IndyCar
Chip Ganassi Racing Carrying Momentum Into Indianapolis 500 Practice
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (May 14, 2024) Entering the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season there was plenty of talk in the paddock and media center about how much would expanding to five full-time entries affect Chip Ganassi Racing.
“We’ve run multiple cars out of our race shop,” said team owner Chip Ganassi. “The fact that instead of three going here and two going here, all five are going one place, it’s somewhat easier from a logistics point of view. I challenge anybody to say that it’s taking anything away from anybody by going from four to five. It’s just not the case.”
Heading into practice for the Indianapolis 500 CGR is proving the doubters wrong because it doesn’t look like the 15-time series Champions have missed a beat.
This past weekend CGR opened the Month of May by winning the pole position and placing three cars in the Top 5 at the Sonsio Grand Prix on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Two-time and reigning series Champion Alex Palou grabbed the win in the No. 10 DHL Honda. Six-time series Champion Scott Dixon and the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda finished fourth and second-year driver Marcus Armstrong finished fifth in the No. 11 IU Simon Cancer Center Honda.
Team owner Chip Ganassi, as usual, gave credit to his organization.
“Unquestionably it’s about the team,” said Ganassi after the race. “I’ve got some great drivers, great guys on the engineering stand, great guys in management. I’m a lucky guy.”
In addition to Armstrong’s Top 5 in the Sonsio Grand Prix, the ‘young guns’ in the CGR stable are showing signs of improvement in the ultra-competitive series.
Armstrong was the only CGR car to make the Firestone Fast Six final round of qualifying at the Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park last month, where teammate Linus Lundqvist’s third place finish in the No. 8 American Legion ‘Be The One’ Honda was his first-career podium.
“I think he’s been working very hard and he’s been knocking on that door a lot,” said Palou of Armstrong. “Still hasn’t had the perfect weekend where everything fits for him, but he’s been really fast. Barber he went into the Fast Six, was the only car of the team in the Fast Six, and it’s great that he got his first top 5.”
Rookie Kyffin Simpson, who moved up to INDYCAR after running INDY NXT last season, may be the most surprising of all of the young drivers on the CGR team. Simpson finished 12th after starting 23rd in the season opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding. Simpson finished 19th after starting 26th at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. At the Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix Simpson finished 14th after starting in the 23rd spot and in the last race Simpson finished 15th after starting 25th. That’s 37-positions gained over the course of the four points-paying races.
Palou also won the non-points paying race at The Thermal Club and Dixon stood on the top step of the podium at Long Beach, so the Champions on the team are winning while the young drivers are taking notes.
“I think everyone can see we have two really solid, solid veterans that can win at any racetrack we go to,” said Ganassi. “So it’s nice to have this group of younger guys coming up that have the opportunity to work with Alex and Scott, learn from them. So it’s a great opportunity.”
CGR has a great opportunity to carry the early season momentum through the month of May into ‘The Greatest Spectacle In Racing’.
“We know we have a fast car,” said Palou, who sits atop the Championship standing, 12-points ahead of Team Penske’s Will Power. “Obviously we got the pole here last year. But the competition is tight. They never give you anything. The focus now is on qualifying, trying to get the pole. But we want to win the Indy 500.”
“Momentum is real in any sport,” said Ganassi. “Momentum is your friend. We know we have a big month of May.”
There will be two practice sessions on Tuesday May 14 followed by 6-hour sessions Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Saturday’s schedule has a 1-hour session in the morning before Day 1 Qualifications start at 11 a.m. Sunday’s schedule also features a practice, Top 12 Qualifying, Last Chance Qualifying and the Firestone Fast Six run for the Pole Position. INDY 500 Track Schedule
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (July 2, 2026) – Six-time Series Champion Scott Dixon is leaving Chip Ganassi Racing following the conclusion of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series Season the team announced in a statement Thursday before the series races at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Complex this weekend.
MADISON, IL (Sunday, June 7, 2026) – The king of World Wide Technology Raceway has returned to his throne.
Josef Newgarden won for the sixth time in 11 starts at the 1.25-mile oval just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, enduring two rain delays during the race Sunday night to win a feverish, fascinating Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline. The victory was Newgarden’s second this season, as he also won in March at the 1-mile Phoenix Raceway oval.
SEE: Race Results
The two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion has captured 15 of his 34 career victories on ovals shorter than 1.5 miles. This win came as he was still recovering from a lower leg injury suffered two weeks ago in the 110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.
“Great job to the group,” Newgarden said. “Just a methodical night. We had a good car to start. It wasn’t perfect, but it really came to us just when we needed it. It was a track position day.”
Newgarden, who started eighth, drove his No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet to victory by .6613 of a second over the No. 28 Delaware Life Honda of fellow Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson, who still managed a season-best finish. Christian Rasmussen finished a season-best third in the No. 21 Splenda Chevrolet of ECR.
Rinus VeeKay continued the trend of season-best finishes by ending up fourth in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, with Scott McLaughlin rounding out the top five in the No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet that featured a throwback livery honoring the 2009 Indianapolis 500-winning car driven by Helio Castroneves.
Newgarden took the lead for good on Lap 221 after a spirited duel with Rasmussen that began almost immediately after a restart on Lap 212. Rasmussen dove under Newgarden in Turn 1 for the lead on Lap 215, but Newgarden drove past Rasmussen in Turn 3 for the top spot on Lap 219.
One lap later, Rasmussen again drove under Newgarden for the lead in Turn 1, one of his race-high 38 on-track passes. But Newgarden countered again in Turn 3 one lap later for a lead he would not surrender. It was the most decisive of an event-record 268 passes for position in this frantic race.
Ericsson sped under Rasmussen for second in Turn 3 on Lap 225 and set his sights on Newgarden. But one lap later, a plume of smoke trailed from the No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia Chevrolet fielded by A.J. Foyt Enterprises for Caio Collet, who was enjoying the best race of his rookie season by leading seven laps and running consistently in the top five in the second half of the race.
That triggered the last of four caution periods, with another wrinkle to concern Newgarden and the lead pack. A host of trailing cars entered the pits for fresh Firestone Firehawk tires, while the top eight cars stayed out.
McLaughlin made a spirited charge toward the front on the restart on Lap 234, climbing from ninth to fifth in just four laps. But the Kiwi and the other cars that pitted for tires didn’t have enough traction from the fresher rubber or speed to challenge the top four down the stretch.
Meanwhile, Newgarden maintained a gap of around one-half of a second over Ericsson over the closing 10 laps and never was threatened.
“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Marcus,” Newgarden said. “I thought he was incredibly strong. I don’t really think there was much between us, so it was a matter of who was going to get position on each other, and that was going to seal the deal. He drove a great race.”
Said Ericsson, seeking his first win since March 2023 at St. Petersburg: “I’m very proud of our performance, but at the same time it’s tough to lead that many laps … I thought we had it at some points, but Josef is the best in the business on these short ovals.”
Two red-flag periods totaling 50 minutes kept strategists’ heads spinning on the pit wall as various permutations and fuel options were considered.
Chip Ganassi Racing rolled the dice earlier in the race by calling NTT P1 Award winner Alex Palou and his teammate Scott Dixon to the pits to top off fuel as soon as the pits opened after the first red flag period, which lasted 38 minutes. The hope was to get enough caution to need one fewer fuel stop than rivals or be out front when a race-ending rain shower arrived.
But neither happened, and Palou paid the price dearly.
The four-time series champion entered the pits on Lap 203, two laps after Dixon had to enter a closed pit for emergency service as his No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was running out of fuel. Palou’s No. 10 HRC Chip Ganassi Racing Honda sputtered when it entered the pit lane and ran out of fuel, and he was forced to coast to his pit box for a stop made even longer when his engine wouldn’t refire.
Palou’s car restarted, and he returned to the track to finish 17th. The two short oval races this season have been Palou’s Achilles’ heel. He finished 24th after contact in March at Phoenix, and that result and tonight’s disappointing showing are his only finishes outside of the top seven all season.
Reigning series champion Palou’s lead in the standings was trimmed to 49 points over Kyle Kirkwood, who finished sixth in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda of Andretti Global.
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America on Sunday, June 21 at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
MADISON, IL (June 6, 2026) – Alex Palou and the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing team are continuing to lay down fast laps when it counts with Palou earning the pole position for Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway. The pole position is Palou’s fourth straight NTT P1 Pole award.
“It was incredible and so much fun, especially that first lap,” said Palou, who turned a two-lap average speed of 174.353 mph in the No. 10 HRC Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. “The #10 Honda Honda had so much speed. The team I have around me is incredible. My car was on rails today; it was incredible.”
David Malukas starts second in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet after a two-lap average of 173.244 mph. Malukas could only look on in disbelief as Palou knocked him off the pole.
Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood starts third in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda following a two-lap average of 173.206 mph.
“ It was a good run for us,” said Kirkwood, the 2025 WWWT Raceway winner. “P3 is a really good starting spot and we can definitely do some great things from there. Last year we won from 10th, so it’s nice to be able to be at the front.”
2026 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner Felix Rosenqvist starts fourth in the No. 60 SiriusXM Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Honda.
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin will start 5th in the No. 3 Dex Imaging Chevrolet.
Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon starts 7th in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda and CGR’s Kyffin Simpson will start 14th in the No. 8 Sunoco Honda.
Television coverage of Sunday’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 begins at 8 PM CT / 9 PM ET on Fox. Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on the INDYCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation (Channel 160).
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