IndyCar Series on Fox
2025 American TV series or program From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The IndyCar Series on Fox is a presentation of IndyCar Series racing produced by Fox Sports.
| IndyCar Series on Fox | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Auto racing telecasts |
| Directed by | Mitch Riggin |
| Presented by | Will Buxton, James Hinchcliffe, Townsend Bell |
| Opening theme | Kickstart My Heart by Motley Crue |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producer | Pam Miller |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | |
| Release | February 28, 2025 |
| Related | |
History
Summarize
Perspective
Indy Racing League and CART/CCWS
The FOX family of networks had a brief foray into Indy car racing starting in 1999. Fox Sports Net covered six IRL races in 1999, including Dover which aired on FOX. In 2002, FOX carried the CART race at Long Beach, along with 11 other races on Speed (which was owned by FOX at the time). Speed also covered Champ Car World Series events in 2003, 2005, and 2006.
IndyCar Series
On June 13, 2024, IndyCar announced that Fox Sports had acquired the rights to the IndyCar Series under a multi-year deal beginning in 2025, replacing NBC Sports. Fox Sports stated that it would carry all 17 events, plus the Indianapolis 500 qualifying sessions, on the Fox broadcast network, while Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 would carry shoulder programming such as qualifying and Indy NXT series races.[1] Fox News streaming service Fox Nation also became the new home for IndyCar's docuseries 100 Days to Indy (moving from The CW), with its 2025 season expanding to cover the entire season rather than primarily focusing on the Indianapolis 500.[2]
In January 2025, Fox began an advertising campaign for its inaugural season, including promos highlighting IndyCar drivers such as Josef Newgarden, Álex Palou, and Pato O'Ward; several of these promos premiered during Fox's NFL playoff coverage, and three IndyCar promos aired throughout Fox's broadcast of Super Bowl LIX.[3][4][5][6]
Production
Summarize
Perspective
As was the case under NBC Sports, on-site production for all race telecasts is provided by Penske Entertainment's in-house broadcasting arm IMS Productions, with Fox Sports contributing on-air talent and other production elements and technology. Fox Sports SVP of technical operations Mike Davies stated that despite its prior motorsports experience from broadcasts such as NASCAR on Fox, IndyCar was "totally different", and presented "some real opportunities and some real challenges".[7]
Features from Fox's NASCAR coverage would be introduced, including the use of drone cameras, and new SMT tracking and analytics systems to allow for features such as on-screen "pointer" graphics to identify vehicles, the augmented reality "GhostCar" used during qualifying sessions to visualize lap time comparisons, and an augmented reality telemetry graphic shown on in-car cameras.[7] Fox will produce the Indianapolis 500 as a "marquee" event with a similar scale to other flagship Fox Sports telecasts such as the Daytona 500; the event will replace the Coca-Cola 600 as Fox's marquee motorsports event of Memorial Day weekend, as the rights to that race move to Amazon Prime Video in 2025 as part of its new rights to NASCAR.[7][8]
Fox's overall on-air presentation was influenced by a visit to Team Penske's garage in North Carolina by Fox Sports art director Andrew Narayan, as well as his sighting of a decommissioned car with exposed carbon fiber—the latter of which would contribute to a "raw" aesthetic inspired by the technology of IndyCar racing. Fox would adopt "Kickstart My Heart" by Mötley Crüe as its theme music for IndyCar Series broadcasts; while originally intended by Narayan as a placeholder synonymous with his childhood nostalgia as a "car guy", it was received positively by Fox executives and was ultimately kept as the final theme.[9]
Commentators
On January 14, 2025, Fox announced Will Buxton as its lap-by-lap commentator, joined by Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe as analysts; both Bell and Hinchcliffe are carried over from NBC.[10]
On February 26, 2025, Fox finalized their pit reporter lineup for the 2025 season, which will consist of NBC alumni Kevin Lee and Georgia Henneberry, alongside Jack Harvey. Jamie Little is the reserve, as she will join for selected races and substituted for Henneberry, who was on maternity leave.[11]
English-language commentators
Lap-by-Lap anchor
Color commentators
Pit Reporters
- Kevin Lee
- Jack Harvey
- Georgia Henneberry
- Jamie Little (reserve, including Indy 500)
References
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