IndyCar
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou Wins The Pole Position for The 107th Indianapolis 500
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou will lead the 33-car field to green for next Sunday’s 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 mile race.
Palou’s 4-lap average of 234.217 MPH in the No. 10 American Legion Honda was the fastest qualifying run in the history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“We went aggressive,” explained Palou. “The way to go faster here, apart from having a fast car that I knew I had, a fast engine, which I knew I had, it’s to try to start trimming the car out, taking downforce out, sliding into corners a bit more but going faster on the straights. We were the car that was more trimmed yesterday I would say and also today. It’s what we had to do. It was the way that we could fight for pole, and I’m glad that it worked.”
The pole position was the third straight in ‘The Greatest Spectacle In Racing’ for CGR. Team Ganassi is the first to win three consecutive poles at the historic race since 1991. This is the eighth all-time pole position won by the team (2022; 2021; 2017; 2015; 2008; 2002; 1993). All four CGR cars will start in the Top 10!
“This is for every Veteran who has ever served, who protect our freedoms,” said team owner Chip Ganassi. “We worked hard and never gave up. We had plenty of opportunities to quit but that’s not what we do here. That is exactly what this team is all about.”
Team Owner Chip Ganassi congratulates driver Alex Palou on winning the pole position for the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500. Photo: Penske Entertainment Chris Jones
Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay will start in the middle of the front row after coming up 6-thousandths of a mile-an-hour slower than Palou.
“Yeah, it was very close,” said VeeKay. “Wow, very happy, but also a bit bummed. We had that shot, and I wish we could have done it. It would have been so great for the team. But also I’m bummed to be starting the Indy 500 second.”
Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist will start on the outside of the front row with a 4-lap average of 234.114 mph.
“I could feel on the run pretty much on my warmup lap that it didn’t feel as sporty as it did earlier today, so kind of had to look what went wrong,” said Rosenqvist. “But man, it’s tight, and if you don’t get it 10 out of 10, there’s going to be two other boys sitting next to you with better lap times.”
Making up the second row will be A.J. Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci, who turned a 4-lap average of 233.661 in the No. 14 Homes For Troops Chevrolet who qualified fourth for the 4-time winner turned owner.
“I think our Firestone Fast Six run was unfortunately our worst run today,” said Ferrucci. “”I just made a couple of mistakes and I don’t think we trimmed enough. We were on the conservative side of things.”
Rosenqvist’s teammate Pato O’Ward will start in the middle of the front row in the No. 5 Arrow Electronics Chevrolet.
Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion Scott Dixon will start on the outside of Row 2 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
“Huge day for the team,” said Dixon. “That was cool to keep the tradition alive. Three in a row for the team is fantastic and congrats to Alex and the No. 10 car group. Our last run was just so loose, just scrubbing a ton of speed. We’ll regroup and get ready for the race from here.”
Palou and Dixon’s CGR teammates Takuma Sato will start 8th in the No. 11 Deloitte Honda and defending 500 race winner Marcus Ericsson will start 10th in the No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz Honda.
“Fantastic qualifying for the team,” said Sato. “Congratulations to Alex. What an amazing speed and accomplishment for the team. I wish I would have been in the Fast 6 today, but it was a great team effort.”
“Another interesting day here at the Speedway,” said Ericsson. “The No. 8 crew did a good job all weekend. P10 and we would have hoped for a bit more than that. It’s still a really solid place to start the race from and we can definitely win from there. Looking forward to working on the car to go race on Sunday. Big congrats to the whole team and the organization for being on pole. That was an incredible pole run and I’m really happy for everyone. It shows the team effort from everyone and obviously very happy for Alex. It was well deserved.”
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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