IndyCar Grand Prix: How to watch, start time, live stream info

IndyCar Grand Prix: The NTT IndyCar Series will open a grueling stretch of five races in two weeks with its first road course of the season Saturday with the seventh annual GMR Grand Prix (start time, noon ET on NBC and online via the NBC Sports app). The IndyCar Grand Prix start times and all the TV and live stream information you need to know also can be found below.

The race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course will be followed by weekend doubleheaders at Road America (July 11-12) and Iowa Speedway (July 17-18).

After nearly a three-month delay because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the season opened June 6 at Texas Motor Speedway. The season’s second race Saturday at Indy will be the first of 13 events (including the 104th Indianapolis 500) crammed into just more than three months.

“We’re basically starting (the season) in July, and October it’s going to be over,” said Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud, the defending winner of the GMR Grand Prix. “It’s just as many races in half a season. It’s going to be compact, intense.

“I think the big teams might have an advantage for sure because of the amount of people they have working with them. The smaller teams, on the other hand, it’s going to be hard for them because of all the work they have to do for all these weeks.”

Pagenaud (who also won the inaugural race on the IMS road course with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in 2014) and teammate Will Power have combined to give Team Penske five consecutive victories in the GMR Grand Prix.

The record for consecutive victories at a track is six, held by Andretti Autosport (which won at Iowa Speedway with four drivers from 2010-15) and Chip Ganassi Racing (which won at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course from 2009-14 with three drivers).

This IMS race weekend already will be historic as IndyCar will share the track with NASCAR’s top two series for the first time (the Xfinity Series races the road course Saturday; the Cup Series will be on the 2.5-mile oval Sunday). But interaction will be limited as drivers from IndyCar and Cup won’t intermingle because of pandemic restrictions, and the races will be held without crowds.

“Realistically we wish we could see both fan bases interacting and everyone there together,” Conor Daly said. “We’ll still wait on that. But I think it’s an exciting sign hopefully for the future. If we can work together, that would be great. This is a team effort. For motorsports to be successful, hopefully, we can all help each other.”

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Here are the details and IndyCar Grand Prix start times for the second race of the season (all times are ET):

TV info, IndyCar Grand Prix start times

Friday

—IndyCar practice: 11:30 a.m., NBC Sports Gold

—IndyCar qualifying: 4:30 p.m., NBCSN, NBC Sports Gold

Saturday

—IndyCar warmup: 9 a.m., NBC Sports Gold

—IndyCar GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis: Noon, NBC

GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis race information

RADIO: The race will air live on network affiliates, Sirius 211, XM 205, indycar.com and the IndyCar Mobile app powered by NTT DATA. All practices and qualifying are available on indycar.com and the IndyCar Mobile app, with qualifying also airing on Sirius 211 and XM 205.

DISTANCE: The race is 80 laps (195.12 miles) around Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 14-turn, 2.439-mile, road course.

PUSH TO PASS: 200 seconds of total time, with a maximum time of 20 seconds per activation.

TIRE ALLOTMENT: Firestone will provide seven sets of primary tires; four sets of alternates (an eighth set of primary tires is available to rookies).

FORECAST: According to Wunderground.com, it’s expected to be 89 degrees with a 21% chance of rain at the green flag.

DEFENDING RACE WINNER: Simon Pagenaud

DEFENDING POLE WINNER: Felix Rosenqvist, 1:08.2785, 128.597 mph

QUALIFYING RECORD: Will Power, 1:07.7044, 129.687 mph, May 12, 2017 (Set in Round 3 of knockout qualifying)

ENTRY LIST: Who will be racing in the GMR Grand Prix

SPOTTERS’ GUIDE: Click here to see the paint schemes for the 26 cars in Saturday’s race.

FAST FACTS: This will be the seventh NTT IndyCar Series race on the IMS road course. Simon Pagenaud and Will Power are the only drivers to win on the layout. Pagenaud won the inaugural race in 2014, ’16 and last season,; Power won in 2015, ’17 and ’18 — all from the pole position. … Scott Dixon won the Genesys 300 on June 6 at Texas Motor Speedway and is third on the all-time victory list with 47 wins. Dixon has yet to win on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course but finished second in the GMR Grand Prix the past three seasons. … Twelve drivers — Marco Andretti, Sebastien Bourdais, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan, Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato. — raced in the six previous runnings of the GMR Grand Prix. Bourdais, Castroneves and Kanaan aren’t entered this year. … Kanaan’s record streak of 318 consecutive race starts will end Saturday after beginning June 2001 at Portland. Scott Dixon will become the new active leader when he makes his 260th consecutive start Saturday. … Rookies Oliver Askew, Dalton Kellett, Alex Palou and Rinus VeeKay will be making their debuts on the IMS road course, as will Sage Karam.

NBCSPORTS.COM COVERAGE: Below are links to IndyCar stories this week on Motorsports Talk.

NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson will test July 8 with Chip Ganassi Racing

IndyCar drivers take ‘extreme precaution’ to avoid COVID-19

Weekend IndyCar schedule for the GMR Grand Prix

Entry list for the GMR Grand Prix

DETROIT – There’s no rest for the weary as an Indy 500 winner, but Josef Newgarden discovered there are plenty of extra laps.

The reigning Indy 500 champion added an extra trip Wednesday night back to Concord, N.C., for one last session on the GM Racing simulator before Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

After a 30-year run on the Belle Isle course, the race has been moved to a nine-turn, 1.7-mile layout downtown, so two extra hours on the simulator were worth it for Newgarden.

INDYCAR IN DETROIT: Entry list, schedule, TV info for this weekend

JOSEF’S FAMILY TIES: Newgarden wins Indy 500 with wisdom of father, wife

“I really wanted to do it,” he told NBC Sports at a Thursday media luncheon. “If there’s any time that the sim is most useful, it’s in this situation when no one has ever been on a track, and we’re able to simulate it as best as we can. We want to get some seat time.

“It’s extra important coming off the Indy 500 because you’ve been out of rhythm for a road or street course-type environment, so I really wanted some laps. I was really appreciative to Chevy. There was a few guys that just came in and stayed late for me so I could get those laps before coming up here. I don’t know if it’s going to make a difference, but I feel like it’s going to help for me.”

After a whirlwind tour of New York for two days, Newgarden arrived at the simulator (which is at the GM Racing Technical Center adjacent to Hendrick Motorsports) in time for a two hour session that started at 6 p.m. Wednesday. He stayed overnight in Charlotte and then was up for an early commercial flight to Detroit, where he had more media obligations.

Newgarden joked that if he had a jet, he would have made a quick stop in Nashville, Tennessee, but a few more days away from home (where he has yet to return in weeks) is a worthy tradeoff for winning the Greatest Spectacle in Racing – though the nonstop interviews can take a toll.

“It’s the hardest part of the gig for me is all this fanfare and celebration,” Newgarden said. “I love doing it because I’m so passionate about the Indy 500 and that racetrack and what that race represents. I feel honored to be able to speak about it. It’s been really natural and easy for me to enjoy it because I’ve been there for so many years.

“Speaking about this win has been almost the easiest job I’ve ever had for postrace celebrations. But it’s still for me a lot of work. I get worn out pretty easily. I’m very introverted. So to do this for three days straight, it’s been a lot.”

Though he is terrified of heights, touring the top of the Empire State Building for the first time was a major highlight (and produced the tour’s most viral moment).

New texts alert sound just dropped.@josefnewgarden| @EmpireStateBldg pic.twitter.com/YWLpS9UWrN

— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) May 31, 2023

“I was scared to get to the very top level,” Newgarden said. “That thing was swaying. No one else thought it was swaying. I’m pretty sure it was. I really impressed by the facility. I’d never seen it before. It’s one of those bucket list things. If you go to New York, it’s really special to do that. So to be there with the wreath and the whole setup, it just felt like an honor to be in that moment.”

Now the attention shifts to Detroit and an inaugural circuit that’s expected to be challenging. Along with a Jefferson Avenue straightaway that’s 0.9 miles long, the track has several low-speed corners and a “split” pit lane (teams will stop on both sides of a rectangular area) with a narrow exit that blends just before a 90-degree lefthand turn into Turn 1.

Newgarden thinks the track is most similar to the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville.

“It’s really hard to predict with this stuff until we actually run,” he said. “Maybe we go super smooth and have no issues. Typically when you have a new event, you’re going to have some teething issues. That’s understandable. We’ve always got to massage the event to get it where we want it, but this team has worked pretty hard. They’ve tried to get feedback constantly on what are we doing right, what do we need to look out for. They’ve done a ton of grinding to make sure this surface is in as good of shape as possible.

“There’s been no expense spared, but you can’t foresee everything. I have no idea how it’s going to race. I think typically when you look at a circuit that seems simple on paper, people tend to think it’s not going to be an exciting race, or challenging. I find the opposite always happens when we think that way. Watch it be the most exciting, chaotic, entertaining race.

Newgarden won the last two pole positions at Belle Isle’s 2.35-mile layout and hopes to continue the momentum while avoiding any post-Brickyard letdown.

“I love this is an opportunity for us to get something right quicker than anyone else,” he said. “A new track is always exciting from that standpoint. I feel I’m in a different spot. I’m pretty run down. I’m really trying to refocus and gain some energy back for tomorrow. Which I’ll have time to today, which is great.

“I don’t want that Indy 500 hangover. People always talk about it. They’ve always observed it. That doesn’t mean we have to win this weekend, but I’d like to leave here feeling like we had a really complete event, did a good job and had a solid finish leading into the summer. I want to win everywhere I go, but if we come out of here with a solid result and no mistakes, then probably everyone will be happy with it.”