The NTT IndyCar Series’ new era is alive and well with FOX Sports. But there’s plenty of room for improvement this season after the broadcast for the opening race at St. Petersburg wrapped up.
IndyCar and FOX kicked off their tenure with plenty of pomp and circumstance. FOX began advertising the series in the weeks leading up to the opening race, showcasing three of its stars (Josef Newgarden, Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward) with commercial spots that included NFL legend Tom Brady and even aired during the Super Bowl.
Sunday’s broadcast kicked off with an informative pre-race show. MLB great Alex Rodriguez was brought in for the two-seater ride and entertained with his excited quips and general enthusiasm for the cars. The broadcast team hyped up the crowd and drone shots showed the beautiful St. Petersburg scenery.
The series hit the broad strokes well and showed promise with its telemetry overlay and camera work. But there were several small things that could use tweaks moving forward.
Mixed reaction for IndyCar driver headshots
First off, let’s get this out of the way: The cartoon character headshots are here. Just like the NFL and NASCAR, the superhero-ification of IndyCar’s stars has been completed — the top-five runners even have their headshots displayed during the race.
If you don’t mind it elsewhere, you probably won’t care here. But this style of promotion is not for everyone.
Saturday brought the first true issue, with drivers’ latest times often struggling populate on the scoring ticker relative to others.
Even the working ticker was a step back data-wide from NBC’s former ticker, which showed relative gaps to relevant positions. This collectively made it confusing to confirm which drivers were advancing to the next round in the closing seconds of each qualifying session.
Tire compounds used weren’t reliably displayed, either, leaving confusion over how much any given lap or difference in pace should be read into.
Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
Photo by: Penske Entertainment
Sunday’s race coverage similarly provided small quibbles. Push-to-pass wasn’t displayed, leaving the commentary team to attempt to keep fans up-to-date on how much drivers were using. An initial run of side-by-side commercials was met with positivity — particularly with the leaderboard continuing to be displayed. But that joy gave way to disappointment over multiple fullscreen ads in the second half of the race.
There was also some miscommunication over onboard cameras.
After the race’s only caution, the commentators and producers struggled to get on the same page over which onboard was being shown. Later on, a call for an onboard shot of Josef Newgarden’s #2 carwas quickly brushed aside.
These are generally small things — though some data like push-to-pass is necessary for a complete understanding of IndyCar races. FOX is already getting much of the tone and atmosphere correct.
FOX still has steps to make in order to rival the NBC broadcasts it’s replacing — we’ll see how coverage evolves through the 2025 IndyCar season.
Photos from St. Pete Race
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