Series organisers are letting the race start time float, knowing that the football match could bleed into overtime and penalties.
As it stands, the FIFA World Cup final is set to start at 5am AEST while IndyCar is set to wave the green flag at 7:40am AEST.
IndyCar and Fox Sports are optimistic that Nashville could reach record viewership levels as football fans stick around to watch the race.
The football match and race will both air on Fox’s main channel. Coverage of the race in Australia is on streaming service Stan Sport.
Meyer Shank Racing driver Marcus Armstrong said the one-hour shift would make “a big difference” to how the race plays out.
“We were talking about that about one hour ago because I hope it doesn’t go to overtime. I hope England wins and we can all have a beer and chill,” said Armstrong.
Secure your spot today.
“At Gateway it was hot, obviously, in practice and qualifying and the high-line session, and then the sun went down about a quarter of the way into practice two.
“I think it negatively impacted our car, but it changed the standings quite a lot with that just difference in ambient and track temperature.
“I mean, it’s so generic, but you’d be amazed by how much these cars change with a spot of different ambient temps.
“We’ll see what we find. I don’t know what time the sun goes down there, but I think it’s going to be very hot. So hopefully it’s just stable and doesn’t have too much of an impact.”
Armstrong downplayed the need to take big set-up swings if the race start time changes.
“I don’t think we’re going to be changing things really late in the day,” he explained.
“We’re going to hopefully have a strong car throughout.
“We have warm-up that is quite late, we have practice two very late, so we will have a good idea what the ambient temps are going to do, but we’re just going to make our best call.
“We’re not going to try and be too tricky with it because that’s when things start to go wrong.
“We’ll just nail the basics and do those right.”
IndyCar begins on Sunday with practice at midnight before qualifying at 4am AEST. High line practice begins at 7am AEST followed by practice two at 8am AEST.
IndyCar pre-show begins on Monday at 6:30am AEST before the race at 7:40am AEST.
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