Category: NTT Indy

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  • Newgarden rolls to a dominant victory in the first IndyCar doubleheader feature at Iowa

    Newgarden rolls to a dominant victory in the first IndyCar doubleheader feature at Iowa

    Josef Newgarden took the first swing in the first of an NTT IndyCar Series’ doubleheader feature at Iowa Speedway after winning the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 on Saturday, July 23.

    The two-time IndyCar champion from Hendersonville, Tennessee, led twice for a race-high 208 of 250 laps and managed to retain the top spot through a 76-lap dash to the finish to both carve his way through lapped traffic and hold off a hard-charging Pato O’Ward to claim his fourth victory of the 2022 IndyCar season along with his fourth victory at Iowa.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Will Power earned his 65th IndyCar career pole position after earning the top starting spot with a pole-winning lap at 178.199 mph in 18.0607 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Josef Newgarden, who posted his best qualifying lap at 177.782 mph in 18.1031 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Power rocketed with an early advantage ahead of Newgarden through the first two turns while Pato O’Ward challenged Conor Daly for third place. Following the completion of the first lap, Power’s No. 12 Verizon 5G Dallara-Chevrolet was out in front by a second over teammate Newgarden while Daly fended off O’Ward and Scott McLaughlin in third place.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Power remained out in front by one-and-a-half seconds over teammate Newgarden followed by Daly, O’Ward and McLaughlin while David Malukas, Rinus VeeKay, Jack Harvey, Marcus Ericsson and Felix Rosenqvist were in the top 10. Romain Grosjean was in 11th ahead of Alex Palou, Jimmie Johnson, Colton Herta and Takuma Sato while Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, Devlin DeFrancesco, Alexander Rossi and Simon Pagenaud were scored in the top 20.

    Seven laps later and with the leader Power approaching lapped traffic, the first caution of the event flew when Jimmie Johnson got loose and spun his No. 48 Carvana Dallara-Honda in Turn 4. During the caution period, 11 competitors, including Johnson and Ed Carpenter, pitted while the rest led by Power remained on the track.

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 23, Newgarden launched his No. 2 Hitachi Dallara-Chevrolet to the lead entering the first turn while Power settled in second ahead of O’Ward, Daly and McLaughlin.

    By Lap 35, Newgarden was out in front by more than three-tenths of a second over teammate Power followed by O’Ward, Daly and Marcus Ericsson while McLaughlin, VeeKay, Malukas, Herta and Rosenqvist occupied the top 10.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Newgarden continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Power while O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet trailed by more than a second in third place. Colton Herta and Ericsson were in the top five while McLaughlin, Helio Castroneves, VeeKay Rosenqvist and Jimmie Johnson were in the top 10. By then, names like Conor Daly, Simon Pagenaud David Malukas and Jack Harvey pitted under green.

    At the Lap 60 mark, Newgarden surrendered the lead to pit along with O’Ward, McLaughlin, Palou, VeeKay, Romain Grosjean, Takuma Sato, Marcus Ericsson, McLaughlin and Alexander Rossi. During the following lap, Power also pitted along with Herta, Rosenqvist, Dixon and Ilott.

    Once the first cycle of green flag pit stops concluded as Johnson, who led a handful of laps, pitted on Lap 80, Newgarden reassumed the lead as he was out in front by more than three seconds ahead of O’Ward while Power, Ericsson and Herta occupied the top five.  

    Through the first 100 scheduled laps, Newgarden was leading by nearly six seconds over O’Ward while Ericsson overtook Power for third place. McLaughlin was in fifth ahead of Dixon, Johnson, VeeKay, Rosenqvist and Herta while Castroneves, Ilott, Palou, Grosjean and Rossi were in the top 15. 

    Four laps later, Johnson, who pitted on Lap 80 for fresh tires, carved his way into the top five after overtaking teammate Dixon and McLaughlin on the track. Meanwhile, Newgarden remained as the leader by more than six seconds over O’Ward. In addition, Conor Daly pitted his No. 20 Bitnile Dallara-Chevrolet while running inside the top 20.

    Another seven laps later, the caution flew when Felix Rosenqvist, coming off his maiden podium result with Arrow McLaren SP at Toronto, slipped sideways and backed his No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet into the Turn 1 outside wall as he became the first competitor to retire. During the caution period, the leaders led by Newgarden pitted and Newgarden retained the lead after exiting his pit stall with the top spot ahead of O’Ward, Ericsson, Power, McLaughlin and Johnson. During the pit stops, trouble ensued for Colton Herta, who encountered a clutch issue to his No. 26 Gainbridge Dallara-Honda and could not exit his pit stall. By the time he returned to the track, he lost six laps to the leaders.

    When the event restarted on Lap 123, Newgarden took off with the lead while Ericsson muscled his No. 8 Huski Chocolate Dallara-Honda into the runner-up spot. Power would also overtake O’Ward for third place.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 125, Newgarden was ahead by four-tenths of a second over Ericsson and Power while O’Ward, McLaughlin, Johnson, Dixon, VeeKay, Palou and Ilott were in the top 10.

    Two laps later and as Power and O’Ward battled for third place, the caution returned due to debris reported on the track.

    When the event returned to green flag conditions on Lap 133, Newgarden retained the lead following another strong start. Through the backstretch, however, Ericsson launched his attack on Newgarden for the lead. During the following lap in Turn 3, both nearly made contact as Newgarden managed to remain as the leader. Another three laps later, Power gained a huge run on Ericsson entering the backstretch to assume the runner-up spot as Newgarden led by nearly half a second.

    With 100 laps remaining, Newgarden continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over teammate Power followed by Ericsson, O’Ward and McLaughlin. Behind, VeeKay and Johnson battled for sixth in front of Palou, Grosjean and Dixon. Rookie Christian Lundgaard was in 11th ahead of Callum Ilott, Castroneves, Devlin DeFrancesco and Alexander Rossi while Graham Rahal, Jack Harvey, rookie Kyle Kirkwood, David Malukas and Daly occupied the top 20.

    Ten laps later, the battle for the lead ignited between Team Penske’s Newgarden and Power after Newgarden, who briefly lost his momentum while making his way around the lapped car of Simon Pagenaud, had Power settling right behind his rear wing. Meanwhile, O’Ward trailed by more than a second in third place while Ericsson and McLaughlin settled in the top five. 

    On Lap 164, the caution returned when Ed Carpenter spun and wrecked his No. 33 Alzamend Neuro Dallara-Chevrolet against the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2. During the caution period, the leaders led by Newgarden pitted as Newgarden retained the lead upon exiting his stall first followed by teammate Power, O’Ward, McLaughlin, Alex Palou and Jimmie Johnson. During the pit stops, Rossi and O’Ward nearly collided on pit road as O’Ward was exiting his pit stall while Rossi was trying to enter his. 

    With 76 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Newgarden continued to lead ahead of teammate Power while Alex Palou overtook O’Ward on the outside lane in Turn 1 to move into third place. As O’Ward attempted to challenge Palou to reclaim the final podium spot, Palou kept his green No. 10 Ridgeline Lubricants Dallara-Honda ahead of O’Ward’s No. 5 entry as he went to work on Power for the runner-up spot. 

    With less than 60 laps remaining, Newgarden remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over teammate Power followed by Palou, O’Ward and Johnson. Meanwhile, McLaughlin, who was having a strong run towards the front, was two laps behind the leaders following issues during the previous restart as he pitted to address a loose right-rear wheel on his No. 3 Freightliner Dallara-Chevrolet.

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event and with the leaders approaching lapped traffic, Newgarden was leading by half a second over teammate Power while Palou, O’Ward and Johnson retained their spots in the top five. VeeKay settled in sixth ahead of Grosjean, Dixon, Ericsson and Graham Rahal. 

    Ten laps later, Newgarden stabilized his advantage to nearly eight-tenths of a second over teammate Power. Meanwhile, O’Ward was back in third ahead of Palou while VeeKay worked his way back into the top five ahead of Johnson.

    Another 15 laps later, Newgarden stabilized his advantage to nearly six-tenths of a second over the new runner-up competitor: O’Ward. Power settled back in third followed by Palou and VeeKay while Johnson, Grosjean, Dixon, Ericsson and Rahal were in the top 10.

    With 15 laps remaining, Newgarden extended his advantage to more than a second over O’Ward as Power, Palou and VeeKay settled in the top five. Meanwhile, Johnson fell back to eighth ahead of Rahal and Ericsson while Grosjean was up in sixth in front of Dixon.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Newgarden continued to lead by more than two seconds over O’Ward as the top-10 competitors stabilized their positions on the track.

    With five laps remaining, Newgarden stretched his lead to less than six seconds over O’Ward as VeeKay was up in fourth in between Power and Palou.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Newgarden remained as the leader by more than six seconds over O’Ward. Despite carving his way through lapped traffic, Newgarden was able to cycle his way back to the finish line under cruise control and claim his fourth checkered flag of the 2022 IndyCar season.

    In addition, Newgarden claimed his 24th NTT IndyCar Series career victory, the seventh of the season for Team Penske and first since winning at Road America in June. By winning at Iowa for the fourth time in his career, he also became the all-time winningest competitor at Iowa in the IndyCar Series. In terms of the championship battle, Newgarden now trails points leader Marcus Ericsson by 15 points as he retains his hopes of contending for his third IndyCar title.

    “It was pretty nice and easy out there,” Newgarden said on NBC. “It felt cool today. This car was good. I was surprised at how hard these guys were pushing on these restarts. This was a long game day and I think O’Ward definitely looked like was the toughest competitor all day to beat. I’m really proud of our team. I was disappointed after qualifying. I hate losing and I felt like we had enough to get the job done, and we didn’t. It motivated me. I knew we had the car here today to win this race and in front of this great crowd. This has been a great event and it’s one of my favorite tracks, so to be able to win here again, it’s always very special.”

    “We’re in the [title] fight,” Newgarden added. “We’re relatively there. We just got to figure out how to have more consistency. It’s either winning or going sideways on our weekend. I know we can do better than this. I just know consistently, we can do better than what we’ve been doing, but we’ll get there. I always got faith every weekend I show up with Team Penske.”

    O’Ward muscled his way to a strong runner-up result after finishing no higher than 11th during his three previous IndyCar starts while Will Power collected his fifth podium result of the season by finishing third.

    “I was pushing Josef at the end,” O’Ward said. “We didn’t quite have it, but I have to say the car was really good. We didn’t really start off as strong, but we kept making the car better and better every single stint. There at the end, I just think we took a little bit out of [Newgarden]. Getting by Will [Power] and getting by Alex [Palou] and getting by the lappers to try and catch [Newgarden]. We’ll see what we can make better for tomorrow, but the car was really good. A P2 is really good for where we are in the championship and for our weekend. It’s good to be here. I’m excited for tomorrow.”

    “I was really stoked to finish third,” Power said. “To hang on like that. Man, the tires were so gone at the end. It was crazy. It’s kind of fun like you’re sliding these things a lot. It was a good effort for our Chevy Verizon 5G car. Another top three [finish]. I look back on those as bad days. Good day.” 

    Rinus VeeKay and Dixon finished in the top five while Alex Palou, Grosjean, Ericsson, Graham Rahal and Christian Lundgaard completed the top 10 on the track. Meanwhile, Jimmie Johnson, who led 19 laps, made a strong recovery from his early spin to finish 11th after spending the majority of the event in the top 10.

    “That last run, we just went so far [that] I burned the right-rear tire off the car,” Johnson said. “But still, a very strong performance. Super happy for everybody here at Chip Ganassi Racing. Thankful for the support from Carvana, American Legion, everybody on this program. It was really a lot of fun today to be up there racing. [I] Had the outside lane working a lot of those restarts. Making up spots. Racing had with the regulars up front. It was a lot of fun.”

    There were four lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 33 laps.

    With his top-10 result, Marcus Ericsson continues to lead the standings by 15 points over Josef Newgarden, 22 over Will Power, 33 over Alex Palou, 38 over Scott Dixon, 59 over Pato O’Ward and 93 over Scott McLaughlin.

    Results.

    1. Josef Newgarden, 208 laps led

    2. Pato O’Ward

    3. Will Power, 23 laps led

    4. Rinus VeeKay

    5. Scott Dixon

    6. Alex Palou, one lap down

    7. Romain Grosjean, one lap down

    8. Marcus Ericsson, one lap down

    9. Graham Rahal, one lap down

    10. Christian Lundgaard, one lap down

    11. Jimmie Johnson, one lap down, 19 laps led

    12. Callum Ilott, one lap down

    13. Alexander Rossi, one lap down

    14. David Malukas, one lap down

    15. Kyle Kirkwood, one lap down

    16. Helio Castroneves, one lap down

    17. Devlin DeFrancesco, one lap down

    18. Jack Harvey, one lap down

    19. Conor Daly, one lap down

    20. Dalton Kellett, three laps down

    21. Takuma Sato, five laps down

    22. Scott McLaughlin, six laps down

    23. Simon Pagenaud, six laps down

    24. Colton Herta, eight laps down

    25. Ed Carpenter – OUT, Contact

    26. Felix Rosenqvist – OUT, Contact

    The second NTT IndyCar Series event of the weekend at Iowa Speedway is scheduled to occur on Sunday, July 24, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Newgarden Extends Mastery of Iowa with Another Victory

    Newgarden Extends Mastery of Iowa with Another Victory

    NEWTON, Iowa (Saturday, July 23, 2022) – It might be time to change the name of the city where Iowa Speedway is located from Newton to Newgardenton.

    Josef Newgarden became the all-time INDYCAR SERIES win leader at Iowa Speedway by capturing the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 presented by DoorDash on Saturday, his fourth career win at the .894-mile oval and his fourth win of the 2022 season in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet. Newgarden and Ryan Hunter-Reay both entered this race tied atop the all-time Iowa win list with three apiece.

    Newgarden, who started second, beat Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet to the checkered flag by 6.1784 seconds for his 24th career victory. NTT P1 Award winner Will Power finished third in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet on a scorching day in which air temperatures nearly reached 100 degrees.

    “I’m glad I wore this cool shirt,” Newgarden said. “It was actually pretty nice and easy in there, to be honest with you. The car was good. I was surprised at how hard these guys were pushing on the restarts. This is a long-game day.

    “I was disappointed after qualifying. I just hate losing, and I felt like we had enough to get the job done, and we didn’t. It motivated me. I knew we had a car here today to win this race in front of this great crowd. It’s one of my favorite tracks.”

    Two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Newgarden added this victory to his wins in 2016, 2019 and the second race of the Iowa doubleheader in 2020. He’ll get a chance to add to his win total at Iowa in the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 presented by Google at 3 p.m. ET Sunday, live on NBC and the INDYCAR Radio Network), starting second again behind teammate Power.

    Newgarden also passed Power for second in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship standings and clawed to within just 15 points of leader Marcus Ericsson, who finished eighth in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

    “I feel good,” Newgarden said. “We’ve been in the game. It’s just not where we want to be in the game. We’re in the fight; we’re relatively there. We just got to figure out how to have more consistency. It’s either winning or going sideways on our weekends.”

    There was nothing sideways about Newgarden’s performance today. He led 208 of the 250 laps and ran away from O’Ward over the last 25 trips around the “Fastest Short Track on the Planet.”

    Newgarden also has finished every lap in the last nine INDYCAR SERIES races at Iowa. That’s a stunning feat considering the perils of close-quarters oval racing and how easy it is to fall a lap down on a circuit where race laps take only 20 seconds.

    While Newgarden never trailed after Lap 80, O’Ward made it interesting during the final fuel and tire stint. O’Ward pulled to within eight-tenths of a second of the lead with 25 laps to go when Newgarden was held up in traffic.

    But once Newgarden cleared that thicket of cars, it was check-out time. He will split $10,000 with his team and his two charities, SeriousFun Children’s Network and Wags and Walks Nashville, for the victory as part of the PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge.

    “I was pushing Josef there at the end, but we didn’t quite have it,” O’Ward said. “We kept making the car better and better each stint. There at the end, I think we took a little bit out of them getting by Will and getting by Alex (Palou) and getting back the lappers trying to catch the No. 2.”

    Rinus VeeKay continued his recent resurgence by finishing fourth in the No. 21 Bitcoin Racing Team with BitNile Chevrolet, his second top-four finish in his last three starts. Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Scott Dixon followed his victory last Sunday at the Honda Indy Toronto by finishing fifth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

    Dixon is one of five drivers lurking within about a race’s worth of points from leader Ericsson. Newgarden is second, 15 points back; Power third, 22 behind; Palou fourth, 33 behind; Dixon fifth, 38 back; and O’Ward sixth, 59 back.

    Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson also was one of the stars of the show today, finishing 11th in the No. 48 Carvana Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Johnson made many brave moves in the highest groove of the racetrack to pass numerous foes. He led a career-high 19 laps – one of only three lap leaders today – and was running in the top five for a healthy portion of the race.

    While there were only three lap leaders, the competitive race featured 772 total on-track passes, including 372 for position.

    NEWTON, Iowa – Results Saturday of the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 presented by DoorDash NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 0.894-mile Iowa Speedway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

    1. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 250, Running
    2. (4) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 250, Running
    3. (1) Will Power, Chevrolet, 250, Running
    4. (8) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 250, Running
    5. (13) Scott Dixon, Honda, 250, Running
    6. (14) Alex Palou, Honda, 249, Running
    7. (10) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 249, Running
    8. (12) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 249, Running
    9. (16) Graham Rahal, Honda, 249, Running
    10. (20) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 249, Running
    11. (15) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 249, Running
    12. (22) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 249, Running
    13. (19) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 249, Running
    14. (6) David Malukas, Honda, 249, Running
    15. (24) Kyle Kirkwood, Chevrolet, 249, Running
    16. (25) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 249, Running
    17. (18) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 249, Running
    18. (7) Jack Harvey, Honda, 249, Running
    19. (3) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 249, Running
    20. (26) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 247, Running
    21. (9) Takuma Sato, Honda, 245, Running
    22. (5) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 244, Running
    23. (21) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 244, Running
    24. (17) Colton Herta, Honda, 242, Running
    25. (23) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 160, Contact
    26. (11) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 109, Contact

    Race Statistics
    Winner’s average speed: 134.674 mph
    Time of Race: 1:39:34.4218
    Margin of victory: 6.1784 seconds
    Cautions: 4 for 33 laps
    Lead changes: 4 among 3 drivers

    Lap Leaders:
    Power 1-22
    Newgarden 23-59
    Power 60
    Johnson 61-79
    Newgarden 80-250

    NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings:
    Ericsson 375, Newgarden 360, Power 353, Palou 342, Dixon 337, O’Ward 316, McLaughlin 282, Herta 260, Rossi 253, Pagenaud 250, Rosenqvist 249, VeeKay 243, Rahal 232, Grosjean 223, Daly 209, Lundgaard 203, Castroneves 187, Malukas 179, Sato 163, Harvey 138, Ilott 131, Johnson 128, DeFrancesco 124, Kirkwood 121, Kellett 86, Tony Kanaan 78, Santino Ferrucci 71, Tatiana Calderon 58, Carpenter 54, JR Hildebrand 53, Juan Pablo Montoya 44, Simona De Silvestro 21, Marco Andretti 17, Sage Karam 14, Stefan Wilson 10

  • McElrea Wins at Iowa after Post-Race Penalty on Lundqvist

    McElrea Wins at Iowa after Post-Race Penalty on Lundqvist

    NEWTON, Iowa (Saturday, July 23, 2022) – Hunter McElrea earned his second consecutive Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires victory Saturday, elevated to first place at Iowa Speedway after a post-race penalty was levied on Linus Lundqvist.

    Series points leader Lundqvist took the checkered flag first in the No. 26 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing car, 3.4258 seconds ahead of McElrea in the No. 27 Andretti Autosport car on the .894-mile oval. But INDYCAR officials determined Lundqvist made avoidable contact with Matthew Brabham in a duel for the lead with five laps to go, damaging Brabham’s front wing.

    Lundqvist was penalized three spots, dropping to fourth in the final results. That penalty gave Andretti Autosport a sweep of the top three spots. with pole sitter McElrea the winner, fellow rookie Christian Rasmussen second in the No. 28 Road to Indy/Stellrecht car and Brabham third in the No. 83 Andretti Autosport entry.

    “Not the way I want to get it, obviously,” McElrea said. “I think, to be honest, Matt deserved that. But I’ll take it. Back to back. You’ll take what you can get in this game.”

    McElrea’s victory in the first oval race of the Indy Lights season was the 250th across all series for Andretti Autosport.

    The flashpoint of the 75-lap race took place on Lap 71. Leader Lundqvist lost momentum in Turn 1, and Brabham pounced by steering to the outside lane, looking to pass as they drove nearly side by side entering Turn 2. Lundqvist moved up to the high line before he was clear of Brabham, making contact with and damaging Brabham’s front wing. Brabham also made right-side contact with the SAFER Barrier exiting Turn 2 while trying to avoid contact with Lundqvist.

    “It was a close fight,” Lundqvist said. “I got a little bit loose through (Turn) 1, and I saw that he was behind me. But I got a ‘clear’ from my spotter, so I switched my lane, and unfortunately I think my rear just touched his front nose. It’s inch-perfect on ovals, and I put my trust in the spotter. Sorry to Matt for the incident.”

    Said Brabham: “My perspective is that I got drove into the wall. It looked like he was struggling coming off that corner, and I took the high line and he took the low line. It looked like he just committed to going low and trying to block for the next corner. I said, ‘If you’re going to give me the top, I’ll take the top.’ There was overlap, and we’re still side by side, and I felt like he figured out, ‘Oh, maybe he doesn’t want to give me the top,’ and came over.

    “He said his spotter cleared him. But we still have mirrors, at the end of the day. He knew I was there because he was giving me the lane at first.”

    Brabham hung on to second place on track in his damaged car until the final lap, when teammates McElrea and Rasmussen passed him.

    McElrea led the first 50 laps from pole, resisting a move by Lundqvist for the lead on Lap 35. But Lundqvist passed McElrea for the lead on the only restart of the race, on Lap 50. McElrea’s car drifted toward the SAFER Barrier in Turn 4 as the field headed for the green flag on the restart, giving Lundqvist a huge opening to exploit.

    “That restart, I don’t know what I did,” McElrea said. “I’ll have to look back, look at the footage and stuff. Really not good enough to get up in the marbles like that.”

    Despite losing what would have been his fifth victory of 2022 to the penalty, Lundqvist still maintains a sizable lead in the series standings with five races remaining this season. He is 77 points ahead of McElrea, who leapfrogged teammates Sting Ray Robb and Brabham to jump from fourth to second in the championship.

    Indy Lights drivers and teams return to action Sunday, Aug. 7 at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, Tennessee.

    About Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires

    Celebrating 35 years, Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires develops drivers and teams to compete in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Past champions include INDYCAR SERIES champions Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Paul Tracy and Cristiano da Matta. In 2021, 20 drivers in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES were Indy Lights graduates, including rising stars and race winners Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward and Rinus VeeKay. The 2022 season consists of 14 races in the United States. The NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Indy Lights, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IMS Productions are owned by Penske Corporation, a global transportation, automotive and motorsports leader. For more information on Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, please visit www.indylights.com. For more information on INDYCAR and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, please visit www.indycar.com.

    About Cooper Tire

    Cooper Tire, a subsidiary of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ: GT), specializes in the design, manufacture, marketing and sale of passenger car, light truck, medium truck, motorcycle and racing tires. Cooper is headquartered in Findlay, Ohio, with manufacturing, sales, distribution, technical and design operations located in more than one dozen countries around the world. For more information on Cooper, visit www.coopertire.com, www.facebook.com/coopertire or www.twitter.com/coopertire.

    About Goodyear

    Goodyear is one of the world’s largest tire companies. It employs about 72,000 people and manufactures its products in 55 facilities in 23 countries around the world. Its two Innovation Centers in Akron, Ohio, and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, strive to develop state-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry. For more information about Goodyear and its products, go to www.goodyear.com/corporate.

  • CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES AT IOWA: TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE RECAP HI-VEE DOUBLE HEADER

    CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES AT IOWA: TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE RECAP HI-VEE DOUBLE HEADER

    CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
    HY-VEE DOUBLE HEADER
    IOWA SPEEDWAY
    NEWTON, IOWA

    TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE RECAP

    WILL POWER LEADS ONLY PRACTICE AT IOWA SPEEDWAY

    FOUR TEAM CHEVY DRIVERS IN TOP-FIVE IN INCIDENT-FREE 90 MINUTE SESSION

    NEWTON, IOWA (July 22, 2022) – Will Power set a blistering lap of 173.285 mph in an incident-free 90-minute practice at Iowa Speedway. The driver of the No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet led four Chevrolet-powered drivers in the top-five in preparation for the only doubleheader on the 2022 NTT INDYCAR Series season.

    Despite the temperature hovering over 90 degrees, Power’s lap was almost two miles an hour faster than when the Series’ last raced at the 7/8-mile oval east of Des Moines in 2020. Conor Daly, No. 20 BitNile Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet and Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Freightliner Team Penske Chevrolet were second and third in the final practice order and the only other drivers to exceed the 173-mph mark.

    Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, was fifth quickest and three-time Iowa winner Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet was seventh when the session concluded.

    Qualifying for both the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 and the Hi-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 is Saturday morning at 9:30 am CT and will be broadcast on Peacock and INDY CAR Radio.

    Team Chevy fans on-site at Iowa Speedway can enjoy all that the Chevrolet Motorsports display has to offer in the Fan Midway. The Chevrolet Motorsports Display opens at 2 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. Sunday. Numerous Chevrolet vehicles and other highlights include:

    · •2023 Corvette Z06

    · Additional Chevrolet products such as Silverado ZR2, Tahoe Z71, Blazer RS, Equinox RS, Trailblazer Activ and Camaro ZL1

    · A Chevrolet IndyCar showcar

    · An opportunity to receive a 2022 Chevrolet Racing t-shirt

    Chevrolet also will serve as the official pace car with a Corvette Stingray Coupe leading the field to green.

    Chevrolet and the NTT INDYCAR Series return to Iowa Speedway with two races: the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday and the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday. Each event will air live on NBC, Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network. Live timing and scoring will be available at racecontrol.indycar.com.

    Will Power

    Press Conference

    THE MODERATOR: We are joined by three-time pole winner here, Will Power, driving the Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, quickest today. Were you happy with what happened today, Will?

    WILL POWER: Yeah, definitely. Happy with the test. Tried a few things. I think we’re in theindow. Obviously a lot of good cars and drivers, so you’re never going to predict who is going to be where. I’m hoping to finally have a good qualifying, at least start at the front.

    But, yeah, I feel good about the car.

    THE MODERATOR: Let’s go ahead and take questions.

    Q. Do you really feel the sense of speed on the oval rather than some of the road and street circuits?

    WILL POWER: Yeah, I think it’s a great track because it has multiple lanes, a lot of tire degradation, bumps. Tricky. It’s my favorite oval. I really, really enjoy it here.

    Q. Will, saw you run the second lane a little bit. Is that something you’re going to have to be able to do tomorrow to hang on to the tires for a tire stint?

    WILL POWER: I just think you’re going to be wherever a car in front of you is not. It’s not even a tire deg thing. It’s where can I get clean air. There’s probably three sort of lanes in a way that you can find places. Hopefully it creates a good race.

    Q. Will, you’ve qualified really well in Iowa in the past. Your entire career your best finish here is second. Are you set up pretty well to get a win this weekend?

    WILL POWER: Yeah, if you start at the front, it certainly helps. It’s difficult to make a lot of ground, so you want to definitely start in that top 10.

    It’s a difficult race to win when Josef Newgarden is in the game. He’s had a very strong career at this track (smiling). Yeah, I think he’ll always be in the mix. But I’ve got the same car. Hopefully I can make it work.

    Q. Will, the consensus it seemed like coming out of the test was that Penske was in a different league. Did you still feel that way today?

    WILL POWER: Man, I had cars at the test I thought were pretty strong as well. McLaren looked good. When teams have our setup… We know McLaren has got it, because an engineer went there. Andretti has it because Pagenaud brought it over.

    Maybe that I run that. We’ve certainly changed since ’19. Tires changed, so it is a different car. I get the sort of philosophy.

    Q. You weren’t looking at this race as a huge opportunity to gain major points in the championship?

    WILL POWER: You just can’t tell in this series. You can’t. You don’t know when a yellow will fall. You can’t say, Okay, I’m going to have this race that I’m going to get points. It may just not be the case. You’ve got to take every race, put everything into, because you never know.

    Q. What do you think of the format?

    WILL POWER: That’s a tough one. I was thinking about the same thing. I’m like, Man, how do you get out of bed then try to go as fast as you can around Iowa for two laps?

    Q. Will, you’ve been coming here since 2008. Does it look like a different track to you?

    WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, it’s amazing what Hy-Vee has done. Like Romain was saying, it’s what we’ve got to aim for. It’s the sponsor. Hearing the CEO speak from Hy-Vee, I mean, he has the right idea. He understands it. Doesn’t need to be a race, it’s got to be an event. That’s exactly what they’re doing.

    It’s amazing. Our racing is a pure racing sort of series. Formula 1, it’s hard to compare, it really is. You come here, we’re all in the same garage. Kind of almost tradition. I like INDYCAR, it’s so pure. Everyone has the same car, same opportunity for racing.

    Q. We didn’t do the doubleheader in Detroit. We’re doing it here in Iowa. What will be the challenges?

    WILL POWER: Two bumpy tracks, similar. Yeah, I mean, same amount of points. It’s similar, except it’s an oval. You can’t really predict who is going to win. You can put your money on someone that has a good probability, but really you don’t know.

    Q. Do you think the heat is going to affect you more here?

    WILL POWER: Yeah. Man, it’s tough. It’s hot. Since the grip level has gone down, it’s not as physical. The wheel is a little lighter. You’re not like just holding on for two hours dying.

    Q. Will, you took pole here in 2010. Can you compare the method it took to get fastest lap today compared with that pole lap? Are the differences down to completely different car formula or how the bumps has evolved or your driving style?

    WILL POWER: It’s completely different. Back in ’10, we actually tried to run the white line. You could run the short line for speed. I think it was wide open. Must have been close to wide open. I think in ’08, wide open for sure. Yeah, you’re just doing a short line. Now you’re more to the wall, down the apex, and you’re lifting. Yeah, quite different.

    THE MODERATOR: Thank you for coming in, Will.

    WILL POWER: Thank you.

    ABOUT CHEVROLET:

    Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in nearly 80 countries with nearly 2.7 million cars and trucks sold in 2021. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

  • Series Leader Lundqvist Paces Opening Practice at Iowa

    Series Leader Lundqvist Paces Opening Practice at Iowa

    NEWTON, Iowa (Friday, July 22, 2022) – Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires championship leader Linus Lundqvist found himself in a familiar spot after the first practice Friday for the race Saturday at Iowa Speedway – on top.

    Lundqvist, from Sweden, led the field of 13 drivers with a fast lap of 20.3402 seconds, 158.229 mph on the .894-mile oval in the No. 26 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing car. The first oval race of the 2022 Lights season is scheduled for 12:20 p.m. ET Saturday (live on Peacock Premium), with qualifying preceding the race at 9:30 a.m. (live on INDYCAR Live!).

    None of the drivers competing in the 75-lap race Saturday has previous racing experience at Iowa in an Indy Lights, Indy Pro 2000 Presented by Cooper Tires or Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship car. Lundqvist leads the championship by 87 points over Sting Ray Robb of Andretti Autosport with six races to go this season.

    “We had the official test here a couple of weeks ago, so we came here knowing we had to do a few little tweaks,” Lundqvist said. “Obviously, we’re a little more comfortable running here a second time.

    “It’s a big difference from Gateway (World Wide Technology Raceway oval). Even though (Iowa) is a short oval, they have so many different characteristics. The high line is very big around here. You look at some past races here, and you see guys going side by side for four, five, six laps. I’m looking forward to the race. Good practice for us.”

    Andretti Autosport drivers took the next three spots on the speed chart. Matthew Brabham was second at 157.978 mph in the No. 83 Andretti Autosport car, followed by Hunter McElrea at 157.762 in the No. 27 Andretti car and Christian Rasmussen at 157.661 in the team’s No. 28 Road to Indy/Stellrecht car.

    Jacob Abel rounded out the top five at 157.619 in the No. 51 Abel Speedwagon entry.

    The 50-minute session was clean, with one caution for a track inspection. The 13-driver field combined to turn 799 laps, with Brabham leading the individual laps turned list with 83 trips around the “Fastest Short Track on the Planet.”

    Event: Indy Lights at Iowa Speedway
    Track:
    Report:
    Session: Practice 1
    Indy Lights
    0.894 mile(s)
    Round 9
    Rank Car Driver Name C/E/T Time Speed Diff Gap Best Lap Total Laps
    1 26 Lundqvist, Linus D/ /C 00:20.3402 158.229 –.—- –.—- 66 68
    2 83 Brabham, Matthew D/ /C 00:20.3724 157.978 0.0322 0.0322 73 83
    3 27 McElrea, Hunter (R) D/ /C 00:20.4004 157.762 0.0602 0.0280 45 48
    4 28 Rasmussen, Christian (R) D/ /C 00:20.4134 157.661 0.0732 0.0130 56 58
    5 51 Abel, Jacob (R) D/ /C 00:20.4188 157.619 0.0786 0.0054 63 69
    6 2 Robb, Sting Ray D/ /C 00:20.4941 157.040 0.1539 0.0753 10 60
    7 68 Frost, Danial D/ /C 00:20.4976 157.014 0.1574 0.0035 50 51
    8 24 Pedersen, Benjamin D/ /C 00:20.5074 156.938 0.1672 0.0098 50 51
    9 7 Bogle, Christian D/ /C 00:20.6021 156.217 0.2619 0.0947 10 66
    10 21 Simpson, Kyffin (R) D/ /C 00:20.6950 155.516 0.3548 0.0929 68 69
    11 99 Francis Jr., Ernie (R) D/ /C 00:20.7754 154.914 0.4352 0.0804 43 66
    12 11 Serravalle, Antonio D/ /C 00:21.0410 152.959 0.7008 0.2656 29 49
    13 12 Roe, James (R) D/ /C 00:21.1341 152.285 0.7939 0.0931 44 61
    (R) Rookie Total Laps: 799

    About Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires

    Celebrating 35 years, Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires develops drivers and teams to compete in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Past champions include INDYCAR SERIES champions Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Paul Tracy and Cristiano da Matta. In 2021, 20 drivers in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES were Indy Lights graduates, including rising stars and race winners Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward and Rinus VeeKay. The 2022 season consists of 14 races in the United States. The NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Indy Lights, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IMS Productions are owned by Penske Corporation, a global transportation, automotive and motorsports leader. For more information on Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, please visit www.indylights.com. For more information on INDYCAR and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, please visit www.indycar.com.

    About Cooper Tire

    Cooper Tire, a subsidiary of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ: GT), specializes in the design, manufacture, marketing and sale of passenger car, light truck, medium truck, motorcycle and racing tires. Cooper is headquartered in Findlay, Ohio, with manufacturing, sales, distribution, technical and design operations located in more than one dozen countries around the world. For more information on Cooper, visit www.coopertire.com, www.facebook.com/coopertire or www.twitter.com/coopertire.

    About Goodyear

    Goodyear is one of the world’s largest tire companies. It employs about 72,000 people and manufactures its products in 55 facilities in 23 countries around the world. Its two Innovation Centers in Akron, Ohio, and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, strive to develop state-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry. For more information about Goodyear and its products, go to www.goodyear.com/corporate.

  • CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES AT IOWA: TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE

    CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES AT IOWA: TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE

    CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
    HY-VEE DOUBLE HEADER
    IOWA SPEEDWAY
    NEWTON, IOWA
    TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE

    Chevrolet Aims to Double Up in Return to Iowa
    Team Chevy INDYCAR program brings strong history back to short oval

    DETROIT (June 21, 2022) – After a year away, Chevrolet’s teams in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES head back to the Midwest for a twin-bill at a most unique venue on the 2022 schedule: the 0.875-mile Iowa Speedway.

    INDYCAR squads will race at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday in the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250, followed the next day at 3 p.m. ET by the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300. Each event will air live on NBC, Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

    Chevrolet returns to Iowa carrying the lead in the INDYCAR Engine Manufacturer Championship – as it has done since the first race at St. Petersburg in February. Through 10 races, Chevrolet teams have claimed seven race wins by four different drivers and six pole positions by six different drivers from three different teams.

    Now Team Chevy has its sights set on Iowa, a venue where the manufacturer has achieved incredible success. It’s the perfect place for a rebound from a disappointing race at Toronto

    “We’re all looking forward to returning to Iowa Speedway for this year’s doubleheader,” said Rob Buckner, Chevrolet Program Manager for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. “It’s a classic American short track where things happen very quickly. After a weekend like Toronto, there’s nothing like getting back to racing right away at a place where we have traditionally been strong. We need to keep piling up points and results.”

    There haven’t been many places where Chevrolet has done that more than Iowa. The Bowtie brand has seven wins and nine pole positions in 10 races… plus it has set the fastest race laps in all 10 previous appearances since 2012.

    Team Chevy swept the podium in 2013, 2014 and 2016 and has 20 podiums out of a possible 30.

    Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 2 PPG Chevrolet, is a three-time winner at Iowa – tied for the most all-time at the circuit. He is one of five drivers to take victory at Iowa with Chevrolet power.

    Ed Carpenter returns to the cockpit of the No. 33 Alzamend Neuro Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet.

    Team Chevy on Display

    While on-site at Iowa, Team Chevy fans can enjoy all that the Chevrolet Motorsports display, located in the Fan Midway. The Chevrolet Motorsports Display opens at 2 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. Sunday. Numerous Chevrolet vehicles and other highlights include:

    • 2023 Corvette Z06

    • Additional Chevrolet products such as Silverado ZR2, Tahoe Z71, Blazer RS, Equinox RS, Trailblazer Activ and Camaro ZL1

    • A Chevrolet IndyCar showcar

    • An opportunity to receive a 2022 Chevrolet Racing t-shirt

    Chevrolet also will serve as the official pace car with a Corvette Stingray Coupe leading the field to green.

    Chevrolet and the NTT INDYCAR Series return to Iowa Speedway with two races: the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday and the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday. Each event will air live on NBC, Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network. Live timing and scoring will be available at racecontrol.indycar.com.

    BY THE NUMBERS: Chevrolet in INDYCAR

    · 1: Chevrolet’s position in the INDYCAR Engine Manufacturer standings after nine races

    · 2: Consecutive front-row starts in the Indianapolis 500 for Rinus Veekay of Ed Carpenter Racing

    · 3: Victories at Iowa for Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden (2016, 2019, 2020)

    · 5: Number of drivers to win at Iowa with Chevrolet power since 2012: Will Power (2007, 2010, 2016) and Josef Newgarden (2015, 2017)

    · 4: Consecutive victories by Chevrolet to open the 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES. Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin won the pole and race at St. Petersburg. Penske teammate Josef Newgarden won at Texas and Long Beach, and Pato O’Ward was victorious at Barber Motorsport Park for Arrow McLaren SP

    · 6: Different Chevrolet drivers to win races dating back to the start of 2020. Scott McLaughlin was the most recent at St. Petersburg

    · 6: Number of Manufacturer Championships in the NTT INDYCAR Series since 2012

    · 6: Number of Team Chevy Driver/Entrant championships since 2012

    · 9: Pole positions for Chevrolet-powered entries at Iowa

    · 10: Consecutive fastest race laps at Iowa Speedway for Team Chevy drivers

    · 14: Consecutive seasons with at least one win by Will Power, including past 11 with Chevrolet. He won at Belle Isle in 2022

    · 26: Wins by Will Power since 2012. All have come with Chevrolet, giving him the most of any driver with same manufacturer

    · 39: Pole starts by Will Power since 2012 in a Chevrolet-powered car, most of any driver

    · 102: Chevrolet victories in NTT INDYCAR SERIES since 2012

    · 110: Earned poles by Chevrolet since 2012

    · 175: NTT INDYCAR SERIES races as V6 engine supplier since 2012 return to INDYCAR

    ABOUT CHEVROLET:

    Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in nearly 80 countries with nearly 2.7 million cars and trucks sold in 2021. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

  • Pato O’Ward to reach 50 IndyCar career starts at Iowa

    Pato O’Ward to reach 50 IndyCar career starts at Iowa

    Competing in his third full-time season in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Patricio “Pato” O’Ward is primed for a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s doubleheader feature at Iowa Speedway, the driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet will achieve 50 career starts in the IndyCar circuit. 

    A native of Monterrey, Mexico, O’Ward made his IndyCar debut at Sonoma Raceway in September 2018, which marked the final race of the season. By then, he had achieved the 2018 Indy Lights championship title for Andretti Autosport. Driving the No. 8 Dallara-Chevrolet for Harding Racing, O’Ward started fifth and finished ninth in his debut.

    The following season, O’Ward, who departed Harding Steinbrenner Racing due to sponsorship issues that prevented him from competing with the team on a full-time basis, joined Carlin on a part-time basis in the No. 31 Dallara-Chevrolet. During his first start of the season at the Circuit of the Americas in March, he started and finished a season-best eighth. O’Ward returned for the next five of six events of the schedule, where he finished 12th at California’s Long Beach Street Circuit in April and 11th at The Raceway at Bell Isle, Michigan during a doubleheader feature in June. The low point for O’Ward during this span was failing to qualify for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 in May. His seventh and final start of the season was at Road America in June, where he started 13th and finished 17th.

    For the 2020 IndyCar season, O’Ward joined Arrow McLaren SP as driver of the No. 5 Dallara-Chevrolet. Commencing the season with a 12th-place result at Texas Motor Speedway in June and two consecutive eighth-place results during the following two events, O’Ward came within striking distance of claiming his maiden IndyCar victory in the second of a Road America doubleheader feature in July. Starting on pole position for the first time in his career, he led a race-high 43 of 55 laps but was overtaken by future teammate Felix Rosenqvist on the penultimate lap as he settled in a career-best second place.

    Three races later, O’Ward notched a strong sixth-place result in the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 in August, where he was named the Indy 500 Rookie-of-the-Year recipient. The following weekend during a doubleheader feature at Gateway Motorsports Park, he notched two consecutive podium results and was up in fourth place in the standings. When the season concluded at the Streets of St. Petersburg in October, O’Ward, who notched his third runner-up result, capped off his first full-time campaign in IndyCar competition in fourth place in the final standings along with a pole and four podiums.

    Remaining at Arrow McLaren SP in 2021, O’Ward started the season on a strong note by starting on pole and finishing in fourth place at Barber Motorsports Park in April. Three races later and during the second of a doubleheader feature at Texas Motor Speedway, O’Ward scored his maiden IndyCar victory following a late battle with Josef Newgarden. As a result, O’Ward became the first Mexican competitor to win in the IndyCar Series since Adrian Fernandez won at California Speedway in October 2004. He also recorded the first victory for the team that was once Schmidt Peterson Motorsports since James Hinchcliffe won at Iowa Speedway in July 2018. By winning at Texas, O’Ward fulfilled a deal made with McLaren CEO Zak Brown prior to the 2021 season, where the rising Mexican star would receive a McLaren F1 test at season’s end if he recorded a victory in the IndyCar circuit.

    Four races following his maiden IndyCar victory, O’Ward achieved his second career victory in the second of a Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix doubleheader feature at the Belle Isle Street Circuit in June following another late battle against Newgarden. By then, he emerged with a one-point advantage in the drivers’ standings.

    As the 2021 IndyCar season progressed, O’Ward remained in the cusp of a close championship battle against Alex Palou, Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon. After finishing second at Gateway’s World Wide Technology Raceway in August, O’Ward was leading the standings by 10 points over Palou. During the following two events, however, Palou, who won at Portland during this span while O’Ward managed a fifth-place result at Laguna Seca, reassumed the championship lead and led O’Ward by 35 points entering the season-finale event at the Streets of Long Beach. During the finale, however, O’Ward was involved in an early incident with Ed Jones, where Jones spun O’Ward. Despite continuing, the Mexican eventually retired due to a broken driveshaft originating from his spin. The end result saw O’Ward conclude his sophomore season in a career-best third place in the 2021 final standings along with two victories, five podiums, three poles and an average-finishing result of 8.3.

    This season, O’Ward notched his third IndyCar career victory at Barber Motorsports Park in May following a late battle against Palou and Rinus VeeKay. To go along with a strong runner-up result in this year’s 106th running of the Indianapolis 500, a pole at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course during the Fourth of July weekend and an average-finishing result of 12.0, he currently sits in sixth place in the drivers’ standings and trails points leader Marcus Ericsson by 75 points.

    Through 48 previous IndyCar starts, O’Ward has achieved three victories, five poles, 11 podiums, 411 laps led and an average-finishing result of 9.7.

    O’Ward is scheduled to make his 49th career start in the NTT INDYCAR Series in the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 at Iowa Speedway on Saturday, July 23, at 4 p.m. ET on NBC before achieving his 50th series start in the Salute to Farmers 300 at Iowa on Sunday, July 24, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC

  • CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR AT TORONTO: Rosenqvist scores podium finish

    CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR AT TORONTO: Rosenqvist scores podium finish

    CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
    HONDA INDY TORONTO
    STREETS OF TORONTO

    TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE RECAP AND TRANSCRIPT

    Rosenqvist scores season-best third place for Team Chevy
    McLaughlin, Newgarden also finish in top 10 on tough day on Toronto circuit

    TORONTO (July 17, 2022) — Though disappointed by missing the Firestone Fast Six qualifying session by a scant margin, Felix Rosenqvist said “we can do some damage from P8” in the No. 7 Circle K Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet.

    The 30-year-old Swede was prophetic. Rosenqvist drove to a season-best third place to lead the Chevrolet Racing contingent in the Honda Indy Toronto on the 1.786-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit.

    Scott McLaughlin, winner of the last NTT INDYCAR SERIES race earlier this month, finished ninth in the No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet and two-time Toronto winner Josef Newgarden drove to 10th place in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet.

    “What a fun race. Big thanks to all of the Arrow McLaren SP Circle K guys,” said Rosenqvist, whose previous best finish through nine races was fourth in the Indianapolis 500. “I had to fight really hard for it. The strategy for the race is you had to overtake on track and have great pit stops. I think we nailed that.

    “We took the opportunities we had and that slowly moved us forward.”

    After the front-running Rinus Veekay, driving the No. 21 Bitcoin Racing Team with BitNile Chevrolet, pitted for the final time on Lap 61 of 85, Rosenqvist moved to third behind Scott Dixon and Colton Herta. He challenged for second, getting to .8735 of a second behind Herta’s Honda, but couldn’t overtake on the tight serpentine circuit.

    Dixon earned his first victory of the season and fourth at Toronto, which moved the veteran driver into a tie with Mario Andretti with second in the all-time list with 52 wins. A.J. Foyt leads with 67.

    Will Power, who was hampered by qualifying 16th in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, moved up to 12th early on but was behind traffic most of the race and placed 15th. Power remained second in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES standings – 34 points behind Marcus Ericsson.

    Chevrolet retained the manufacturer points lead.

    Chevrolet teams continue the stretch of five races in four consecutive weekends with the doubleheader on the .875-mile Iowa Speedway trioval. NBC will telecast both races live at 4 p.m. ET July 23 and 3 p.m. ET July 24.

    PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, FINISHED 11TH:

    “Toronto was a weekend to forget for the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP team. I saved as many points as I could. We started near the back and lost a lot of positions on the start so then it was even more work that we had to do to make our way to a decent points finish. We had some good track position in the pit stop sequence and got ourselves near the top 10 — not quite in the top 10 but an 11th finish, which is definitely better than where we started and then where we fell back to, so I can’t complain.”

    Felix Rosenqvist transcript:

    THIS IS YOUR BEST FINISH OF THE SEASON. YOUR LAST PODIUM WAS IN 2020 AT ROAD AMERICA. TELL US ABOUT YOUR DAY.

    “It’s been a good weekend. A good race, as well. I don’t think we’ve been the fastest all weekend, but I just did the basics right. I think we did a good lap in qualify, got us to P8. Then the strategy in the race. Obviously in Toronto it’s hard to pass. The plan was if you have an opportunity, try to pass, nail the pit stops. I think we had an advantageous pit stall this weekend in the left turn, which probably gives you like a second, second and a half compared to some other guys who are in the right turn. All those kind of things together I think allowed us to go forward in the race. We were saving a lot of fuel early on. It looked like we were going to have a big advantage there at the end. That last yellow kind of played into Colton and Scott’s favor. Congrats to Scott, by the way. Good to see him back on the P1. I think it was a fun race. Good, hard battles out there on a good, hard track. Very physical. Very warm. Yeah, no, good fun.”

    FELIX, THE INCIDENT WITH ROSSI. COULD YOU WALK US THROUGH SETTING UP THE PASS?

    “I had a good run. He looked a bit weak in the braking on three. I did kind of a little surprise move. Was fairly far up by the time we turned in. I kind of thought that he had already given up on the corner. I just saw him, like, hang around the outside. I was like, Okay. I mean, fair play if you want to try to go around outside. At some point you run out of road. I think he probably bumped his wheel or something. That’s kind of what it felt like. He ran into my side pod, probably lost a wheel and hit the wall. I don’t know if it was fair play, to be honest. He normally races hard. I’ve been racing him previously where it’s been to his advantage in that situation and I’ve lost a bunch of spots. Today he lost his race. Obviously, I don’t want to see him in the wall, but it was just a hard pass, hard racing. There wasn’t a penalty, so I think that kind of explains everything.”

    FELIX, YOU AND COLTON PITTED ON THE SAME LAP. YOU HAD ALL THE OVERTAKE IN THE WORLD LEFT. WAS THAT BY DESIGN?

    “I think the nature of the track, it’s so hard to pass, even if you’re three, four, six times quicker, it’s just really hard to get by. So I was trying to just save fuel, save ‘push to pass’, and then at the end if there was something, that was going to be the time. The last three laps I was just using ‘push to pass’ on every straight pretty much. Yeah, I mean, even then it’s hard to pass. I was, yeah, kind of bummed when the last yellow came because I thought we had a little bit of a fuel advantage. It is what’s. I think we gave it everything. Colton was just a little bit too quick to pass today.”

    FELIX, YOU SAID ON TV YOU HOPE YOU GAVE ZAK SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT. ARE YOU SORT OF LOCKED INTO THIS WITH MCLAREN OR IS THERE STILL ROOM FOR YOU TO BE IN INDYCAR NEXT YEAR IF NOT WITH MCLAREN?

    “That’s entirely a question for Zak. I’ve made my point that I’m very happy with the team. I think it shows, a super group. I think we worked hard the last two years to kind of build up a very strong team. We have good strategy, good pit stops. I think I’m able to extract most out of the car most weekends now. Yeah, I think if you asked me end of last year, obviously it would have been a different answer. But right now I’m just very happy where I’m at. I think I would be crazy if I said I wanted to go somewhere else. You always have to be thankful for every opportunity you have. Sort of like an (indiscernible) in motorsports if it’s here, Europe, Japan, whatever. It’s a few drivers in the world that get to do that. I want to be where I’m at right now. Yeah, I think Arrow McLaren SP has pretty much become a home for me. Yeah, it’s up to Zak. He’s the man who is making the moves. Probably going to take a couple weeks before we know more. Hopefully today changed something. My ambition is to keep proving it that way.”

    PERSONALLY, HOW GOOD DOES IT FEEL TO GET THIS PODIUM?

    “It was massively overdue. We had so many good races. Even last year when we had such a struggle year, we still had times where we were fighting for wins. Just things end up happening. Mid-Ohio was pretty much a perfect race until we had a technical failure that ended our race. Texas earlier this year. Just so many races. Obviously I don’t like to say what could have happened. I think everyone on the team was ready for at least a podium, and also a win coming up here soon hopefully. Yeah, really, really good. Really good just for the guys on the car to give them something more than P4 or P5.”

    WHAT WAS IT LIKE HANDLING TURN 3, ESPECIALLY WITH ALL THE AGGRESSION OUT THERE?

    “It’s just a hairpin end of the day. No, it was a good one for me today. I did most of my passing going into three. Yeah, I don’t know what more to say about it. One where Rossi was obviously unfortunate. Hey, racing.”

    FELIX, WITH ALL OF THE NEWS SWIRLING ABOUT ALEX, DO YOU HAVE ANY MORE INFORMATION ON YOUR SERIES NEXT SEASON?

    ” By the sound of it, it doesn’t sound like Alex has — I mean, I don’t know what’s going on there. At the moment it doesn’t sound like he’s going to race at all. Yeah, it’s up to lawyers and stuff.

    Honestly it’s not my business at all. I think honestly it hasn’t really changed anything. This whole deal went down months ago. I didn’t know all the details of it that I know now, but nothing has actually changed.

    I think if Zak was sure I was going to FE, he would have already said it. I’m going to take that chance. If there’s a chance for me to be here next year, I’m going to try to prove I can do that.

    SCOTT’S WIN TODAY TIED HIM WITH MARIO ANDRETTI. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HIS CAREER?

    “Yeah, I mean, we were teammates back in ’19 and 2020. Yeah, no, huge respect. I don’t think I know anyone who’s has competitive as Scott. If he had lost a bit of speed the last couple of years, it’s like he’s just going to find a way to get back. I don’t know, I mean, it shows today. He’s had a rough, for him, last two years. He’s just able to keep coming back and winning every year. I think it’s really impressive.

    I know how much he wants it. I think he’s like the ultimate role model for young drivers out there. I mean, I don’t know how old he is now, but just shows if you want something, you can do it. No matter how old or how bad of a season you have, you can always come back if you want it bad.”

    ABOUT CHEVROLET:

    Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in nearly 80 countries with nearly 2.7 million cars and trucks sold in 2021. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

  • Dixon wins at Toronto, ties Mario Andretti for second place on all-time wins list

    Dixon wins at Toronto, ties Mario Andretti for second place on all-time wins list

    The NTT IndyCar Series’ return to the north of the border produced two achievements for Scott Dixon after Dixon prevailed over a 19-run dash to the finish to win the Honda Indy Toronto at the Exhibition Place in Toronto, Canada, on Sunday, July 17.

    The six-time IndyCar champion from Brisbane, Australia, who started on the front row alongside pole-sitter Colton Herta, utilized his planned pit strategy to perfection as he cycled to the lead on Lap 32 of 85. From there, he led a total of 40 laps as he fended Herta and Felix Rosenqvist to snap a 23-race winless drought and move into a tie with Mario Andretti for second place on the all-time IndyCar Series wins list with his 52nd career victory.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Colton Herta became the first multi-pole winner of this season after he clocked in a pole-winning lap at 108.480 mph in 59.2698 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Scott Dixon, whose best time occurred at 108.317 mph in 59.3592 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Herta cleared the field entering the first turn and took off with the lead followed by Dixon while Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi battled for third in front of Scott McLaughlin and David Malukas. As the field filed in a long single-file line through 11-turn street circuit, Herta led the first lap over Dixon.

    During the following lap, however, the first caution flew due to debris in Turn 8 and when an early contact within the field resulted with Takuma Sato’s left-front tire to blow and his left-front suspension to break as his event came to an early end. Under caution, some like rookie Kyle Kirkwood, Dalton Kellett and Conor Daly pitted while the rest led by Herta remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on the fourth lap, Herta retained the lead ahead of Dixon and Newgarden while Felix Rosenqvist made an early move on Malukas to move into sixth place as the field remained in a long single-file line.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Herta remained as the leader by more than a second over Dixon followed by Newgarden, Rossi and McLaughlin while Rosenqvist, Malukas, rookie Callum Ilott, Marcus Ericsson and rookie Christian Lundgaard were scored in the top 10. By then, Alex Palou pitted his No. 10 NTT Data Dallara-Honda under green.

    Two laps later, names like Simon Pagenaud, Newgarden, Lundgaard, Rossi and Romain Grosjean pitted under green. Malukas, Will Power, Ilott, Devlin DeFrancesco, Jack Harvey, Ericsson, Grosjean, Newgarden and Rossi would also pit during the proceeding laps from Laps 13 to 17.

    By Lap 18, Herta surrendered the lead to pit under green along with Scott McLaughlin as Felix Rosenqvist emerged as the leader followed by Graham Rahal, Helio Castroneves, Rinus VeeKay and Pato O’Ward. Once the field reached the Lap 20 mark, Rahal inherited the lead while Rosenqvist pitted under green.

    Two laps later, Ilott, who was running in 16th place, locked up his front tires and briefly went off the course, though he managed to cycle his way back on the circuit without drawing a caution.

    Through the first 25 scheduled laps, Graham Rahal was leading by more than six seconds over Rinus VeeKay followed by Pato O’Ward, Jimmie Johnson and Scott Dixon while Herta was back in sixth ahead of Conor Daly, Newgarden, Rossi and Malukas. Once Rahal pitted a lap later, however, VeeKay emerged with the lead followed by O’Ward while Herta moved back into the top five.

    On Lap 29, O’Ward made a bold move beneath VeeKay entering the third turn to move his No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet into the lead. Once VeeKay and O’Ward pitted during the following three and four laps later, Dixon cycled his No. 9 PNC Bank Dallara-Honda into the lead followed by Herta, Johnson, Daly and Newgarden. By then, Kellett also pitted after his No. 4 K-Line Insulators USA Dallara-Chevrolet was billowing smoke, a mechanical issue that would eliminate him from further contention.

    At the halfway mark between Laps 42 and 43, Dixon continued to lead by more than two seconds over Herta while Newgarden, Rossi, Rosenqvist, Malukas, McLaughlin, Ericsson, Pagenaud and Rahal were running in the top 10. By then, Palou was in 11th ahead of Lundgaard, VeeKay, O’Ward and Grosjean while DeFrancesco, Power, Castroneves, Harvey and Daly were in the top 20 ahead of Johnson.

    Two laps later, the caution flew when Felix Rosenqvist, who gained a huge run on Alexander Rossi entering Turn 3, made contact with Rossi in the third turn, which sent Rossi’s No. 27 NAPA/AutoNation Dallara-Honda hard into the outside wall as his event came to an end.

    Under caution, the leaders led by Dixon pitted as Dixon exited first followed by Herta, Rosenqvist, McLaughlin and Rahal. Back on the track, however, VeeKay, who remained on the track, inherited the lead along with teammate Conor Daly.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 49, VeeKay took off with the top spot followed by Daly while Dixon was back in third ahead of Herta and Rosenqvist. 

    Then with 30 laps remaining, the caution returned due to a piece of concrete asphalt that was reported on the track. During the caution period, Daly pitted while the rest of the field led by VeeKay and Dixon remained on the track.

    With 27 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as VeeKay retained the lead followed by Dixon, Herta, Rosenqvist and McLaughlin. As the field jostled for late positions through the turns, Palou made contact with teammate Ericsson through Turns 3 to 5 while battling for eighth place. Shortly after, the caution flew when Kyle Kirkwood collided into Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Carvana Dallara-Honda in Turn 9 as both competitors came to a rest in the turn. During the caution period, VeeKay surrendered the lead to pit while Dixon assumed the lead.

    Down to the final 19 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Dixon was able to jump ahead with the lead followed by Herta and Rosenqvist while Rahal made a bold move on McLaughlin entering the first turn to move into fourth place, where he was followed by Pagenaud, Ericsson and a hard-charging Palou. As the field fanned out and jumbled for positions, Dixon started to gap Herta by a second. By then, McLaughlin had fallen back to ninth in front of Newgarden.

    With 15 laps remaining, Dixon extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Herta followed by Rosenqvist, Rahal and Ericsson while Palou, Pagenaud, Lundgaard, McLaughlin and Newgarden were in the top 10. By then, O’Ward was in 11th, VeeKay was back in 13th and Power was mired in 15th.

    With less than 10 laps remaining, Dixon continued to lead by nearly two seconds over both Herta’s No. 26 Gainbridge Dallara-Honda and Rosenqvist’s No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet. He continued to retain the lead by more than two seconds as the field hit the final five-lap mark.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Dixon remained as the leader by more than two seconds over Herta and Rosenqvist. As Herta and Rosenqvist continued to battle for the runner-up spot, this allowed Dixon to drive away with a clear race track in front of him. With no striking challenges approaching him through the 11-turn circuit, Dixon was able to cycle back to the finish line as he claimed his first checkered flag of the 2022 season and became the seventh different winner of this season.

    In addition, Dixon claimed his fourth victory at Toronto, the second victory of the season for Chip Ganassi Racing, the third for Honda and his 52nd career win in the IndyCar Series, which placed him in a tie with Mario Andretti for second place on the all-time IndyCar wins list as he now trails the all-time wins leader AJ Foyt, who holds 67 victories. The victory was Dixon’s first since winning the first of a Texas Motor Speedway doubleheader feature in May 2021 as he also extended his winning streak to 18 consecutive IndyCar seasons.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “It was a tough drive,” Dixon said on Peacock. “[I] Ended a streak there, which is fantastic. Just so happy for the team. It’s been a crazy year for the No. 9 [team]. I still feel extremely bad for all our partners and everybody involved for the [Indianapolis] 500. The PNC Bank No. 9 [Honda] back in winner’s circle. Man, it just feels so good. Massive thank you to Honda. To get that fuel mileage, today, was so easy.”

    “It’s amazing,” Dixon added, “To be close to Mario, every time I’m asked these questions, I’m just so thankful that we still have AJ [Foyt] and [Andretti] in the pits. We get to see them. We get to talk to them. Just fantastic. It’s huge, man. Just feel so lucky to be a part of this group. Hopefully, we’re kind of in the title hunt now. I’m hoping this is the start of the roll. It was just tremendous to see all the teams work really well this weekend.” 

    Herta, who led 17 laps, settled in second place and more than eight-tenths of a second behind Dixon while Rosenqvist achieved his first podium result in more than a season after finishing in third place.

    “Felix was really fast,” Herta said. “I’m glad we were able to keep him behind us. We just struggled with tire wear. Other than that, our car was amazing, and obviously got beat by Dixon, but one of those races I have to be proud of. The team did an amazing job. The car was really good all weekend. A pole and second, I’m happy with that. Hopefully, we can continue with these results more consistently. We just need to make this a little bit more regular and then, do it again next year and we’ll be looking a lot better in the championship.”

    What a fun race,” Rosenqvist said. “We had to fight really hard for it. The strategy for the race, you had to overtake on track and do good pit stops. I think we nailed both of those. We took the opportunities we had and that slowly moved us forward. Really good fun, good racing as it should be. First podium with the team. Really, really stoked. This weekend hopefully makes [McLaren CEO] Zak [Brown] doubt some things. Still a long way to go in the year, but every race just keeps getting better and better, and this is the trajectory we want to be on, and I’m excited for the rest of the season.”

    Rahal, who led six laps, came home in fourth while points leader Ericsson rounded out the top five. Completing the top 10 were Alex Palou, Simon Pagenaud, rookie Christian Lundgaard, Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden.

    There were seven lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 15 laps.

    With his top-five result, Marcus Ericsson continues to lead the standings by 35 points over Will Power, 37 over Alex Palou, 44 over both Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon, 75 over Pato O’Ward and 77 over Scott McLaughlin.

    Results.

    1. Scott Dixon, 40 laps led

    2. Colton Herta, 17 laps led

    3. Felix Rosenqvist, one lap led

    4. Graham Rahal, six laps led

    5. Marcus Ericsson

    6. Alex Palou

    7. Simon Pagenaud

    8. Christian Lundgaard

    9. Scott McLaughlin

    10. Josef Newgarden

    11. Pato O’Ward, three laps led

    12. David Malukas

    13. Rinus VeeKay, 18 laps led

    14. Callum Ilott

    15. Will Power

    16. Romain Grosjean

    17. Helio Castroneves

    18. Devlin DeFrancesco

    19. Jack Harvey

    20. Conor Daly

    21. Jimmie Johnson, 12 laps down

    22. Kyle Kirkwood – OUT, Contact

    23. Alexander Rossi – OUT, Contact

    24. Dalton Kellett – OUT, Mechanical

    25. Takuma Sato – OUT, Contact

    Next on the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series schedule is a doubleheader feature at Iowa Speedway, which marks the series return to the circuit following a one-year absence. The first IndyCar doubleheader event at Iowa will occur on Saturday, July 23, at 4 p.m. ET on NBC while the second event will occur on Sunday, July 24, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Dixon Ends Drought, Ties Mario with Commanding Toronto Win

    Dixon Ends Drought, Ties Mario with Commanding Toronto Win

    TORONTO (Sunday, July 17, 2022) – The drought finally is over for Scott Dixon.

    Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Dixon earned his first victory since May 2021 at Texas Motor Speedway – a span of 23 races, the second-longest winless streak of his illustrious career – by capturing the Honda Indy Toronto on Sunday. Dixon drove his No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to a victory by .8106 of a second over Colton Herta in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.

    The victory also was the 52nd of Dixon’s career, tying him with fellow legend Mario Andretti for No. 2 on the all-time INDYCAR SERIES win list. A.J. Foyt leads with 67 wins. Dixon’s fourth career Toronto victory extended his record to 18 consecutive INDYCAR SERIES seasons with at least one win, and he also has won a race in a record 20 seasons overall.

    “Ended a streak there, which is fantastic,” Dixon said. “Just so happy for the team. A crazy year for the 9. The PNC Bank No. 9 back in winner’s circle. It just feels so good.

    “To be close to Mario, every time I’m asked these questions, I’m just so thankful that we still have A.J. and him in the pits. We get to see them; we get to talk to them. It’s just fantastic. It’s huge, man. I just feel so lucky to be a part of this group.”

    Felix Rosenqvist finished third in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet to earn his first podium result since his sole career INDYCAR SERIES victory in July 2020 at Road America.

    Graham Rahal finished a season-best fourth in the No. 15 United Rentals Honda, while NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship leader Marcus Ericsson finished fifth in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

    Ericsson expanded his lead from 20 to 35 points over second-place Will Power in the series standings. Power finished 15th after starting 16th in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

    Dixon is fifth in the standings, 44 points behind his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Ericsson. Dixon would tie Foyt as the all-time championship winner in INDYCAR SERIES history with a seventh title.

    “Hopefully we’re kind of in the title hunt now,” Dixon said. “I’m hoping this is the start of the roll. I know the team definitely deserves it.”

    Dixon, who started second, used canny strategy from his pit box earlier in the race to take the lead for the first time on Lap 32 of the 85-lap race.

    Dixon chased NTT P1 Award winner Colton Herta for the first 17 laps around the 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street circuit around Exhibition Place. The Ganassi team called Dixon for fuel and to change from Firestone alternate “red” tires to the primary “black” tires on Lap 17.

    That move prompted Andretti Autosport to call Herta to the pits for an identical tire change on Lap 18, and Dixon – on hot primary tires – passed Herta and his cold primary tires on track during Herta’s out lap after his pit stop. That overtaking maneuver proved decisive, and Dixon circulated to the front on Lap 32 when Pato O’Ward surrendered the lead after finally making his first pit stop in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet.

    “We struggled a little bit on reds,” Dixon said of the Firestone alternate tires. “We made some adjustments after this morning (based) on some of the different tracks that we’ve been throughout the year. We had fought with understeer, and that definitely wasn’t the case today. It was a tough drive, man.”

    The race was remarkably clean for the first 44 laps, with just one caution for two laps in the opening laps after contact damaged the No. 51 Deloitte Honda of Takuma Sato. But the treacherous, bumpy circuit with its unforgiving walls spawned three caution periods between Laps 45 and 60, giving Herta and others a chance to jump Dixon on a restart.

    But Dixon held firm and assumed the lead for good under caution on Lap 61 when an off-sequence Rinus VeeKay pitted from the front in the No. 21 Bitcoin Racing Team with BitNile Chevrolet. Dixon led a race-high 40 of the 85 laps, with VeeKay second with 18 laps in front.

    Herta couldn’t get past Dixon on the final restart of the race on Lap 66. Then Herta focused on his mirrors and resisted intense pressure from behind from Rosenqvist, prevailing for second over the Swede by .5384 of a second at the finish.

    “Felix was really fast, and I’m glad we were able to keep him behind us,” Herta said. “He looked like a few more laps, and he was going to get us. We struggled a little bit with tire wear at the end, but other than that, our car was amazing.”

    Dixon will split $10,000 with his team and a charity of his choice for the victory as part of the PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge.

    The crucial run of five NTT INDYCAR SERIES races in four weeks continues with the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend this Friday through Sunday at Iowa Speedway, featuring a doubleheader on the .875-mile oval. The Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 presented by DoorDash is scheduled for 4 p.m. (ET) Saturday (NBC/INDYCAR Radio Network), with the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 presented by Google at 3 p.m. (ET) Sunday (NBC/INDYCAR Radio Network).