IndyCar at Markham: 5 Storylines for Sunday's First Race on Canada's New Street Circuit

Welcome to the Happy Hour Racing IndyCar Race Preview - the storylines, the drivers to watch, and what actually decides Sunday. Fan to fan, no filler.

The Short Version

The NTT IndyCar Series races on the Streets of Markham for the first time this Sunday, August 16, with the green flag around noon ET on FOX. It is 90 laps on a brand new 2.19-mile, 12-turn street circuit in Ontario, and it replaces the Toronto race that ran at Exhibition Place for 39 years. The biggest reason to watch: the track was not finished on time, all of Friday's running was cancelled, and every team showed up Sunday with almost no data on a place nobody has ever raced.

1. A Brand New Track That Was Not Ready

This is the storyline that swallowed the weekend. IndyCar wiped out every Friday session at Markham because the promoter, Green Savoree Promotions, had not finished building the circuit. Safety barriers and tire packs were still incomplete, and the series would not put cars on track until it was signed off.

IndyCar president J. Douglas Boles did not soften it. "INDYCAR is incredibly disappointed that our promoter was not able to complete the track build on time, despite significant support from our team on site," he said, adding that he still expects the circuit to be spectacular once cars run.

NEWS: Practice 1 for the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham has been postponed until Saturday at 10 AM ET as the race promoter completes final track preparations. The session will be televised on FS2 and FOX One, with Practice 2 and qualifying to follow.

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 14, 2026

Everything got crammed into Saturday: both practice sessions plus qualifying, which was switched to the traditional road-course knockout format just to fit. Instead of two days of learning a new place, drivers got a few hours. Expect a twitchy opening stint from a field that is still guessing.

From track walk certainly appears can be done sometime late morning or afternoon. Obviously won't start with the 9am USF 2000 practice. INDYCAR practice scheduled for 3p ET. Pit road is a split pit road like Detroit.

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) August 14, 2026

2. Palou Is 110 Points Clear and Still Cannot Clinch

Alex Palou won at Portland last Sunday for his sixth victory of 2026 and pushed his championship lead to 110 points over Kyle Kirkwood, 510 to 400. With five races left and a maximum of 49 points available in any single one, Kirkwood's deficit is worth more than two full races. That is the definition of a commanding position.

Here is the catch that keeps Sunday interesting: Palou cannot mathematically wrap up the title at Markham, and 12 drivers are still technically alive. This is not a coronation, it is a squeeze. Every week he finishes near the front, the window to beat him shrinks a little more.

The worrying part for the field is where he has been strongest. Street circuits were supposed to be the equalizer. Instead Palou has won three of the four street races this season, at St. Petersburg, Long Beach and Detroit, and finished second in the other one at Arlington.

3. Kirkwood Is the One Guy Built for This Weekend

If anybody is going to spoil it, the profile fits Kyle Kirkwood almost perfectly. Five of his six career IndyCar wins have come on temporary street circuits. More to the point, when the series rolled into Arlington earlier this year for the other brand new street course on the 2026 calendar, Kirkwood won it.

He knows exactly what he has. "Street courses have been a strength for us, especially the new ones," Kirkwood said ahead of the weekend. "We won the inaugural Arlington race earlier this year, so hopefully we can do the same in Markham."

That is the cleanest matchup of the day: the guy who wins new street races against the guy who wins everything. Kirkwood also just took second in the standings back from David Malukas by eight points, so he has two fights running at once.

4. The Fight Behind Palou Is Tighter Than the Title

Second through fifth is separated by 45 points, and each of those drivers has something specific on the line.

David Malukas sits third on 392 in his first season in the Team Penske No. 12, and he is still chasing the first win of his IndyCar career. He has had the poles and the podiums and has not closed one out. A chaotic new street race is exactly the kind of afternoon that hands somebody a first win.

Christian Lundgaard is fourth on 375 with two wins this year, driving for a team he is leaving. Arrow McLaren is bringing in Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist for 2027, and Lundgaard has been widely reported as heading to Chip Ganassi Racing to take over Dixon's No. 9. Racing out a contract when everyone knows you are gone tends to loosen a driver up.

Pato O'Ward is fifth on 355 and has quietly finished top five in all four street races this season. Underneath all of it is a farewell: Scott Dixon won at Toronto four times, more than anyone else in the field, and 2026 is his last season with Ganassi after nearly 25 years. The Ontario race he owned no longer exists in the same form.

5. What Actually Decides Sunday

Three things to keep an eye on once it goes green.

The pit lane. Markham uses a double-sided pit road, the same setup IndyCar runs at Detroit and Arlington. Cars serviced on both sides means a busier, tighter lane, more chances for an unsafe release, and a real penalty risk on a day when track position is everything.

The layout. Tony Cotman designed a 12-turn circuit with a hairpin at Turn 5 that teams are comparing to Long Beach, an uphill run to Turn 6, and a sweeping charge toward Turn 10. Those are your passing zones. Everywhere else is walls, and walls plus a field with almost no practice usually equals full-course cautions.

The weather. The forecast for Markham on Sunday afternoon is warm and mostly dry, around the low 70s at the noon start with only a small rain chance building later in the afternoon. Not a washout, but on a green, dusty, brand new surface, even a passing shower would turn the strategy board upside down.

The Fan Debate

Toronto ran 39 IndyCar races at Exhibition Place going back to 1986. It was bumpy, cramped and unforgiving, and fans loved it for exactly those reasons. Markham is a purpose-drawn suburban street circuit on a five-year deal, and its debut weekend opened with the series publicly calling out its own promoter.

So which is it: a smart modernization of Canada's IndyCar race, or trading a genuine classic for a nicer parking lot? Ask around and you get both answers with equal confidence. One good race on Sunday would settle most of it.

The Bottom Line

Nobody knows anything about this place. That is the whole appeal. A field with one compressed day of practice, a title leader who has already won three of four street races, a challenger whose specialty is winning brand new ones, and 12 turns of concrete that have never had an IndyCar hit them. Sunday at noon ET on FOX.

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