IndyCar
Racing Notebook – Wednesday, January 29
PITTSBURGH, PA (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – A busy week of news in the racing world. Today’s notebook features an Indy 500 winner and IndyCar Champion, plus NASCAR and their media partners are holding their annual “production days” so that means plenty of news out of the Concord, North Carolina hub.
2019 INDY 500 WINNER SIMON PAGENAUD UNVEILS 2020 INDY 500 TICKET
2019 Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud (pictured above with Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles and Penske Entertainment President Mark Miles) unveiled the ticket for the 104th Indianapolis 500, which captures the former Series Champion enjoying the iconic bottle of milk enjoyed by 500 winners in victory lane.
“This moment of me drinking the bottle of milk is the moment I realized it happened,” said Pagenaud. “It’s a sweet moment for me. And I didn’t know it was the picture, so it’s pretty cool to see it now and realize that it transpired. People saw it was a very, very, very special moment for me.”
The image, by Indianapolis Motor Speedway photographer Chris Owens, is printed on the 500 ticket. The Indy 500 ticket, one of the most coveted keepsakes in sports, is printed on thick stock with spot-raised MVP coating and gold foil stamp.
The ticket unveiling also featured a special gift for Norman Pagenaud, Simon and wife Hailey’s beloved Jack Russel Terrier, who captured the hearts and imaginations of race fans worldwide when he barked and wagged his tail in delight in the winner’s circle after Simon’s win.
The gift was a special ticket featuring a shot of Norman barking in victory circle next to a celebrating Pagenaud. The ticket was for a fictitious seat in “Terrier Terrace” at IMS, Section 20, Seat 20, Row K9.
Did you guys see this yet? We simply aren’t worthy of @NormanPagenaud 😭🥰🐶 Now do what Norman says and go buy your 2020 #Indy500 tickets! #INDYCAR #woof pic.twitter.com/D99qz0IVYU
— Simon Pagenaud (@simonpagenaud) January 29, 2020
DANIEL SUAREZ TO RUN FULL SEASON FOR GAUNT BROTHERS RACING
Gaunt Brothers Racing is gearing up to run the full 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season and they are putting 2016 Xfinity Series Champion Daniel Suarez behind the wheel of the No. 96 Toyota.
Sponsorship will come from Coca-Cola and CommScope, a leader in communication network technology, who has been with Suárez through its ARRIS and Ruckus Networks brands since 2014 when he first competed in the Xfinity Series.
“It’s great to be back with Toyota and back in the NASCAR Cup Series,” said the 28-year-old Suárez, who was born in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico and now calls Huntersville, North Carolina home. “My NASCAR career started off really well and Toyota was a very big part of that. To have them in my corner again gives me a lot of confidence. Gaunt Brothers Racing has something to prove and so do I. We’re committed to each other and we’re going to build each other up.”
“We’ve been working toward this moment since Gaunt Brothers Racing joined the Cup Series in 2017,” said Marty Gaunt, president, Gaunt Brothers Racing. “We’ve made steady improvement every year, but bringing Daniel on board allows us to take a giant leap forward. We’re investing in each other. He’s not content to just be here and neither are we. We’ve been very strategic in everything we’ve done, and between our partnership with Toyota and the resources now available to us, we can take that next step and deliver for Daniel and all of our partners.”
CITGO PETROLEUM TO SPONSOR JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK IN 2020
CITGO Petroleum is expanding their relationship with Front Row Motorsports by sponsoring Rookie-of-the-Year candidate John Hunter Nemecheck in 2020.
CITGO’s CITGUARD Heavy Duty Engine Oil will be the primary sponsor for JHN in his Daytona 500 debut in February. CITGARD will then return to the No. 38 Ford Mustang and Nemechek as the primary partner at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July, Michigan International Speedway in August, Bristol Motor Speedway in September and the ROVAL at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October. The brand will also be featured as an Associate Sponsor throughout the season.
“CITGO Petroleum is an iconic brand in NASCAR,” said Nemechek. “Growing up in NASCAR, everyone knows the colors of CITGO and the past two seasons the CITGARD brand has brought the company back into the sport with FRM. It’s awesome to join their team and carry on their tradition and winning history. I can’t wait to represent CITGARD in the Daytona 500. There is no better race to start this relationship.”
The No. 38 CITGARD Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang driven by John Hunter Nemechek
“Our customers are NASCAR fans and have showed their support since our return to NASCAR with Front Row Motorsports over the past two seasons,” said Brian Paulson, General Manager, Lubricants, CITGO Petroleum Corporation. “We are expanding our relationship in 2020 and including the sport’s biggest day, the Daytona 500. We will be there with John Hunter Nemechek, who is a proven winner in every series he’s competed in coming up to the Cup Series. We’re looking forward to another successful season.”
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY CELEBRATING 60TH SEASON IN 2020
Charlotte Motor Speedway is celebrating its 60th anniversary this season in grand style.
Speedway Motorsports President and CEO Marcus Smith and Greg Walter, Charlotte Motor Speedway’s executive vice president and general manager, unveiled an agglomeration of attractions for the upcoming season.
Highlights included:
- · Elvis Presley’s iconic pink Cadillac at the April 2-5 Pennzoil AutoFair
- · Every ticket to the May 16 NASCAR All-Star Race is a pit pass
- · Chris Janson’s pre-race concert at the All-Star Race
- · Chef Irvine’s exclusive Coca-Cola 600 suite menu
- · Details on a Mission 600 visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
“When my dad (Bruton Smith) started to move dirt out here on what was a farm in 1959, I’m not sure he ever imagined it would be this big,” Smith said. “He’s got a great vision for big things, but I think what’s happened (with Charlotte Motor Speedway) in the last six decades is just the start of what we’ll see going forward in the next 60 years.”
PITTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL RACE COMPLEX HIRING
The Pittsburgh International Race Complex in Wampum, PA is looking to fill several positions for the 2020 racing season. Pitt Race is looking for help in the following areas:
- Corner Marshals
- Gate Attendants
- Housekeeping
- Karting
- Maintenance
- Retail
- Fire/Rescue
Interested parties can apply in-person by stopping by the track office, Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or online at https://pittrace.com. In-person interviews will begin the week of February 24th.
THERMAL, CA (March 21, 2025) – Two-time defending and three-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion Alex Palou is atop the speed charts after the first practice session at The Thermal Club.
Palou’s fast lap of 1-minute, 40.5486-seconds in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda around the 17-turn, 3.067-mile natural terrain road course was 0.0901-seconds quicker than Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood’s lap in the No. 27 Chili’s Honda.
“A really good start to the weekend for the No. 10 DHL Honda team,” said Palou. “We didn’t get many laps because of some red flags, but the car rolled off really well considering it was very different to last year with different tires and the hybrid unit, and we didn’t test here this year. I’m really happy.”
Kirkwood wasn’t the only Andretti Global car to shine as 2022 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner Marcus Ericsson was third at 1:40.7370 in the No. 28 Bryant Honda, followed by Southern California native Colton Herta at 1:40.8439 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.
“Good start for all the Andretti cars,” said Herta. “All in the top 5. Just happy with that. This is a place where we tested, so really wanted to start off on the right foot. If we’re not quick right away after a place that you’ve tested at, it’s a little disappointing. You scratch your heads a little bit. So to start off that way is a little bit expected because we tested here, but it feels good.”
Not feeling good is the PREMA Racing team after a lengthy red flag for rookie Robert Shwartzman, who was forced to stop on track just past Turn 6 when a fire erupted in the rear of his No. 83 Chevrolet. Shwartzman quickly climbed from the car and was not hurt but the car was destroyed.
Saturday’s schedule features another practice at 1 p.m. ET, followed by NTT P1 Award qualifying at 5:05 p.m. ET (both on FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network). The 65-lap race starts at 3 p.m. ET Sunday (FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
IndyCar
Scott Dixon grabs 2nd place finish at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg despite no radio
ST. PETERSBURG, FL (March 2, 2025) – Scott Dixon has some pretty incredible accomplishments in his 25-year INDYCAR career but finishing second in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg despite losing radio communication with his team may be the most incredible.
“I’m pretty pissed off,” fumed Dixon, a six-time series Champion. “”It’s the first time I’ve ever done a whole race without a radio, so that was interesting. We had a good race going and we didn’t get it done. So it doesn’t feel good, that’s for sure.”
Imagine racing in the most competitive form or motorsports, in a concrete canyon using only your mirrors and the data on your dash.
“Kind of worked on the warm-up laps and kind of for the first 10 and that was about it,” explained Dixon about the radio issue.
The No. 9 PNC Bank Honda timing stand on pit road could only hear Dixon sometimes according to team owner Chip Ganassi.
“It was intermittent,” explained Ganassi. “Sometimes you got it, sometimes you didn’t.”
Not knowing key information to make decisions in the cockpit isn’t something that any modern day race driver wants to deal with.
“It’s nice in the race, right, just to understand who’s doing what, what strategy everybody is on,” explained Dixon. “I think when I caught Rossi and maybe Lundgaard, I kept trying to ask, how many laps have they got to go before we can get some clean air and kind of push because it’s very tough to just get a pass going here.”
Street circuits are notoriously tough to pass on so strategy often comes into play as teams try to ‘undercut’ (pit early) or ‘overcut’ (stay out long) to gain track position.
Dixon was leading the race, didn’t know what strategy his competitors were on; didn’t know who was up ahead unless he could see them and in the end didn’t have communication from his pit stand to come in a lap earlier for his final pit stop because of traffic.
“Ultimately cost us the race, I think, with not coming in when I should have,” said Dixon. “I caught about five or six cars on my in-lap. I think I lost about two or three seconds just on my in-lap. They (10 car) did the right thing; they could see the traffic coming. I had no communication, so didn’t know.”
Team owner Chip Ganassi said Dixon would’ve been on the top step of the podium if not for the issue.
“Well, if everything was 100 percent, he would have won — it was simple,” said Ganassi. “He would have won the race. The race was over. It was one stop to go, and we pitted a lap later than we wanted him to. That was the race. That was the difference between he and Palou.”
“Glad we got some good points and a nice one-two for the team,” said Dixon.
Palou leads the Championship by 10-points over Dixon as the NTT INDYCAR SERIES takes a few weeks off before the next race at The Thermal Club on March 23, 2025.
ST. PETERSBURG, FL (March 2, 2028) – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou is starting off the 2025 campaign the same way he started off his 2021 Championship season by winning the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season opening race, only this time it was the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
“Couldn’t be happier,” said Palou, who started eighth. “I wanted to be here in Victory Lane, but I did not expect maybe to be here in Victory Lane. That shows the amazing job that all the men and women did at Chip Ganassi Racing during the off-season.”
Palou was running second behind teammate Scott Dixon when his No. 10 DHL Honda crew called him into the pits for his final service of the day on Lap 71. Dixon came into the pits on the next lap and following that service the No. PNC Bank Honda returned to the track behind Palou.
“I’m pretty pissed off,” said a frustrated Dixon. “I had no radio, so I had no way to communicate with the team. I just came into the pits when the fuel light came one, but got caught behind some traffic on that lap and those two or three seconds ultimately cost us the race.”
Josef Newgarden passed Dixon going into Turn 1 on Lap 74 but Dixon was able to get back by Newgarden on the white flag lap to secure CGR’s first 1-2 finish since July 2023 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
“Happy for Chip, happy for the team,” said Dixon. “Kudos to Alex and the guys on the 10-car for getting it done.”
“I’m really happy with what the team did over the off-season, and we came back with competitive cars,” explained Ganassi. “I think if you saw how we ran here the last number of years, it wasn’t great. It was okay, we hung on, but we were clearly being beat by some of the other teams, and that wasn’t the case this weekend. So it was nice.”
Newgarden finished third in the No. 2 PPG Chevy followed by his Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin, who started from the pole position. Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood rounded out the Top 5.
The race was mostly a green-flag race except for Lap 1 when Team Penske’s Will Power got into the back of Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel who collected Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Louis Foster in the melee.
Palou leads the Championship standings by 10 over Dixon, with Newgarden and McLaughlin 15-points back as the series heads to The Thermal Club for race 2 on March 23, 2025.
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