IndyCar
Helio Castroneves wins a record-tying fourth Indianapolis 500 mile race
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Helio Castroneves is joining elite company after winning a record-tying fourth Indianapolis 500 mile race Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Castroneves passed Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou for the lead for good with two laps-to-go and took the twin checkered flags first to join A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears as the only 4-time winners of ‘The Greatest Spectacle In Racing’.
“This is absolutely incredible,” said Castroneves. “From the beginning we were so comfortable. The car was incredible. I knew it was good. This is unbelievable.”
Castroneves other victories came in 2001, 2002 and 2009 when he drove for Team Penske. Sunday’s victory came driving for Meyer Shank Racing and was that organizations first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory.
Castroneves and Palou started trading the lead back and forth with 17-laps remaining after most of the front runners made their final pit stops. Palou passed Castroneves on the front stretch with three laps-to-go and Castroneves tucked right behind Palou and followed him through turns one and two and then down the backstretch before pulling the same move on Palou.
Castroneves benefitted from a number of cars who were trying to make it to the end without pitting when he hit the backstretch on the final lap. Castroneves smartly used the draft from those cars to maintain his gap ahead of Palou, who tried to draft Castroneves but the gap was too great at that point.
“My strong corners were two and four and it was just a matter of the right opportunity,” said Castroneves. “I saw that traffic, because I needed that traffic to get away, so I decided I wasn’t going to wait.”
“It just hurts a little bit because I wanted this win really bad,” said Palou. “For sure the traffic didn’t help. I was doing everything I was doing to catch him but he was catching the tow from the traffic and I was not able to close up.
Palou may not have won but since the Indy 500 pays ‘double points’ towards the series championship he did take over the series points lead, so he while he was disappointed he couldn’t win, Palou was positive after the race.
“I’m living a dream driving a fast car for the best team in the paddock,” said Palou. “I’m super proud of what we’ve been doing but we’ve got to keep working.”
Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud finished third in the No. 22 Menards Chevrolet with Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward in fourth.
“We got caught up on the first yellow and had to make an ’emergency pit stop’ and got sent back to the back of the field,” explained Pagenaud. “We had to fight back over 156-laps and I really think we had a car that could’ve won.”
Pagenaud said that prior to the race he told Castroneves if he couldn’t win the race, he wanted Helio to get his fourth.
“It’s great that we have a guy from our generation (Castroneves) going into the 4-club,” said Pagenaud referring to the 4-time Indy 500 winners. “I hope he comes back to go for five!”
Stefan Wilson brought out the first caution flag of the race when he spun entering pit road during the first round of pit stops and struck the wall ending his day.
The closure of the pits to clean up the Wilson accident cost pole-sitter Scott Dixon and Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi dearly. The pair had yet to pit and were low on fuel and eventually ran out on pit road while making an ’emergency pit stop’. Both cars had to be re-fired and ended up losing a lap in the process.
Dixon got his lap back a little over halfway through the race and battled for an 18th place finish but ended up losing the series points lead in the process. Dixon sits in second place, one point ahead of third-place O’Ward.
The next race for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the ‘Duel in Detroit’ on Belle Isle, June 12-13, in Detroit.
PORTLAND, OR (August 9, 2026) – Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing are closing in on another NTT IndyCar Series Championship after winning Sunday’s Only Bulls Portland Grand Prix.
Palou started second and passed Felix Rosenqvist during the first round of pit stops by staying out an extra lap and using the ‘overcut’ to get the lead and then dominated, leading 60 of 110-laps to grab his sixth victory of 2026.
“Everybody at CGR and Honda did an incredible job,” said Palou, who started second. “I had an absolute rocket ship today. It was very, very nice to drive every single lap.”
“We had to do something different than Felix,” said Barry Wanser, team manager for the No. 10 Honda. “We had to go longer than him. It takes a lot of performance by Alex and certainly the Honda engine to give us the fuel mileage to jump in one more and do the overcut. That helped us. We had a pretty smooth pit stop and got the jump there.”
Rosenqvist, who started on the pole in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Grateful Dead Honda, closed to within a second late but couldn’t get back to the front.
“He got us in a sequence,” said Rosenqvist, the 2026 Indianapolis 500 winner. “I got kind of twisted up leaving my box because I was so close to the Schumacher crew. I think between the overcut and that, we kind of lost the position. From there on we just sat in second.”
Andretti Global’s Will Power finished third in the No. 26 TWG Honda to lockout the podium for the manufacturer.
“Great day for us,” said Power. “Great day for Andretti. Didn’t quite have the pace I think the top two guys. Probably about a tenth off. Just seriously fast pace all day. Qualifying laps, really good quality. Such a quality field now.”
The victory for Palou increased his Championship lead to 110 points over Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global, a gap of more than two races with just five races remaining this season.
“Chip puts the best guys around me, but then also everybody is just executing,” said Palou. “That car is a rocket ship, and I’m just lucky enough to drive it.”
The next NTT IndyCar Series race is the inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham on Sunday, Aug. 16 on the streets of Markham, Ontario.
PORTLAND, OR (August 7, 2026) – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou is fastest on the speed charts after the first NTT IndyCar Series practice at the Grand Prix of Portland.
Palou’s fast lap of 58.5716-seconds (120.714 mph) in the No. 10 DHL Honda was 0.0886-seconds quicker than Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda.
“Good day, great start,” said Palou, who leads the Championship standings. “I think there’s some work to do with the alternates (Firestone Firehawk tires), but we were really good on primaries, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
“We definitely came here with a much different car than we’ve ever ran here, and hopefully it’s paying off,” said Kirkwood. “Early days, but it’s promising. Compared to where we were last year, this is a big step in the right direction.”
Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Rinus VeeKay continues his impressive season for one of the smaller teams in the paddock posting a 58.7996-seconds lap around the 12-turn, 1.964-mile circuit, which put him third on the speed chart.
Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian’s Marcus Armstrong and Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward each spent time in the pits after clipping the Armco barrier at the apex of Turn 1 in separate incidents.
NTT P1 Award qualifying is Saturday at 7 p.m. ET (FS1) and the INDYCAR Radio Network powered by Only Bulls.
The 110-lap race starts at 4 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX and FOX Deportes. FOX One and INDYCAR Radio.
PORTLAND, OR (August 7, 2026) – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Niels Koolen is atop the speed charts after the first Indy NXT by Firestone practice at the Grand Prix of Portland.
Koolen’s best lap of 1-minute, 3.0405-seconds in the No. 10 CGR car was .0456-seconds quicker than Andretti Global’s Seb Murray, who posted a 1:03.0861 in the No. 27 Megatron machine.
“It seems all the prep we did as a team for this track paid off so far,” said Koolen, who sits 16th in the Championship standings. “Let’s see if we can keep this up for the rest of the weekend.”
SEE: Practice Results
Murray’s teammate Lochie Hughes, was third at 1:03.1374 in the No. 26 Andretti Global entry.
JM Correa was fourth at 1:03.1984 in the No. 68 Cusick Morgan Motorsports car. Myles Rowe rounded out the top five at 1:03.3058 in the No. 99 Abel Motorsports with Force Indy machine.
Points leader Nikita Johnson was 13th at 1:03.5915 in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR entry.
“Traffic was a little bit difficult,” series rookie Johnson said. “(The circuit) is so flowy that it’s kind of hard to see in your mirrors sometimes, and even I messed up, as well, on some of these laps. It’s kind of hard for everyone to see who’s behind. A little bit of traffic here and there, but we had the car in a better window at the end.”
Enzo Fittipaldi, just one point behind Johnson in second, was 18th at 1:03.9284 in the No. 67 HMD Motorsports car.
His fellow rookie teammate Tymek Kucharcyzk, 25 points behind Johnson in third, was the quickest of the tight trio atop the standings in 12th at 1:03.5783 in the No. 71 HMD Motorsports entry.
All three of the title contenders can take solace in knowing less than one second separated the top 20 drivers on the speed chart.
Koolen’s teammates may want to take a look at his set-up and data because they have some work to do. Bryce Aron was 15th in the No. 9 car. James Roe was 19th in the No. 8 and rookie Carson Etter was 24th in the No. 11 car.
A second practice session is scheduled for noon ET Saturday, followed by qualifying at 3 p.m. ET. The 35-lap race starts at 2 p.m. ET Sunday. FS1, FOX One and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls are broadcasting the remaining sessions this weekend.
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