IndyCar
Power Wins At Portland; Dixon’s Championship Hopes Stall
PORTLAND, OR (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Team Penske’s Will Power took home the victory in Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland at Portland International Raceway.
“It was a pretty tough race for the Verizon Chevy,” said Power. “I’m exhausted. I’m mentally exhausted and just so stoked to get into Victory Lane.”
Power was running second on Lap 52 when Scott Dixon’s No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda suddenly lost electrical power while the 5-time and defending series Champion had a three-second lead on the rest of the field.
“I hate giving away an easy win like that,” said Dixon. “We just lost power and when that happens you can’t shift and you can’t use the clutch. Luckily, we were able to get to pit lane so the crew could get us back to the pit box.”
Dixon’s “Wolfpack” crew replaced a battery that had failed. The replacement cost Dixon three laps on pit road. The “iceman” returned to the race and soldiered home with a 16th place finish.
“Obviously, not the result that we wanted with the PNC Bank car,” said Dixon. “We had a great car and it was clean sailing out front for us in the lead. The team did a great job.”
Last year at Portland Lady Luck shined on Dixon as he survived a first-lap melee but the last two weeks she has been cruel to the No. 9 team. Two weeks ago at World Wide Technology Raceway a piece of debris found its way through a protective screen and put a hole in the radiator of the PNC Bank Honda.
“The last two races haven’t been the best in terms of luck for us, but we’ll just focus now on winning at Laguna Seca.” said Dixon.
Dixon’s teammate, Felix Rosenqvist, continued his strong second-half of the season, finishing second to Power. The 2nd place finish was Rosenqvist’s second podium finish in the last 4-races.
“I thought it was a great race for us in the NTT Data Honda,” said Rosenqvist. “The team really did a nice job. We moved up from P5 to P2 and it’s a strong result. We had really good pace on the red (Firestone Alternate) tires, but Will Power and Penske did a little bit better on black (Firestone Primary) tires. I think we were stronger than Chevy on fuel mileage.”
Andretti Autosports Alexander Rossi rounded out the podium with a third place finish in the No. 27 NAPA Auto Parts Honda.
“We maximized what we had,” said Rossi. “I don’t think we had a race-winning car. “Starting in seventh and finishing on the podium is a good day.”
Rossi’s third place finish leaves him 41-points behind points-leader Josef Newgarden, who finished fifth. Simon Pagenaud sits third in the Championship hunt, one point behind Rossi and 42-points out of the top spot.
Double-points are on the line in the next race, The Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, the season finale, Sunday September 22nd at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca in Monterey, California.
LOS ANGELES, CA (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Fox Sports, the new television partner for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, is aggressively getting the word out that INDYCAR has a new home for 2025.
Sunday Fox Sports debuted the first promotional ad during the network’s NFL coverage, featuring two-time Series Champion and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden.
This is the first of three promotional ads that Fox Sports will be rolling out between now and the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding on March 2, 2025. The remaining two spots will feature three-time and reigning series Champion Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing and the series most-popular driver Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren.
PLAINFIELD, IL (January 13, 2025) – Dale Coyne Racing is adding INDY NXT by Firestone Vice-Champion Jacob Abel to it’s 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES roster.
Abel will drive the No. 51 DCR Honda for the entire 2025 season beginning in March with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
“We are excited about running another Indy NXT by Firestone Vice-Champion here at Dale Coyne Racing,” said team owner Dale Coyne.
Abel, a Louisville Kentucky native, won three races in 2024 and finished on the podium in 10-of-14-races, which placed him second in the final standings – a steady progression from his 5th and 8th place Championship finishes the previous two seasons.
“It’s a lifelong dream come true… I can’t thank everyone who’s helped out along the way enough,” said Abel, who impressed in an evaluation day at Sebring last fall.
“We have watched Jacob over the years and did an evaluation test with him at the end of the 2023 season, where he showed great promise in these cars,” said Coyne. “It will be good to run one driver in the #51 car for the whole season, so that we can work on the consistency needed in the highly competitive NTT IndyCar Series.”
“I’ve had a great relationship with Dale for the last couple of years, and I’m very thankful for the confidence he has in me,” said Abel. “The team has some very experienced personnel joining and returning to the program, and I have full confidence they will deliver a great race car and help me learn the ropes of the NTT IndyCar Series. It’s going to be a fun but challenging journey, and I can’t wait to get started.”
Coyne said talks are progressing to fill the other vacant seat in the DCR stable.
“Our plans for our second driver are coming along quite nicely, and we will have more news on that in approximately three weeks.”
The 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season kicks off February 28 – March 2 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
LEBANON, TN (September 15, 2024) – Andretti Global’s Colton Herta passed Pato O’Ward with four laps to go in the Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix to claim his first oval NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory of his career.
“I’m so happy,” said Herta, whose No. 26 Gainbridge Honda crossed the finish line 1.8206-seconds ahead of O’Ward. “We knew we were going to have a hot rod in the race. It’s been an amazing year.”
The victory also vaulted Herta a couple of spots up in the final standings of the year.
“I just saw I finished second in the championship, which is awesome,” said Herta. “Hoping to do a little bit better next year.”
The second place finish was the sixth of the year for O’Ward and the twenty-sixth of his career and said afterwards he was lucky to finish there.
“Yeah, I wish I could have done it a little bit harder on him,” said O’Ward. “Those reds (Firestone alternate tires) at the end, I couldn’t see straight with so much vibrations. Could barely talk to the team with just how much was going on in the car. I think one more lap, Josef would have gotten me for sure. I was dying.”
Josef Newgarden finished third in the No. 2 Hitachi Chevy. The Tennessee native was not in the Championship hunt after being stripped of a season-opening win at St. Petersburg after he and teammate Scott McLaughlin were found to have illegal software that allowed them to use push-to-pass when others couldn’t.
“Team did a great job today,” said Newgarden. “They put a good car on the track, a great car. We’re going to come back next year and hopefully have a little different cadence would be nice. I’m going to be happy to leave all this in 2024.”
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou finished 11th and claimed his second straight Championship and third overall in four years. Dario Franchitti was the last driver to win three championships in four year, winning three straight for CGR from 2009-2011.
Sye Lynch to run Kubota High Limit Racing Series full-time in 2025
Brooks Bags Tuesday Prelim Victory
Late Race Restart Propels Larson to Victory
Bell Best in Race of Champions
Racing Notebook: Larson, Bell shine in Tulsa; Fox names INDYCAR booth; Mid-Ohio tickets on sale and more
Sye Lynch to run Kubota High Limit Racing Series full-time in 2025
Fox Sports drops the accelerator on INDYCAR promotion
Late Race Restart Propels Larson to Victory
Bell Best in Race of Champions