Three major sporting entities have joined together to create a new street race on the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series schedule.

The Penske Corporation, the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League and the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball announced the Grand Prix of Arlington that will showcase two iconic sporting facilities in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

It’s an NTT IndyCar Series street race that will race around the Arlington Entertainment District in March 2026 including AT&T Stadium, home of the Cowboys, and Globe Life Field, where the Texas Rangers play their home games in MLB.

The new race was announced at 2 p.m. Eastern Time on October 7. A public celebration is scheduled for Tuesday morning October 8 at Texas Live!, a special entertainment center located between AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field. It will include a special ceremony that will unveil additional details about the event, including a video that showcases the full track layout.

“We are thrilled to join forces with the Texas Rangers, Penske Entertainment, and the City of Arlington to bring Grand Prix racing to the streets of the Arlington Entertainment District,” said Jerry Jones, owner, president and general manager of the iconic Dallas Cowboys of the NFL. “The collaboration between our organizations will make the IndyCar Grand Prix of Arlington special, providing a unique NTT IndyCar Series race experience for fans attending, while also creating a showcase with our friends at FOX and those watching around the world.

“An event of this magnitude is another great reflection of what we imagined over 15 years ago that AT&T Stadium could be a part of.”

Adding to the Cowboys to the partnership was impressive, but IndyCar was successful in including the Texas Rangers, who won the World Series in 2023.

“Today is a historic day for the Texas Rangers and REV Entertainment,” said Neil Leibman, the chief operating officer of the Texas Rangers. “We are proud to be at the forefront of the IndyCar Grand Prix of Arlington alongside such esteemed organizations in Penske Entertainment and the Dallas Cowboys.

“This event will set a new standard for the Arlington Entertainment District, and we look forward to welcoming fans from around the world to experience what Arlington has to offer.”

The 2.73-mile track layout will feature two iconic sporting venues recognized by fans around the world: AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field.

The track will weave through Arlington’s core sports and entertainment district, which features an all-star lineup of events and venues and annually sells more than 1.6 million tickets to spectators from around the United States.

The 2026 race returns IndyCar to the Dallas/Fort Worth market for the first time since 2023. That is when Josef Newgarden won the XPEL 375 at the 1.54-mile Texas Motor Speedway.

IndyCar competed at Texas Motor Speedway from 1997 to 2023, and once drew huge crowds to the Speedway Motorsports Incorporated facility. The first race in 1997 drew an announced crowd of 129,000 fans.

But as time passed, the crowds for both the IndyCar and NASCAR Cup Series contests at TMS began to dwindle. Despite low attendance for the IndyCar race in 2023, SMI and IndyCar officials tried to find a return date on the 2024 schedule.

NASCAR moved its race date at TMS to the Spring and with NASCAR races at Circuit of the Americas in nearby Austin, Texas on March 24 and at Texas Motor Speedway on April 14, IndyCar’s only options would have been in the heat of the summer when most of the race dates were already taken.

Penske and his staff did not give up on the huge DFW market and were able to form a partnership with two powerful owners from championship-winning franchises in other sports.

“Through a truly remarkable and innovative partnership, we’re going to build racing’s next global spectacle,” said Penske Corporation Chairman Roger Penske, who also owns IndyCar, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500. “Everyone involved is fully committed to delivering an incredible and unique event weekend for the city of Arlington, anchored by the stars of the NTT IndyCar Series.

“We’re grateful to the Cowboys, Rangers and REV Entertainment for entering into this partnership with us, and, of course, to Arlington’s leadership team for their excitement and ongoing support.”

Veteran motorsports industry executive Bill Miller was announced as the President of the IndyCar Grand Prix of Arlington on October 7. Miller brings more than three decades of experience to the role, including previously serving as president of California Speedway and senior vice president of operations at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), a leading worldwide voice for more than 7,000 companies in the automotive aftermarket.

The IndyCar Grand Prix of Arlington will provide a full weekend of racing and entertainment, with general admission, reserved seating, VIP hospitality and party zone areas available.

“We are truly thankful to our partners for their vision and dedication to bringing the IndyCar Grand Prix of Arlington here to The American Dream City,” said Jim Ross, Mayor of Arlington, Texas. “I can’t think of a more beautiful and vibrant backdrop for this competition than Arlington’s world-class Entertainment District, which has proven again and again to be a premier destination for sports and entertainment.

“This announcement is an economic win for North Texas, and we’re looking forward to welcoming this incredible racing series and its fans for an unforgettable experience.”

REV Entertainment is a full-service company with the goal of producing first-class sports and entertainment events nationwide.

REV Entertainment serves as the official events partner of the Texas Rangers, including serving as the official booking agent for both Globe Life Field and Choctaw Stadium in Arlington, Texas. REV Entertainment has also created and produced several original concepts, including the Shriners Children’s College Baseball Showdown, one of the highest attended tournaments in college baseball.

REV Entertainment also includes several entities focused on enhancing the events and entertainment business nationwide, including REV Production Services, REV Sports Management, REV Food Service, and REV Sports Marketing.

Penske Entertainment is a leading provider of world-class sports and entertainment, comprised of IndyCar, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IMS Productions. IndyCar is the Indianapolis-based governing body for North America’s premier open-wheel auto racing series, the NTT IndyCar Series, and its developmental series, INDY
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The NTT IndyCar Series features an international field of the world’s most versatile drivers – who compete on superspeedways, short ovals, street circuits and permanent road courses across the United States and Canada.

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U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has been a loud anti-abortion crusader throughout his political career.

But as reproductive rights loom over the election season as a key issue for voters, Cruz is uncharacteristically quiet.

The Texas Republican, running for a third term in the Senate, is locked in a tight race against U.S. Sen. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, who has made restoring access to abortion and blaming Cruz for the toppling of Roe v. Wade central to his campaign.

This past week, Allred’s campaign, boosted by an influx of cash from Senate Democrats, began airing an ad on TV and streaming platforms across the state that blasted Cruz for his anti-abortion record.

Texas has banned almost all abortions — including in cases of rape and incest — since Roe was overturned. Since then, Cruz has been more careful about how he engages on the topic. He has repeatedly called abortion a state issue, while offering more vocal support for in vitro fertilization.

Cruz, through a spokesperson, declined a request for an interview. The Texas Tribune reached out to his campaign eight times over six weeks to ask about his positions, posing nine initial questions via email and several follow ups on topics ranging from his past support for a national abortion ban to how he squares his belief in fetal personhood with his support for IVF — a process which routinely involves the disposal of fertilized embryos.

Cruz’s campaign did not respond directly to questions, instead providing links to previous statements he had made on the topic in other interviews. Those statements did not address several specific questions.

While Democrats have not won statewide in Texas in 30 years, the issue could pose a risk for Cruz, who squeaked to victory in 2018 against Beto O’Rourke by less than three percentage points. Though polling shows Texans prioritizing issues like border security and the economy over abortion, more Texans believe that the state’s abortion laws are too strict, and Democrats are banking on the issue boosting turnout nationwide in a presidential election year.

Abortion ban

When the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade in 2022, Cruz celebrated the decision as “nothing short of a massive victory for life” that would not outlaw abortion across the country, but leaves “abortion policy up to the states and returns power to the American people.”

“This is a momentous day, and yet the fight for life doesn’t end with the Dobbs decision,” he said in a statement after the ruling. “It simply begins a new chapter. I’ve been proud to stand for life in the U.S. Senate, and I will continue to do so as we navigate the path ahead.”

Republicans have faced scrutiny in recent months about their past efforts to pass a federal abortion ban, with Democrats warning that former President Donald Trump would press for further restrictions.

In 2021, before Roe was overturned, Cruz cosponsored a 20-week federal abortion ban, which included exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother. He cosponsored a similar ban at least six times over his Senate career. He did not sign onto a 15-week ban when it was introduced in September 2022. In 2023, he co-introduced a bill that would allow states to exclude medical providers that perform abortions from state Medicaid funding. None of those measures advanced through Congress.

Cruz did not respond directly to a question about whether he still supports a federal ban. But in a past interview his campaign provided to the Tribune, he said that abortion policy is up to each state.

“Questions of what the rules of abortion are will be made by state officials in Austin, the state legislature, the governor. And the situation we have right now, every state makes different rules,” Cruz said in an August interview with WFAA.

Trump, during the vice presidential debate on Oct. 1, said on social media for the first time that he would veto a national abortion ban, after backing a series of shifting positions over the course of his third campaign for the White House.

Abortion exemptions

Cruz declined to directly answer whether he thought Texas should add carveouts for rape and incest and if he thought the state’s exception to save the life of the mother was working.

In the WFAA interview, he pointed to legislation he has supported with those exceptions, while reiterating that the decision would be made at the state level.

But during his 2016 presidential run, Cruz said at a town hall in Wisconsin that he did not support an exemption for rape.

“When it comes to rape, rape is a horrific crime against the humanity of a person, and needs to be punished and punished severely,” Cruz said. “But at the same time, as horrible as that crime is, I don’t believe it’s the child’s fault.”

Texas law allows abortions only in instances where the life of the mother is at risk. Critics, including Allred, say that exemption is unclear and has resulted in women — such as Kate Cox, who was denied an emergency abortion by the Texas Supreme Court after finding out her pregnancy was no longer viable — being unable to access necessary medical care.

When asked if he thought the law needed clarifying or changing, Cruz’s campaign pointed to an interview he sat for on CNN. When asked during that interview if he agreed with the court’s ruling in Cox’s case, he said the Texas Supreme Court “was right” to direct the Texas Medical Board to “set the rules.”

“I think there’s a very good argument that she fell under that exception,” he said. “But what the Texas Supreme Court said in its opinion is it asked the Texas Medical Board go in and set clear rules.”

The Texas Medical Board adopted guidance in June for how doctors should interpret the state’s new abortion laws, but declined to provide a list of cases in which an abortion should be permitted.

IVF

This year, Cruz has become increasingly vocal about his support for IVF, which he calls a “miracle.”

In February, a ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court sparked a nationwide panic about the future of access to IVF. That decision said that frozen embryos should be considered people, and that anyone who disposed of them could be liable for wrongful death. The Alabama Legislature subsequently passed a law to protect fertility treatments.

In May, Cruz introduced a bill with U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, that he said would protect IVF on the federal level by excluding any state that bans the treatment from federal Medicaid dollars.

“It simply does what needs to be done: safeguarding the right of couples to grow their family if they choose to use IVF, because this should not be a political issue,” Cruz said on the Senate floor in September describing his bill.

The bill, which Democrats blocked, would not create a statutory right to access fertility treatments. Critics panned it as lip service and “incentivizing far-right, anti-choice policymakers in deep red states to defund health care for low-income Americans” without barring them from also outlawing IVF.

Cruz voted against Democratic legislation that would create a federal right to access fertility care, saying the bill infringes on religious freedoms — though the measure does not require medical professionals who may oppose IVF to provide any treatments.

Cruz also did not respond to a question asking if he supported an idea Trump floated to make IVF free for all Americans. Trump did not explain how that proposal would be implemented.

Allred said he would support the Democratic IVF bill, which was backed by two Senate Republicans, and he cosponsored a related measure in the House to federally protect fertility treatments.

Cruz did not respond to questions about whether he believes an embryo created through IVF constitutes a person.

In 2015, during his presidential campaign, Cruz signed a pledge to back a personhood amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would “guarantee a constitutional right to life for every innocent human being, from earliest biological beginning until natural death.”

He embraced personhood measures in February 2016, before ducking questions about the topic a couple of months later.

Cruz has argued that his support for IVF is not inconsistent with a belief in fetal personhood by pointing to states that have adopted both personhood amendments and IVF protections.

“There are three states — Alabama, Georgia and Missouri — all of which have adopted personhood amendments, and all of which protect IVF,” he said on the Senate floor in June. “The Democrats maintain that IVF is in jeopardy, and yet the facts are precisely to the contrary.”

After the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision, IVF providers paused treatments across the state. Most resumed services once the Alabama Legislature passed protections for fertility treatments. But that law did not address the question of personhood, and simply provides immunity to IVF providers and patients.

Filibuster

At the same time, Cruz has characterized Allred as an extremist on abortion and accused him of supporting “abortion literally up until the moment of birth.”

Allred’s campaign rejected that claim as a scare tactic, providing a statement he made to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in response to Cruz’s allegations.

“I find it offensive that Ted Cruz would knowingly misstate not only my position but what has been the standard in this country for the last 50 years,” he said, saying a return to Roe would allow states to restrict abortions after viability while also leaving the decision of whether to have an abortion to patients and their doctors.

Meanwhile, Allred has tried to pin the end of Roe and subsequent state abortion bans on Cruz’s support for anti-abortion state lawmakers and his position on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, which advanced three conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices.

“He is singularly responsible for what’s happening in our state,” Allred said.

Allred has been a consistent abortion rights advocate throughout his tenure in Congress.

After he was elected to the U.S. House in 2018, Allred cosponsored and voted in favor of the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would create a federal protection for abortion access. The bill passed the House in 2021 and 2022 but died in the Senate. Allred has also spoken out against local efforts to ban the use of roads and highways to obtain an abortion out of state.

“We have to restore freedom to Texas women and Texas families,” he said. “And the way we do that is going to be at the federal level.”

If elected to the Senate, Allred said he would support changing the filibuster to enable passage of a federal abortion protection law. The Senate requires 60 votes to move forward on any legislation — a threshold meant to protect the minority party’s power and foster bipartisanship, but which has stymied Democrats’ efforts to pass abortion and voting rights legislation over Republican resistance.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, recently reiterated her support for carving out an exception to the filibuster for abortion legislation — though institutionalists warn that lowering the threshold to a simple majority would be a slippery slope that could lead to less durable reforms and sap the minority’s leverage when the other party comes into power.

Still, Allred argued that the Senate now exists in an “ahistorical period in which the filibuster is being abused,” and that the chamber ought to return to a rule that required any senator blocking a bill to speak on the Senate floor for the duration of their filibuster.