IndyCar
Racing Notebook – Friday, January 31

PITTSBURGH, PA (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – NASCAR inducts five legends into the Hall-of-Fame plus the racing community reacts to the death of John Andretti in Friday’s Racing Notebook:
NASCAR HALL OF FAME HAS FIVE NEW MEMBERS
Five of NASCAR’s legendary competitors: Buddy Baker, Joe Gibbs, Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart and Waddell Wilson were enshrined into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina, Friday night during the Induction Ceremony held in the Crown Ball Room at the Charlotte Convention Center.
- Buddy Baker won 19 NASCAR Cup Series races, including consecutive World 600’s at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1972-73 and the 1970 Southern 500 at Darlington. Baker became the first NASCAR driver to break the 200 MPH on a closed course during a test at Talladega in 1970. Baker also won the 1980 DAYTONA 500 with an average race speed of 177.602 MPH – a track record that still stands. Baker, known as “The Gentle Giant” because he was 6-foot-6, went on to have distinguished career in broadcasting following his retirement from driving.
- Joe Gibbs boasts five NASCAR Cup Series owner championships. His 176 Cup Series owner wins – including three DAYTONA 500 victories – rank third all-time. Three drivers have earned Cup Series titles for Gibbs: Labonte (200), Stewart (2002, 2005) and Kyle Busch (2015, 2019). Gibbs is also enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame after winning three Super Bowls with the Washington Redskins.
- Bobby Labonte was the first of four drivers to win a NASCAR Xfinity Series (1991) and NASCAR Cup Series (200) championship. In 729 NASCAR Cup Series starts, Labonte recorded 21-wins, 115-top fives and 203-top 10s. During his 2000 Cup championship season, Labonte earned two of his four wins in the Brickyard 400 and the Southern 500.
- Tony Stewart earned three NASCAR Cup Series championships. Two of his titles came for Joe Gibbs Racing (2002, 2005). A third title, in 2011, came as a driver-owner with his co-owned Stewart-Haas Racing team. Stewart racked up 49 Cup wins – visiting Victory Lane on every style of track.
- A dual-threat as an engine builder and crew chief, Waddell Wilson provided the power to some of the greatest drivers, including NASCAR Hall of Famers Baker, David Pearson, Fireball Roberts, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip. As an engine builder he won three Cup championships (David Pearson, 1968 and 1969; Benny Parson, 1993), 109 races and 123 poles. As a crew chief, Wilson guided his drivers to 22 wins, including three DATONA 500 victories (Buddy Baker, 1980; Cale Yarborough, 1983 and 1984).
RACING WORLD REMEMBERS JOHN ANDRETTI
The racing community is remembering John Andretti, one day after he passed away after a lengthy battle with colon cancer. Several in the racing community took to social media to share their thoughts and stories including his Godfather A.J. Foyt as well as Richard Petty. John Andretti’s son Jarett thanked everyone for their support and asked for fans to share their stories about his father so he could share them with the family.
This one is hard. We are heartbroken to learn of John Andretti's passing.
He was more than a teammate and friend. John was family. We will miss him dearly. Our hearts are with the Andretti family and the entire @FollowAndretti organization.#RIPJohnAndretti | #CheckIt4Andretti pic.twitter.com/9EUMRTG3qB
— AJ Foyt Racing (@AJFoytRacing) January 31, 2020
— Richard Petty Motorsports (@RPMotorsports) January 30, 2020
John gave 100% to everything he did.He fought this terrible disease the same way. He was a GREAT husband,father,and friend. I will remember him for his integrity,honesty,loyalty, compassion,passion for motorsports & ability behind the wheel.We lost a good man #checkitforandretti https://t.co/iEq05fHPL1
— Jeff Burton (@JeffBurton) January 30, 2020
The outpouring of support we have received has been unbelievable. Dad touched so many people over his career and I am thankful for every message. I have been telling stories to my sisters and Mom from the last 10 years from us going up and down the road racing together.
— Jarett Andretti (@JarettAndretti) January 31, 2020
If you have a story about Dad please drop it below. I want to make sure all are preserved.
— Jarett Andretti (@JarettAndretti) January 31, 2020
FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS ANNOUNCED FOR JOHN ANDRETTI
The Andretti family has released funeral service information for John Andretti, one of the most popular and versatile American race drivers of his generation. Andretti died Thursday, Jan. 30, after a long, courageous battle with colon cancer.
The family will receive friends on Monday, February 3, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. followed by Eulogy and Prayer Service beginning at 7 p.m. at St. Mark Catholic Church in Huntersville, NC.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Thursday, February 6, at 1 p.m., at Saint Peter and Paul Cathedral Catholic Church in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The family will receive friends from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. prior to the Mass at the church. Private burial will follow the service.
In lieu of flowers, gifts can be made to:
Window World Cares
118 Shaver Street
North Wilkesboro, NC 28659
http://www.windowworldcares.com
Riley’s Children’s Foundation
30 S. Meridian Street, Ste 200
Indianapolis, IN 46024
https://www.rileykids.org
IndyCar
Palou Reaches Sweet Six After Strategic Win at Hot Road America

By INDYCAR Communications:
ELKHART LAKE, WI. (June 22, 2025) – After 55 laps of ferocious, frantic uncertainty, about the only certain thing in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES happened again Sunday at Road America – Alex Palou and his Chip Ganassi Racing crew standing in victory lane.
Palou stretched the available fuel in his No. 10 SOLO Cup Chip Ganassi Racing Honda at the end to earn his sixth victory in nine starts this season in the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Presented by AMR, becoming the first INDYCAR SERIES driver to take the checkered flag at least six times in a season since Will Power in 2011.
“It was a crazy race,” Palou said. “There were moments I thought we were losing a ton of positions. It was a tough race for everybody. Kudos to the team for the amazing strategy and Honda for giving us the fuel mileage we needed at the end to make it.”
Three-time series champion Palou expanded his lead to 93 points over Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood with the victory in a race of varying fuel and tire strategies as the season passed its halfway point, with eight races remaining on the 17-race schedule.
Felix Rosenqvist was unshackled from a fuel-saving strategy over the closing laps in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian but fell 2.1725 seconds short to finish second. Santino Ferrucci had just enough Shell 100% Renewable Race Fuel to hang on to third in the No. 14 Sexton Properties/AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, his fourth straight top-five finish this season.
Kirkwood, winner of the last two races entering this event, stayed almost as hot as the air temperatures in the mid-90s by finishing fourth in the No. 27 Siemens Honda of Andretti Global. Marcus Armstrong recorded a season-best result of fifth in the No. 66 SiriusXM/Root Insurance Honda, as Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian placed both its cars in the top five.
There were a race-record nine leaders today, with Palou taking the top spot for good on Lap 53 of the 55-lap race when teammate and leader Scott Dixon couldn’t pull off another miraculous fuel save and was forced to pit in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Dixon previously had pitted at the end of Lap 38, with about 15 laps maximum between stops unless there was a caution period to reduce speeds and save fuel. Dixon’s gamble didn’t pay off, as there were no cautions in the last 24 laps despite yellow flags flying five times in the first 30 laps.
Two-time reigning series champion Palou made his final stop at the end of Lap 40. Those two fewer laps on his final tank of fuel than Dixon – and saving fuel by running second in leader Dixon’s aerodynamic draft – proved pivotal in Palou making it to the finish with authority.
Rosenqvist made his final stop at the end of Lap 42 and pushed at his maximum toward leaders Dixon, Palou and Alexander Rossi in the No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet. Rossi, sipping fuel like Dixon, also was forced to stop at the end of Lap 51, creating more clean air and open space for Rosenqvist to charge.
But Rosenqvist – who showed his speed by leading the morning warmup – was nearly four seconds back when Rossi pitted. Rosenqvist turned the quickest lap of the race on the final trip around the 14-turn, 4.014-mile circuit, but it wasn’t enough to trim the margin and challenge Palou at the front.
“It was going back and forth there, comers and goers through the race,” Rosenqvist said. “We had great speed, had really good pace. We’ve had bad luck the last few races, haven’t really had a good go. Good comeback now. It’s been a while since I’ve been on the podium.”
It was Rosenqvist’s first podium finish in a points-paying race since finishing second in September 2023 at Portland International Raceway.
NTT P1 Award winner Louis Foster finished 11th to tie his career best set in May in the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
The spate of caution periods in the first half of the race led to divergent strategies up and down the pit lane. It also bred intense competition on a scorching day in central Wisconsin. There were 348 on-track passes (including 345 for position), 96 passes in the top 10 and 29 passes in the top five – all those numbers second all-time among INDYCAR SERIES races at this beloved facility.
Palou’s win also continued a historic duopoly this season in the series. Palou (six wins) and Kirkwood (three wins) are the only victorious drivers in 2025, and the last time two drivers so dominated the first half of an INDYCAR SERIES season came in 1980, when Bobby Unser and Johnny Rutherford were the only winners through nine races.
Honda also stayed perfect, as its engines have powered all nine race winners this season.
The next race is The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the all-new 2026 Passport on Sunday, July 6 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.
IndyCar
Kirkwood Earns First Career Oval Victory in WWTR Thriller

INDYCAR Communications
MADISON, Il. (June 15, 2025) – Nobody can call Kyle Kirkwood just a street-circuit specialist anymore.
Kirkwood used pace found with help from his teammates and masterful strategy in a chaotic, exciting race to win the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline on Sunday night at World Wide Technology Raceway.
It was the fifth career victory for Kirkwood and career-best third win this season. But most importantly to Kirkwood, it was his first career oval victory after four wins on street circuits.
“My first oval win; I’m over the moon right now,” Kirkwood said. “Ovals have eluded me for a very long time, so it’s nice to get that first one and break that ice.
“An oval win and a road course win is what I wanted. I didn’t want people just to think of me as a street course guy or else they’ll just have me going to street courses. A little bit of job security there. This is a big one, a big one for the guys. This is huge, massive.”
The podium was filled with three INDY NXT by Firestone champions. Kirkwood drove his No. 27 Siemens Honda fielded by Andretti Global to victory by .5398 of a second over Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Christian Rasmussen finished a career-best third in the No. 21 ECR Splenda Chevrolet after starting 25th, making 62 on-track passes.
Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Scott Dixon finished fourth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, his best result since he placed second in the season opener in March at St. Petersburg.
Santino Ferrucci continued the recent upswing of A.J. Foyt Enterprises as he produced his third straight top-five finish this season in the No. 14 Bommarito Automotive Group Chevrolet.
The 260-lap race, in which 14 of the 27 drivers led, came down to an intriguing gambit between two fuel strategies and navigating thickets of traffic over the last 50 laps. There were 254 passes for position, tying the series record for WWTR set last year.
Dixon, a master of saving fuel, was the last car not to stop during the second-to-last pit cycle and took the lead on Lap 194. Then David Malukas brushed the Turn 4 wall on Lap 196 in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet of A.J. Foyt Enterprises, triggering the fourth and final caution of the race. Dixon cruised behind the pace car in the lead, which allowed him to save more fuel in a possible attempt to need to make just one more pit stop.
Then Dixon stopped when the pits opened on Lap 200 and stayed in the lead due to his one-lap gap before the stop. On the restart on Lap 207, Dixon led O’Ward, Kirkwood and Conor Daly in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet.
Kirkwood passed O’Ward and stalked Dixon, pressing him to use more fuel, but couldn’t pass. Andretti Global then called Kirkwood to the pits for his last stop on Lap 233.
Dixon and strategist Mike Hull knew “The Iceman” couldn’t stretch one tank of fuel for 60 laps without significantly more caution laps, so Dixon pitted on Lap 236 and handed the lead to O’Ward.
O’Ward made his final stop on Lap 238, with Ferrucci taking the top spot. When Dixon, Kirkwood and O’Ward cycled through their final stops, Kirkwood ended up the leader among that trio due to speedy work by his Andretti Global pit crew.
Ferrucci led a group of four cars that still had to make their final stop, all running ahead of Kirkwood, O’Ward and Dixon. But Ferrucci, Marcus Ericsson in the No. 28 Fresh Connect Central Honda of Andretti Global, Callum Ilott in the No. 90 PREMA Racing Chevrolet and Felix Rosenqvist in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian all pitted from the lead by Lap 256, handing the lead back to Kirkwood. He never trailed thereafter despite pressure from O’Ward.
“The starts and the restarts were big,” Kirkwood said. “We were not too happy with the car yesterday, and we got some help from the teammates and made the car really good. In the beginning, I really didn’t think we had it, but as it got dark and it cooled down, this No. 27 Andretti Global Honda just came alive.”
NTT P1 Award winner Will Power crashed in Turn 4 on just the fourth lap due to a tire puncture on his No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. That was the portent of a tough night for Team Penske, which has a record nine wins in this event.
Five-time WWTR winner Josef Newgarden crashed out of the race while leading on Lap 130 in a frightening collision with rookie Louis Foster of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Foster brushed the wall in Turn 4, damaging his steering, and careened into the path of the onrushing Newgarden, who hit and then climbed Foster’s No. 45 Droplight/Desnuda Tequila Honda before landing upside-down on its roll hoop and aeroscreen, showering sparks. Both drivers were unhurt.
Two-time WWTR pole winner Scott McLaughlin, who led 51 laps, was eliminated on Lap 216 after a mechanical problem in the No. 3 DEX Imaging Chevrolet.
While Kirkwood joked in victory lane about this win providing him with job security, that’s the least of his concerns so far in his breakout season. Kirkwood and points leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing (five victories) remain the only drivers to win in the eight races so far this season. Honda also stayed unbeaten as an engine manufacturer in the series this season.
Palou’s championship lead over O’Ward was trimmed from 90 to 73 points after Palou finished eighth in the No. 10 Ridgeline Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Kirkwood is third, two points behind O’Ward and 75 behind Palou.
The next race is the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America on Sunday, June 22. Live race coverage from the 4.014-mile road course starts at 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX, the FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
IndyCar
Kyle Kirkwood wins INDYCAR Detroit Grand Prix

DETROIT, MI (June 1, 2025) – Kyle Kirkwood is the winner of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. The win was Kirkwood’s second of the season and fourth of his career.
Kirkwood started third on the grid and moved up to second early in the race and took advantage to grab the lead from teammate Colton Herta who finished third.
“This AWS Honda was on rails all weekend long,” said Kirkwood. “There were some challenges out there, that’s for sure. We had to pass our way back through a handful of times, and it was definitely not a walk in the park.”
This 100-lap race on the notoriously bumpy and tight nine-turn, 1.645-mile circuit on the streets of downtown Detroit came down to strategy and survival.
The 27-car field divided into two strategic camps at the start, with 12 cars beginning the race on Firestone’s grippier but less durable Firehawk alternate tires and 15 on the slower but more durable primary tires. The top nine starters, which included pole sitter Herta and teammate Kirkwood, opted to start on the softer alternate tire and shed it as soon as possible for the durability of the harder tire. INDYCAR rules require that all drivers must use both tire compounds for at least two laps per race.
That divided the field into separate pit cycles, with drivers on both strategies being forced to fight their way through the field after each stop while waiting for drivers on alternative tactics to pit.
The win has Honda Racing’s seventh of the season, continuing a season-long lockout of victories among engine manufacturers and gave Honda a weekend sweep after their Acura brand won the IMSA race on Saturday in the Motor City.
“ Amazing weekend for Honda, HRC, and also Acura,” said Kevin Fu, Vice President, Honda Racing Corporation USA. “Between our IndyCar and IMSA programs we got two poles and two wins in Detroit, and our seventh victory in a row in IndyCar. This is unprecedented start to the season for us. As always, thanks to the teams and all the folks back at HRC in Santa Clarita for all their continuous hard work, and the work they’ve done off season to get us to this point.”
The win moved Kirkwood up to second in the Championship points standings, 78-points behind leader Alex Palou, who was taken out by David Malukas going into Turn 1 on a restart.
AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci came home second for his best career finish and the team’s best finish of the season and best road or street course finish in a decade.
“It feels great,” said Ferrucci. “Honestly, the strategy plays into everything that we do, especially at road and street courses it’s very tough, and I can’t thank the team enough. This is more deserving of them than it is even of me. We probably drove to 11th minus the strategy just running our race.”
Team Penske’s Will Power finished fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet followed by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson in fifth. The fifth place finish was a career best for Simpson, the second-year driver from the Cayman Islands.
“It was a great, great race for us in the #8 Ridgeline Honda,” said Simpson. “I think we had a lot of pace, especially when running on the green tires, and we were able to really make strong gains through the field on that strategy.”
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES event is the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline on Sunday evening, June 15 at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.