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Racing Notebook: Power Wins Grand Prix Of St. Pete Pole; Burton Wins At Texas; Robb Wins Indy Pro 2000

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Joe Skibinski

ST. PETERSBURG, FL (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Team Penske’s Will Power wins the pole position for the INDYCAR race at St. Petersburg plus Harrison Burton wins the NASCAR Xfinity Series Race at Texas Motor Speedway; Road To Indy Winners and Carvana partners with Jimmie Johnson and Chip Ganassi Racing for their 2021 INDYCAR effort.

Will Power Wins INDYCAR Pole At St. Pete:

  • Team Penske’s Will Power is on the pole position for Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.  Power’s fast lap of 1-minute, 1.0369-seconds (106.165 mph) was 0.14-seconds faster than Andretti Autosports Alexander Rossi (01:01:1730/105.929 mph) in the third and final round of knockout-style qualifying.  Championship contenders Josef Newgarden will start eighth and Scott Dixon will start eleventh after failing to advance past the second round.  The green flag drops at 2:30 p.m. on NBC. St. Pete Starting Lineup

Harrison Burton Wins NASCAR Xfinity Series Race At Texas:

  • Joe Gibbs Racing’s Harrison Burton took home the victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday.  The victory was Burton’s third this season.  JR Motorsports Noah Gragson finished second followed by Richard Childress Racing’s Anthony Alfredo.  Team Penske’s Austin Cindric finished fourth.  Points leader Chase Briscoe finished 24th. Xfinity Texas Results  Xfinity Drivers Points

Sting Ray Robb Wins At St. Pete:

  • Juncos Racing’s Sting Ray Robb wired the field in Saturday’s Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by Cooper Tires.  Robb, who started on the pole position, quickly pulled out to a 1.2-second lead and never looked back. “That was a hard race, even though I was leading the whole way. The team set a goal for me to hold a certain lap time and I did, until I saw Danial starting to catch me. I started pushing harder and set the quick race lap time, bettering my own race record from last year. Two lap records in one day here, that’s pretty special!”  Danial Frost finished second followed by Robb’s teammate Artem Petrov.  Robb will also start on the pole in Sunday’s season finale.  Colin Kaminsky, the goalie for the University of Pittsburgh hockey team, finished ninth.  indypro2000-race-results-r1

Porto Grabs USF 2000 Victory At St. Pete:

  • Kiko Porto claimed a well-deserved maiden Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship victory Saturday afternoon in the USF2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Andersen RacePark. Eduardo Barrichello finished in second place for Pabst Racing with Reece Gold taking third for Cape Motorsports.

Carvana Partners With Jimmie Johnson & Chip Ganassi Racing:

IndyCar

Alex Palou powers to IndyCar Freedom 250 Pole Position in D.C.

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Penske Entertainment: Joe Skibinski

WASHINGTON D.C. (August 22, 2026) – Alex Palou’s blistering lap of 56.8993 seconds in the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda puts the four-time NTT IndyCar Series Champion on the pole position for Sunday’s Freedom 250 on the streets of Washington D.C.

“Incredible,” said Palou. “My car was on rails. Super-fun lap, super-fun car to drive. Couldn’t be happier. Looking forward to tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, man, 250 miles.”

Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood lines up second after a lap of 57.4661 in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda.

“P1 both first and second group, and the last one Alex Palou is just a legend and goes faster on his one-lap dash than he did the whole rest of the run, I think,” Kirkwood said. “He made us look silly out there.”

Scott McLaughlin spoiled the Honda party up front, putting the No. 3 PPG Chevrolet third on the grid after a fast lap of 57.4200.

Palou’s CGR teammates Scott Dixon and Kyffin Simpson did not fare as well as their teammate.

Dixon was on a lap that would have allowed him to transfer into the next round of qualifying, when Simpson hit the wall, triggering a red flag which cancelled Dixon’s lap.  The No. 9 PNC Bank Honda will start 14th.

Bringing out the red flag penalized Simpson of his two fastest laps so the No. 8 Sunoco Honda will start last in 25th.

Coverage of the Freedom 250 starts at 11:30 a.m. on Fox and IndyCar Radio with the green flag waving in our nation’s capital at 1 p.m.

Freedom 250 qualifying results

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IndyCar

Palou quickest in first Markham practice

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Penske Entertainment: James Black

MARKHAM, ONTARIO (August 15, 2026) – The NTT IndyCar Series is making it’s first visit to a new street circuit in Markham, Ontario but a familiar face topped the speed charts after the first practice.

Four-time Series Champion Alex Palou turned the fastest lap around the 12-turn, 2.19-mile temporary street course, a 1-minute, 14.9915-seconds (100.811 mph) lap in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

A.J. Foyt Racing rookie Caio Collett was second quick with a 1-minute, 15.0454-seconds (100.739) in the No. 4 Chevrolet.

Louis Foster was third quick in the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda at 1:15.0278 (100.702) followed by Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin 1:15.2981 (100.401).  Will Power rounded out the Top 5 at 1:15.3152 (100.378).

Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammates were not as strong.  Six-time Series Champion Scott Dixon was 20th at 1:16.4583 (98.877) in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda.  Kyffin Simpson was 24th at 1.17.3893 (97.688) in the No. 8 Sunoco Honda.  Simpson made contact with the wall at Turn 6, causing damage to the rear suspension.  Simpson limped to pits for repair and returned to action later in the session.

Practice 2 is set for 2:30 p.m. as delayed track construction forced officials to cancel Friday’s activities and condense Saturday’s schedule.  NTT P1 Pole Qualifying is set for 6:30 p.m. ET

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IndyCar

Incomplete race track moves IndyCar Markham practice to Saturday

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Photo by Travis Hinkle | IMS Photo

MARKHAM, ONTARIO (August 14, 2026) – Issues with the completion of the temporary street circuit in Markham Ontario has forced the NTT INDYCAR SERIES first practice to be moved to Saturday as all of Friday’s on-track activity had to be scrubbed from the schedule.

“INDYCAR is incredibly disappointed that our promoter was not able to complete the track build on time, despite significant support from our team on site,” INDYCAR President J. Douglas Boles said. “Ontario has always been a magnificent market for our sport and the number of spectators that attended today is a shining example of that. New events can always pose logistical challenges and we join in the frustration of our loyal fans and apologize.”

Green Savoree Promotions also issued a statement.

“Ensuring the safety of the drivers and the completion of the certification process of competing on a brand-new racetrack delayed all on-track activities today.  Today’s sessions have been rescheduled to Saturday, August 15, to allow for further track preparations.”

“We greatly appreciate all the fans who made it out to the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham today and chose to spend the day with us.   The attendance and support were overwhelming.”

The revamped schedule calls for the first practice to take place at 10:00 a.m. followed by a second practice at 2:30 p.m. and P1 Pole Qualifying at 6:30 p.m.

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