LEXINGTON, OH (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Alex Palou won his third straight NTT INDYCAR SERIES race taking the victory in the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sport Car Complex.  Palou beat teammate Scott Dixon by ?.????-seconds to pick up his fourth win in five races.

“We knew that we had the pace, but we needed clean air,” said Palou, who started fourth.  “That’s why we went for the primaries at the beginning, which we thought it was probably a bit risky, but if we were able to cross the first lap on position, we were going to be good for our strategy.”

The strategy involved staying out longer on the Primary Firestone Tires and leapfrogging front row starters Colton Herta and Graham Rahal when it came time for Palou and the No. 10 American Legion ‘Be The One’ Honda to come to the pits for their first service.

“We saved a little bit of fuel,” explained Palou. “Waited until the 27 struggled a little bit on tires. We were able to pass and then just run a bit longer than Colton and Rahal to get the lead.”

Palou led 48-of-80-laps en route to Chip Ganassi Racing’s record-tying 12th win at Mid-Ohio, tying Team Penske.

Dixon started sixth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda and his second place finish was his best of the 2023 season, which moved him up to second place in the Championship standings.

“It was definitely a good day,” said Dixon, who trails Palou by 110-points in the title fight. “The pace of the PNC Bank No. 9 was really good. Fuel mileage was super easy, so Honda definitely stepped it up here this weekend. But huge credit to the 10 car and obviously Alex. He is on a hell of a run.”

Team Penske’s Will Power finished third in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet.

“Solid day. No mistakes,” said Power. “Yeah, not much more we could have got out of the day. That was kind of what we had. Obviously Palou is very quick.”

Power, the defending Series Champion, and Dixon, a six-time Series Champion, marveled at how Palou and his team has been able to outpace everyone in the most-competitive open wheel series in the world.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Marcus Ericsson was in position to win his second straight Indianapolis 500 but a late-race caution and red flag spoiled that opportunity.

Ericsson and the No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz Honda took the lead of the race on a Lap 196 restart when a caution flag came out immediately after due to an crash in the back of the field.  Ericsson and the rest of the field circled the Speedway behind the Corvette pace for a complete lap.  That’s when NTT INDYCAR SERIES officials decided to Red Flag the race for the third time.

Race Control restarted the race with two laps left and told drivers it would be one-to-go and the green flag when they came off Turn 4.  Ericsson was able to get the jump on the green and led the field through Turn One and off Turn Two.

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden got a tremendous run down the backstrech and passed Ericsson going into Turn Three.  Ericsson couldn’t catch Newgarden coming to the yard of bricks, the fourth-narrowest margin of victory in the history of the race.

“I don’t think it’s a fair way to end the race,” said Ericsson. “I don’t think it’s a right way to end the race. I think it wasn’t enough laps to go to do what we did. I don’t think it’s safe to go out of the pits on cold tires for a restart when half the field is sort of still trying to get out on track when we go green.”

Ericsson questioned why Race Control decided to let the field circle the 2.5-mile oval for a complete lap and bringing the race cars through the accident scene instead of down pit road.

“They (INDYCAR) should have called it earlier,” explained Ericsson. “If they wanted red they should have called red earlier. I think when they kept it going, then I think they should have called it. But I’m sure Josef (Newgarden) doesn’t agree with that and thinks that way, but that’s just the way I thought. I thought it was too tight to do the last red.”

Pole Sitter Alex Palou appeared to be one of the cars to beat early, leading 36-laps in the No. 10 American Legion Honda.  Palou was on pit road during a caution flag when Rinus Veekay lost it coming out of his pits, pinching Palou into the inside wall exiting his pits.

The Ricky Davis led crew sprinted down to the car and rolled Palou back into the pit box, changed the front wing and sent the 2021 Champion back into the fight.

The No. 10 American Legion crew changes the nose cone after the car was struck on pit road. (Photo: Penske Entertainment – Chris Jones)

“There’s nothing that we could have done differently there on pit lane,” said Palou. “Starting from 30th again and we had to start the race from scratch. But, we went from 30th to fourth and still could have done a bit more. It was a tough day.”

Palou wasn’t the only Chip Ganassi Racing driver to rally on this day.

Scott Dixon started the race from the sixth position and was quickly into the Top 5 after the start of the race.  Midway through the first run the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda developed a bad vibration that sent Dixon to pit road way earlier than planned.

“It was kind of a frustrating day,” said Dixon, the Six-time Series Champion. “We had that first set of tires that just went out of balance so badly. The car got massively loose, and we adjusted for that, but it also made the car a bit weird with a clutch alarm that we had to figure out. We worked on the balance to regroup after that, but it was just a very tough day.”

Scott Dixon lights-up the rear tires on the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda following a pit stop in the 107th Indianapolis 500. (Photo: Penske Entertainment – Chris Jones)

Dixon went to work following that pit stop and spent the rest of the day trying to get back the lost track position eventually finishing sixth.

Takuma Sato and the No. 11 Deloitte Honda home in seventh spot and said he was fighting track position all day.

“It was a tough race,” said Sato. “We had to fight back in the middle stages there where we couldn’t get up into the front group. We fought hard and I’m really proud of the entire No. 11 team.”

Palou leaves Indy INDYCAR Series Championship standing with 219 points.  Ericsson sits second with 199 points and Dixon is lurking back in fifth with 162 points.

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES returns to Downtown Detroit next weekend with the Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit on June 4, 2023 at 3:00 p.m.

Indy 500 Results

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden passed Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson on the backstretch going into Turn 3, on the last lap, to win Sunday’s 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500.

“Everyone just kept asking me ‘why I haven’t won this race?’ and they look at you like you are a failure if you don’t win it and I wanted to win it so bad I knew we could, I knew we were capable,” said Newgarden.  “This is a huge team effort as everybody knows.”

The last lap shootout was set-up after the race’s third red flag of the day following a caution on Lap 196.  Ericsson and Santino Ferrucci split Newgarden on the restart and Ericsson was in front of Newgarden when the yellow flag flew.  If NTT INDYCAR SERIES officials didn’t red flag the race, Ericsson would have back-to-back 500 wins.

“I think I did everything right behind the wheel,” said Ericsson.  “I had an awesome restart.  I think I caught Josef completely off guard and filled a gap and got the lead.”

Ericsson was not happy with Race Control’s decision to red flag the race for one green flag lap.

“I don’t think there were enough laps to go to do what we did,” said Ericsson.  “I don’t think it’s safe to go out of the pits on cold tires for a restart when half the field is sort of still trying to get out on track when we go green.  I think we did everything right today.  I’m very proud of the No. 8 crew and everyone at Chip Ganassi Racing. If they (INDYCAR) wanted red they should have called red earlier. I think when they kept it going, then I think they should have called it.”

The red flag mattered to Newgarden, who was the victim on the previous restart, so he knew where he wanted to be.

“One lap to go you want to be second,” said Newgarden.  “It actually worked out great that I got a run on him on the backstraight I knew that if I could clear him getting into three maybe we could hold him off because he was so fast on the straights.”

A.J. Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci brought the No. 14 Homes for Troops Chevrolet home in third place for the four-time 500 winner.

“We had such a great day, I’m very happy for the boys.” said Ferrucci.  “Sitting there in third it’s tough. There is nothing you can do but watch. We worked so hard to be where we were. Just bummed because I think — I’m sure Marcus thinks the same thing I do. We definitely, all three of us could have won it at any point in time. Yeah, it’s bittersweet.”

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou rallied for a fourth place finish after starting from the pole, leading several laps in the first half of the race, and being sent back to 30th place after being hit in the pits by Rinus Veekay midway through the race.

“It was a tough day for myself, for the team,” said Palou.  “Nothing we could have done differently there on pit lane. We restarted thirtieth and came home P4. We had a really fast car and tried to make the most of it.”

Arrow McLaren Racing’s Alexander Rossi, the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner, rounded out the Top 5 in the No. 7 Chevy.

Palou leaves Indy with the Championship points lead (219) followed by Marcus Ericsson in 2nd, 20-points back.

The next race for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the Detroit Grand Prix June 4th at 3:00 p.m.

Indy 500 Results