© Jerome Miron/Imagn
The inaugural IndyCar Grand Prix of Arlington, which traverses the roads surrounding the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium, almost began with a disaster on Saturday due to a bizarre set of circumstances.
While the race is scheduled for Sunday, drivers took to the track both Friday and Saturday for practice ahead of Saturday’s qualifying session.
Saturday morning’s first practice session, however, had to be stopped almost as soon as it began due to a catering crew for the event finding its way onto the track while the track was green, meaning that cars were circulating at full speed.
Insane #IndyCar #ArlingtonGP pic.twitter.com/Nk4NuJHEV4
— Matt Archuleta (@indy44) March 14, 2026
IndyCar Stops Practice Session Due To People Walking On Live Track
Now, as anyone who has ever been involved in motorsports will tell you, the number one rule of being inside the track’s confines is that you never walk onto a live track.
Only bad things happen if you do. It’s why NASCAR now strongly frowns upon drivers exiting their cars following a crash and approaching other drivers to yell at (or throw things) them.
“Okay everybody this was a serious breech of security to have people crossing the track while we were in session. So we’re going to send Safety around the course to check everything we have here, that’s how serious this was. Once we have a secure course that we’re comfortable with, we’ll give you a count in,” IndyCar’s race director said of the incident.
Thankfully, the catering crew was able to clear the track before cars got around to where they were walking. The session then went on as normal, as did Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session, which saw Andretti Global driver Marcus Ericsson take his first career pole in the series.
But you can be sure that if IndyCar returns to the circuit in 2027, the rules will be made abundantly clear as to where and when people can be on the race course.