The amazing story of how IndyCar on FOX is a year-round creative effort

During the National Football League Divisional Playoff game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks, FOX Sports unveiled the first of its four IndyCar promotional videos for the 2026 season during the broadcast. The video was called “Perfect Neighbor” and featured two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden of Team Penske, a creative aspect of IndyCar on FOX

It marks the second year that FOX has produced highly creative promotional videos featuring IndyCar’s biggest names to promote the network’s coverage of the NTT IndyCar Series. Last year’s promotional campaign was praised for its creativity and featured Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward and Newgarden. These three drivers will return to the season in 2026, along with a new driver, two-time IndyCar Series champion and 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power, now with Andretti Global.

IndyCar on Fox achieved impressive growth

FOX’s strong promotion of IndyCar was a key reason why the ratings for the racing series improved impressively in 2025. FOX plans to continue that momentum into 2026.

FOX Sports’ first NTT IndyCar Series season delivered the largest viewership growth of any series, according to FOX Sports viewing figures.

Average viewers on FOX/FS1 were 1.36 million, up 27 percent from 2024 and the highest since the 2008 season, when Champ Car teams merged with the Indy Racing League to form the current IndyCar Series. The 27 percent increase was the largest viewership growth for any sport with an average of at least 1 million viewers.

The most important thing was the connection with a coveted group of viewers. There was a huge increase in the demographics of the P18-34 and P18-49. The 18 to 34 age group was up 81 percent and the 18 to 49 age group was up 51 percent. The season also saw an increase in female viewers, with W18-34 increasing by 72 percent.

The four IndyCar drivers involved in this year’s campaign will be used during commercial breaks in FOX sports and entertainment programming through 2026.

This year’s campaign was created by FOX Sports President, Marketing Robert Gottlieb and his team.

IndyCar on FOX Creativity A year-round effort

Pam Miller is an IndyCar producer at FOX Sports. Although the final race of the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season was the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway on August 31, Miller and her team at FOX Sports have not put on the brakes as they prepare for 2026.

“It never ends,” Miller told me. “I don’t think I really spent more than a few days after Nashville and then jumped right back into it.

“Last year it was a graduate school course. We learned a lot. We got to know people. We got to know how things work. What things we think we can help improve, whether it’s data or graphics development or, like I said, camera placement. There were a lot of things that we had to live at some point before we knew. Maybe the camera should be more on the inside of this curve than on the outside, and all that stuff is what we’ve been collecting all this information all year and keeping notes, and now we are trying to implement that to make things better.

“But we’re much further along than where we were a year ago. It was a great experience, but it was also a huge learning curve, so we’re trying to learn those lessons and see how we can apply them.”

ForbesHow IndyCar’s Jack Harvey made the switch from racing to FOX SportsBy means of Bruce Martin

FOX Corporation is an ownership partner of IndyCar

In 2024, FOX became a partner of IndyCar, but in 2025 FOX Corporation became a stakeholder in IndyCar by purchasing a third of the shares in IndyCar.

ForbesFOX acquires a third-party interest in Penske Entertainment and IndyCarBy means of Bruce Martin

That alignment creates cohesion and collaboration between FOX Sports and IndyCar regarding race start times, scheduling, locations and other aspects of the series. FOX has a seat at the table when it comes to IndyCar matters.

“I think you did a good job,” Miller said. “Working together to find the best places, the best time, the time that will have the most impact.

“To organize a race after the World Cup final, where are those places where we can do that, how can we introduce new fans. I think that’s all part of the collaboration, how we all work together to let people know when to tune in. I’ve already seen it work great and I can’t imagine not only is it going to get better. I think there are a lot of great visionary people at the table who are all working together to get more people involved, but also the racing public that we all know they’re going to enjoy.

“So I think it’s great to get everyone to the table to work together.”

IndyCar on FOX Sports The creative eye of Katie Weigel

Just a few weeks after the 2025 season concluded, FOX Sports Feature Producer Katie Weigel and a staff of camera operators and technical personnel in Tryon, North Carolina, were preparing a feature film about the Borg-Warner Trophy and sculptor William Behrends.

Weigel is using her creativity to produce IndyCar features that will be used throughout the 2026 season.

“Even before (FOX’s ownership stake in IndyCar0 was announced this past season, because it was the first one, I’m so grateful to have been a part of it,” Weigel said. “Everything we got to do from where our stages were, the access we got, our shoots, everything was so cool to just take in.

“And I think even as we move forward, just building on that excitement and the high that we had from that, it’s only going to continue to ramp up from here.”

While many viewers are thinking about football and the NFL Playoffs, FOX continues to expose IndyCar to the public through creative promotional videos that appeared during the third quarter of the 49ers-Seahawks game.

When it comes to creativity, IndyCar on FOX is a year-round effort.