IndyCar
Chip Ganassi Racing begins quest for 15th INDYCAR Championship
ST. PETERSBURG, FL (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Chip Ganassi Racing begins its quest for a third-straight NTT INDYCAR SERIES title with this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
The team is clearly capable having won 14-INDYCAR titles between 1996 and 2021.
Alex Palou enters 2022 as the defending series Champion and knows that he, and his team, are capable of going back-to-back, joining CGR Alums Alex Zanardi (1997 & 1998) and Dario Franchitti – who won back-to-back titles en route to 3-straight (2009, 2010, 2011) – as the only CGR drivers to accomplish that feat.
“It’s going to take a lot of work for sure,” said Palou. “I think the field is getting stronger and stronger in INDYCAR, the teams are getting closer so the competition is really, really high. It’s going to be important to keep performing, even on the bad days. We kept the same team, almost all the mechanics, the engineering group on the 10-car so it should be a good year for us.”
Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion Scott Dixon says Palou’s title shows how strong and deep the Ganassi team is, which is reminiscent of when the team reeled off 4-straight titles – twice – from 1996-to-1999 and from 2008-thru-2011.
“To see Alex and the 10 car side, and the whole Ganassi group, be able to pull that off was great to see,” said Dixon, who again will pilot the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. “It was great to see so many smiles, I think, throughout the team on all the team levels and the progression that we made. Hopefully we can carry that momentum through to this season and one of us have that opportunity to try and win for Chip again.”
Dixon’s mindset is always the same entering the season and it hasn’t changed in the two decades he’s been driving for the team.
“The first goal is to win the Indy 500, which has been difficult,” said Dixon, the 2008 winner of The Greatest Spectacle In Racing. “The second is to win the Championship. Last year was definitely trying at some points, and we lost a lot of points at the Indy 500 with double points, and it was very hard — nowadays especially with the competition, how tough it is, it’s very hard to claw back deficits like that.”
Marcus Ericsson enters his third year with the team and is coming off his first career victory in Detroit and followed that up with a victory in the inaugural Music City Grand Prix in Nashville.
“Last year was definitely kind of a breakthrough for me getting that first win out of the way, having a super strong season, a consistent season with a lot of top 10s, actually running in the top five for most of it there in the second half,” reflected Ericsson, who drives the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda.
Ericsson says one of the keys to the success of the team is the unselfishness of everyone involved.
“We have a very strong team,” said Ericsson. “We work so well together. I think that’s one of the reasons why we are so strong, is that we have all of us drivers in the team, me Scott and Alex, but also Jimmie and T.K. (Tony Kanaan). We are really working well together. We’re different characters, different personalities, but we all work really hard together and want to succeed as a team. I think that’s been getting the best out of each other last year. It was a big reason why we were so strong.”
Kanaan will run a fifth Ganassi entry, The American Legion Honda, at the Indianapolis 500 after driving the oval portion of the schedule in the No. 48 Honda that Jimmie Johnson drove on the road and street circuits in 2021.
Johnson is back and will drive the full season in the No. 48 Carvana Honda after a significant learning curve in 2021 after spending decades driving big, heavy, stock cars.
“I spent last year just trying to hitch my trailer to the back of the pack and keep up with everyone, and I was finally doing that at the end,” said Johnson. “I’m just eager to get more oval experience to try to sense and understand the car. I feel like I’ll be much more competitive on the ovals, and the faster I can learn the cars and sensations and adjustments, the better my chances will be at a podium or better yet.”
Johnson admitted that he needs to get settled in and just drive and react versus think and analyze every little detail.
“In some ways I just need to get out of my own head and hang it all out on the track,” said Johnson, who is looking forward to getting a second opportunity on tracks he’s only raced at once.
The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg green flag drops Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET. Fans can watch the race on NBC and hear the race on INDYCAR Radio Network affiliates and SiriusXM Channel 160.
LONG BEACH, CA (April 21, 2024) Scott Dixon put on a Masterclass in winning Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Dixon started eighth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda and used a combination of strategy and race craft to get the lead and hold off hard chargers Josef Newgarden, Colton Herta and reigning and two-time series Champion Alex Palou.
“That was fun,” said a smiling Dixon about his second Long Beach win. “I think it was definitely a bit sketchy in the fact that the pressure is coming hard and strong. Huge credit to the team. A big weekend for Honda, Acura, HRC. I think we had almost 200 PNC guests this weekend here.”
Dixon and race leader Will Power pitted during a caution period triggered when Ed Carpenter Racing rookie Christian Rasmussen hit the wall on Lap 15. That handed the race lead to series points leader Josef Newgarden who was followed by Marcus Ericsson, Herta, and Palou as the different strategies began to play out.
Newgarden and the drivers who elected to stay out started to hit the pits on lap 30 with Herta stretching it to lap 33. Meanwhile Dixon, Power and those who pitted earlier cycled to the front of the field before making their second and final pit stops on laps 52-53, handing the lead back to Newgarden, Herta and Palou.
The differing strategies converged after Newgarden and the rest pitted for the final time between laps 58-62. Newgarden came out of the pits in second, trailing Dixon by about three seconds with seven-lap fresher tires.
Newgarden was able to cut into Dixon’s lead but the six-time series Champion used an expert combination of push-to-pass and fuel saving to stay out front.
“I knew it was going to be tough,” said Dixon. “I think what you kind of hope for in the long run is that you get some caution laps again, which would have made it a lot easier for us. Again, the pace was pretty solid, man. We didn’t really have to push crazy amounts. It saved the tires as well. The car had plenty of pace left at the end.”
Newgarden got to Dixon’s gearbox in the hairpin turn that leads onto the frontstretch on Lap 77 but Herta made contact with the No. 2 Chevy, lifting the rear wheels off the ground sending the car into anti-stall mode.
“It seemed pretty obvious,” said Newgarden, who lost two-spots in the process. “He just misjudged it and ran into me. I’m not saying we were going to get Dixon. It was very, very difficult for me to get the run I needed to. I think traffic was going to provide me an opportunity, so that run right there, I was really excited about it.”
“I think he (Newgarden) set up pretty wide and was cutting back in and was a little slower at apex, but ultimately it’s up to me to carry the right speed into the corner and not run into the back of people, and I just misjudged it,” explained Herta.
Dixon took advantage of the extra breathing room to lock down his 57th career win, which is ten shy of A.J. Foyt’s series leading 67-victories.
“It’s one of those things that I always say hopefully when you leave the sport, you’re happy with the stats,” said Dixon. “Of course, these are big stats. This is a big deal. We’re still a long way away from that.”
The victory was Dixon’s fourth in the last six points-paying INDYCAR Series races dating back to last year.
“It’s great to win early in the season,” said Dixon. “It’s huge. It’s big for the team, big for everybody’s morale. Hopefully that stuff carries to the marquee event coming up here shortly in the 500. But right now the focus is Barber next week.”
The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst on Sunday, April 28 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. Live coverage starts at 1 p.m. ET on NBC, Peacock, INDYCAR LIVE and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
LONG BEACH, CA (April 20, 2024) Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist is on the pole position for Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Rosenqvist’s fast lap of 1:06.1672 (107.317 mph) around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile temporary street course in the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda was .0039 of a second quicker than Team Penske’s Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet.
“Honestly, I didn’t think I had it because I had a big tank-slapper out of (Turn) 5,” said Rosenqvist. “This is a hard-fought one. It doesn’t come easy. Every lap out there, you’re flirting with the walls. That was a fun one.”
“Obviously, it’s a bit (tough) when you miss out by that much, but Felix must have done a phenomenal lap,” said Power. “I couldn’t pick anywhere where I made a mistake. It was about as good as I can do.”
This is the third front-row start for Rosenqvist in 2024, who started second at the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding and started first in the non-points-paying $1-million-dollar Thermal Club Challenge last month.
Power’s teammate and series points-leader Josef Newgarden will start third in the No. 2 Hitachi Chevrolet after a quick lap of 1:06.1059 (107.173). Joining Newgarden on the second row is California native Colton Herta, who qualified fourth at 1:06.3784 (106.734) in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global.
Herta’s Andretti Global teammate Marcus Ericsson qualified fifth at 1:06.4039 in the No. 28 Delaware Life Honda. Reigning and two-time series champion Alex Palou will start sixth at 1:06.5444 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Palou’s CGR teammates Scott Dixon will start eighth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda after being eliminated in the second round of knockout-style qualifying. Marcus Armstrong will start ninth in the No. 10 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda. Rookies Linus Lundqvist and Kyffin Simpson will start 17th and 26th respectively.
It was a mystifying qualifying session for the Arrow McClaren Chevrolets, who were in both practice sessions leading up to qualifying. Alexander Ross was eliminated in the first round of qualifying and will start 13th on the grid in the No. 7 Chevrolet and Pato O’Ward, who led Friday practice, will start 14th in the No. 5 Chevrolet. Newcomer Theo Pourchaire will start 22nd in the No. 6 Chevrolet.
THERMAL, CA (March 24, 2024) – Alex Palou and his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing team led every lap en route to victory in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Sprint for the Purse exhibition at The Thermal Club, claiming a cool $500,000 payday.
“Amazing to get the win, to get the money, just that feeling of winning again,” said Palou. “It’s what we needed.”
“Today was like a little Sunday drive out there in front all by himself,” said team owner Chip Ganassi. “He didn’t even break a sweat.”
Palou started on the pole position in the No. 10 Ridgeline Lubricants/DHL Honda and watched in his mirrors as his competitors elected to conserve tire wear on the dusty, sandy track in the hopes of challenging the reigning Series Champion in the second of two 10-lap segments.
“It’s always tough to try and manage the tires. ‘Am I doing too much? Am I not doing enough?’,” questioned Palou. “Honestly, once you saw during the main race, especially McLaughlin and Felix, were saving tires, I was like, Okay, that’s the best thing that they could have done for us.”
Palou cruised to a 5.7929-second victory over the No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet of Scott McLaughlin, who earned $350,000 for his runner-up finish.
“The first 10 laps was about trying to get some position, which I did, to get to the second, maybe set myself up for a pass after the restart,” said McLaughlin. “Alex is a pretty smart driver, as we know. I knew he’d be doing exactly what I was doing. Ultimately I didn’t have enough pace for Alex either.
It is what it is. We’ll keep working. Alex has been fast all week and they deserve the win.”
Felix Rosenqvist finished third in just his second event with Meyer Shank Racing, taking home $250,000 for his efforts.
“I’m super happy we were able to have this week because it’s kind of been a mix of a race and a test for us, just trying different things, getting to know each other more,” explained Rosenqvist. “We’ve been quick, but I feel like every time we’re out there, we’re just learning something new. This has been a huge learning experience. Also some cash at the end of the day. Super proud of Meyer Shank Racing.”
Andretti Global’s Colton Herta took the tire saving to the extreme immediately taking it easy in the first 10-lap segment, where he finished 12-seconds behind Palou, but it paid off in the second segment as the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda restarted 9th and raced up to fourth.
“I think our strategy worked,” said Herta. “We were talking about it on pure pace, maybe we can move up six spots at most. If we get a little lucky and cars have some problems, but if we save the tires, we might get a little more. Obviously, the tire advantage was pretty big, so we were able to pick off everybody on the way up there.”
Palou’s teammates Marcus Armstrong finished fifth to pick up $50,000 for he and the No. 11 Ridgeline CGR Honda team and Linus Lundqvist finished sixth in the No. 8 American Legion Honda.
Missing from the CGR was Scott Dixon and the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda squad, who failed to transfer from the first heat race. Dixon made contact with Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean on the opening lap and was penalized for avoidable contact. Dixon later apologized for the contact which caught him off-guard when Grosjean slowed earlier than expected.
The next points-paying NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 21 on the streets of Long Beach, California.
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