IndyCar
2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Season Preview
ST. PETERSBURG, FL (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – The 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season kicks off with this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. This is the 18th year of the event, whose 1.8-mile, 14-turn, temporary street course uses part of the Albert Whitted Airport and city streets. The three-day event generates $48-million dollars annually in economic impact for the St. Petersburg area a.
Colton Herta is the defending race winner. Previous winners entered in the event include Josef Newgarden (2019 & 2020), Will Power (2014 & 2010), Helio Castroneves (2006, 2007 & 2012) and Graham Rahal (2008).
Chip Ganassi Racing enters 2022 as the team to beat. CGR is going for their third straight season Championship after Alex Palou won his first in 2021 and teammate Scott Dixon won his sixth in 2020.
CGR is no stranger to winning multiple titles in a row. Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya reeled off four straight titles from 1996 thru 1999. Dixon and Dario Franchitti also took home four straight Championships from 2008 thru 2011. Zanardi and Franchitti are the only CGR drivers to capture back-to-back titles and Palou is looking to join that elite company.
Dixon finished fourth in last year’s title battle with teammate Marcus Ericsson finishing in sixth place. Dixon took home a race win and Ericsson picked up his first career win and added another victory in the inaugural Music City Grand Prix. Palou visited three victory lane three times, giving CGR 6-wins in 17-events and three drivers in the Top 6 in the Championship.
“It’s been a good progression for me in my three years in INDYCAR, just getting better and better,” said Ericsson. “Last year was really a breakthrough year for me with a couple of wins and another podium and a very solid season.”
The fourth member of the CGR squad, Jimmie Johnson, is running the full-season in 2022 after only running the road and street course races in 2021. Johnson’s steep learning curve was marked by gradual progress as he began to get more familiar with the race car and the racetracks. Johnson is looking forward to returning to race tracks with some familiarity.
“I feel like last year, Detroit there was Race 1 and 2 and a huge improvement from day-to-day so experiencing that first-hand I know that this year is going to be so much better,” said Johnson, who has a documentary film crew following him around this weekend.
Herta and Andretti Autosport could be primed to challenge CGR for the top spot. Herta tied Palou for the series-high in wins with three but finished 5th in the Championship standing.
Alexander Rossi returns to the No. 27 Honda for Andretti and looks to regain Championship contender form after going winless the past two seasons.
Andretti has added Romain Grosjean to the team. Grosjean replaces Ryan Hunter-Reay in the DHL Honda. Grosjean, like Johnson, will also benefit by going back to racetracks for the second time.
The Team Penske trio of Josef Newgarden, Will Power and Scott McLaughlin return for 2022. Newgarden finished 2nd in the 2021 Championship standings and will be looking to add a third title to his considerable resume. The only thing missing from JoNew’s resume is an Indy 500 win.
Power’s 2021 season could be characterized as blindingly fast at times coupled with bad luck (Detroit Race 1) and some not-so-stellar driving.
McLaughlin, like Grosjean and Johnson, visited many of the race tracks for the first time in 2021 and looks to take the next step in his development. McLaughlin showed flashes of what could be with a best showing of second in the first Texas race.
Another team with significant changes on and off track is Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. RLL is in the finishing stages of building a new team headquarters in Indiana. RLL has added Jack Harvey and Christian Lundgaard to the driver roster to be teammates with Graham Rahal.
Meyer Shank Racing is expanding to two full-time cars with 4-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves being joined by Simon Pagenaud in the two-car squad. Castroneves ran a limited schedule in 2021 and Pagenaud finished 8th in the Championship in his last season with Penske.
Arrow McLaren SP is seeking some consistency. Pato O’Ward is unquestionably one of the series rising stars who has been blinding fast…..at times. O’Ward’s teammate Felix Rosenqvist had a dismal 2021, finishing 21st in the title fight. Rosenqvist struggled finding a set-up that fit his driving style but with Craig Hampson atop his pit box in 2022, expect to see improvement.
“I think something that is pretty big on my radar is consistency,” O’Ward told Pittsburgh Racing Now. “I feel like our good races were great. Our bad races were horrendous. That’s what we need to bring up and that will help us overall in the Championship.”
“I’m really psyched,” said Rosenqvist. “I just want to get out there. I feel like we worked really hard in the off-season.”
Dale Coyne Racing returns with new drivers and a new partner. Takuma Sato moves over to DCR with Rick Ware Racing after spending the last few seasons with RLL Racing. Rookie David Malukas moves up from IndyLights and joins DCR in partnership with HVM.
Conor Daly is full-time in 2022 driving for Ed Carpenter Racing where he will team once again with Rinus VeeKay and Carpenter, who will run the Indianapolis 500.
“It’s crazy to think the last time I was full-time with one team was 2017, life changes a lot in five years,” reflected Daly, who brings new partners Bitnile and Earnity into the series in 2022. “I think there is a lot of exciting things going on with Earnity, a new app that you can download, it’s crypto-trading that you have access to and you can follow me on it.”
A.J. Foyt Racing also has a couple of new drivers who will join returning veteran Dalton Kellett, who will be back in the No. 4 K-Line Insulators USA Chevy. 2021 IndyLights Champion Kyle Kirkwood will be behind the wheel of the No. 14 ROKiT Chevy and Tatiana Calderon will be behind the wheel of the No. 11 ROKiT Chevy on the road and street courses.
Juncos Hollinger Racing is back for 2022 and will campaign Callum Ilott in the No. 77 Chevrolet.
Watching the NTT INDYCAR SERIES will be easier for some folks this year as a majority of races will be on NBC Network TV with a couple on USA Network as the NBC Sports Network (NBC-SN) has been shuttered.
All races will be broadcast by the INDYCAR Radio Network on SiriusXM Satellite Radio Channel 160.
MONTEREY, CA (September 6, 2026) – Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing are celebrating their 2026 NTT IndyCar Series Championship following the season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Palou started eighth and finished second in Sunday’s race after clinching the title following last week’s 10th place finish in the second race at The Milwaukee Mile.
“One for the thumb,” said Team Owner Chip Ganassi, referring to Palou’s fifth championship ring in an obvious homage to a familiar football refrain around Pittsburgh.
“Incredible,” Palou said. “I owe everything to this team. So proud of this team. It is great to have another championship and ready for the next one.”
Palou’s title is his fourth straight, matching a feat for the team from 1996-1999.
“I’ve been saying it for years now, I cannot still believe the position I am,” said Palou. “The opportunity to start every single year with the chances and the best team around me and best partners to fight for wins and championships.”
Palou finished the season with 6-wins, 8-poles, 7-podiums, 12-Top 5’s, 15-Top 10’s and 631 laps led.
“Last year was magical,” reflected Palou. “I thought it could not be repeated. We did not repeat it, unfortunately, but we were close. We were like really, really close. Obviously last year we were able to win the 500 and the championship. If I didn’t compare it to last year, this year was just insane. Was so fun.”
CGR Team Manager Barry Wanser, who has been with the team for over 25-years, talked about what makes Palou a special talent.
“I just think his ability to constantly learn and take advantage of the resources that we have at Chip Ganassi Racing,” said Wanser, who credited the men and women behind the scenes at CGR. “Alex can’t perform as well as he does without such a great team behind him. The engineering department certainly has knocked it out of the park again with some great cars. Certainly in the pits has been amazing this year. Alex is just impressive. Very awesome.”
Ganassi, whose team ran off four straight title with Jimmy Vasser (1996), the late Alex Zanardi (’97 & ’98) and Juan Montoya (’99), refuses to take credit for the team’s success, which starts with the team mantra, ‘One team, One goal’.
“When I started the team, I wanted to have a team that I would want to drive for,” explained Ganassi. “That’s kind of always the way I looked at it. It takes a lot of people to make this stuff happen. It’s one team. We all work together. We’re all trying to win. It’s open book with us all the time across the board with all the drivers, all the teams.”
Palou’s four titles in a row by a driver match the only other driver to do it, Sebastien Bourdais.
“We’re in the midst of a generational thing here, a generational driver,” said Ganassi. “Four in a row has been done before, but five out of six hasn’t been done before. That’s something that’s kind of unprecedented. We’re in the midst of that right now. It’s not over!”
MONTEREY, CA (September 6, 2026) – Scott McLaughlin and the No. 3 DEX Imaging Chevrolet are back in Victory Lane following a dominating performance at the Mission Foods Monterey Grand Prix at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
McLaughlin, who started on the pole position, ended a 2-year win drought leading 87 of 90-laps en route to his 8th-career NTT IndyCar Series victory.
“Really proud to get our first win together on a road course where the last couple years we probably struggled at the most,” said McLaughlin of his new engineer Raul Prados. “What a great way to end the season. We have a lot of hard work to do over the off-season to come back stronger, combat against the 10 (Alex Palou).”
Palou started second in the No. 10 DHL Lightning Bolt Chip Ganassi Racing Honda that paid tribute to CGR Champion and Alum, the late Alex Zanardi, who passed away earlier this year. Palou settled in behind McLaughlin but couldn’t match the pace or tire wear of the No. 3.
“We started on used alternates and we kind of survived, but then we went on an another used alternates,” said Palou, who finished eighth. “We, like, killed ourselves there.”
Despite the eighth place finish Palou, who clinched his fifth Series Championship in six years last week at Milwaukee, says he is as lucky as they come.
“Obviously last year we were able to win the 500 and the championship,” explained Palou. “If I didn’t compare it to last year, this year was just insane.”
Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood finished second in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda to clinch second place in the Series Championship.
“We played it a little bit safer than I might have hoped for the last race of the season, but we had to for the championship,” explained Kirkwood. “We made all the decisions based on that. Probably could have had a go at Scottie at the end on the first few laps on reds. The number one goal was to make the tires last. That’s what we did. Came home with a second, which is something to be proud of.”
Ed Carpenter Racing’s Alexander Rossi came home third in the No. 20 Java House ECR Chevrolet. The podium finish ended a drought as well for Rossi and was his first in two years at ECR.
“It’s no secret that this has been a pretty terrible year for myself and the whole ECR team with the litany of issue, some out of our control, some in our control,” said Rossi. “Really ever since the Indy GP, there’s been a huge amount of emphasis and effort behind the scenes to kind of dig out of that hole. This is a great result to kind of reward that effort, just rebuild the confidence in everyone that we’re capable of doing this.”
Despite finishing last in the 25-car field due to the incident with Robb, Hauger hung on to win series Rookie of the Year honors. He finished with 228 points, 15 ahead of Mick Schumacher of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the rookie race.
The 2027 NTT IndyCar Series season opens Sunday, March 7 with the Firestone Grand Prix on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.
MONTEREY, CA (September 5, 2026) – Scott McLaughlin is on the pole position for Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey after blasting to a quick lap of 1-minute, 9.1363-seconds in the No. 3 DEX Imaging Chevy in Firestone Fast Six qualifying at the picturesque permanent road course.
“I felt like from the jump this weekend, we’ve come with a philosophy we’ve been working on the last, I don’t know, four months or something like that, basically since our Mid-Ohio test,” explained McLaughlin. “Been feeling better and better. Put it all together today.”
McLaughlin edged Alex Palou, whose lap of 1-minute, 9.1540-seconds in the No. 10 DHL Lightning Bolt Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, was a mere o.o177-seconds off the top spot.
“It’s so tough to put a lap together, especially at this place,” said Palou. “I think it’s so great to see that we’re all so close. I’m sure that Scott feels like he could have got another 10th if he puts like a perfect lap. I feel the same way.”
Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist clocked in third fastest at 1:09.1931 in the No. 60 SiriusXM Nickelback Honda.
“Good qualifying for us,” said Rosenqvist. “We’ve been in the top three in every session, so I think we would have been disappointed if we didn’t end up in the top three. Always tough to get through with all of the sand and traffic. I missed it a bit in the corkscrew, so maybe there was a pole in there. I’m not sure.”
Ed Carpenter Racing’s Alexander Rossi lines up fourth after a fast lap of 1:09:3247 in the No. 20 Java House Chevrolet.
“The No. 20 Java House Chevrolet has been through a lot this season so it’s nice to get a decent qualifying on the books before the year comes to a close,” said Rossi. ““Road courses have been a big struggle for us, really all season. At a test we had a couple of months ago, we really understood something we hadn’t prior to that and have just been building off of it.”
Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard will start fifth and Team Penske’s David Malukas will start sixth as Chevrolet took four of the Fast Six qualifying spots en route to it’s 250-career IndyCar Series pole.
Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Kyffin Simpson will start 9th in the No. 8 Sunoco and Scott Dixon will start 17th in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. The race will be the last for Dixon at CGR after 25-years with the team.
Live coverage of the 95-lap race starts at 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX One and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls.
One for the thumb! Alex Palou celebrating 5th IndyCar Championship; Chip Ganassi’s 18th
Scott McLaughlin dominates IndyCar Monterey Grand Prix
Parker Price-Miller rules the Fantasy Cup at PA Motor Speedway
Dietrich Takes Hawkins Memorial at Lincoln
Sheldon Creed wins Chase opener at Darlington, closes championship gap
Newlywed Reft Wins At PPMS
Troutman Gets First Win For Foster In Schaltenbrand Memorial At Lernerville; Cipriano, Flick, and Schneider Also Win.
Slack Gets BRP Win At Lernerville, Bova And Schaltenbrand Also Score
Palou quickest in first Markham practice
