The weekend
IndyCar races on three kinds of circuit — streets, permanent road courses and ovals — and the weekend bends to suit. Road and street rounds use knockout qualifying: the field splits into two groups for ten-minute sessions, the fastest six from each feed the Fast 12, and a Fast Six decides pole — run since early 2026 as single-car, one-lap runs at street events. Ordinary ovals qualify on solo two-lap averages. The Indianapolis 500 is its own institution: a dedicated qualifying weekend of four-lap averages, knockout rounds trimming the front of the field to a Fast 12 and then a pole shootout, and the only qualifying in the series that pays points beyond pole.
Points
The scale runs deep and every finisher scores: 50 for the win, then 40-35-32-30-28-26-24-22-20 through tenth, dropping a point per place to 6 for 24th, with 25th and below all collecting 5. Bonus points: one for pole, one for leading any lap, two for leading the most laps. At the Indy 500, the twelve fastest qualifiers bank 12 down to 1 before the race even starts. There are no double-points races — the 500 pays like any other round, so titles are built on relentless consistency.
What decides things
On road and street courses Firestone supplies two compounds, and the rules force both into play: street races in 2026 demand two separate stints on the faster alternate tyre, road courses one. Push-to-pass — a timed turbo boost with a fixed per-race allowance — works everywhere except ovals, while the hybrid unit's driver-deployed energy is available at every track and is the only overtaking aid in oval racing. Then there are the cautions: full-course yellows close the pits, so a badly timed yellow can wreck a fuel strategy and a well-timed one can hand a backmarker the lead. Fuel-window gambling decides more IndyCar races than raw pace.
The championship
The drivers' champion lifts the Astor Cup, with ties broken by wins, then second places, and so on down. A manufacturers' championship runs alongside, contested between Chevrolet and Honda, and the top rookie takes Rookie of the Year honours. Win the 500 and you get the face on the Borg-Warner Trophy; win the title and you've usually been quick everywhere — streets, road courses and ovals demand genuinely different skills, and the champion must master all three.