IndyCar sees several broadcast start time shifts with NBC for 2023 season
IndyCar's broadcast schedule will see a bit of a shakeup for 2023, with the broadcast window of four races on NBC shifting two hours or more, the series announced Thursday.
The most extreme change comes as the Music City Grand Prix, held Aug. 6 on the streets of Nashville, moves from a mid-afternoon race (with a 3 p.m. ET broadcast start time in 2022) to a noon start. This change could come as good news, though, for Indiana race fans who struggled to attend the race and get back home at a reasonable hour.
Two other races will see their start times shift 2 1/2 hours in 2023. Barber, a popular early-season camping destination for IndyCar fans and a potential drivable race for those in the Indy area, lost its noon start time from 2022 and will now come on the air at 3 p.m..
The series' oval finale at WWT Raceway will see an opposite switch – from 6 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., stealing away the series' only evening race a year ago. Like the Iowa doubleheader weekend (where broadcasts began at 4 p.m. and 3 p.m. a year ago, and will start at 3 p.m. and 2 p.m. in 2023), fans will likely struggle to stay cool in the peak of the Midwest summer heat. It's the concession, though, of the series maintaining more than a dozen races on network TV in 2023, including WWT Raceway's shift from hosting a race on USA Network on a Saturday last year to Sunday on NBC for 2023.
Insider: Four takeaways from IndyCar's 2023 schedule unveiling
Amid those shakeups, the series now has two fewer "early broadcast" starts than it did a year ago, with only five races coming on air at or before 1 p.m. IndyCar also largely lost any ratings support it had gotten in previous years from NASCAR Cup and Xfinity races, either leading into the IndyCar race or following the checkered flag on the same channel. According to NASCAR's published TV schedule for 2023, only the Xfinity series race on the IMS road course Aug. 12 – which follows IndyCar on the same track and will similarly run on USA Network – will provide IndyCar with any such boost in 2023.
On the flip side, IndyCar will have the Cup series as direct TV competition for six of its 17 races, including three while sharing NBC's airwaves. Those weekends including Long Beach (3 p.m.; Cup 3 p.m. at Martinsville), Barber (3 p.m.; Cup 2 p.m. at Dover), Detroit (3 p.m.; Cup 3:30 p.m. at WWT Raceway), Toronto (1:30 p.m.; Cup 2:30 p.m. at New Hampshire), Iowa Race 2 (2 p.m.; Cup 2:30 p.m. at Pocono) and the season-finale at Laguna Seca (2:30 p.m.; Cup 3 p.m. at Kansas).
Here's the full 2023 IndyCar broadcast schedule
(Broadcast start times are Eastern Time; includes race winners)
Sunday, March 5: Streets of St. Petersburg (Marcus Ericsson)
Sunday, April 2: Texas Motor Speedway (Josef Newgarden)
Sunday, April 16: Streets of Long Beach, NBC, 3 p.m.
Sunday, April 30: Barber Motorsports Park, NBC, 3 p.m.
Saturday, May 13: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (road course). NBC, 3:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 28: Indianapolis 500, NBC, 11 a.m. (green flag 12:45 p.m.)
Sunday, June 4: Streets of Detroit, NBC, 3 p.m.
Sunday, June 18: Road America, USA Network, 1 p.m.
Sunday, July 2: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, USA Network, 1:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 16: Streets of Toronto, Peacock, 1:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 22: Iowa Speedway Race 1, NBC, 3 p.m.
Sunday, July 23: Iowa Speedway Race 2, NBC, 2 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 6: Streets of Nashville, NBC, 12 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 12: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (road course), USA Network, 2 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 27: World Wide Technology Raceway, NBC, 3:30 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 3: Portland International Raceway, NBC, 3 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 10: WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, NBC, 2:30 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar schedule: Several 2023 season NBC broadcast start times shift
