p.m.
 Sat., Aug. 22  Bommarito Automotive Group 500  NBCSN  8 p.m.
 Sun., Sept. 6  Grand Prix of Portland  NBC  3 p.m.
 Sun., Sept. 20  Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca  NBC  2:30 p.m.

 

Mario Andretti says Colton Herta could be next American star in F1

By Nate RyanSep 19, 2020, 6:00 AM EDT
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Mario Andretti’s last Formula One victory is also the last by an American driver in more than 42 years on the international open-wheel road racing series.

If you had told Andretti that while he was celebrating on the Grand Prix of the Netherlands podium on Aug. 27, 1978 at the Vandzoort circuit, he wouldn’t have believed it.

“Absolutely not,” Andretti told Kyle Petty during the most recent “Coffee With Kyle” episode (video above). “It’s a shame. Somehow we have so much talent here, and either there’s no invitation or something there. But I think it’s time to give some of this young talent that, in my opinion, is absolutely capable.”

The Dutch GP was the last of Andretti’s 12 victories in F1 and came during his championship season. No one since has come close to matching his success in F1.

Mario Andretti drives his Lotus-Ford to victory in the 1978 Grand Prix of the Netherlands (Bernard Cahier/Getty Images).

Andretti’s son, Michael, took a full-time ride with McLaren in 1993 but left with three races remaining in a season marred by crashes and mechanical problems.

Scott Speed was the last American to run a full F1 season in 2006, and Alexander Rossi made the most recent F1 start by a U.S. driver in 2015. Rossi has said he has no desire to return to racing in Europe after winning the 2016 Indianapolis 500 and becoming an IndyCar championship contender.

But Mario Andretti believes Andretti Autosport has another rising star with F1-caliber ability.

“Colton Herta is one that comes to mind,” Mario Andretti said. “As a young lad, his dad sent him to Europe, he was doing Formula 3, and he knows most of the circuits there. He’s trained. He’s showed in his rookie season and won some premium races at COTA (and Laguna Seca), beat two of the very best Indy has to offer (in) Will Power and Scott Dixon.

“This is one kid I’d love to see him get a break over there to fly the U.S. colors again.”

Herta, 20, seems interested in exploring an F1 leap over the next few years. After winning Sept. 13 at Mid-Ohio from the pole position (his third career victory in the NTT IndyCar Series), the No. 88 Dallara-Honda driver is ranked fourth in the standings in his sophomore year and regarded as one of the series’ top prospects.

Herta recently told RACER.com “I’d love to give Formula 1 a crack” but said he also would be happy driving in IndyCar and IMSA.

A naturalized U.S. citizen who told Petty about spending several years with his family in an Italian refugee camp before coming to America, Mario Andretti said F1 brought an enormous sense of patriotic pride.

“Formula One is like the Olympics in a sense,” he said. “You’re in a different country, a different continent. When you earn that highest step of the podium, they play your national anthem. That’s when you take nothing for granted. You feel like I’m representing my country, and the proudest moments are those.

“I’d just like to see some other American drivers experience that. It’s time.”

Mario Andretti with four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon and six-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton before the Nov. 22, 2015 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Jared C. Tilton/NASCAR via Getty Images).

During the “Coffee With Kyle” conversation, Andretti also discussed:

–His versatility as a winner in IndyCar, sports cars, NASCAR and Formula One;

–His 1967 Daytona 500 victory and how he enjoyed racing with crew chief Jake Elder at the famed Holman-Moody team;

Mario Andretti Colton Herta
Mario Andretti and Kyle Petty saluted “The King” by wearing their Richard Petty-style hats during the latest “Coffee With Kyle” (NBCSN).

–Why he delayed his entry to F1 for a few years because of his earnings power in IndyCar. “I always say I’d race for free, but at the same time, you’re thinking of family and the future,” he said. “It was in the back of your mind that you can’t give up the earning power of IndyCar. That kept me from going full time in Formula One, but I always said that sometime in my career, I’d have to devote a period to Formula One.”

–On what it was like racing in an era when driver deaths were more prevalent. “If you’re going to do this, you’re not going to dwell on those negatives,” Andretti said. “There’s no way. You knew it was present. Especially in the ‘60s at the beginning of the season at the drivers meetings, you couldn’t help but look around and say, ‘I wonder who is not going to be here at the end of the season.’ We’d lose four to five guys. In ’64, we lost six guys.

“It’s something if you dwell on that, you’re going to take on a different profession. It’s a desire and love to want to drive that overcame all that and then the confidence it’s not going to happen to me. And then you pray.”

Watch the full “Coffee With Kyle” episode in the video above or by clicking here.

Mario Andretti looks on before the 103rd Indianapolis 500 on May 26, 2019 (Chris Graythen/Getty Images).