St. Petersburg: Five Things to Look For

The 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season opens this weekend with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden won last year’s race on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit, but he will have a host of strong competition for this year’s honors among the 26-car field. This marks the 10th consecutive year that the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will serve as the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season opener, dating to 2011 in a race won by Dario Franchitti.

Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be the first of 17 races this season, with five held on temporary street circuits, seven on permanent road courses and five on oval tracks, the latter including the 104th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. The season concludes Sept. 20 with the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at the historic WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif.

The 100-lap Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be broadcast live on the NBC Sports Network on Sunday. The pre-race show begins at 2:30 p.m. ET with the green flag scheduled for 3:30 p.m. The Pennzoil INDYCAR Radio Network also will have live coverage on its more than 300 network affiliates, Sirius 211, XM 205, indycar.com, indycarradio.com and the INDYCAR Mobile App powered by NTT DATA.

Friday practices are set for 10:45 a.m. and 3 p.m., with coverage on NBC Sports Gold. NTT P1 Award qualifying begins at 2:40 p.m. Saturday on NBC Sports Gold. (tape delay on NBCSN, 10 p.m.)