IndyCar
Josef Newgarden and Will Power lead first practice at Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
ST. PETERSBURG, FL (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Will Power led a Team Penske 1-2 in the first practice session for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Newgarden turned a fast lap of 1:00:8029 (106.574 MPH) to narrowly edge Power’s fast lap of 1:00:8102 (106.561).
Andretti Autosport teammates Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi were next on the charts. Herta’s fast lap was 1:00:8348 (106.518) and Rossi was a tick behind at 1:00:8653 (106.465).
“I think the track was really high grip, honestly, more so than what I was expecting,” Newgarden said. “That’s probably what brought the times tighter. Normally when it grips up, we get really close as far as the entire pack.
Penske’s Simon Pagenaud rounded out the top 5 with a quick lap of 1:00:8992. All four Penske cars were in the top 10 as rookie Scott McLaughlin came in eighth fastest at 1:01:0158.
A bit of a mixed bag for Chip Ganassi Racing. Scott Dixon led the team with a fast lap of 1:00:9152, which was good for sixth fastest in the No. 9 PNC Bank Grow Up Great Honda.
“The car felt pretty good,” said Dixon, the reigning and six-time series Champion. “We made some good changes. We had a test plan with all four cars and we made some good adjustments. P6 we’ll take that, keep pushing tomorrow. Hopefully a little bit better.”
Marcus Ericsson just missed the top 10 with a quick lap of 1:01:1170 in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda, just behind Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Graham Rahal in tenth (1:01:0912).
“Good start for us, ended up P10,” said Rahal. “We had good pace the whole time. I thought a couple of laps we had could have put us in the top two or top three. One lap it went red (flag). One lap I caught Josef and a little bit of traffic but I feel really good the United Rentals car is strong this weekend.”
“I feel comfortable with the car,” said Ericsson. “We need to do some fine tuning tomorrow but we have really good pace to work from, feeling strong.”
CGR’s Alex Palou placed 20th in the No. 10 NTT DATA Honda at 1:01:7393 (104.957) as less than one-second separated Newgarden from Palou.
“The car is good,” said Palou, who picked up his first career win last week at Barber Motorsports Park. “We just got some traffic and really didn’t make the lap (time). Tomorrow we have another practice and qualifying and I think we’ll really be ready to be up there.”
Palou’s teammate Jimmie Johnson finished 24th 1:03:1317 in the No. 48 Carvana Honda. It was Johnson’s first practice ever on a street circuit.
“There’s a lot going on,” said Johnson of his first practice ever on a temporary street circuit. “Very tricky trying to get the tires up to where I have the comfort to start charging and the braking marks and power down marks right. But I kept all four corners on the car, didn’t end up in the runoff. Certainly step one of this process of learning how to go INDYCAR racing on a street circuit. What a rush, what an experience!”
Teams have another practice session on Saturday morning from 9:45 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. to get their cars dialed in.
Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award is scheduled to start at 1:45 p.m., with live coverage on Peacock Premium and same-day coverage at 10 p.m. on NBCSN.
Live coverage of the 100-lap race starts at noon Sunday on NBC and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
MADISON, IL (June 6, 2026) – Alex Palou and the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing team are continuing to lay down fast laps when it counts with Palou earning the pole position for Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway. The pole position is Palou’s fourth straight NTT P1 Pole award.
“It was incredible and so much fun, especially that first lap,” said Palou, who turned a two-lap average speed of 174.353 mph in the No. 10 HRC Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. “The #10 Honda Honda had so much speed. The team I have around me is incredible. My car was on rails today; it was incredible.”
David Malukas starts second in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet after a two-lap average of 173.244 mph. Malukas could only look on in disbelief as Palou knocked him off the pole.
Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood starts third in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda following a two-lap average of 173.206 mph.
“ It was a good run for us,” said Kirkwood, the 2025 WWWT Raceway winner. “P3 is a really good starting spot and we can definitely do some great things from there. Last year we won from 10th, so it’s nice to be able to be at the front.”
2026 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner Felix Rosenqvist starts fourth in the No. 60 SiriusXM Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Honda.
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin will start 5th in the No. 3 Dex Imaging Chevrolet.
Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon starts 7th in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda and CGR’s Kyffin Simpson will start 14th in the No. 8 Sunoco Honda.
Television coverage of Sunday’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 begins at 8 PM CT / 9 PM ET on Fox. Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on the INDYCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation (Channel 160).
DETROIT, MI (May 31, 2026) – Alex Palou is back in victory lane after winning Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, his fourth win of 2026 and 12th win in his past 25-races.
“It was a tough one,” said Palou. “The team did an incredible job one again with the strategy. Pit stops were incredible. The number 10 Honda Honda looked really good and I think every time it has been on track it’s had a win.”
Palou and the No. 10 HRC Chip Ganassi Racing Honda fought off Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood on two late-race restarts as Palou was on the harder Firestone Primary tire and Kirkwood was on the softer Firestone alternate tire.
“It was very tough with the temperature on the tires,” explained Palou. “On the restarts I couldn’t really be at the level of Kirkwood, Power and some of the guys who were able to get a little more tire temp than I Wass able to.”
“The Sam’s Club Honda was really fast,” said Kirkwood, who is second to Palou in the Championship. “We took a little bit of a gamble on tires there being the only guy on reds (alternate) at the end. It nearly paid off. It was so, so, close. They’re a great team and he’s a great driver.”
Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Graham Rahal finished third in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda, tying Rahal’s best finish of the year.
“We had a lot of pace when we needed it,” explained Rahal. “We go lucky a little bit with the yellow.”
IndyCar
Alex Palou wins Detroit IndyCar Pole; Scott Dixon earns 4th starting spot; Honda sweeps front row
DETROIT, MI (May 30, 2026) – Alex Palou is starting on the pole position for the third consecutive NTT IndyCar Series Race, winning the number 1 starting spot for Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear.
Palou’s fast lap of 1-minute, 1.9017-seconds (95.668 mph) in the No. 10 Honda Racing Corporation Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was 0.005542-seconds ahead Will Power, who will start second in the No. 26 TWG AI Honda of Andretti Global. This is Power’s best starting position since switching to Andretti in the offseason.
“I’m super happy that we got the pole position,” said Palou. “The Fast Six was very exciting, especially with only getting one lap. The tires were not up to temperature, but this #10 Honda Honda car was on rails.”
“It was really nice to get into the Fast Six,” said Power, IndyCar’s all-time pole winner. “It’s my second time in the one lap shootout this year. It’s very difficult to beat Alex, so heading into the race I think we just have to put our heads down and see what we can do. The Honda is very good and I’ve been really enjoying running with Honda power all year.”
The front row Honda sweep on Chevrolet’s doorstep may bode well for the manufacturer as Honda has won every race at Detroit since the series switched to the downtown street circuit beginning in 2023.
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin spoiled the Honda party, locking down the third starting spot with a lap of 1:02.4559 in the No. 3 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet.
Six-time series Champion Scott Dixon qualified a season-best fourth at 1:02.6085 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda to give Chip Ganassi Racing two of the top 4 starting spots.
“I was just a little too aggressive going for it,” said Dixon. “The No. 9 PNC Bank Honda has speed and it’s good to be starting up front.”
Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard will line up fifth after a fast lap of 1:02.7870 in the No. 7 Chevrolet, despite losing an engine in the morning practice.
Kyle Kirkwood continued the Firestone Fast Six Honda party qualifying sixth in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda despite locking his tires up at one point and two power slides during his quick lap.
David Malukas will start last in the field after bringing out a red flag during his qualifying run. Malukas smacked the wall in turn 7 causing heavy damage to the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet.
Sunday starts with a 30-minute morning warmup at 9:30 a.m. followed by the 100-lap race at 12:30 p.m. on Fox and the IndyCar Radio Network.
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