IndyCar
Racing Notebook: Rosenqvist earns INDYCAR Pole; Dixon starts 2nd; Hocevar, Smith earn NASCAR victories
FORT WORTH, TX – (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – The NTT INDYCAR SERIES gets back on track Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway with Arrow McLaren and Chip Ganassi Racing leading the field to green. In NASCAR, Carson Hocevar and Chandler Smith each earned victories on Saturday and Alex Bowman will lead the Cup field to green on Sunday.
Felix Rosenqvist wins INDYCAR Texas Pole:
- Arrow McLaren Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist is on the pole position for Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES PPG 375. Rosenqvist’s 2-lap average of 220.264 mph was slower than the 221.110 mph he posted in 2021. The pole is the second consecutive for Rosenqvist at the 1.5-mile oval. “I think we just built on last year,” said Rosenqvist. “Maybe it was a good thing to start early. The track kind of warmed up. We’ll take it. We’ve always been good here, but this is a whole different confidence level compared to last year. Let’s try to wrap it up tomorrow.” The 250-lap race starts at Noon (ET) Sunday with live coverage on NBC, Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
Dixon Puts PNC Bank Honda on front row:
- PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon will start on the outside of the front row for Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES PPG 375 at Texas Motor Speedway. Dixon’s 2-lap average around the 1.5-mile oval of 219.972-mph was 0.292-mph behind pole-sitter Felix Rosenqvist. Dixon, a 6-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion has five career victories at Texas, including wins in four of the last nine races. Dixon’s CGR teammates Takuma Sato and Alex Palou will start 6th and 7th respectively. CGR’s Marcus Ericsson will roll off 16th in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda.
Carson Hocevar Wins NASCAR Truck Race at Texas:
- Carson Hocevar avoided a crash on the white flag lap to power to the win in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Hocevar made contact with the back of the truck of Nick Sanchez, as Sanchez was recovering from door-to-door contact with Zane Smith. Sanchez spun and collected Smith as Hocevar avoided the mayhem to take the double-overtime victory. The win was Hocevar’s first career win. “I didn’t mean to get into him, I just meant to give him a push and he got sideways the second I hit him, I apologize to them, I’ll take the fall for it.”
Chandler Smith takes NASCAR Xfinity win at Richmond:
- Rookie Chandler Smith earned his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory Saturday afternoon at Richmond (Va.) Raceway holding off John Hunter Nemechek on a final race restart to win the ToyotaCare 250. Smith’s margin of victory was .298-seconds. Smith’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet led a race best 83 of the 250 laps.
Alex Bowman on NASCAR Cup Series Pole at Richmond:
- Current NASCAR Cup Series championship leader Alex Bowman will start Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) from pole position in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with Kyle Busch completing the front row in the No. 8 Richard Childress Chevy after NASCAR’s Cup Series practice and qualifying sessions were cancelled Saturday morning at Richmond (Va.) Raceway because of poor weather.
LONG BEACH, CA (April 18, 2026) Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood is picking up right where he left off at Long Beach. The 2025 winner of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach was quickest in the second NTT IndyCar Series practice session at the iconic street circuit.
Kirkwood’s fast lap of 1-minute, 7.5417-seconds was 0.2333-seconds quicker than Team Penske’s David Malukas.
Saturday’s practice session was sort of similar to Friday’s session as Andretti Global and Team Penske were 1-2 on the timing chart, except Friday’s session was led by Will Power, who beat out Scott McLaughlin for the top spot.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou was fourth quickest on both days in the No. 10 OpenAI Honda.
Knockout style qualifying takes place at 6:30 p.m. ET with the Firestone Fast Six shifting to single car attempts.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Chip Ganassi Racing’s 2026 Trading Cards are coming out soon, and race fans can support a great cause by picking up a pack.
CGR’s 2025 trading card program raised over $20,000 for charities across the country, and proceeds from the 2026 program will benefit education nonprofit DonorsChoose, a PNC Grow Up Great® partner supporting public school and Head Start classrooms.
PNC Grow Up Great is a $500 million, bilingual early childhood education initiative that has been helping to prepare children from birth through age 5 for success in school and in life since 2004.
PNC and DonorsChoose—an education nonprofit that allows individuals to donate directly to classroom projects—have collaborated since 2017 to help teachers obtain quality resources and experiences for students in public pre-K, public charter, and Head Start classrooms. The $20 million alliance has included flash funds, match offers, DonorsChoose gift codes, and jumpstart donations to support early childhood learning.
Cards are available for pre-order now at chipganassiracing.com/cgrcards. Fans may receive autographed cards from Scott Dixon, six-time NTT IndyCar Series Champion and driver of the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda; defending IndyCar Champion and defending Indianapolis 500 winner Alex Palou, driver of the No. 10 DHL Honda; and rising star Kyffin Simpson, driver of the No. 8 Sunoco Honda.
Since 2018, Dixon has visited high-quality education centers across the country, engaging in reading and other early learning activities with thousands of preschoolers—helping to expand PNC Grow Up Great and inspire the next generation of IndyCar fans.
BIRMINGHAM, AL (March 29, 2026) — Alex Palou returned to victory lane Sunday, winning the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park.
Driving the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, Palou started from pole, led 79 laps, and beat Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard by 13.2775 seconds.
The win was Palou’s second of the 2026 season and his third career victory at the picturesque 2.33-mile, 17-turn road course. It also marked a second consecutive win at Barber for Chip Ganassi Racing. The track was built by the late George Barber, who passed away in February at the age of 85.
“What an amazing car,” said Palou. “Another win here. Love this place, love the fans. What a great day. Today in the race, it was pretty good in the beginning, really good at the end, but we suffered a little bit on the used blacks (Firestone Firehawk primary tires) that we had to use.”
Lundgaard appeared poised to challenge Palou in the closing stages as pit cycles and traffic shuffled the field. Palou made his final stop first but rejoined in traffic among cars fighting to stay on the lead lap.
“Those moments you can lose the race in like nothing,” said Palou. “You can lose five, six seconds with two laps because you’re fighting with cold tires and lap cars.”
“It was coming down to I think like we were three seconds ahead of him when we pitted,” said Julian Robertson, lead engineer on the No. 10 Honda. “We had some pretty decent, once we got through the traffic, started running some decent laps. It was going to be really close.”
Lundgaard pushed to close the gap but saw his chances slip away during a slow final pit stop—more than 17 seconds—due to a right-rear issue.
“I think we had something for him (Palou),” said Lundgaard. “I don’t really know what happened (on pit road). It’s unfortunate because I was told that we would have passed him if we would have had a clean stop. At that point I really just wanted to get back past Graham (Rahal) to get back what we lost because Alex was gone.”
“He (Lundgaard) had two sets (alternate Firestone’s) because he didn’t advance to Fast Six,” explained Palou. “He had two sets of brand-new stickers. When we were on used primaries, which were not very good, he was on brand-new alternates. That’s why he was getting so close.”
Graham Rahal finished third—his best result of 2026—but could not hold off Lundgaard late. Team Penske’s David Malukas came home fourth, just 0.07 seconds behind Rahal after starting on the front row.
“It’s a good reward for the guys and gals,” said Rahal, who earned his first podium finish since August 2023 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. “Everybody has worked so hard to get back here and heard all the noise and b.s. that we get to hear all the time. All weekend the car was in very good shape and very, very competitive and very comfortable.”
Kyle Kirkwood finished fifth in the No. 27 JM Bullion Honda for Andretti Global and now holds a two-point lead over Palou in the championship standings heading into the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Strategy played a major role throughout the race. Palou started on the black sidewall Firestone Firehawk primary tires—harder and more durable but slower—while Malukas opted for the faster, quicker-wearing red sidewall alternates.
A difficult warmup session led Ganassi to adjust its approach and commit to the primary tire strategy.
“This morning with the warm-up, like, tanked,” said Robertson. “We kind of switched strategy somewhat, which meant in the middle of the race we had to put a set of used blacks on. Got pretty sketchy”.
The strategy ultimately paid off, as Palou secured the 21st win of his career and moved firmly back into the championship fight as he pursues a fourth consecutive title and a second Indianapolis 500 victory in May.
The IndyCar Series is off the next two weekends before returning for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 19.
Andretti Global quick on the streets of Long Beach
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Ryan Blaney charges to NASCAR Cup pole position at Bristol
Alex Palou wins the pole position for Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park
Ganassi 2026 Trading Cards to support PNC’s Grow Up Great partner DonorsChoose
Who can challenge Alex Palou at Barber Motorsports Park
Alex Palou and DHL Chip Ganassi Racing repeat at Barber Motorsports Park
