Event date: Saturday, March 19 – Sunday, March 20
Track: 1.5-mile oval.
Race distance: 248 laps (372 miles)
Firestone tire allotment: 11 sets primary tires to be used across two practice sessions, qualifying and the race.
Push-to-pass parameters: Not applicable
IndyCar schedule (local/Central Time) and broadcast details
Saturday, March 19
9.45-9.55am – Two-stage pit-limiter practice
10.00-11.00am – First practice – Peacock Premium
1.00pm – Qualifying – Peacock Premium
4.00-5.00pm – Final practice – Peacock Premium
Sunday, March 20
11.30am – NBC on air
11.40am – “Drivers, start your engines” – NBC, NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app
11.45am – Green flag: XPEL 375 (248 laps / 372 miles) – NBC live
Leigh Diffey is the play-by-play announcer for NBC’s coverage of the IndyCar Series alongside analysts Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe. Marty Snider and Kevin Lee are the pit reporters. All NTT IndyCar Series practice sessions and qualifying sessions stream live on Peacock Premium, NBC’s direct-to-consumer livestreaming product.
IndyCar Radio Network: Mark Jaynes is the chief announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton and turn announcer Nick Yeoman. Jake Query and Michael Young are the pit reporters. All IndyCar races, practices and qualifying sessions air live on network affiliates, SiriusXM 160, racecontrol.indycar.com and the IndyCar Mobile app powered by NTT DATA.
Race Notes
2021 race winners: Race 1 – Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda), Race 2 – Pato O’Ward (Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet)
2021 NTT P1 Award winners (set by championship points due to bad weather canceling qualifying): Race 1 – Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda), Race 2 – Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda).
Qualifying lap record (based on previous track length measurement of 1.44 miles): One lap – Charlie Kimball (Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda) in 2017 – 23.2730sec/222.747mph; Two laps – Kimball in 2017 – 46.5861sec/222.556mph.
The XPEL 375 will be the 35th IndyCar race at Texas Motor Speedway. No driver has competed in every IndyCar race there, but Scott Dixon has made 22 starts and scored five wins – 2018, ’15, ’18, ’20, ’21.
Six other Texas winners will start Sunday’s race. Helio Castroneves has four wins at TMS, Will Power has two, while Ed Carpenter, Graham Rahal, Josef Newgarden and Pato O’Ward have one each.
Power has won pole for three of the past 10 races at TMS, while other pole winners in this year’s race include Dixon (one), Josef Newgarden (two), Takuma Sato (one).
Five rookies are on the grid this weekend – Devlin DeFRancesco, Callum Ilott, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard and David Malukas – while an IndyCar sophomore, NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson, will be making his first ever oval start in an IndyCar. For Ed Carpenter and JR Hildebrand, this race will be their first IndyCar starts of the year.
27-car entry list for XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway
| No. | Driver | Hometown | Car name | Team-Engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Josef Newgarden | Nashville, Tennessee | PPG Team Penske | Team Penske-Chevrolet |
| 3 | Scott McLaughlin | Christchurch, New Zealand | XPEL Team Penske | Team Penske-Chevrolet |
| 4 | Dalton Kellett | Stouffville, Canada | K-Line / AJ Foyt Racing | A.J. Foyt Enterprises-Chevrolet |
| 5 | Pato O’Ward | Monterrey, Mexico | Arrow McLaren SP | Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet |
| 06 | Helio Castroneves | Sao Paulo, Brazil | AutoNation / SiriusXM | Meyer Shank Racing-Honda |
| 7 | Felix Rosenqvist | Varnamo, Sweden | Vuse Arrow McLaren SP | Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet |
| 8 | Marcus Ericsson | Kumla, Sweden | Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing | Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda |
| 9 | Scott Dixon | Auckland, New Zealand | PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing | Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda |
| 10 | Alex Palou | Barcelona, Spain | NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing | Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda |
| 11 | J.R. Hildebrand | Sausalito, California | ROKiT / AJ Foyt Racing | AJ Foyt Enterprises-Chevrolet |
| 12 | Will Power | Toowoomba, Australia | Verizon Team Penske | Team Penske-Chevrolet |
| 14 | Kyle Kirkwood (R) | Jupiter, Florida | ROKiT / AJ Foyt Racing | A.J. Foyt Enterprises-Chevrolet |
| 15 | Graham Rahal | New Albany, Ohio | Fleet Cost & Care | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda |
| 18 | David Malukas (R) | Chicago, Illinois | HMD | Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports-Honda |
| 20 | Conor Daly | Noblesville, Indiana | BitNile | Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet |
| 21 | Rinus VeeKay | Hoofddorp, Netherlands | SONAX | Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet |
| 26 | Colton Herta | Valencia, California | Gainbridge | Andretti Autosport w/Curb Agajanian-Honda |
| 27 | Alexander Rossi | Nevada City, California | NAPA Auto Parts / AutoNation | Andretti Autosport-Honda |
| 28 | Romain Grosjean | Geneva, Switzerland | DHL | Andretti Autosport-Honda |
| 29 | Devlin DeFrancesco (R) | Toronto, Canada | PowerTap | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport-Honda |
| 30 | Christian Lundgaard (R) | Hedensted, Denmark | PeopleReady | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda |
| 33 | Ed Carpenter | Indianapolis, Indiana | Alzamend Neuro / Ed Carpenter Racing | Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet |
| 45 | Jack Harvey | Bassingham, UK | Hy-Vee | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda |
| 48 | Jimmie Johnson | El Cajon, California | Carvana Chip Ganassi Racing | Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda |
| 51 | Takuma Sato | Tokyo, Japan | Nurtec ODT | Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda |
| 60 | Simon Pagenaud | Montmorillon, France | AutoNation / SiriusXM | Meyer Shank Racing-Honda |
| 77 | Callum Ilott (R) | Cambridge, UK | Juncos Hollinger Racing | Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevrolet |