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The IndyCar Report with Elijah Poe: 2026 Outlook (2.131.1) · The Central Indiana Sports Report

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: you are listening to the indie car report with Elijah Poe.
• 0:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's only on the central Indian sports report.
• 0:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back Indie Car fans to the Central Indiana Sports Report for a special edition of the Indie Car Report, Elijah Pose, 2026 Indie Car, pre-preview, of course we don't know everything that's going to be in front of us when the 2026 season starts, we'll do that preview sometime in March, but just want to look ahead to 2026 here on the first day,
• 0:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: 2026.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: First of all, Happy New Year, Elijah and Happy New Year to everybody who's listening.
• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: The one thing I would say Elijah is you kind of hope that the 2026 season is very similar to the 2025 season.
• 0:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Be new year as well.
• 0:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: When we look at the 2026 schedule, I mean we're starting out with four races in March.
• 1:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just action packed.
• 1:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: We talked about how great all these drivers were last year
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: be returning most of them and having Alex Polo, Patta Award, will powers with the new team.
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have so much, so many new factors in the 2026 that is really leading up to a super exciting season.
• 1:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: We touched a little on this Elijah on our 2025 year in review.
• 1:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is it getting a little boring, or are you getting a little bored with Alex Polo winning all the championships?
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Was it four in the last five years, 12 in the last 15 year?
• 1:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can't remember, he's one all of them lately, I know that.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think you can definitely get repetitive and you always want to see a championship come down to the final closing races.
• 1:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: But then again, just to see somebody so dominant in a sport that has so many great drivers is truly just shocking to see.
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And to see his, just to see his performances within the last three to four years, he is really paving his own way to be one of the sports greatest and to think,
• 2:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he's not even, I don't even think he's 30.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: 20 years old, man.
• 2:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's just really shy.
• 2:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can't be in at 28 years old.
• 2:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, this is the know he's got a lengthy indie car career ahead, and there's some great drivers in the grid this year.
• 2:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's exciting.
• 2:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's really exciting.
• 2:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: By the way, he'll be 29 during the next Indianapolis 500.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Very cool to see him win the 500 because
• 2:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: is great as he'd been that was it that was the last thing that he needed and now he is an all time.
• 2:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he's obviously been close to winning the 500 before had that.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: that race in 2021 with alio as well, where he almost wanted, um, had the pit incident with Venus VK a couple years ago, where he was well ahead of everybody else.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it's definitely missed him in his career, but to think he's got three championships, any 500 win, um, what else has he not?
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's accomplished everything in the sport, and he's only 28 years old, which is, uh, unbelievable.
• 3:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: And for the record, I'm sorry, I didn't come in prepared 21 23 24 and 25.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: So three and a row four in the last five going for fifth championship in six years this year Elijah.
• 3:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just off the top of your head right now.
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: You think he's the champion in 26.
• 3:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think he's definitely the favorite, but I also really think patto awards going to have.
• 3:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: a really good showing to maybe contend with Alex below.
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was obviously the driver who came in second place.
• 3:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'll be it roughly 200 points behind Alex below, but still I would love to see somebody at least challenge him.
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when you look at a driver like Paddo or he's somebody who immediately comes to mind just because he's got great speed on the ovals and he's really really consistent on street in road courses.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's all really dependent off that if that McLaren
• 4:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not just the 200 points that he needs to make up, 196 was the margin.
• 4:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Alex Pelo had four times as many wins and almost three times as many laps lead.
• 4:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's incredible.
• 4:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's the epitome of just consistent.
• 4:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: But it's also, it's crazy how consistently he is because he's consistently dominant, which is something we just do not talk about in indie cart because there are so many great drivers, there's so many great teams.
• 4:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: But when you see somebody be consistently dominant in a series that is so split with talent, it's unbelievable.
• 4:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: a huge favor to get in in 26.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he has to be a not 10 crew.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think they mess up on maybe one pit stop the whole year.
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that was later down the season.
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's incredible to see what they're doing.
• 5:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ignacio, you got Scott Dixon in there as well, who are just absolutely so consistent.
• 5:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's what really sets him apart.
• 5:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: They don't make mistakes.
• 5:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: And their mistakes are a top five finish instead of a win, which is crazy to say.
• 5:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: All of their mistakes apparently came on the same car, which finished 18th on the standings, so 17th in the standings, Giffin Simpson, going to have that a lot better 2026 isn't he?
• 5:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think he will.
• 5:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think he'll have a better season of 2026.
• 5:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he had some really great moments.
• 5:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, uh, a fighting in in the top five.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, obviously he had you just had that experience gap and when you've got teammates like Scott Dixon and Alex Plo, hopefully he's able to really take from them and learn in this first couple years in Indie car where he's able to kind of progress into a better driver.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: But this is a year where he is going to need some results to kind of set himself apart from other drivers just to keep his seat because any sea agonassies coveted.
• 6:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the second best team you could argue last year was either and dread your arrow McLaren, you would look at arrow McLaren award finnish second and the standings and Christian loongard finish fifth.
• 6:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Loongard's another one of those guys that a pharaoh McLaren is up to the task could be a championship contender as well.
• 6:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I agree.
• 6:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: He had some great moments in 2025.
• 6:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: He hasn't been known for his oval racing, but I wouldn't be surprised if he can really get that down and going in the 2026.
• 6:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're being teammates with paddle award.
• 6:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure they're able to get some information and bounce off each other because Lungar is also a really, really competitive street in oval street and road course racer.
• 6:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And really, he stuck at the paddle some of these racers as well
• 7:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that also have Nolan Seagull, I know he's been young, but he's going to need some results with him being the second year in his seat, and he's just really kind of struggled for really the majority of 20, 25, even though he's in this seat for next season, he's going to need some results just to set him apart.
• 7:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: And again, similar situation with them, some good moments for Nolan Seagull, but if you're
• 7:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, especially with them getting a Gavin Ward and then really stocking up the beef of their team.
• 7:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're going to need some results.
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: They've put a lot of money towards this team.
• 7:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Zach Brown's been pretty adamant that he's wanted.
• 7:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: and Indie Car champion and Indie 500 champion as well.
• 7:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they've put too much time and money for them not to meet any of their goals, especially within the next coming years because the paddle award is an expensive driver to keep.
• 8:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so it was Christian Lumgard because he's got some great talent.
• 8:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Really the only part you see them not having success with his Nolan Seagull, who is pretty clear he's paying for that seat.
• 8:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And even though that is the thing in Indie Car,
• 8:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: When you're at a top team, you've got to have results.
• 8:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, especially when you got two guys from Meyer Shankham, the top 10.
• 8:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: At a arrow McLaren, you've got to be at least competitive with those guys.
• 8:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and my or shank the returning both drivers for next year and, you know, Chris Felix Rosen Quest was so, so strong last year as well.
• 8:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And to see Marcus Armstrong take a step up and have some really great results, you know, they were competitive throughout the whole entire season, which was awesome to see from just a two-car organization who is not the biggest compared to some of these other teams.
• 8:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: But man, when they put it together, they are rapid.
• 8:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And those Elijah, I think, are probably the best of Indie car that we have right now.
• 9:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's transition to the most interesting part of Indie car right now.
• 9:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that, of course, lies at Penske and Andretti.
• 9:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we had a bit of a trade in the offseason.
• 9:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Willpower goes from Penske to Andretti and what are your expectations in 26?
• 9:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: for the Amdreddy team and Willpower.
• 9:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think Willpower is going to really succeed in that organization.
• 9:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: He brings so much knowledge and we saw this year.
• 9:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: with the race win as well, and some consistent finishes that he still has it.
• 9:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was honestly shocking to see him leave Team Penske, but maybe only well, maybe will power just needs a new set of scenery to kind of revive his career, even though his career wasn't dead by any means, just a revival of who will power is as a racer seeing him be.
• 9:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: especially he's going to be interesting on the road and street courses because that's where Andready really really thrives this in 2025 and we all know how good they are at Indy to see him being in Andready and Indy is going to be weird, but he's got to be within the top five to ten people who's got the best shots to win it next year.
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt about that.
• 10:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the same thing goes with with pensky as well.
• 10:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, hold on.
• 10:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Good.
• 10:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about Kirkwood and Harrison.
• 10:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then Marcus Harrison had a down year for sure.
• 10:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: But he's a guy that you expect to contend particularly at Andy.
• 10:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: He did have a down year.
• 10:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he had, even though we got this qualified at Andy, he was a second place finisher.
• 10:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right, but it'll be interesting to see how it would be interesting to see how he bounces back and he did get unlucky a lot in 2025 and kind of seemed down on himself, but we've seen him compete before he is a really really great driver and I expect him to be up there.
• 11:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: at least competing for top five's and podiums and even a couple wins.
• 11:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't be shocked to see him in victory lane.
• 11:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: He definitely needs to step it up because he cars a sport where it's a recent sea bias plays a factor.
• 11:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you're not delivering, especially at a team like Androidy, I think he's in a contract here as well, Marcus Erickson.
• 11:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it's a big year for him coming up.
• 11:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just might not be a good fit with Androidy.
• 11:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that could be the case.
• 11:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: That really could be the case.
• 11:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is a good fit with the Andretty and Kyle Kirkwood.
• 11:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: If he can put together a season like he did the first half of last season, he's another guy who could be a championship contender if Andretty, like we said is, is it the top of its game?
• 11:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think he will.
• 11:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: We also, how great he was to open up that season and just kind of, just kind of fell off in the later half, but that was kind of Andretty as a whole.
• 12:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: But obviously having three wins a poll, five top five, ten top 10s.
• 12:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: And finishing fourth is a really great result for him and he's going to be up there.
• 12:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think no matter what, we just see how confident he is and he's able to put the cars in places that that really matters especially in the closing laps and getting him an over win even though he's been more of a street in road course guy seeing that over win for him this year is pretty big for him and to take a next step forward and for him to be alongside will power.
• 12:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think he's going to be very interesting.
• 12:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: What is will power going to help Kirk Kirk would with and what's he going to help will power with in that new and dready dynamics is going to be very fun to see this year.
• 12:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: What are they going to do with their any ride, because it's going to be a valuable one.
• 12:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, if you ask the.
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you ask our opinions on it, I think you know who we want to see in that seat.
• 12:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is Connor daily, but I'm pretty sure he's probably going to go to drier and rhyme bold, but I could also see Colton heard of being in that seat if his MC calendar and Cadillac calendar kind of allow him to be there.
• 13:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that's a no-brainer.
• 13:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: And if it doesn't anybody in mind?
• 13:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would I would say Connor daily he's got the best shot to win the race let's say Connor Daily is not available and Colton heard is not available anybody else That you'd like to see with that ride because we've seen that when go to some really great drivers in the past I'm honestly not sure who they would offer other than Colton and Connor honestly Maybe Raman grows on and he's had ties with Indie before but I can't ever see him
• 13:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just being a kind of one off for Indie as well, since he's not a huge oval competitor.
• 13:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to ask Arda and we get a retired formula one guy can we can we do something creative with it.
• 14:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because again, it's a very valuable seat.
• 14:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think Kyle Bush has probably got the best job of all the NASCAR guys.
• 14:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Kyle Bush was slept with.
• 14:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and he was slated to run for a era McLaren as well here.
• 14:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it was 2018 before.
• 14:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: that deal kind of fell through and Kyle Larson snatched it up, but to see him be on the oval.
• 14:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: We all know Kurt Bush ran the 500 as well.
• 14:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: So seeing him be an endie, he's talked about it at length.
• 14:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: How much he wants to run that race?
• 14:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: He might have been.
• 14:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: He might have been.
• 14:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: He might have been a almondinger was with and ready as well, I believe.
• 14:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
• 14:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: There'd be another interesting one.
• 14:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that would be great for the series.
• 14:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: All right, Elijah, no question.
• 14:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Last year was the worst year in Penske's history.
• 14:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's going to be one they want to forget.
• 14:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're going to have to be able to start over.
• 15:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: We know that they're going to be much better in 2026.
• 15:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: But how much better?
• 15:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: You expect to be contenders this year?
• 15:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I do.
• 15:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think when you look at the year Joseph New Garden had last year specifically, I just don't think there's any way in hell he comes back and has a word here than that.
• 15:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: If he does, you know, I'll be first person to say that I will wrong, no church.
• 15:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: But we all know how talented he is.
• 15:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when you look at somebody like Scott McLaughlin as well, you know, I think he's in early bids for for my in the 500 winner pick.
• 15:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, we all saw him crash out on the warm-up lap last year, but he stuck that car up in, I think it was third or fourth, where he qualified.
• 15:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: So,
• 15:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: His time is coming.
• 15:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think we all know that we all see how talented he is especially on ovals and he has really shown him proved himself to be
• 15:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: To be able to win a championship in this series, uh, the part I'm interested to see about Penske is is where does David Malukus fit in with this team?
• 16:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: He has not really had the results in Indie Carr, his career is still really young, but when you're in that number 12 Verizon Carr, you are expected to deliver and it's gonna be interesting to see if he can because he hasn't really delivered much in his young career.
• 16:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's all based on perceived talent and clearly he's talented, clearly pensky things he's talented enough will see.
• 16:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's going to be it's going to be fun to see we also you know, we had some great races with AJ Foie in definitely over performed in that car and if he's able to.
• 16:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: be as fast as he was in an AJ Voic car, it's going to be fun to see him in a pensky, but I think it's going to be a lot of pressure for him.
• 16:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I could see him coming out pretty slow to start the season and then kind of fighting his momentum as the season goes on.
• 17:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: But there's definitely going to be heavy, heavy amount of eyes on him.
• 17:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Still a lot to prove.
• 17:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Still a lot to prove.
• 17:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 17:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: He does.
• 17:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's going to be another consistent year where they have some results where maybe you wouldn't expect them to be.
• 17:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think we all know how aggressive Santino is, especially around Indy, you know, I wouldn't put him as maybe in the top five people I expect to win, but he's definitely in the top 10 of people who could win that race.
• 17:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And to be interesting to see how they play out with Kao Kulet as well, going to be in that seat, being a rookie, you know, AJ Foitz,
• 17:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: has had some really good rookies in the past, if they're able to kind of edge him and grow him into the sport of Andy Carr, that'll be really great for them.
• 17:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Analyze, I love that carpenter, but that team's got to get better than that.
• 18:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think it does, and I honestly think they will get better in 2026, being the,
• 18:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: second year with Alexander Rossi and Christian Rasmus in picking up the win last year was a surprise, but we saw how aggressive.
• 18:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: We saw how aggressive he was.
• 18:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's shown some really, really great speed and skills on oval specifically and being Alexander Rossi's second year in the building as well.
• 18:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think they take a step up.
• 18:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: They might not be competing for wins consistently, but I think there's going to be a handful of tracks where they're really good at.
• 18:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's interesting as the offseason has been as particularly with willpower and and dreading in Pinsky.
• 18:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe the most interesting team heading into the 26 season, the team I'll be most interested to see what they do is Ray Hall, Letterman land again.
• 18:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: This has been a back of the field kind of team lately and suddenly they have a lineup that looks like it can be competitive.
• 19:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, yeah, particularly you look at any and you throw Sato in there and then you've got to line up this just really impressive.
• 19:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
• 19:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think they're going to be a really, really fun team to watch next year.
• 19:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm especially with bringing in makes Schumacher, I'm not sure how he's going to adjust to the whole indie car style of racing and oval specifically, but regardless, he still carries a lot of weight just because his name is Schumacher.
• 19:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: He had some formula one experience.
• 19:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: It might have not have gone the best for him, but he's going to bring so many eyes of the sport and we always know Graham Ray Hall is going to be consistent here or there.
• 19:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And seeing Louis Foster kind of grow into his second year indie car winning rookie of the year last year, he had a couple of really, really great finishes last year.
• 19:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: To see them take a step up is going to be big.
• 19:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we will talk more about the Indy 500 in the next few weeks.
• 19:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And what we expect from the Indy 500, but you throw in some guys like Ryan Hunter Ray, Ed Carpenter, Alio, Castro, Nevez, and I just mentioned to Kuma Sato, and it's gonna be another incredible 500 field.
• 20:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
• 20:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
• 20:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: You mentioned a carpenter there.
• 20:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: It would just be Indianapolis would be on fire if a carpenter ended up finally winning the 500.
• 20:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's alluded to him his whole career and seeing Alio drive for five.
• 20:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And there's so many great storylines in Indian cars, especially always around the Indianapolis 500, but even more so this year, there's so many great drivers being in that race.
• 20:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it'll be really interesting to see what Android he does with that open seat as well.
• 20:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Always love the Indie car series, but it's all about the Indie 500.
• 20:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is and I think that's kind of the the monkey on their back is a lot of fans do kind of point to Indie car as some people don't even know Indie car runs a race other than the Indianapolis 500, which is which is great, but I think
• 21:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: you look at some of the races for this next year being back at Phoenix.
• 21:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: We talked about the race at Arlington as well around the Dallas Cowboy Stadium.
• 21:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of things to be excited for in 2026.
• 21:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's for sure.
• 21:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, the big thing with the schedule is that it's front loaded.
• 21:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: You have a lot of races before Indy.
• 21:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's the key.
• 21:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Gotta have a lot of races before
• 21:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: with those races and the more ovals you can have before the 500 the better, but just having one and having so many races early in the year, much better schedule.
• 21:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, by far.
• 21:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: We don't have, I think we have maybe one, really weak gap.
• 21:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know we have only one race in April, but we come out of the gates with four races in March.
• 21:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's absolutely perfect.
• 21:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to see an oval race as well back in Phoenix.
• 21:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Things are definitely looking up
• 22:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: with I think two or three three week gaps.
• 22:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was pretty brutal just to kind of wait around.
• 22:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: and having any ovals before the 500.
• 22:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people, that's all they're interested in.
• 22:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's nothing wrong with that.
• 22:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: And they need to be able to have some kind of ND500 preview when I was growing up, you Phoenix was such a big deal because it was the first oval of the year and it kind of gave you an idea of who was going to be the contenders at ND.
• 22:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not a complete idea, but a pretty good idea.
• 22:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 22:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so, but to have all these cool races, particularly Phoenix, before the 500, you throw in that race around Arlington, which is going to be spectacular.
• 22:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, you've got Long Beach in there.
• 22:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Really good start to the year.
• 22:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is.
• 22:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: And probably the only schedule complaint, this might be a personal thing.
• 22:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: But when I think of the month of May, I don't want to
• 23:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: teams are only forced to have two weeks of practice for the oval.
• 23:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would love for them to open up that whole month like it used to be back in the day where that is specifically only cars running on the oval.
• 23:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I get it.
• 23:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: It makes more sense for this schedule, but man, there's just nothing better than seeing cars turn laps on indie.
• 23:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I agree, there's a place for the indie road course on the schedule to make me all about indie, but you're right, very few to complain, very few things to complain about in 2025, and potential to have an even better 2026.
• 23:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, here's hoping to that, and especially with the NGP and Roger owns the track, he could make that GP race literally any weekend.
• 23:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: He wanted it.
• 23:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Elijah Poe, thank you so much once again happy new year and we will be back very soon to talk more indie car.
• 23:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you Greg, happy new year.
• 24:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again to Elijah for joining the central Indiana Sports Report.
• 24:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening.
• 24:10
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• 24:15
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• 24:20
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• 24:23
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• 24:52
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