IndyCar
Courtney Conquers Port Royal; Flinner Emotional Late Model Winner; Zook Zooms in LLMs
PORT ROYAL, PA (May 18, 2024): Sprint Car fans at the Port Royal Speedway got a taste of things to come when the High Limit Sprint Car Series canceled the show set for Fonda Speedway due to unsafe track conditions. That enabled several of the High Rollers to drop down to Port Royal for a test run before the big stakes Bob Weikert Memorial coming up on Memorial Day weekend. Tyler Courtney benefited the most, charging from tenth to register a win at the Speed Palace. Joining him in victory lane was a highly emotional Colton Flinner, who scored his first Super Late Model win at the track since his father succumbed to cancer. Ryan Zook was more subdued, but just as happy, with his stellar performance in the Limited Late Model ranks.
Courtney has thrown the monkey off his back at Port Royal Speedway. “We spent the first few years getting our butts kicked here,” he said with a sly grin. Although more recent performances show that he has developed a knack for the fast but quirky half mile, the trip was all about making laps. “That was the main reason for coming here tonight. We tried to get here earlier in the year, but the weather did not cooperate. We’re glad that the weather held off and we got some laps in.”
Oh, the $5,800 he earned for the win, and two bonuses, made the long tow from Vernon, NY, worthwhile. The extras were for the hard charger award and for scoring the win from the tenth starting position.
The twenty-five lap A Main had Garrett Bard and Austin Bishop on the front row. Jake Karklin and T.J. Stutts made up row two. The third belonged to Chase Dietz and the Mayor, Dylan Cisney. Lucas Wolfe lined up beside Spencer Bayston on row four. The fifth paired Brent Marks with Courtney. The sixth row had Dallas Schott and Cory Eliason.
Further back were some familiar names, like Mike Wagner in thirteenth, Lance Dewease next to him. Logan Wagner was in seventeenth, Devon Borden in nineteenth, Danny Dietrich in twenty-first, and Mark Smith in twenty-fourth.
Bard was the leader entering turn one, and he maintained his advantage through the first seventeen laps of the contest. Bishop ran second in the early going, with Karklin, Stutts, Cisney, Wolfe, Courtney, Bayston, and Marks trailing.
While Bishop and Karklin fought over the second position, Courtney began to move forward. With a little help from a lap four caution that brought the field together, Courtney reached third by lap five and second by lap ten.
Nonetheless, Bard was running the race of his brief career in the 410 ranks. Courtney was able to close in in Bard in lapped traffic, as it was apparent that Bard’s inexperience in the more powerful 410 Sprints was beginning to show.
Courtney executed a textbook slider entering turn three to take the lead away from the former 305 Sprint National Champion on lap eighteen.
Bard continued in second through lap twenty. A caution on that round set up a restart, and Bard stumbled coming to the green, losing two positions. He got a brief reprieve, as the start was waived off. However, Bard did not get off well again. Bayston moved ahead in turn one. In the final five laps, several others passed Bard.
At the checkers, it was Courtney far ahead of Bayston, Bishop, Marks, and Bard. Stutts, Cisney, Karklin, Blane Heimbach, and Eliason completed the top ten.
Heat winners were Cisney, Bayston, Courtney, and Eliason. Dietrich scored the B Main victory. Justin Whittal was badly shaken after a very hard crash at the start of his heat race. Medical attention was provided but there was no update on his condition by the end of the program. Anthony Macri had a mechanical problem in his heat and started last in the B Main. He came up one spot short of a transfer.
Colton Flinner made bold pass on the inside of turns three and four on the last lap to garner the win in the Super Late Model feature.
“This means the world to me, I wish my Dad was here,” Flinner said choking back some tears. “I didn’t know if I could do it without him. There were times that I didn’t want to do it. There was a lot of doubt. I needed this. I needed this.”
Flinner said “this was the worst car I’ve ever had.” He explained that his power steering failed during the race, but he thought that he had some extra help fighting the wheel. Referring back to his late father, Flinner summed, “I couldn’t do it without my Dad.”
Veteran Gary Stuhler and Brian Bernheisel paced the field for the start of the twenty-five lapper. Matt Cosner and Trever Feathers made up row two. The next pairing was Hayes Mattern and Dylan Yoder. Shaun Jones and Jeff Rine made up row four. Then came Flinner and Dan Stone. Andrew Yoder and Matt Parks occupied row six.
Stuhler led the way to turn one, but Feathers had a full head of steam and an open line on the outside. Feathers grabbed the lead racing through turn two. Stuhler held second, ahead of Cosner, Dylan Yoder, Rine, Dillan Stake, Mattern, Stone, Jones, and Flinner.
Cosner moved into second on lap two, and there was a good three-car battle with Stuhler and Dylan Yoder for the next several laps. Cosner lost the position by drifting high in turn one following a lap eight restart. He rallied to regain second by the halfway mark, only to lose it once again on lap fifteen soon after another restart.
In the middle stage of the race, Coleby Frye was on the move. Coming from twenty-second on the grid, he raced into the top five. He was challenging for third but a caution negated a couple of his passes.
Flinner was also working his way to the front. He reached fifth by lap twenty. On the next round, he was third. His cause was aided by a caution with four to go. He got to second by lap twenty-three.
But Feathers still had several car lengths on Flinner with two to go. Flinner kept the charge going, and he got to Feathers’ back bumper entering turn one for the final time. Feathers ran the middle groove, leaving the bottom open for Flinner. He drew up to the rear quarter panel in turn two. But, entering turn three, they were nearly side by side. Flinner maintained his momentum and he came off turn four with a slight advantage. He completely passed Feathers in the final yards of the race!
After Flinner and Feathers came Dylan Yoder, Frye, and Andrew Yoder. Keith Jackson, Jones, Rick Eckert, Cosner, and Kann completed the top ten.
The preliminary wins went to Bernheisel, Rine, Cosner, and Stuhler. Eckert copped the B Main. Mattern was the fast qualifier on the night, with a time of 17.470, just ,009 off the track record.
Ryan Zook set two new track records in the Limited Late Models. His eight lap mark for the heat race win was two minutes 30.506 seconds. The twenty-lap standard was lowered to six minutes 38.443 seconds. “That’s a product of a fast track,” he said modestly. He added, “the track was a little juiced up.”
Trever Feathers was looking for some redemption after losing the Super Late Model feature on the last lap. He started the nightcap from the pole, with Justin Garman as his dance partner. Trent Brenneman and Zook were next. Then came Matt Parks and Casey Steinhoff. Lane Snook and Devin Hart presented in row four. Maddox Smith and Kenny Yoder started from row five.
Feathers raced into turn one ahead of the pack, but he left the inside lane open. Brenneman quickly took it and he pulled ahead in turn two. Brenneman appeared like he would go the distance, but Zook had other ideas.
On lap eleven, Zook powered by Brenneman in turn one, and he was never headed after that. On lap twelve, Garman also rode past Brenneman. He held second to the finish.
Brenneman crossed in third, followed by Parks and Hart. Snook, Yoder, Feathers, Steinhoff, and Tyson Mowery were the next five finishers.
Zook and Brenneman shared the heat wins. There was no B Main.
Next weekend, Port Royal Speedway will host the Bob Weikert Memorial extravaganza. Saturday will have the High Limit Sprints going for ten grand to win. The Super Late Models will also be in action. Then, Sunday, there will be $75,000 paid to the winner of the High Limit feature. The Limited Late Models will provide the support. Come to the track early and plan to stay late, as there will be plenty of activities before and after the races! There will be an Indy watch party, a cornhole tournament, live music, and more!
By INDYCAR Communications:
ELKHART LAKE, WI. (June 22, 2025) – After 55 laps of ferocious, frantic uncertainty, about the only certain thing in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES happened again Sunday at Road America – Alex Palou and his Chip Ganassi Racing crew standing in victory lane.
Palou stretched the available fuel in his No. 10 SOLO Cup Chip Ganassi Racing Honda at the end to earn his sixth victory in nine starts this season in the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Presented by AMR, becoming the first INDYCAR SERIES driver to take the checkered flag at least six times in a season since Will Power in 2011.
“It was a crazy race,” Palou said. “There were moments I thought we were losing a ton of positions. It was a tough race for everybody. Kudos to the team for the amazing strategy and Honda for giving us the fuel mileage we needed at the end to make it.”
Three-time series champion Palou expanded his lead to 93 points over Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood with the victory in a race of varying fuel and tire strategies as the season passed its halfway point, with eight races remaining on the 17-race schedule.
Felix Rosenqvist was unshackled from a fuel-saving strategy over the closing laps in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian but fell 2.1725 seconds short to finish second. Santino Ferrucci had just enough Shell 100% Renewable Race Fuel to hang on to third in the No. 14 Sexton Properties/AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, his fourth straight top-five finish this season.
Kirkwood, winner of the last two races entering this event, stayed almost as hot as the air temperatures in the mid-90s by finishing fourth in the No. 27 Siemens Honda of Andretti Global. Marcus Armstrong recorded a season-best result of fifth in the No. 66 SiriusXM/Root Insurance Honda, as Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian placed both its cars in the top five.
There were a race-record nine leaders today, with Palou taking the top spot for good on Lap 53 of the 55-lap race when teammate and leader Scott Dixon couldn’t pull off another miraculous fuel save and was forced to pit in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Dixon previously had pitted at the end of Lap 38, with about 15 laps maximum between stops unless there was a caution period to reduce speeds and save fuel. Dixon’s gamble didn’t pay off, as there were no cautions in the last 24 laps despite yellow flags flying five times in the first 30 laps.
Two-time reigning series champion Palou made his final stop at the end of Lap 40. Those two fewer laps on his final tank of fuel than Dixon – and saving fuel by running second in leader Dixon’s aerodynamic draft – proved pivotal in Palou making it to the finish with authority.
Rosenqvist made his final stop at the end of Lap 42 and pushed at his maximum toward leaders Dixon, Palou and Alexander Rossi in the No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet. Rossi, sipping fuel like Dixon, also was forced to stop at the end of Lap 51, creating more clean air and open space for Rosenqvist to charge.
But Rosenqvist – who showed his speed by leading the morning warmup – was nearly four seconds back when Rossi pitted. Rosenqvist turned the quickest lap of the race on the final trip around the 14-turn, 4.014-mile circuit, but it wasn’t enough to trim the margin and challenge Palou at the front.
“It was going back and forth there, comers and goers through the race,” Rosenqvist said. “We had great speed, had really good pace. We’ve had bad luck the last few races, haven’t really had a good go. Good comeback now. It’s been a while since I’ve been on the podium.”
It was Rosenqvist’s first podium finish in a points-paying race since finishing second in September 2023 at Portland International Raceway.
NTT P1 Award winner Louis Foster finished 11th to tie his career best set in May in the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
The spate of caution periods in the first half of the race led to divergent strategies up and down the pit lane. It also bred intense competition on a scorching day in central Wisconsin. There were 348 on-track passes (including 345 for position), 96 passes in the top 10 and 29 passes in the top five – all those numbers second all-time among INDYCAR SERIES races at this beloved facility.
Palou’s win also continued a historic duopoly this season in the series. Palou (six wins) and Kirkwood (three wins) are the only victorious drivers in 2025, and the last time two drivers so dominated the first half of an INDYCAR SERIES season came in 1980, when Bobby Unser and Johnny Rutherford were the only winners through nine races.
Honda also stayed perfect, as its engines have powered all nine race winners this season.
The next race is The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the all-new 2026 Passport on Sunday, July 6 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.
INDYCAR Communications
MADISON, Il. (June 15, 2025) – Nobody can call Kyle Kirkwood just a street-circuit specialist anymore.
Kirkwood used pace found with help from his teammates and masterful strategy in a chaotic, exciting race to win the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline on Sunday night at World Wide Technology Raceway.
It was the fifth career victory for Kirkwood and career-best third win this season. But most importantly to Kirkwood, it was his first career oval victory after four wins on street circuits.
“My first oval win; I’m over the moon right now,” Kirkwood said. “Ovals have eluded me for a very long time, so it’s nice to get that first one and break that ice.
“An oval win and a road course win is what I wanted. I didn’t want people just to think of me as a street course guy or else they’ll just have me going to street courses. A little bit of job security there. This is a big one, a big one for the guys. This is huge, massive.”
The podium was filled with three INDY NXT by Firestone champions. Kirkwood drove his No. 27 Siemens Honda fielded by Andretti Global to victory by .5398 of a second over Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Christian Rasmussen finished a career-best third in the No. 21 ECR Splenda Chevrolet after starting 25th, making 62 on-track passes.
Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Scott Dixon finished fourth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, his best result since he placed second in the season opener in March at St. Petersburg.
Santino Ferrucci continued the recent upswing of A.J. Foyt Enterprises as he produced his third straight top-five finish this season in the No. 14 Bommarito Automotive Group Chevrolet.
The 260-lap race, in which 14 of the 27 drivers led, came down to an intriguing gambit between two fuel strategies and navigating thickets of traffic over the last 50 laps. There were 254 passes for position, tying the series record for WWTR set last year.
Dixon, a master of saving fuel, was the last car not to stop during the second-to-last pit cycle and took the lead on Lap 194. Then David Malukas brushed the Turn 4 wall on Lap 196 in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet of A.J. Foyt Enterprises, triggering the fourth and final caution of the race. Dixon cruised behind the pace car in the lead, which allowed him to save more fuel in a possible attempt to need to make just one more pit stop.
Then Dixon stopped when the pits opened on Lap 200 and stayed in the lead due to his one-lap gap before the stop. On the restart on Lap 207, Dixon led O’Ward, Kirkwood and Conor Daly in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet.
Kirkwood passed O’Ward and stalked Dixon, pressing him to use more fuel, but couldn’t pass. Andretti Global then called Kirkwood to the pits for his last stop on Lap 233.
Dixon and strategist Mike Hull knew “The Iceman” couldn’t stretch one tank of fuel for 60 laps without significantly more caution laps, so Dixon pitted on Lap 236 and handed the lead to O’Ward.
O’Ward made his final stop on Lap 238, with Ferrucci taking the top spot. When Dixon, Kirkwood and O’Ward cycled through their final stops, Kirkwood ended up the leader among that trio due to speedy work by his Andretti Global pit crew.
Ferrucci led a group of four cars that still had to make their final stop, all running ahead of Kirkwood, O’Ward and Dixon. But Ferrucci, Marcus Ericsson in the No. 28 Fresh Connect Central Honda of Andretti Global, Callum Ilott in the No. 90 PREMA Racing Chevrolet and Felix Rosenqvist in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian all pitted from the lead by Lap 256, handing the lead back to Kirkwood. He never trailed thereafter despite pressure from O’Ward.
“The starts and the restarts were big,” Kirkwood said. “We were not too happy with the car yesterday, and we got some help from the teammates and made the car really good. In the beginning, I really didn’t think we had it, but as it got dark and it cooled down, this No. 27 Andretti Global Honda just came alive.”
NTT P1 Award winner Will Power crashed in Turn 4 on just the fourth lap due to a tire puncture on his No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. That was the portent of a tough night for Team Penske, which has a record nine wins in this event.
Five-time WWTR winner Josef Newgarden crashed out of the race while leading on Lap 130 in a frightening collision with rookie Louis Foster of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Foster brushed the wall in Turn 4, damaging his steering, and careened into the path of the onrushing Newgarden, who hit and then climbed Foster’s No. 45 Droplight/Desnuda Tequila Honda before landing upside-down on its roll hoop and aeroscreen, showering sparks. Both drivers were unhurt.
Two-time WWTR pole winner Scott McLaughlin, who led 51 laps, was eliminated on Lap 216 after a mechanical problem in the No. 3 DEX Imaging Chevrolet.
While Kirkwood joked in victory lane about this win providing him with job security, that’s the least of his concerns so far in his breakout season. Kirkwood and points leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing (five victories) remain the only drivers to win in the eight races so far this season. Honda also stayed unbeaten as an engine manufacturer in the series this season.
Palou’s championship lead over O’Ward was trimmed from 90 to 73 points after Palou finished eighth in the No. 10 Ridgeline Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Kirkwood is third, two points behind O’Ward and 75 behind Palou.
The next race is the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America on Sunday, June 22. Live race coverage from the 4.014-mile road course starts at 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX, the FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
DETROIT, MI (June 1, 2025) – Kyle Kirkwood is the winner of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. The win was Kirkwood’s second of the season and fourth of his career.
Kirkwood started third on the grid and moved up to second early in the race and took advantage to grab the lead from teammate Colton Herta who finished third.
“This AWS Honda was on rails all weekend long,” said Kirkwood. “There were some challenges out there, that’s for sure. We had to pass our way back through a handful of times, and it was definitely not a walk in the park.”
This 100-lap race on the notoriously bumpy and tight nine-turn, 1.645-mile circuit on the streets of downtown Detroit came down to strategy and survival.
The 27-car field divided into two strategic camps at the start, with 12 cars beginning the race on Firestone’s grippier but less durable Firehawk alternate tires and 15 on the slower but more durable primary tires. The top nine starters, which included pole sitter Herta and teammate Kirkwood, opted to start on the softer alternate tire and shed it as soon as possible for the durability of the harder tire. INDYCAR rules require that all drivers must use both tire compounds for at least two laps per race.
That divided the field into separate pit cycles, with drivers on both strategies being forced to fight their way through the field after each stop while waiting for drivers on alternative tactics to pit.
The win has Honda Racing’s seventh of the season, continuing a season-long lockout of victories among engine manufacturers and gave Honda a weekend sweep after their Acura brand won the IMSA race on Saturday in the Motor City.
“ Amazing weekend for Honda, HRC, and also Acura,” said Kevin Fu, Vice President, Honda Racing Corporation USA. “Between our IndyCar and IMSA programs we got two poles and two wins in Detroit, and our seventh victory in a row in IndyCar. This is unprecedented start to the season for us. As always, thanks to the teams and all the folks back at HRC in Santa Clarita for all their continuous hard work, and the work they’ve done off season to get us to this point.”
The win moved Kirkwood up to second in the Championship points standings, 78-points behind leader Alex Palou, who was taken out by David Malukas going into Turn 1 on a restart.
AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci came home second for his best career finish and the team’s best finish of the season and best road or street course finish in a decade.
“It feels great,” said Ferrucci. “Honestly, the strategy plays into everything that we do, especially at road and street courses it’s very tough, and I can’t thank the team enough. This is more deserving of them than it is even of me. We probably drove to 11th minus the strategy just running our race.”
Team Penske’s Will Power finished fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet followed by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson in fifth. The fifth place finish was a career best for Simpson, the second-year driver from the Cayman Islands.
“It was a great, great race for us in the #8 Ridgeline Honda,” said Simpson. “I think we had a lot of pace, especially when running on the green tires, and we were able to really make strong gains through the field on that strategy.”
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES event is the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline on Sunday evening, June 15 at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.
Dietrich Does It Again
Improved Larson Gets Redemption at Hagerstown
Macri Had Luck on his Side at Port Royal; Dietz Dominates URC Test Session
Rahmer Wins Rain-Shortened Race at Lincoln
Dietrich Dominates Speedweek Opener at BAPS; Fannasy Fantastic in Sportsman Go
Dietrich Does It Again
Thomas and Trout Sprint to Wins at Williams Grove
Improved Larson Gets Redemption at Hagerstown
