IndyCar at Laguna Seca: How to watch on NBC, start times, streaming info, schedules

By Nate RyanSep 9, 2022, 10:00 AM EDT

Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment

IndyCar start times: With five drivers still in contention for the championship, the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series will conclude Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Will Power leads teammate Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon by 20 points. Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson is 39 points behind, and Scott McLaughlin (winner of the Sept. 4 race at Portland) is at a 41-point deficit.

Colton Herta has won the past two IndyCar races at Laguna Seca in 2019 and ’21 (the 2020 event wasn’t held because of the pandemic).

This will mark the first time in three years that the race ends the season. Josef Newgarden won the 2019 championship with an eighth at Laguna Seca.

Here are the details and IndyCar start times for the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (all times are ET):

INDYCAR AT LAGUNA SECA START TIMES

TV: Sunday, 3 p.m. ET on NBC and streaming on Peacock, the NBC Sports App and NBCSports.com. Leigh Diffey is the announcer with analysts Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe. Marty Snider, Kevin Lee and Dillon Welch are the pit reporters. Click here for the full NBC Sports schedule for IndyCar in 2022.

Peacock also will be the streaming broadcast for both practices and qualifying. (Click here for information on how to sign up for Peacock.)

COMMAND TO START ENGINES: 3:23 p.m. ET

GREEN FLAG: 3:30 p.m. ET

POSTRACE SHOW ON PEACOCK: After the race’s conclusion, an exclusive postrace show will air on Peacock with driver interviews, postrace analysis and the podium presentation. To watch the extended postrace show, click over to the special stream on Peacock after the race ends.

Peacock also will be the streaming broadcast for practices and qualifying.

INDYCAR RADIO NETWORK: The IndyCar and Indy Lights races and all practices and qualifying sessions will air live on network affiliates, SiriusXM 160, racecontrol.indycar.com and the IndyCar app.

PRACTICE: Friday, 5:30 p.m. (Peacock Premium); Saturday 1:15 p.m. (Peacock Premium); Sunday, noon (Peacock Premium)

PRACTICE RESULTS: Session I l Session II l l Session III l Combined

QUALIFYING: Saturday, 5:05 p.m. (Peacock Premium)

STARTING LINEUP: Click here for the grid at the green flag of the finale

RACE DISTANCE: The race is 95 laps/212.61 miles on an 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course in Monterey, California.

TIRE ALLOTMENT: Six sets primary, four sets alternate of Firestones. Teams must use one set of primary and one new set of alternate tires in the race. (Note: A seventh set of primary tires is available to any car fielding a rookie driver.).

PUSH TO PASS: 150 seconds of total time with a maximum time of 15 seconds per activation. The push-to-pass will be available at the finish line after the initial start or restarts. The feature increases the power of the engine by approximately 60 horsepower. (Indy Lights push to pass: 150 seconds of total time with a maximum time of 15 seconds per activation.)

FORECAST: According to Wunderground.com, it’s expected to be 69 degrees with an 8% chance of rain at the green flag.

ENTRY LIST: Click here to view the 26 IndyCar drivers racing at Laguna Seca

INDY LIGHTS RACES: Saturday, 3:25 p.m., 35 laps/78.33 miles or 55 minutes (Peacock Premium); Sunday, 1 p.m., 35 laps/78.33 miles or 55 minutes (Peacock Premium)

INDY LIGHTS ENTRY LIST: Click here for the 13 drivers entered

INDYCAR LAGUNA SECA WEEKEND SCHEDULE, START TIMES

(All times are Eastern; subject to change)

Friday, Sept. 9

11 a.m.: IndyCar garage opens

Noon: Spec Racer Ford practice

12:45 p.m.: US Touring Car Championship practice

2:45 p.m.: Spec Racer Ford practice

3:30 p.m.: US Touring Car Championship practice

4:15 p.m.: Indy Lights practice

5:30 p.m.: IndyCar practice (Peacock Premium)

7 p.m.: US Touring Car Championship qualifying

Saturday, Sept. 10

10:30 a.m.: IndyCar garage opens

11:15 a.m.: Spec Racer Ford qualifying

Noon: US Touring Car Championship warmup

12:30 p.m.: Indy Lights qualifying

1:15 p.m.: IndyCar practice (Peacock Premium)

2:30 p.m.: Spec Racer Ford Race 1

3:25 p.m.: Indy Lights Race 1, 35 laps or 55 minutes (Peacock Premium)

5:05 p.m.: IndyCar qualifying (Peacock Premium)

6:35 p.m.: US Touring Car Championship Race 1

7:40 p.m.: Spec Racer Ford Race 2

Sunday, Sept. 11

9 a.m.: IndyCar garage opens

11:30 a.m.: US Touring Car Championship warmup

Noon: IndyCar warmup (Peacock Premium)

1 p.m.: Indy Lights Race 2, 35 laps or 55 minutes (Peacock Premium)

3:30 p.m.: IndyCar Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, 95 laps/212.61 miles (NBC, Peacock Premium)

6:30 p.m.: US Touring Car Championship, Race 2

COVERAGE ON NBCSPORTS.COM

ROUND 1: Scott McLaughlin opens season with breakthrough victory at St. Petersburg

ROUND 2: Josef Newgarden nips McLaughlin in last corner for 1-2 Penske finish at Texas

ROUND 3: Josef Newgarden keeps Penske unbeaten in 2022 with first Long Beach win

ROUND 4: Pato O’Ward’s nifty pass seals victory at Barber

ROUND 5: Colton Herta tames the rain in GMR Grand Prix

ROUND 6: Marcus Ericsson wins Indy 500 in two-lap shootout

ROUND 7: Redemption in Detroit for Will Power in Belle Isle farewell

ROUND 8: Josef Newgarden earns $1 million bonus with Road America victory

ROUND 9: Scott McLaughlin takes Mid-Ohio as Andretti teammates feud

ROUND 10: Scott Dixon ties Mario Andretti on all-time list with Toronto win

ROUND 11: Josef Newgarden continues Iowa Speedway dominance

ROUND 12: Pato O’Ward wins as Newgarden crashes, faints at Iowa

ROUND 13: Alexander Rossi ends 49-race winless streak on IMS road course

ROUND 14: Scott Dixon wins wild Music City Grand Prix

ROUND 15: Josef Newgarden charges to fifth victory after rain delay

ROUND 16: Scott McLaughlin dominates from the pole at Portland

Viewer’s guide to the 2022 season

HOW TO WATCH INDYCAR IN 2022: Full NBC Sports schedule

Heart of Racing program aims to elevate new generation of women to star in sports cars

By Nate RyanMar 29, 2023, 12:00 PM EDT

Mike Levitt/LAT Images/Heart of Racing

(Editor’s note: This story on the Heart of Racing sports cars shootout for women is one in an occasional Motorsports Talk series focusing on women in racing during March, which is Women’s History Month.)

Heart of Racing driver and team manager Ian James says his daughter, Gabby, isn’t so interested in auto racing. But she is interested (as a New York-based journalist) in writing about the sport’s efforts and growth in gender equality

It’s a topic that also was brought up by James’ wife, Kim.

“They’re always saying, ‘Hey, you manage all these guys, and you help them, so why not a woman?’ ” Ian James told NBC Sports. “And I feel like there are a lot of women that haven’t had a fair crack at it in sports car racing.

“Our whole DNA at Heart of Racing is we give people opportunities in all types of situations where there’s been crew personnel or drivers. And I felt like we hadn’t really addressed the female driver situation. I felt like there was a void to give somebody a chance to really prove themselves.”

During the offseason, the team took a major step toward remedying that.

*Hannah Grisham at the Heart of Racing shootout (Mike Levitt/LAT)*

Heart of Racing held its first female driver shootout last November at the APEX Motor Club in Phoenix, Arizona, to select two women who will co-drive an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 in the SRO SprintX Championship.

The season will begin this weekend at Sonoma Raceway with Hannah Grisham and Rianna O’Meara-Hunt behind the wheel. The team also picked a third driver, 17-year-old Annie Rhule, for a 2023 testing program.

The Phoenix audition included 10 finalists who were selected from 130 applicants to the program, which has been fully underwritten by Heart of Racing’s sponsors.

“We didn’t want it to be someone who just comes from a socio-economic background that could afford to do it on their own course,” James said. “We can pick on pure talent. We’re committed to three years to do this and see if we can find the right person. I’m very hopeful.”

So is Grisham, a Southern California native who has been racing since she was 6 in go-karts and since has won championships in Mazda and Miata ladder series. She has several victories in the World Racing League GP2 (an amateur sports car endurance series). The last two years, Grisham has worked as a test driver for the Pirelli tire company (she lives near Pirelli’s U.S. headquarters in Rome, Georgia, and tests about 30 times a year).

Starting with the Sonoma during SprintX event weekends (which feature races Saturday and Sunday), she will split the Heart of Racing car with O’Meara-Hunt (a New Zealand native she got to know at the shootout).

“It’s huge; the biggest opportunity I’ve had in this sport,” Grisham, 23, told NBC Sports. “Now it’s up to me to perform how I know I can. But I’m super lucky to be with such an amazing team and have a good teammate. The Heart of Racing has a family vibe and energy to it that’s really amazing. It’s super exciting. It’s hard to put into words.”

Grisham is hopeful that a strong performance eventually could lead to a full-time ride with Heart of Racing. The team has full-time entries in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and won the GTD category of the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona with the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 piloted by James, Darren Turner, Roman DeAngelis and Marco Sorensen.

James said “there’s no guarantee” of placement in an IMSA entry for Grisham and O’Meara-Hunt, but “if they prove themselves, we’ll continue to help them throughout their career and our team. The GT3 program is an obvious home for that. If they get the opportunity and don’t quite make it, we’ll be looking for the next two. The next three years, we’ll cycle through drivers until we find the right one.”

Grisham described the two-day shootout as a friendly but intense environment. After a day of getting acclimated to their cars, drivers qualified on new tires the second day and then did two 25-minute stints to simulate a race.

*Hannah Grisham reviews data with Heart of Racing sports car driver Gray Newell during the team’s shootout last November (Mike Levitt/LAT).*

“Everyone was super nice,” she said. “Once everyone gets in the car, it’s a different level. A different switch gets turned on. Everyone was super nice; everyone was quick. I feel we had an adequate amount of seat time, which is definitely helpful.

“It’s always cool to meet more women in the sport because there’s not too many of us, even though there’s more and more. It’s always cool to meet really talented women, especially there were so many from all over the world.”

IMSA has celebrated female champions and race winners, notably Katherine Legge (who is running GTD full time this season with Sheena Monk for Gradient Racing). The field at Sebring and Daytona also included the Iron Dames Lamborghini (a female-dominated team).

*The Heart of Racing’s female driver shootout drew interested candidates from around the world (Mike Levitt/LAT).*

James believes “a breakout female driver will be competing with the best of them” in the next five years as gender barriers slowly recede in motorsports.

“It’s been a male-dominated sport,” James said. “It’s still a very minute number of women drivers compared to the guys. I’m sure back in the day there were physical hurdles about it that were judged. But now the cars are not very physical to drive, and it’s more about technique and mental strength and stuff like that, and there’s no reason a girl shouldn’t do just as well as a guy. What we’re just trying to achieve is that there isn’t an obvious barrier to saying ‘Hey, I can’t hire a guy or a girl.’ We just want to put girls in front of people and our own program that are legitimate choices going forward for people.”

“There’s been some really good female drivers, but a lot of them just haven’t been able to sustain it, and a lot of that comes from sponsorship. I think (with the shootout), there’s no pressure of raising money and worrying about crash damage. We’ve taken care of all that so they can really focus on the job at hand.”

Funding always has been a hurdle for Grisham, who caught the racing bug from her father, Tom, an off-road driver who raced the Baja 1000 several times.

“I don’t come from a lot of money by any means,” she said. “So since a young age, I’ve always had to find sponsorships and get people to help me, whether it was buying tires, paying for entry fees, paying for the shipment of a car to an actual race. Literally knocking on the doors of people or businesses in my town.

“So yeah, it’s definitely something I’ve always struggled with and held me back because the sport revolves so much around money. So again to get this opportunity is insane.”

*Rianna O’Meara-Hunt was one of two women selected by the Heart of Racing to drive in the SRO SprintX Championship this year (Mike Levitt/LAT).*

Grisham credits racing pioneer Lyn St. James (an Indy 500 veteran and sports car champion) as a role model who has helped propel her career. She was hooked by the sights, smells and sounds of racing but also its competitive fire.

“There’s a zone you get in, that subconscious state of mind when you’re driving. It’s like addictive almost. I love it. Also I’m just a very competitive person as I think most race car drivers are.

“For sure I want to stay with the Heart of Racing. Obviously, I’m still getting to know everyone, but it’s a super family vibe. That’s how I grew up in the sport with just my dad and I wrenching on the cars. That’s what I love about this sport is all the amazing people you meet. And I think this is one of the most promising teams in this country. For sure, I want to learn as much as I can from them and hopefully continue. I feel so lucky and grateful to be one of those chosen.”

INDYCAR AT LAGUNA SECA START TIMES

INDYCAR LAGUNA SECA WEEKEND SCHEDULE, START TIMES

COVERAGE ON NBCSPORTS.COM

Read more about Motorsports