IndyCar
Chip Ganassi Racing begins quest for 15th INDYCAR Championship
ST. PETERSBURG, FL (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Chip Ganassi Racing begins its quest for a third-straight NTT INDYCAR SERIES title with this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
The team is clearly capable having won 14-INDYCAR titles between 1996 and 2021.
Alex Palou enters 2022 as the defending series Champion and knows that he, and his team, are capable of going back-to-back, joining CGR Alums Alex Zanardi (1997 & 1998) and Dario Franchitti – who won back-to-back titles en route to 3-straight (2009, 2010, 2011) – as the only CGR drivers to accomplish that feat.
“It’s going to take a lot of work for sure,” said Palou. “I think the field is getting stronger and stronger in INDYCAR, the teams are getting closer so the competition is really, really high. It’s going to be important to keep performing, even on the bad days. We kept the same team, almost all the mechanics, the engineering group on the 10-car so it should be a good year for us.”
Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion Scott Dixon says Palou’s title shows how strong and deep the Ganassi team is, which is reminiscent of when the team reeled off 4-straight titles – twice – from 1996-to-1999 and from 2008-thru-2011.
“To see Alex and the 10 car side, and the whole Ganassi group, be able to pull that off was great to see,” said Dixon, who again will pilot the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. “It was great to see so many smiles, I think, throughout the team on all the team levels and the progression that we made. Hopefully we can carry that momentum through to this season and one of us have that opportunity to try and win for Chip again.”
Dixon’s mindset is always the same entering the season and it hasn’t changed in the two decades he’s been driving for the team.
“The first goal is to win the Indy 500, which has been difficult,” said Dixon, the 2008 winner of The Greatest Spectacle In Racing. “The second is to win the Championship. Last year was definitely trying at some points, and we lost a lot of points at the Indy 500 with double points, and it was very hard — nowadays especially with the competition, how tough it is, it’s very hard to claw back deficits like that.”
Marcus Ericsson enters his third year with the team and is coming off his first career victory in Detroit and followed that up with a victory in the inaugural Music City Grand Prix in Nashville.
“Last year was definitely kind of a breakthrough for me getting that first win out of the way, having a super strong season, a consistent season with a lot of top 10s, actually running in the top five for most of it there in the second half,” reflected Ericsson, who drives the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda.
Ericsson says one of the keys to the success of the team is the unselfishness of everyone involved.
“We have a very strong team,” said Ericsson. “We work so well together. I think that’s one of the reasons why we are so strong, is that we have all of us drivers in the team, me Scott and Alex, but also Jimmie and T.K. (Tony Kanaan). We are really working well together. We’re different characters, different personalities, but we all work really hard together and want to succeed as a team. I think that’s been getting the best out of each other last year. It was a big reason why we were so strong.”
Kanaan will run a fifth Ganassi entry, The American Legion Honda, at the Indianapolis 500 after driving the oval portion of the schedule in the No. 48 Honda that Jimmie Johnson drove on the road and street circuits in 2021.
Johnson is back and will drive the full season in the No. 48 Carvana Honda after a significant learning curve in 2021 after spending decades driving big, heavy, stock cars.
“I spent last year just trying to hitch my trailer to the back of the pack and keep up with everyone, and I was finally doing that at the end,” said Johnson. “I’m just eager to get more oval experience to try to sense and understand the car. I feel like I’ll be much more competitive on the ovals, and the faster I can learn the cars and sensations and adjustments, the better my chances will be at a podium or better yet.”
Johnson admitted that he needs to get settled in and just drive and react versus think and analyze every little detail.
“In some ways I just need to get out of my own head and hang it all out on the track,” said Johnson, who is looking forward to getting a second opportunity on tracks he’s only raced at once.
The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg green flag drops Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET. Fans can watch the race on NBC and hear the race on INDYCAR Radio Network affiliates and SiriusXM Channel 160.
LEEDS, AL (April 28, 2024) Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin put an emotional week in the rear-view mirror by winning Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix presented by AmFirst.
McLaughlin employed a three-stop, flat-out pedal to the floor strategy while several others attempted a two-stop strategy. McLaughlin’s move paid off with the victory, his second in-a-row at Barber.
McLaughlin, who led 58 of the 90 laps after earning the NTT P1 Award in qualifying Saturday, took the lead for the final time on Lap 76 after his final pit stop.
“Definitely one of my best drives in terms of execution and just knocking out the laps,” said McLaughlin, who had his third-place finish at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding stripped earlier in the week for illegal push-to-pass software and using it. “Very happy we could advance to the checkered flag there and bring home a W for Team Penske and for Roger (Penske).”
Will Power made it Team Penske 1-2 by finishing second in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet, 1.3194 seconds behind McLaughlin.
“It was a hard-fought 1-2 for Penske,” Power said. “We were certainly fast, but obviously a lot of strategy played into that. We were able to use our speed to come out in front again.”
Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Linus Lundqvist rounded out the podium by finishing third in the No. 8 American Legion Honda, the best finish of his young career.
“Man, it was amazing,” said Lundqvist of his sixth career start. “I think for the first time ever I was not on the save fuel strategy. I was not the one being passed, which was nice.”
The next race for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the Sonsio Grand Prix on Saturday, May 11 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, which kicks off the Month of May activities at IMS culminating in the 108th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 26 on the IMS oval.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (April 24, 2024) Scott Dixon and the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing team are leading the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Championship standings after Team Penske was penalized for violating the series ‘push-to-pass’ parameters.
INDYCAR disqualified Josef Newgarden’s win and Scott McLaughlin’s third place finish in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and docked Will Power 10-Championship points for the infractions.
Dixon’s epic win in this past Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach vaulted him into second position in the Championship standings, 12-points behind Newgarden. That changed following Wednesday’s penalties.
Dixon now holds a 2-point lead over Andretti Global’s Colton Herta and a 12-point lead over teammate and reigning INDYCAR Champion Alex Palou.
Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward sits in fourth position, 15-points back, following his elevation to winner at St. Pete. Power sits in fifth position, 20-points behind Dixon despite the 10-point reduction.
Dixon heads into this weekend’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst at Barber Motorsports Park having never won at the picturesque 2.3-mile, 17-turn road course in Birmingham Alabama.
“Barber has been interesting,” said Dixon, a six-time series Champion. “Second six times. Never won there. The goal was always to try and step on the top step again.”
Dixon is hoping a recent test will help him park the No. 9 Honda in victory lane.
“We had a really good test at Barber,” added Dixon. “Only probably half of the grid did, so it will be interesting to see how that applies.”
The first 75-minute practice session gets underway on Friday from 2:40 p.m. to 3:55 p.m. and will be live-streamed on Peacock.
McLaughlin is the defending race winner.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (April 24, 2024) Team Penske is in hot water for violating NTT INDYCAR SERIES rules regarding push-to-pass and Josef Newgarden has been stripped of his win in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
Team Penske was in violation of the following “Push to Pass” parameters:
- Rule 14.19.15. An indicator to enable Push to Pass will be sent via CAN communication from the timing and scoring beacon on board the Car to the team data logger. This signal must be passed on to the ECU unmodified and uninterrupted during all Road and Street Course Events.
- Rule 14.19.16. Race Starts and any Race Restart that occurs before the lap prior to the white flag or prior to three minutes remaining in a timed Race Event will have the Push to Pass system disabled and will be enabled for a given Car once that Car reaches the alternate Start/Finish line.
The issue came to light at this past weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach when INDYCAR officials discovered the possible violation during the morning warmup. The Series made sure the advantage that was discovered could not be implemented during Sunday’s race.
The series then began an extensive review of data from the St. Petersburg race, which revealed that Team Penske manipulated the overtake system so that the No. 2, 3 and 12 cars had the ability to use Push to Pass on starts and restarts. According to the INDYCAR rulebook, use of overtake is not available during championship races until the car reaches the alternate start-finish line.
It was determined that Newgarden’s No. 2 and the No. 3 of Scott McLaughlin gained a competitive advantage by using Push to Pass on restarts while the No. 12 of Will Power did not. McLaughlin was stripped of his third-place finish and Power was docked 10-Championship points. All three entries have been fined $25,000 and will forfeit all prize money associated with the Streets of St. Petersburg race.
The integrity of the INDYCAR SERIES championship is critical to everything we do,” said INDYCAR President Jay Frye. “While the violation went undetected at St. Petersburg, INDYCAR discovered the manipulation during Sunday’s warmup in Long Beach and immediately addressed it ensuring all cars were compliant for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Beginning with this week’s race at Barber Motorsports Park, new technical inspection procedures will be in place to deter this violation.”
Team Penske issued a statement where President Tim Cindric blamed the violation on software that was not removed following a test session.
“Unfortunately, the push-to-pass software was not removed as it should have been, following recently completed hybrid testing in the Team Penske Indy cars. This software allowed for push-to-pass to be deployed during restarts at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix race, when it should not have been permitted. The No. 2 car driven by Josef Newgarden and the No. 3 car driven by Scott McLaughlin, both deployed push-to-pass on a restart, which violated INDYCAR rules. Team Penske accepts the penalties applied by INDYCAR.”
Newgarden’s disqualification handed the victory to Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward elevated PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon to the top of the Championship standings.
McLaughlin goes back-to-back at Barber Motorsports Park
Macri Gets Third Straight Kauffman Classic at Port Royal; Amantea and Craig Perigo Also Score
Flick, Norris, Rudolph and Dietz Victorious at Lernerville
Wagaman and Brenneman Top Williams Grove
Scott Dixon on top of INDYCAR Championship Standings after Team Penske Penalty
Borden Thrills at Port Royal; Robinson, Covert, and Hart also Score
Team Penske Penalized for St. Pete Infractions. Newgarden Stripped Of Win
Historic Stock Cars to run at Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix
Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway Cancels Saturday Program; Pivots To Flood Relief Drive
