IndyCar
Alex Palou wins INDYCAR Rev Group Grand Prix at Road America
ELKHART LAKE, WI (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou passed Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden on a restart with two laps-to-go to win Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Rev Group Grand Prix at Road America.
The win was Palou’s second of the year, CGR’s fourth of 2021 and third straight at Road America where the team swept both races in 2020.
“Thank you to all the guys on the No. 10 car,” said Palou. “It was amazing. We had a really good car during the race. We were able to overtake him before the corner. I’m super happy and super proud of this Chip Ganassi Racing Team. I can’t believe it!”
The drama unfolded after the final caution flag of the race flew for Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan’s Ed Jones, who had a left rear failure on the No. 18 Sealmaster Honda.
On the ensuing restart Newgarden led the field up the hill to the green flag but shortly after passing the start/finish line Newgarden’s Hitachi Chevrolet lost forward drive and began to slow allowing Palou to pass Newgarden before turn one.
Newgarden continued to fall through the field eventually dropping to the last car on the lead lap where he had to settle for a 21st place finish.
“I couldn’t get it to shift into sixth gear,” said Newgarden. “And then I got it stuck in fifth in turn one and finally got it to go down, but just could not get it to upshift after that. So I got it down to first essentially. Just trying to stay out of the way after that because I couldn’t get it to upshift after that. I’m not sure what happened. Obviously it’s disappointing for all of us. I know we had a great car. We had a good car all day and were doing everything we had to do. We were surviving the yellows. Surviving the fuel game. We had a rocket ship.”
Palou knew the restart was going to be critical so he was doing everything he could to stay as close to Newgarden’s gearbox as possible.
“I was on my Push-to-Pass, and as soon as I saw I was in fifth gear and I saw I couldn’t get him, I saved my Push-to-Pass, and as soon as I saw that there was something weird, like I was getting a lot of tow I thought, I pressed it again and said, oh, wow,” said Palou. “So I didn’t really see if he had an issue or not. Obviously I saw later, but at that moment I just thought, oh, wow, we had a lot of power
Palou meanwhile put the hammer down and crossed the finish line 1.9106-seconds ahead of Andretti Autosports Colton Herta who finished second.
“I think we had third place pace and that was where we were going to finish until Josef had that problem”, said Herta. “Car felt really good. Guys did an amazing job in the pits to gain me a few spots on track and put us on the podium in the second spot.”
Team Penske’s Will Power finished third and could empathize with Newgarden as Power saw victory slip from his grasp last week in Detroit when his car wouldn’t start, while leading, following a red flag.
“Man, you just don’t know what it is about our team right now,” lamented Power. “We almost have a win in the bag and something just ridiculous happens, like just something that — I don’t know what it was, but things that you couldn’t prep for, something that you couldn’t avoid. It’s like my thing was just a switch, just a weird glitch in the system in Detroit, and I don’t know what his was this time. But yeah, unbelievable.”
Palou’s CGR teammate Scott Dixon started 13th and methodically worked his way up through the field to finish in fourth place.
The victory allowed Palou to regain the Championship points lead by 28-points over Arrow McLaren SP’s Patricio O’Ward. Dixon, who is battling for a record-tying seventh title is lurking 53-points back in third place. Newgarden’s troubles left him fourth in points, 88-points behind Palou.
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on the 4th of July.
NEWTON, IA (July 14, 2024) – NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers feel something needs to be done to make the Hy-Vee Doubleheader weekend at Iowa Speedway as exciting on-track as it has been historically.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t bummed about the race and how it raced,” said Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren Racing, who finished second Friday night. “Really tough to get that second lane working, compared to I don’t know how many on-track passes we had last year, probably not even a 10th of that. That was a bit frustrating because I thought we had a very strong car, definitely a car that was capable of winning. Just no way to get around a car.”
In 2023 for race one there were 1,502 total passes, of which 319 were for position. Conversely in race one of 2024 there were 192-total passes Saturday night, 100 of those were for position.
“Unfortunately I don’t think our car and our formula works super well for this type of track adjustment,” said Saturday night’s third place finisher Josef Newgarden about the partial track repave. “We’re different than a Cup car. We’ve developed our car differently than they have. It doesn’t always mesh. It definitely didn’t mesh tonight.”
“Bit of a shame that couldn’t really do anything to pass or to do anything,” said Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing, who finished second on Sunday. “It’s the most boring thing I’ve ever done. It was yesterday, as well. It’s a shame that we couldn’t really put on a better show. I think everybody will agree that it was a very boring race to drive.”
INDYCAR reduced downforce levels by about 450-pounds heading into the race weekend and tire supplier Firestone came with new right side tires after heat-related issues during a recent test session at the track. The combination led to a parade-like race on Saturday and Sunday.
“I feel like we go into it and not do the right amount of study or whatnot to get it done and to get it to work,” said Saturday night’s winner Scott McLaughlin, who finished third on Sunday. “That’s not a shot at the sport, not a shot at anything. It’s working together with the amazing people and the geniuses we have up and down pit lane. It’s just a matter of making it work.”
“I think INDYCAR could go to work with downforce levels, working with Firestone on a few other things,” McLaughlin explained. “But you just can’t blame the track because at the end of the day they have to repave this at some time.”
“We went from the best oval race we would have all season to potentially the least amount of passing,” said Sunday’s winner Will Power. “Maybe just a softer tire might just work with this downforce level. Just a softer tire. If it degrades, people go out. You can roll to the outside. I don’t know what the answer is, but we certainly got to do something for next year.”
NEWTON, IA (July 14, 2024) Will Power is back in victory lane on an oval after winning Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade. Power’s last oval win was nearly five years ago at Pocono Raceway.
“I didn’t really think I’d win today,” said Power. “You know how life goes, it just happens like that. Yeah, been trying to win this one for a long time. Stoked to tick that box. I’ve won a lot of races at a lot of tracks. When you tick a box at a track you haven’t won on, it feels pretty good.”
Team Penske elected to leave Power’s No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet, which started 22nd, out on the track during the first green-flag stint and it paid off because the caution flag came out for Augustin Canapino’s stalled car, allowing Power and Championship leader Alex Palou cycle to the front of the field.
“My plan from the beginning was to sit back and save a lot of fuel, just get the best possible number using the speed, lifting,” explained Power. “In that gap, prayed for a yellow because I knew there would be out-laps. That would be when people would be prone to mistakes. That’s exactly what happened.”
Power restarted the race in the 2nd position and followed Palou until the next round of pit stops. Power’s team did not disappoint, beating Palou’s time by nine-tenths of a second, putting the two-time series Champion out front for the final 50-laps.
“I know if I hit my marks, it’s going to be an extremely fast stop,” said Power.
Palou rebounded from Saturday night’s crash to finish second and retain the Championship points lead, 35-over Power, who sits second.
“It’s been a weekend where we had a ton of speed compared to what we had before with qualifying third and second,” said Palou. “Was a shame yesterday obviously with the pit stall on the first pit, then the crash during the second stint. Yeah, happy that today we’re in second.”
Saturday night’s winner Scott McLaughlin finished third after starting on the pole and getting caught by the caution flag that benefitted Power and Palou.
“I was on the undercut,” explained McLaughlin. “At the end of the day, I mean, I would have come out in front of Alex. Will would have had to pit in a couple laps’ time. That’s just how it rolls, man. I’ve won a race by a delayed yellow. I’ve lost a race now. It’s just part of the deal. I think everyone will have one or two of those in their career.”
Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon finished fourth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing while Colton Herta fifth in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global w/Curb-Agajanian.
The series next race is on the Street of Toronto for the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. Practice begins Friday at 3 p.m. ET at Exhibition Place in Toronto.
NEWTON, IA (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin is now a winner on an oval after grabbing the victory in Saturday night’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart.
McLaughlin started alongside pole-sitter Colton Herta of Andretti Global and grabbed the lead beating everyone out of the pits after a caution flag on Lap 80 when Graham Rahal’s No. 15 One Cure Honda suffered a cracked wheel.
McLaughlin led the final 164-laps and held off Arrow McLaren’s Patricio O’Ward, who finished second and Team Penske teammate Josef Newgarden who finished third.
“At the end of the day I did the job in some ways from my perspective, but it was a team win,” said McLaughlin. “They put me out in front and got me the lead. I was able to show how good our car was just controlling the pace at the front.”
Great pit work from O’Ward’s number 5 crew got him out the pits in second place late in the race giving him a chance to challenge McLaughlin for the win.
“Yeah, awesome job by the guys in the pits,” said O’Ward. “That’s truly what got us in this position to fight for the podium.”
O’Ward was frustrated that the race track ended up being aa one groove track after a recent repave and despite INDYCAR dedicating a practice session to trying to rubber-in the second groove.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t bummed about the race and how it raced. Really tough to get that second lane working,” explained O’Ward, who keeps moving up in the Championship fight. “Compared to I don’t know how many on-track passes we had last year, probably not even a 10th of that. That was a bit frustrating because I thought we had a very strong car, definitely a car that was capable of winning. Just no way to get around a car.”
For the record, there were 192-total passes Saturday night, 100 of those were for position. Comparatively there were 1,502 total passes in race one at Iowa in 2023, 319 for position.
A driver who didn’t have a problem making any passes was Newgarden, who started 22nd after a lackluster qualifying effort. Newgarden grabbed eight spots at the drop of the green flag by using the high line and making passes in the pits.
“It was a great recovery by the team,” said Newgarden. “My goodness, they were really good in the pits, like really, really good. If Pato’s guys were good, mine must have been double as good. I made up probably 80% of my position in the pits tonight.”
Championship leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing had trouble in the pits for the second straight week. Palou stalled the No. 10 DHL Honda on the first pit stop, dropping from third place to 19th place.
Palou quickly regained six places and threw it all away on Lap 176 when he lost control on the frontstretch and backed it into the outside wall. The miscue relegated Palou to a 23rd place finish, his worst in two-plus years, a span of 36 races, when he finished 27th in the 2022 race at Road America.
Palou’s finish cost him 11-points in the title fight. Palou now leads O’Ward by 37-points with Team Penske’s Will Power sitting third, 43-points out of the leads. Six-time Series Champion Scott Dixon remained in fourth, 46-points back. The victory vaulted McLaughlin to fifth, 59-points out of first.
Race 2 of the Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade takes place tomorrow at noon ET, live on NBC, Peacock and INDYCAR Radio Network. McLaughlin will start on the pole after setting a new track record in qualifying.
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