IndyCar Series on Fox
Fox Sports presents the IndyCar Series beginning in 2025.
Fox Sports produces the IndyCar Series on Fox, a racing package that debuted in 2025 under a multi-year deal. All races air on the Fox broadcast network, with extra coverage like qualifying and Indy NXT races shown on FS1 and FS2.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Auto racing telecasts
- Director
- Mitch Riggin
- Presenter
- Will Buxton
- James Hinchcliffe
- Townsend Bell
- Opening theme
- "Kickstart My Heart" by Mötley Crüe
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English; Spanish (Fox Deportes)
- Producer
- Pam Miller
- Camera
- Multi-camera
Facts from the source article.
History
Fox's connection to Indy car racing began in 1999, when Fox Sports Net aired six Indy Racing League events, with the Dover race appearing on the main Fox network. In 2002, Fox broadcast the CART race at Long Beach and eleven other races aired on its sister channel Speed, now known as Fox Sports 1. Speed later covered Champ Car World Series events in 2003, 2005, and 2006. On June 13, 2024, IndyCar announced a multi-year deal with Fox Sports to take over the IndyCar Series rights starting in 2025, replacing NBC Sports. Under the agreement, Fox committed to airing all 17 races and Indianapolis 500 qualifying on the broadcast network, while Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 would handle supporting content like qualifying sessions and Indy NXT races. The Fox Nation streaming service became the new home for the docuseries 100 Days to Indy, which moved from The CW and expanded its 2025 season to cover the entire year rather than just the Indianapolis 500. In January 2025, Fox launched an advertising campaign for its first season, featuring promos spotlighting drivers Josef Newgarden, Álex Palou, and Pato O'Ward. Several of these ads debuted during Fox's NFL playoff coverage, and three IndyCar promos ran throughout the network's broadcast of Super Bowl LIX. On July 31, 2025, Fox Corporation announced it would acquire a one-third stake in Penske Entertainment, IndyCar's parent company. As part of that sale, Fox Sports' contract with IndyCar was extended through 2030.
Production
IMS Productions, the in-house broadcast arm of Penske Entertainment, continues to handle on-site race production for all IndyCar telecasts, just as it did under NBC Sports. Fox Sports provides the on-air talent, along with additional production technology and personnel. Mike Davies, Fox Sports senior vice president of technical operations, noted that despite Fox’s extensive motorsports background—including its NASCAR coverage—IndyCar was “totally different,” offering both “some real opportunities and some real challenges.” Several features from Fox’s NASCAR broadcasts were adapted for IndyCar, such as drone cameras and new SMT tracking and analytics systems. These enable on-screen “pointer” graphics to identify cars, an augmented reality “GhostCar” for qualifying lap comparisons, and an augmented reality telemetry graphic displayed on in-car cameras. Fox announced it would treat the Indianapolis 500 as a “marquee” event, comparable in scale to its flagship telecasts like the Daytona 500. This race replaces the Coca-Cola 600 as Fox’s premier Memorial Day weekend motorsports event, after that NASCAR race moved to Amazon Prime Video in 2025. The visual style of Fox’s IndyCar presentation was shaped by a visit from Fox Sports art director Andrew Narayan to Team Penske’s North Carolina garage. There, he saw a decommissioned car with exposed carbon fiber, which inspired a “raw” aesthetic tied to the technology of IndyCar racing. For its theme music, Fox chose “Kickstart My Heart” by Mötley Crüe. Narayan originally intended it as a placeholder, seeing it as a symbol of his childhood nostalgia as a “car guy,” but Fox executives liked it, and it became the permanent theme. Fox’s broadcast of the 2025 Indianapolis 500 drew viewer criticism for several production issues. Complaints included an excessive number of commercial breaks that sometimes caused the coverage to miss key race moments, and a decision to cut away from Alex Palou crossing the finish line to show Nolan Siegel’s crash on the final lap—a crash that had no impact on the race’s outcome.
Broadcast teams
Fox finalized its IndyCar Series on Fox broadcast team in early 2025. Will Buxton will handle lap-by-lap commentary, with Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe returning from NBC as analysts. The pit reporter lineup, announced in late February, includes NBC alumni Kevin Lee, Georgia Henneberry, and Jack Harvey, with Jamie Little serving as a reserve for select races. Additional contributors include Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, Chris Myers, Danica Patrick, Tony Stewart, Helio Castroneves, Tom Rinaldi, Tony Rivera, Jessi Losada, Oriol Servià, and Giselle Zarur.
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