IndyCar
IndyCar At Pocono Future In Doubt; Drivers Want To Return
LONG POND, PA (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – This past Sunday’s ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway could be the last visit to the “Tricky Triangle” for the NTT IndyCar Series. The IndyCar Series does not have an agreement to return to Pocono in 2020.
The hot rumor circulating around the garage area and paddock is that the race is going to be replaced on the schedule by Richmond Raceway.
The last few years the IndyCars have raced at Pocono have resulted in accidents and tragedy. In 2015 Justin Wilson was struck in the helmet by a piece of debris from the car of Sage Karam, who had crashed. Wilson died as a result of his injuries.
In 2018 Arrow Schmidt Petersen Motorsports Robert Wickens was left paralyzed after a first lap multi-vehicle crash.
This past Sunday, on the first lap, there was multi-car crash involving Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport teammates: Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay, Arrow Schmidt Petersen’s James Hinchcliffe and NTT Data Services Chip Ganassi Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist. Rosenqvist was taken to a local hospital, checked out, released and cleared to drive in the next race at Gateway.
The outrage on Social Media was quick and included Wickens and Karam.
How many times do we have to go through the same situation before we can all accept that an IndyCar should not race at Pocono. It’s just a toxic relationship and maybe it’s time to consider a divorce. I’m very relieved (to my knowledge) that everyone is okay from that scary crash
— Robert Wickens (@robertwickens) August 18, 2019
I don’t want people to think that I dislike pocono. I think it’s a great track it’s just not meant for indycars. We need to be smart and move on and go to tracks that fit these cars. I love oval racing and want it in Indycar I just simply don’t love Indycar at pocono.
— Sage Karam (@SageKaram) August 18, 2019
All three drivers that finished on the podium, who are also Series Champions, came to the track’s defense and placed some of the blame on the competitors.
“Honestly I feel bad for Pocono…” said Five-time Series Champion Scott Dixon. “Some mistakes that have happened on track, honestly they could happen anywhere. If you look at Justin or Robby, those can happen anywhere. I feel bad that it gets a bit of a bad taste in that scenario. I think the drivers in a lot of situations can do a better job to help that situation. Honestly, I hope we come back.”
Race-winner Will Power echoed those sentiments.
“It’s a great oval for us,” said Power. “Obviously some unfortunate accidents here, like Scott said, that could happen anywhere. (Pocono) Kind of got a bad rap for that.”
Pocono Raceway was designed in 1959 and each turn was designed after three classic IndyCar venues. Turn 1 is a copy of the now-defunct Trenton Speedway. Turn 2 is designed after the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Turn 3 is designed after The Milwaukee Mile.
Hinchcliffe felt the accident could have been avoided with a little common sense.
“We were heading into turn two kind of three wide, I knew that wasn’t a good idea, so I backed out,” said Hinchcliffe. “500-mile race man, I don’t know how many times we have to do this before people figure out you can attack all you want, it doesn’t give a change to win if you’re in the fence.”
Hunter-Reay was equally frustrated by getting taken out on the first lap for the second year in a row.
“This is ridiculous,” said Hunter-Reay. “I thought we learned our lesson here. Lap one of a 500-mile race. I had a nice clean run on Rossi, almost three-quarters of the way up past him and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I’m backwards.
Power and Dixon hope to return to the track because they were seeing some positive signs.
“I felt the crowd today at the start of the race was fantastic,” said Dixon. “It was gaining some really good momentum. Hopefully it gets to continue.”
“It’s a great oval for us,” Power said. “The crowd us up 15-percent every year we come back. It’s getting better. The crowd was great today. It’s a good racetrack, man. A good track for racing. I really hope we come back. I think the guys do a great job. A cool track for us. It’s hard for us to find good ovals these days that suit our cars.”
Pagenaud believes having a race in the Northeastern United States is key and also hopes the race continues.
It’s a fun track to drive on,” said Pagneaud. “It would be really unfortunate, because it’s close to New York, a great market for IndyCar. It’s an opportunity to bring people from New York to the IndyCar races. Hopefully we can come back and hopefully we can keep working with the people at Pocono because it’s been a lot of fun. As a driver, I really enjoy coming here.”
LONG BEACH, CA (April 13, 2025) – Kyle Kirkwood started on the pole position and held off reigning series Champion Alex Palou en route to winning Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, his third career victory and second on the streets of California.
“To win here, the 50th, with this team, with this group, with Honda, an Acura-sponsored event is absolutely massive,” said Kirkwood. “This was a flawless weekend for myself, for the team, for the crew, for everyone involved.”
Palou, who was trying to open the season with three straight wins came home second after starting third in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, giving Honda the Top 2 spots on the Podium.
“I’m super happy to be here,” said Palou, a three-time series Champion. “I think it’s been a great weekend. We really didn’t have that ultimate speed that the 27 car had. Every time I was having like a small chance, he just had a little bit more pace.”
Kirkwood started on the softer but quicker Firestone alternate tires as did most of the starters in the Top 10. Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard was the first driver to start on the harder Firestone alternate tires leading to another interesting strategy day in regard to how long to run on the alternates.
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden was the first to ditch the alternates, opting to pit at the end of his second lap, the minimum amount of laps one can run either of the compounds.
Kirkwood’s Andretti Global teammate Colton Herta and Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin ditched their alternates after running 5-laps with Palou and Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist coming in on the next lap.
Kirkwood came in on the following lap as more front runners ditched the alternates for the longer lasting primary Firestones handing the lead to Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard, who started on the harder, longer lasting primary tires. Lundgaard used the strategy to lead 26-laps to come home in third place.
“We went off strategy compared to what we expected most of the field to do,” explained Lundgaard. “We were the first primary tire runner in the field. “I told the team this morning, even before warm-up, let’s try to go aggressive, and let’s see what we can do. We have the most tires of everybody. We had two sets of alts, three sets of new primaries.”
In the end nobody had enough for Kirkwood who moved up to second place in the Championship standings, 34-points behind Palou with Lundgaard now in third place, 46-points back.
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is May 3rd at Barber Motorsports Park.
LONG BEACH, CA (April 12, 2025) – Kyle Kirkwood is on the pole position for Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach with Andretti Global teammate Colton Herta alongside as the duo locked-out the front row helping Honda sweep the Top 5 qualifying spots.
Kirkwood’s fast lap off of 1-minute, 6.1921 seconds (107.034 mph) in the No. 27 PreFab Honda on his last lap in the Firestone Fast Six earned him his first pole of 2025 and third of his career.
“Amazing day for Honda and Andretti Global,” said Kirkwood. “A front row lockout for us in the #27 and #26 cars and just a great day for Honda power—top five here at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. This is a huge result for us as a team, a huge result for Honda, and it gives us a great starting spot to give ourselves the best chance of winning here tomorrow. Should be a great one!”
Herta missed out on the pole position by a mere 0.2311-seconds in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda (106.662 mph).
“Happy to be starting on the front row for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach,” said Herta. “I think we have some really strong cars here at Andretti Global and locking out the front row gives us a great shot tomorrow.”
Reigning Series Champion and points leader Alex Palou will start third in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda after a fast lap of 1-minute, 6.6254-seconds (106.338 mph). Palou won the first two races of the season and would love to make it three straight.
“It’s a solid qualifying for us,” said Palou. “You always want more, and we felt like we were going to be fighting a little bit more, but it was good! It was fun out there and to fight. We just missed it a little bit. Great job by Honda locking out the top five and for us, starting third, it’s a great opportunity to decide on a strategy and have a clean race and move up. The #10 DHL Honda has been amazing so hopefully we can get the win.”
Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist will start fourth with Andretti’s Marcus Ericsson rounding out the Top 5.
Up next is the pre-race warmup at noon ET Sunday (FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network), followed by the 90-lap race at 4:30 p.m. (FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
THERMAL, CA (March 23, 2025) – Alex Palou is off to a great start to defending his 2023 and 2024 Championships by winning Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Thermal Club Grand Prix to start off 2025 with back-to-back victories.
“it’s amazing,” said Palou. “We love this feeling obviously. I think everybody does. We never take anything for granted, at least they don’t, anybody in the team. They just keep on working and giving me better cars and all the tools that I need to try and win and fight for the races.”
Palou, who became the first driver to win back-to-back races to start the season since teammate Scott Dixon in 2020, gave all the credit to his No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda crew.
“It’s been incredible, an incredible weekend with lots of speed and perfect execution on pit stop, strategy,” said Palou. “It was especially hard for us when we were at the beginning of the race at a disadvantage on the tires compared to the 5 and the 7, when they started using their new alternates very early on. You could see they’re going away. You’re like, Man, I know I still need to go slow and keep my rear tires on, although you see they’re pushing a little bit more than you.”
Palou survived the first stint in third place as the tire strategy continued to play out on the remaining stops until he passed pole-sitter Patricio O’Ward with 10-laps to go and pulled away for his 13th career victory.
O’Ward led an Arrow McLaren front row lockout starting on the pole position and led a race-high 51-laps but the No. 5 Chevy didn’t have enough to hold off Palou when it mattered most, after the last pit stop of the race.
“Obviously we were the car that had everything to lose because we were starting on pole,” said O’Ward. “I think we led like 50-something laps, 51 laps. It kind of sucks to lose it there in the end.”
O’Ward and his team started the race on new Firestone alternate tires whereas Palou started on used alternates keeping the sticker reds for his last run.
“We ran a red, black, black, black race,” explained O’Ward. “I think it should have been a red, red, black, black or any sort of combination with two reds and two blacks. I think we missed it on the 5 car. We can only see why we chose that, try not to make that mistake again.”
Christian Lundgaard, who started second, finished third in the No. 7 Chevy to give the McLaren team two car on the podium.
“I think the car that I had yesterday was potentially a little more preferred for me than today,” said Lundgaard, who scored the fourth podium finish of his career. “I think we made some changes going into warm-up that felt nice in warm-up, but it was 40 degrees cooler. We carried those into the race. To me that didn’t really seem to be the preferred.”
Andretti Global’s Colton Herta finished fourth in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda followed by Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist in fifth in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda, giving Honda three cars in the Top 5.
Will Power was the biggest mover of the day, picking up 15-positions to finish sixth in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet.
Palou holds a 39-point lead over O’Ward and a 41-point lead over Scott Dixon in the Championship standing heading into the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 13, 2025.
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