IndyCar
CGR’s Alex Palou grabs podium finish at the Firestone Grand Prix as Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson score Top 10’s
ST. PETERSBURG, FL (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou scored a second place finish at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
“When you look at the result here today and where we started the weekend, I think all of the team did an amazing job of coming back and scoring the first podium of the year,” said Palou, the defending series Champion.
Palou started the weekend 17th after the first practice session and followed that up on Saturday by hitting the wall during the second practice before qualifying 10th for the race.
Palou was the highest finishing driver for the CGR brigade, which saw Scott Dixon bring the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda home in eighth place, Marcus Ericsson finish ninth in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda and Jimmie Johnson finished 23rd in the No. 48 Carvana Honda.
Dixon started the race in seventh place on the red Firestone alternate tires and was one of the first cars to pit and change to the Firestone primary tires. The strategy put Dixon on a 3-stop strategy, which ultimately didn’t play out in the end as race-winner Scott McLaughlin, Palou and everyone who finished ahead of him were on a 2-stop strategy.
“Definitely a rough day,” said Dixon. “Not sure why we went with the strategy that we did, it kind of put us in a big hole. The car felt really good, especially on the reds (Firestone alternate tires) early on. We were just kind of looking after it maintaining pace and then every time we needed clear track we caught lap cars or traffic or whatever, so no real flow to it. Definitely a bummer and not where the car should’ve finished I think.”
Ericsson started 8th and was running in the Top 5 when the first caution came out. Ericsson was called to pit road for service and coming out of the pits Ericsson, Graham Rahal and Romain Grosjean were three-wide. The back end of Ericsson’s car made slight contact with Rahal’s car resulting in a penalty for ‘avoidable contact’. Ericsson restarted at the tail end of the field.
“We got a really harsh penalty in my opinion,” said Ericsson. “It was really tight on pit lane, like it always is, and we had a bit of a touch. We got sent to the back but drove our way back into the Top 10 and finished P9. Overall a good effort, we had the pace to be on the podium. We take the positives and try again in Texas.”
Jimmie Johnson had an up and down day in the No. 48 Carvana Honda. Johnson started 26th, on the black Firestone primary tires, and worked his up to as high as 12th when the caution flag came out on Lap 25. Johnson pitted for tires and the team elected to run the red Firestone alternate tires. Johnson paid the price for that decision as he dropped numerous positions as those tires wore out.
“I know the result doesn’t show it, 23rd, but I think that is a result of the poor qualifying effort I had,” said Johnson after the race. “Race pace was in the high-teens to the mid-teens and ran there at one point in the race, but by far the most comfortable I have felt in the car.”
The next race for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the Xpel 375 at Texas Motor Speedway, March 20, 2022.
LEBANON, TN (September 15, 2024) – Andretti Global’s Colton Herta passed Pato O’Ward with four laps to go in the Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix to claim his first oval NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory of his career.
“I’m so happy,” said Herta, whose No. 26 Gainbridge Honda crossed the finish line 1.8206-seconds ahead of O’Ward. “We knew we were going to have a hot rod in the race. It’s been an amazing year.”
The victory also vaulted Herta a couple of spots up in the final standings of the year.
“I just saw I finished second in the championship, which is awesome,” said Herta. “Hoping to do a little bit better next year.”
The second place finish was the sixth of the year for O’Ward and the twenty-sixth of his career and said afterwards he was lucky to finish there.
“Yeah, I wish I could have done it a little bit harder on him,” said O’Ward. “Those reds (Firestone alternate tires) at the end, I couldn’t see straight with so much vibrations. Could barely talk to the team with just how much was going on in the car. I think one more lap, Josef would have gotten me for sure. I was dying.”
Josef Newgarden finished third in the No. 2 Hitachi Chevy. The Tennessee native was not in the Championship hunt after being stripped of a season-opening win at St. Petersburg after he and teammate Scott McLaughlin were found to have illegal software that allowed them to use push-to-pass when others couldn’t.
“Team did a great job today,” said Newgarden. “They put a good car on the track, a great car. We’re going to come back next year and hopefully have a little different cadence would be nice. I’m going to be happy to leave all this in 2024.”
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou finished 11th and claimed his second straight Championship and third overall in four years. Dario Franchitti was the last driver to win three championships in four year, winning three straight for CGR from 2009-2011.
LEBANON TN (September 14, 2024) – Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood starts Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES season finale, the Music City Grand Prix, from the pole position.
Kirkwood’s two-lap average in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda of 201.520 mph (47.5189) was .0395-seconds faster than Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, who will start on the outside of the front row in the No. 2 Hitachi Chevrolet.
Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist starts third in the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda with Championship contender Will Power starting alongside in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet for Team Penske. Power trails Championship leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing by 33-points and must finish third or better to challenge Palou for the title.
“We’ll do what we can in the race tomorrow,” said Power, a two-time series Champion. “You know how these things roll. If it’s our day, it will be our day. If not, we’ll try again next year.”
Palou, the reigning series Champion, qualified 15th in the No. 10 DHL Honda, but will start 24th due to a 9-position grid penalty for an unapproved engine change following the last race in Milwaukee.
“The first lap wasn’t too bad, then the second lap was really, really bad,” said Palou, himself a two-time series Champion. “Not what we wanted, not what we needed.”
Palou needs to finish ninth or better to secure his third title in the last four seasons. He led the opening practice on Saturday at 199.862.
“The car was really good this morning. Hopefully we can make up some spots. It’s time to see what we can do.”
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen, Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi and Rossi’s teammate Nolan Siegel also received the nine-spot grid penalty for changing their engines.
The 206-lap season finale starts Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, and will be televised by NBC, Peacock, Universo, and can be heard on the INDYCAR Radio Network.
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.”
Colton Herta Wins INDYCAR Music City Grand Prix
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Kirkwood wins INDYCAR Nashville pole; Ganassi’s Palou starts 24th
Seized the Day
