IndyCar
2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Championship fight lining up to be epic
St. Petersburg, FL (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – The NTT INDYCAR SERIES rolls into Florida for this weekend’s season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding in what is lining up to be the most competitive season ever!
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou enters 2022 as the defending series Champion and is looking to become the third CGR driver to earn back-to-back titles in the team’s history. CGR Alums Alex Zanardi won 2-straight titles in 1997 & 1998 and Dario Franchitti matched the same feat in 2009 & 2010 en route to 3-straight.
One CGR driver who surprisingly has not won back-to-back titles is 6-time INDYCAR Champion Scott Dixon. Dixon enters 2022 in search of a record-tying seventh title and knows the competition is going to be fierce, both inside CGR, and from the rest of the series.
“I wish it was just one person,” said Dixon, who could tie A.J. Foyt with a seventh Championship. “It’s never that way. Ultimately I think even last year we saw four, five, six different drivers and team combos that are at the forefront. I think this year we’re going to see even a wider array just because of team combinations that are going into the second or third year to personnel moving around from team to team to some of the smaller teams getting a bit stronger.”
Veteran drivers Will Power of Team Penske and Helio Castroneves of Meyer Shank Racing echoed Dixon’s sentiments.
Castroneves’ MSR team along with Arrow McLaren SP and an expanded Rahal Letterman Lanigan are three teams that are looking to take the next step to join INDYCAR’s ‘Big 3’ of Penske, Ganassi and Andretti Autosport.
“We’ve been very fortunate as an organization to see tremendous growth,” explained Rahal. “I think back so much to 2015. Yes, we had success, but we had no money, no sponsors. To where we are today, now expanding to three cars, we have our new building, which is going to be a statement certainly to our focus and seriousness about going out and winning.”
“We know where the strengths were and weaknesses were last year,” added Rahal. “We know where they slipped away from us. Now we just have to go correct those things.”
On-track activity gets underway on Friday with the first INDYCAR practice from 3:40 p.m. to 4:25 p.m. with a second practice session on Saturday morning from 9:00 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. Qualifying takes place Saturday afternoon from 12:30 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. There will be a morning warm-up on race day from 8:45 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. with the race starting at 12:30 p.m.
Practices and qualifying can be viewed on NBC’s Peacock Premium streaming service. The race will be broadcast live on NBC Network and Telemundo.
All practices, qualifying and race broadcast can be heard live on the INDYCAR Radio Network affiliates and SiriuxXM Channel 160.
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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