IndyCar
McLaughlin takes win at Mid-Ohio
LEXINGTON, OH (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin beat Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou by ?.???? to win Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.
The win was McLaughlin’s second of the year, Penske’s sixth of 2022 and Chevrolet’s ??j of the year.
“Yeah, amazing day,” said McLaughlin. “I felt pretty good, felt pretty strong straight away and then I think we lost the balance towards the end of the race a little bit. Just the car wasn’t as nice those last few stints even though we were leading, but thankfully had enough to hold off Alex there.”
McLaughlin’s chances at victory received a huge boost when Kyle Kirkwood went off track. While most of the front-runners had to been to pit road for service McLaughlin, Marcus Ericsson and Colton Herta had yet to pit and Race Control decided to leave the race green until the last of those three drivers made it to pit road. Race Control immediately threw the caution, just as McLaughlin was re-entering the race track. That caution froze the field with McLaughlin in first followed by Palou.
“It was a bit of a shame that we got that yellow because we were leading by two seconds when we passed pit,” said Palou. “Anyway, it’s the same rules for everybody.”
Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon was not as diplomatic. “The race control yellow happens, but now they’re waiting — that’s kind of new,” said Dixon, who finished fifth. “Had the caution happened when it should have, I think we’d have come out in front. Today we looked like an IMSA race. And I’m fine with that, but we need to be consistent. I think race control needs to work out where they want to be.”
LOS ANGELES, CA (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Fox Sports, the new television partner for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, is aggressively getting the word out that INDYCAR has a new home for 2025.
Sunday Fox Sports debuted the first promotional ad during the network’s NFL coverage, featuring two-time Series Champion and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden.
This is the first of three promotional ads that Fox Sports will be rolling out between now and the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding on March 2, 2025. The remaining two spots will feature three-time and reigning series Champion Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing and the series most-popular driver Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren.
PLAINFIELD, IL (January 13, 2025) – Dale Coyne Racing is adding INDY NXT by Firestone Vice-Champion Jacob Abel to it’s 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES roster.
Abel will drive the No. 51 DCR Honda for the entire 2025 season beginning in March with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
“We are excited about running another Indy NXT by Firestone Vice-Champion here at Dale Coyne Racing,” said team owner Dale Coyne.
Abel, a Louisville Kentucky native, won three races in 2024 and finished on the podium in 10-of-14-races, which placed him second in the final standings – a steady progression from his 5th and 8th place Championship finishes the previous two seasons.
“It’s a lifelong dream come true… I can’t thank everyone who’s helped out along the way enough,” said Abel, who impressed in an evaluation day at Sebring last fall.
“We have watched Jacob over the years and did an evaluation test with him at the end of the 2023 season, where he showed great promise in these cars,” said Coyne. “It will be good to run one driver in the #51 car for the whole season, so that we can work on the consistency needed in the highly competitive NTT IndyCar Series.”
“I’ve had a great relationship with Dale for the last couple of years, and I’m very thankful for the confidence he has in me,” said Abel. “The team has some very experienced personnel joining and returning to the program, and I have full confidence they will deliver a great race car and help me learn the ropes of the NTT IndyCar Series. It’s going to be a fun but challenging journey, and I can’t wait to get started.”
Coyne said talks are progressing to fill the other vacant seat in the DCR stable.
“Our plans for our second driver are coming along quite nicely, and we will have more news on that in approximately three weeks.”
The 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season kicks off February 28 – March 2 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
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.
Sye Lynch to run Kubota High Limit Racing Series full-time in 2025
Brooks Bags Tuesday Prelim Victory
Late Race Restart Propels Larson to Victory
Bell Best in Race of Champions
Racing Notebook: Larson, Bell shine in Tulsa; Fox names INDYCAR booth; Mid-Ohio tickets on sale and more
Sye Lynch to run Kubota High Limit Racing Series full-time in 2025
Fox Sports drops the accelerator on INDYCAR promotion
Late Race Restart Propels Larson to Victory
Bell Best in Race of Champions