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  • Newgarden executes final lap pass on O’Ward for second consecutive Indianapolis 500 victory

    Newgarden executes final lap pass on O’Ward for second consecutive Indianapolis 500 victory

    A year after becoming the 75th competitor overall to win the Indianapolis 500, Josef Newgarden doubled down as a two-time champion of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing after winning the rain-delayed 108th running of the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 26, following a final lap overtake on Pato O’Ward.

    The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion from Hendersonville, Tennessee, led six times for 26 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started alongside his two Team Penske teammates, Scott McLaughlin and Will Power, on the front row. Leading for the first time at the halfway mark on Lap 100, Newgarden withstood a series of pit strategies amongst his rivaled competitors and on-track chaos to remain in race-winning contention in the closing stages.

    Then after swapping track positions with Scott Dixon and Arrow McLaren’s duo of Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi in the closing laps, Newgarden, who reassumed the lead from Rossi with seven laps remaining, was left to duel against a hard-charging O’Ward for the victory. Despite regaining the lead from O’Ward with five laps remaining, Newgarden then lost the lead to O’Ward at the start of the final lap, but managed to gain a draft to overtake him and reclaim the lead exiting the backstretch. The pass was enough for Newgarden to muscle away and claim the checkered flag to become the first competitor in 22 years to repeat as an Indianapolis 500 champion.

    Following a two-day qualifying session that occurred between May 18-19 and that determined the starting lineup for the main event, Scott McLaughlin achieved his first Indianapolis 500 pole position after posting the fastest four-lap average-qualifying speed at 234.220 mph in two minutes, 33.7017 seconds. McLaughlin shared the front row with his two Team Penske teammates and former Indy 500 champions Will Power (233.917 mph in two minutes, 33.9007 seconds) and Josef Newgarden (233.808 mph in two minutes, 33.9726 seconds), which marked the first time three Team Penske entries swept the front row for the 500 since 1988.

    The only competitor who did not qualify for the event was rookie Nolan Siegel, who wrecked his No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Dallara-Honda entry while attempting to race his way into the field during last Sunday’s qualifying session.

    During the pace laps and warmup session, early trouble struck for Callum Ilott, who pitted due to a mechanical issue to his No. 6 Arrow McLaren Dallara-Chevrolet, though he was able to return to the track and remain on the lead lap for the event’s start.

    When the green flag waved and the event commenced amid a four-hour delay due to heavy precipitation, pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin launched ahead from teammates Will Power and Josef Newgarden along with the rest of the field to lead through the first two turns.

    Shortly after, however, the event’s first caution period flew after Tom Blomqvist hit the rumble strips in Turn 1, spun and came across the path of Marcus Ericsson as Ericsson, who started on the final row in this year’s Indy 500, nearly got airborne as he wrecked his No. 28 Delaware Life/Andretti Global Dallara-Honda both into Blomqvist’s No. 66 Arctic Wolf/Meyer Shank Racing Dallara-Honda and across the outside wall. Amid the wreckage, Pietro Fittipaldi, who was trying to avoid the wreckage involving Ericsson and Blomqvist, made contact with Ilott as he spun his No. 30 5-Hour Energy/Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara-Honda in between the first two turns before he backed his car against the outside wall. The carnage was enough to take Ericsson, Fittipaldi and Blomqvist out of contention while Ilott continued.

    During the caution period, Marcus Armstrong’s second career start in the Indianapolis 500 came to an early end due to the New Zealander losing power and having smoke spewing out of his No. 11 Ridgeline Performance Lubricants/Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara-Honda during the caution laps, which forced him to pit and retire.

    As the event restarted under green on the ninth lap, McLaughin fended off teammates Power and Newgarden for a second time through the frontstretch to retain the lead as the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes. In the midst of the field fanning out, Kyle Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion who was piloting the No. 17 HendrickCars.com/Arrow McLaren Dallara-Chevrolet as part of his ‘Double Duty’ effort that included competing in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway later in the day, lost a bevy of spots while running in the top 10 and was getting overtaken by oncoming competitors after missing a gear to launch at the start as he also made slight contact with Ryan Hunter-Reay. The field continued to scatter, fan out and jostle for early spots through the backstretch while McLaughlin retained the lead ahead of his two Team Penske teammates at the Lap 10 mark.

    Through the first 15 scheduled laps, McLaughlin was leading by less than a tenth of a second over teammate Power and nearly half a second over teammate Newgarden while Santino Ferrucci and Alexander Rossi were in the top five. Behind, Rinus VeeKay occupied sixth place ahead of Pato O’Ward, Felix Rosenqvist, Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood while Alex Palou, Takuma Sato, Helio Castroneves, Kyle Larson and Ryan Hunter-Reay were in the top 15. Behind, Scott Dixon, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter, Sting Ray Robb and rookie Kyffin Simpson trailed in the top 20.

    Six laps later, the caution returned after Katherine Legge, who started on the final row, had smoke billowing out of her No. 51 e.l.f/Dale Coyne Racing Dallara-Honda as her fourth bid to win the Indy 500 came to an end. During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by McLaughin pitted for service while the following names that included Sting Ray Robb, Conor Daly, Christian Lundgaard and Graham Rahal remained on the track as part of an early strategic plan. Following the pit stops, McLaughlin retained the lead after exiting pit road first ahead of teammates Power and Newgarden while Ferrucci, Rossi, Rosenqvist, O’Ward, Herta, Palou and Sato followed suit in the top 10.

    During the next restart period on Lap 26, Daly overtook Robb from the outside lane through the frontstretch to assume the lead. Robb would retain second through the first two turns and through the backstretch while McLaughlin settled in fourth place as he was running in between Lundgaard and Rahal while Ferrucci was trying to crack the top five amid more jostling of spots within the field. The event’s third caution flew a lap later after Linus Lundqvist, who was running in the middle of the field, got loose and hit the outside wall in Turn 1, which knocked him and his No. 8 American Legion/Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara-Honda team out of contention.

    With the event restarting under green on Lap 32, McLaughlin muscled his No. 3 Pennzoil/Team Penske Dallara-Chevrolet past Daly’s No. 24 Polkadot/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports Dallara-Chevrolet through the frontstretch to reassume the lead. Behind, Ferrucci made his way into the runner-up spot followed by Daly, Robb and Lundgaard as the field fanned out to multiple lanes just past the backstretch before navigating through Turns 3 and 4 to complete the following lap. Daly would then overtake Ferrucci to claim the runner-up spot by Lap 34 before overtaking McLaughlin through the frontstretch to reassume the lead two laps later.

    Just past the Lap 40 mark, Daly was leading by two-tenths of a second over McLaughlin while third-place Ferrucci trailed by seven-tenths of a second. Robb and Rossi trailed in the top five within a second as Newgarden, Herta, Lundgaard, Palou and O’Ward were scored in the top 10 ahead of Rosenqvist, Larson, Dixon and Rahal while Power dropped to 15th.

    Towards Lap 38, Robb, who was running in the top five, pitted his No. 41 Goodheart/A.J. Foyt Enterprises Dallara-Honda under green. Daly would surrender the lead to pit under green during the following lap as McLaughlin cycled back into the lead as he was being pursued by Ferrucci, Ross, Herta and Newgarden.

    At the one-quarter mark on Lap 50, McLaughlin continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over Ferrucci while Rossi, Herta and Newgarden continued to trail in the top five. Behind, Palou occupied sixth place ahead of Rosenqvist, O’Ward, Larson and Rasmussen while Dixon, VeeKay, Power, Sato and Augustin Canapino were in the top 15. Meanwhile, teammates Lundgaard and Rahal were mired back in 25th and 26th, respectively, after both pitted a few laps earlier.

    Five laps later, the event’s fourth caution flew after Felix Rosenqvist, who was running in the top 10, pulled his No. 60 SiriusXM/Meyer Shank Racing Dallara-Honda off the track in the backstretch and retired due to an engine failure, which marks the third Honda engine failure in the event. During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by McLaughlin returned to pit road for service while Daly and Robb remained on the track. Following the pit stops amid a tight squeeze amongst the leaders, Rossi exited in first place by a hair over McLaughlin as Herta, Newgarden, Palou, Ferrucci, Rasmussen, Larson, VeeKay and Power followed suit in the top 10.

    The start of the next restart period on Lap 64 featured the field fanning out through the frontstretch and prior to reaching the start/finish line as McLaughlin made a bold three-wide move beneath Daly and Robb to move into the lead entering the first turn. Robb would then return to the top of the leaderboard two laps later after he overtook McLaughlin through the frontstretch. Robb would retain the lead by the Lap 70 mark and by four-tenths of a second over McLaughlin while Daly, Herta and Newgarden trailed in the top five.

    Then on Lap 85, the caution flew after Herta, who was running second and was deemed a potential favorite of the event, got loose and spun backwards into the outside wall in Turn 1, where he damaged the front wing of his No. 26 Gainbridge/Andretti Global Dallara-Honda. Despite sustaining minimal damage to his entry, Herta would have his car towed to the garage, where he would return to the track following extensive repairs and being multiple laps down.

    During the exchange of pit stops as nearly the entire field led by McLaughlin pitted during the caution period, Kyle Kirkwood ran into the rear of Ilott, which cause Ilott to overshoot his pit stall and into Ed Carpenter’s pit stall, which caused Carpenter to jam on the brakes and stall his car while waiting for Ilott to be pushed back into his respective stall.

    With the race restarting under green on Lap 91, Rinus VeeKay, who was among a handful of competitors who did not pit and inherited the lead, was quickly overtaken by Lundgaard for the lead entering the first turn. Behind, Newgarden muscled his way up to fourth place as he settled behind Robb while Ferrucci and Daly battled for fifth place in front of McLaughlin, Palou, Rossi and Larson.

    Seven laps later, VeeKay pitted his No. 21 askROI/Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara-Chevrolet under green. Lundgaard would also pit his No. 45 Hyvee/Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara-Honda another three laps later as Newgarden proceeded to lead the halfway mark on Lap 100. By then, Ferrucci moved up to second as McLaughlin, Robb and Daly cycled up into the top five ahead of Palou, Larson, Rossi, Castroneves and Rasmussen.

    Six laps later, the event’s sixth caution flew after Ryan Hunter-Reay, who gained a draft to overtake Scott Dixon through the backstretch for 17th place, got blocked and forced into the backstretch’s grass amid contact with Dixon, which resulted with Hunter-Reay doing a full 360 spin through the grass and the racing surface, but managing to straighten his car through the grass without coming back across oncoming traffic as Hunter-Reay limped his damaged No. 23 VensureHR/Four Sixes Racing Beef/101 Studios/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dallara-Chevrolet back to his pit stall, where he would retire.

    The following restart period with 87 laps remaining did not last long as Marco Andretti, who was battling for a top-20 spot, slipped sideways and backed his No. 98 Mapei/Andretti Global Dallara-Honda into the outside wall in Turn 1 as his 19th bid to win his first Indianapolis 500 came to a late end.

    The ensuing restart period with 82 laps remaining generated a different outcome as McLaughlin muscled ahead with the lead of a tight battle involving teammate Newgarden, Ferrucci, Rossi, Palou, Larson, Castroneves, Canapino and Rasmussen entering the first turn. With Newgarden retaining second, McLaughlin also retained the lead by four-tenths of a second with 80 laps remaining.

    At the three-quarters mark with 75 laps remaining, McLaughlin retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Rossi followed by Newgarden, Ferrucci and Palou while Larson, Rasmussen, Castroneves, Canapino and Rahal were in the top 10. Behind, Dixon was in 11th ahead of Simpson, VeeKay, O’Ward and Daly while Power, Sato, Robb, Ilott and Kirkwood were mired in the top 20.

    Two laps later, Newgarden cycled his No. 2 Shell Powering Progress/Team Penske Dallara-Chevrolet past teammate McLaughlin to reassume the lead through the frontstretch. Newgarden, however, would then pit under green with 70 laps remaining before McLaughlin pitted during the following lap. During McLaughlin’s pit service, the following names that included Larson, Canapino, Simpson and Ilott also pitted. Amid the pit stops, however, Larson, who had methodically driven his way into the top five prior to pitting, was assessed a drive-through penalty for speeding while entering pit road. Larson, who smoked his front tires when he was penalized for speeding, would serve the penalty with nearly 65 laps remaining as more names pitted under green.

    Back on the track, O’Ward, who has yet to pit, was leading ahead of Dixon. O’Ward would then pit from the lead with 63 laps remaining, which moved Dixon into the lead ahead of VeeKay, Daly, Sato, Robb, Kirkwood, Lundgaard and Carpenter as McLaughlin led a large group of competitors who recently pitted, among which included Rossi, Palou, Newgarden and Ferrucci. During the next two laps, Rossi navigated past McLaughlin and Palou to move into 10th place while scored the first competitor who recently pitted.

    With less than 60 laps remaining, Dixon pitted under green as Daly cycled into the lead. Daly would then pit with nearly 55 laps remaining, which enabled Robb to assume the lead ahead of Lundgaard and O’Ward while Dixon and Daly trailed by more than 35 seconds in the top five.

    Then with 54 laps remaining, the caution flew after Power, who was racing within the top 20 and battling Rasmussen, slipped sideways and spun backwards into the outside wall in Turn 1, which he slapped and destroyed the right side of his No. 12 Verizon Dallara-Chevrolet.

    Down to the final 45 laps of the event, Dixon briefly led the field back to green flag racing conditions before he was placed in the middle of an Arrow McLaren sandwich through the frontstretch as Rossi overtook both teammate O’Ward and Dixon into the lead. Behind, Newgarden, who restarted eighth, rocketed his way up to fourth place as he was ahead of Palou, VeeKay, McLaughlin and Daly as Rossi retained the lead. During the following lap, teammate O’Ward overtook Rossi to assume the lead with Dixon retaining third. With McLaughlin mired in seventh, Rossi and O’Ward traded spots for a second time through the frontstretch as the former reassumed the lead. O’Ward and Rossi swapped positions for a third time through the frontstretch with 42 laps remaining as Rossi returned to the lead.

    With 35 laps remaining, Rossi, who kept swapping the lead with his Arrow McLaren teammate O’Ward through the frontstretch, reassumed the lead while third-place Dixon trailed by within seven-tenths of a second. Behind, Newgarden and Palou trailed in the top five ahead of McLaughlin while VeeKay, Daly, Ferrucci and Kirkwood were scored in the top 10.

    Three laps later, however, Rossi surrendered his back-and-forth trade for the lead with teammate O’Ward to pit his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Dallara-Chevrolet under green. Another two laps later, Dixon made his move beneath O’Ward to move his No. 9 PNC Bank/Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara-Honda into the lead as Sato and Robb peeled off the track to pit under green. Newgarden, McLaughlin and Daly would pit during the next lap before Dixon, Canapino, O’Ward, Castroneves and Lundgaard pitted with 38 laps remaining. Amid the pit stops, Dixon emerged ahead of Newgarden, Rossi and O’Ward while Kirkwood, who was among nine front-runners who has yet to pit, was leading.

    With 25 laps remaining, Dixon overtook Newgarden through the frontstretch to reclaim the top spot as the competitor who recently pitted despite being scored in seventh place. By then, Kirkwood was still leading ahead of Ilott, Rahal, Carpenter, Larson and Simpson, all of whom have yet to pit under green. Dixon and Newgarden would spend the next five laps gaining drafts and swapping spots over one another through the frontstretch as they moved up the leaderboard into fourth and fifth. Meanwhile, Larson, who cycled into the lead a lap earlier after Ed Carpenter pitted, was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Simpson with 20 laps remaining as Newgarden, Rossi and Dixon moved up into the top five.

    Four laps later, Larson surrendered the lead to pit under green. Once Simpson pitted during the next lap, Newgarden cycled into the lead as he held a three-tenths of a second advantage over a hard-charging Rossi, with Dixon and O’Ward also trailing by within seven-tenths of a second. Rossi would then overtake Newgarden from the outside lane through the frontstretch to lead with 13 laps remaining. Behind, O’Ward overtook Dixon for third place while Rossi was trying to muscle away with the lead.

    Down to the final 12 laps of the event, Newgarden rocketed past Rossi from the inside lane through the frontstretch to reassume the lead while O’Ward was trying to close in on teammate Rossi for the runner-up spot. With Dixon trailing in fourth place by more than a second and Rossi trying to close back towards Newgarden’s rear bumper, Newgarden continued to lead by two-tenths of a second with 10 laps remaining.

    With nine laps remaining, Rossi gained another draft on Newgarden to reassume the lead through the frontstretch. As Rossi led by three-tenths of a second during the next lap, O’Ward was trying to fend off Dixon for third place while Kirkwood, Palou and McLaughlin trailed from fifth to seventh, respectively.

    Then with seven laps remaining, Newgarden reclaimed the lead while O’Ward seized an opportunity to rocket past teammate Rossi through the frontstretch as he assumed the runner-up spot. O’Ward then made his move beneath Newgarden to assume the lead through the frontstretch with five laps remaining before Newgarden reassumed the top spot during the proceeding lap. Newgarden would proceed to retain the lead by a narrow margin over O’Ward during the next two laps.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, O’Ward made his move to the outside lane and overtook Newgarden to assume the lead, where he retained it through the first two turns. Then while trying to muscle away as he swerved his car to the left and right to not give Newgarden any drafting momentum, the latter was able to gain enough momentum to make a bold move to the outside lane entering Turn 3 and zip by O’Ward. With the lead back within his grasp and O’Ward losing ground, Newgarden was able to muscle away with the lead for two final turns and cycle back to the frontstretch to claim his second consecutive checkered flag at the Greatest Spectacle of Racing in Indianapolis, Indiana.

    With the victory, Newgarden became the 21st competitor overall to win the Indianapolis 500 multiple times and the first to win the event in back-to-back seasons since Helio Castroneves made the last accomplishment between 2001 and 2002. The 2024 Indy 500 victory marks Newgarden’s 30th of his NTT IndyCar Series career and the first of the season, which made him the fourth winner through the season’s first five events on the schedule.

    The victory served as a redemptive moment for Newgarden and his No. 2 Team Penske team as they were disqualified from winning the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg due to violating rules involving their use of the push-to-pass system. The disqualification also affected their teammate Will Power, who initially finished third in the event. Earlier this month, Team Penske suspended several key members from their organization, including managing director Ron Ruzewski and team president Tim Cindric.

    “[The critics] can say whatever they want after this point. I don’t care anymore,” Newgarden said on the frontstretch on NBC. “I’m just so proud of the team. They crushed it. They came here with the fastest cars. We worked our tails off, Team Chevy brought it. [Race engineer] Luke [Mason], Tim [Cindric], they’re not here today, but they’re a huge part of this. I’m just so proud of everybody for Team Penske. That’s the way I wanted to win the [race] right there.”

    “I knew we could win this race again and [it was] just a matter of getting it right,” Newgarden added in Victory Lane. “There’s no better way to win a race than that. I got to give it up to Pato [O’Ward] as well. He’s an incredibly clean driver. It takes two people to make that work, so it’s not just a good pass. It’s also someone that you’re working with that’s incredible clean. He could’ve easily won this race too, but it just fell our way. I just went for it. I said, ‘Alright, the car’s good enough. You guys have done your job Let me drive to the front.’ [The team] backed me the entire way. You can’t win this race without a great car. It’s the best car in the field, so hats off to the team. It’s always a team win. Today epitomizes the team victory. It’s a team win on the pole, it’s a team win today. I’m thankful for Roger Penske. He’s stood by me. He’s the man, he’s a legend. There’s no one that I’ve ever met that cares more about the fan and the experience than that man. I promise you, he cares so much about this place and I’m thankful for him.”

    In addition, Newgarden, who achieved his second Indy 500 victory following a last-lap pass for a second consecutive season after overtaking Marcus Ericsson for the win a year ago, had the honors of bestowing the record-setting 20th Indianapolis 500 victory to team owner Roger Penske, who is also the owner of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

    “It’s a dream come true,” Penske said. “You think about all these fans that were here today. [They] Waited five hours to see that race. Unbelievable finish. I never saw one car get ahead by a couple of seconds. For me, it’s a job we love to do. We love to win. I think this puts away a lot of the things we talked about who we are and where we are. We’re winners.”

    As Newgarden fought back tears of joy and relief in Victory Lane, O’Ward, who led 12 laps and was striving to become the first Mexican competitor to win the Indy 50, fought back tears of disappointment on pit road after settling in the runner-up spot in the 500 for a second time in three seasons.

    “It’s hard to put it into words,” O’Ward said. “I’m proud of the work that we did today. We recovered. We went back, we went forward, we went back. Some people were driving like maniacs. We had so many near race-enders and [we were] just so close again. So close. I put that car through things I never thought it was going to be able to do. Somehow I came out the other side of the corner. It’s just so painful when you put so much into it and [we were] two corners short. [This track] owes me nothing. I much rather have finished the race rather than compared to last year, but it’s always a heartbreak whenever you’re just so close, especially when it’s not the first time. You just don’t know how many opportunities like that you have.”

    Scott Dixon, the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner, came home in third place followed by Alexander Rossi, both of whom led 12 laps apiece, while Alex Palou, the 2024 Sonsio Grand Prix winner and two-time series champion, finished fifth.

    “[The finish] was like a win, obviously,” Dixon said. “We had some ups and downs  through the race. We definitely just didn’t have the speed today, unfortunately. It was just one of those days where I feel like everybody gave each other pretty good room. We had some incidents here and there, but it was wild to watch. Obviously at the end there, when you’re going for third place, you see the first two mixing it up. You hope they’re going to crash into each other, unfortunately, but that’s just the way it goes.”

    “The fuel number I had to hit, I couldn’t lead.” Rossi added. “Just an amazing effort for the whole Arrow McLaren organization and Team Chevy. It was an amazing month. It’s really hard when you come away from this event not thinking you should’ve changed anything and still, the result isn’t there. I look back and there’s nothing to this month that I would’ve done any differently. The car was great. When you can’t win with that, it’s a tough pill to swallow.”

    “I didn’t have a perfect day, but almost,” Palou added. “Strategy wasn’t the best in our case, but [it] still was good. We tried. We gave everything we had. [We] Didn’t have the ultimate speed today and had fun passing some cars. Pretty happy to finish P5. Not the best result, obviously here, but it was a good race.”

    Pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin, Kyle Kirkwood, Santino Ferrucci, Rinus VeeKay and Conor Daly completed the top 10 in the final running order.

    Notably, Kyle Larson finished 18th in both his first career start in the NTT IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500. In addition, Takuma Sato finished 14th ahead of Graham Rahal, Sting Ray Robb, who led 23 laps as part of his strategic moves, finished 16th ahead of Ed Carpenter and Helio Castroneves ended up 20th,

    There were 52 lead changes for 18 different leaders. The event featured eight cautions for 47 laps. In addition, 21 of 33 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Following the fifth event of the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, Alex Palou leads the championship standings by 20 points over Scott Dixon, 26 over Will Power, 49 over both Pato O’Ward and Colton Herta, 52 over Scott McLaughlin and 61 over Josef Newgarden.

    Results.

    1. Josef Newgarden, 26 laps led

    2. Pato O’Ward, 12 laps led

    3. Scott Dixon, 12 laps led

    4. Alexander Rossi, 12 laps led

    5. Alex Palou, one lap led

    6. Scott McLaughlin, 64 laps led

    7. Kyle Kirkwood, two laps led

    8. Santino Ferrucci, eight laps led

    9. Rinus VeeKay, eight laps led

    10. Conor Daly, 22 laps led

    11. Callum Ilott, one lap led

    12. Christian Rasmussen, one lap led

    13. Christian Lundgaard, four laps led

    14. Takuma Sato

    15. Graham Rahal, one lap led

    16. Sting Ray Robb, 23 laps led

    17. Ed Carpenter, three laps led

    18. Kyle Larson, four laps led

    19. Romain Grosjean

    20. Helio Castroneves

    21. Kyffin Simpson, three laps led

    22. Agustin Canapino, one lap down

    23. Colton Herta – OUT, Contact

    24. Will Power – OUT, Contact

    25. Marco Andretti – OUT, Contact

    26. Ryan Hunter-Reay – OUT, Contact

    27. Felix Rosenqvist – OUT, Mechanical

    28. Linus Lundqvist – OUT, Contact

    29. Katherine Legge – OUT, Mechanical

    30. Marcus Armstrong – OUT, Mechanical

    31. Tom Blomqvist – OUT, Contact

    32. Marcus Ericsson – OUT, Contact

    33. Pietro Fittipaldi – OUT, Contact

    Next on the 2024 NTT INDYCAR Series schedule is the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix at the Streets of Detroit, Michigan. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, June 2, and air at noon ET on USA Network.

  • 2024 NTT IndyCar Series Silly Season Update

    2024 NTT IndyCar Series Silly Season Update

    With less than three months remaining until the commencement of the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, a majority of teams and competitors have new or familiar faces or homes set in place while select seats remain within a handle of organizations.

    The most recent name to be scratched off this year’s Silly Season topic is Sting Ray Robb, who will join A.J. Foyt Racing to pilot the No. 41 Dallara-Chevrolet. The news comes three months after the 26-year-old Robb from Boise, Idaho, completed his first campaign in the IndyCar circuit for Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing, where he ended up in 23rd place and accumulated 147 points.

    Robb, a former champion of the Pro Mazda/Indy Pro 2000 Championship region and a runner-up finisher in the 2022 Indy Lights standings, is the only competitor currently confirmed to be competing for A.J. Foyt Racing for the upcoming season as the rest of the team’s driver lineup remains to be determined.

    Another organization that is left undetermined regarding its driver lineup is Robb’s former team, Dale Coyne Racing. The team fielded two full-time entries for Robb and David Malukas, and a third entry for the Indianapolis 500 piloted by two-time Indy 500 champion Ryan Hunter-Reay. With both Robb and Malukas venturing to new teams and Hunter-Reay not having any racing plans set for the near future, the team’s search to fill its vacant seats continues approaching the 2024 season.

    Despite having plans to field two cars for the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 in May 2024, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing have also yet to determine its two competitors who will be assuming the reigns of both entries. This past season, the team fielded the Nos. 23 and 24 Chevrolets for Hunter-Reay and Graham Rahal, respectively, with the latter replacing the injured Stefan Wilson. Having fielded at least one entry in the Indy 500 for 24 consecutive seasons, the team approaches the 2024 season aiming to extend the streak to 25 years with select names still on the market.

    In the midst of a handful of teams who have vacant seats yet to be filled, a majority of organizations (Andretti Global, Arrow McLaren, Chip Ganassi Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing, Juncos Hollinger Racing, Meyer Shank Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Team Penske) have driver lineups for the 2024 season set, with nearly all having new names joining their stable to compete alongside notable veterans, race winners and champions.

    After fielding four full-time entries and a fifth for the Indianapolis 500 this past season while recording a total of two season victories, Andretti Global, which has been rebranded from Andretti Autosport, will shrink to a three-car operation for the upcoming season and for its lineup consisting of Colton Herta, Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson. Ericsson, the 2022 Indianapolis 500 champion from Kumla, Sweden, joins Andretti following a four-year campaign at Chip Ganassi Racing, where he had also recorded four career victories, as he will be piloting the No. 28 Dallara-Honda, thus replacing Romain Grosjean, while Herta and Kirkwood, the latter who earned his first two career victories at the Streets of Long Beach and Nashville Street Circuit in 2023, retain driving responsibilities of the Nos. 26 and 27 Hondas, respectively.

    The 2024 season will mark the second consecutive season where Arrow McLaren will field three full-time entries. On this occasion, a new face joins the organization. David Malukas, from Chicago, Illinois, will replace Felix Rosenqvist to pilot the No. 6 Dallara-Chevrolet, as he will compete alongside returning names Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi, both of whom endured winless seasons in 2023 and strive to return the McLaren name to Victory Lane in 2024. In addition, McLaren will field a fourth entry in conjunction with 14-time NASCAR championship-winning team Hendrick Motorsports for the upcoming 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 as the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson will attempt to qualify for the event while piloting the No. 17 Dallara-Chevrolet. For his bid, Larson, a native of Elk Grove, California, will also attempt to join the late John Andretti, Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch as competitors to perform “Double Duty” on Memorial Day weekend by competing in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, thus comprising a total of 1,100 miles of racing.

    Coming off championship No. 15 and winning half of the events in this past season’s IndyCar campaign, Chip Ganassi Racing returns with an expanded lineup that features two new names and a new promotion for one name alongside two championship-winning competitors in a bid to defend the title. Retaining their spots as full-time competitors of the Nos. 10 and 9 Hondas include the reigning two-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou and six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon, respectively, while Marcus Armstrong, the 2023 IndyCar Rookie of the Year from Christchurch, New Zealand, will campaign in his first full-time season with CGR in the No. 11 entry. New to the team are Linus Lundqvist, the 2022 Indy Lights champion from Tyresö, Sweden, who made select IndyCar starts for Meyer Shank Racing this past season and will pilot the No. 8 CGR Honda in 2024, and Kyffin Simpson, the 2023 European Le Mans Series champion in the LMP2 class division from Bridgetown, Barbados.

    Ed Carpenter Racing will feature a new name. Christian Rasmussen will campaign on a part-time basis alongside team owner Ed Carpenter after celebrating a championship in this past season’s Indy NXT season. The 23-year-old Rasmussen from Copenhagen, Denmark, will drive ECR’s No. 20 Dallara-Chevrolet in all 11 road course and street events on the schedule, starting with the season opener at the Streets of St. Petersburg, while Carpenter, an Indianapolis veteran, will campaign in the remaining six oval events that includes the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500. Rasmussen will also attempt to compete in the Indy 500 in a third ECR entry that remains to be determined. With two competitors, the No. 20 entry will compete alongside the No. 21 entry that returns for returning full-time competitor Rinus VeeKay from Hoofddorp, Netherlands.

    Coming off a strong season to date, Juncos Hollinger Racing, which has entered into a technical alliance with Arrow McLaren, will feature a new face piloting the team’s No. 77 Dallara-Chevrolet as Romain Grosjean replaces Callum Ilott in the entry while Agustin Canapino returns for a second stint with the team. Grosjean, a former Formula One competitor who competes under the French flag, transitions to JHR following a two-year campaign at Andretti Global, where he has registered six podiums and five runner-up results to date. Meanwhile, Canapino, a 33-year-old native from Arrecifes, Argentina, retains driving responsibilities of the No. 78 Chevrolet after ending up in 21st place with 180 points during last season’s championship standings.

    Meyer Shank Racing will feature a new overhaul to its driver lineup for the 2024 campaign with the additions of new full-time competitors Tom Blomqvist and Felix Rosenqvist. Blomqvist, the 2022 IMSA SportsCar champion from Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, who made select starts with MSR this past season, joins the team as a first-time IndyCar competitor on a full-time basis in the No. 66 Dallara-Honda while Rosenqvist, a one-time IndyCar race winner from Värnamo, Sweden, joins MSR to drive the No. 60 Honda, replacing veteran Simon Pagenaud, following a five-year campaign competing between Chip Ganassi Racing and Arrow McLaren, where he has registered a total of six podiums to his IndyCar resume. Returning to the team for the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 is Hélio Castroneves, a four-time champion of the Indianapolis 500 who delivered the team’s first IndyCar victory during the 2021 Indy 500 and returns to compete for his record-setting fifth Indy 500 crown in the No. 06 Dallara-Honda.

    Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, which achieved a single victory in the Streets of Toronto, Canada, this past season, welcomes Pietro Fittipaldi to its driver lineup as he will be piloting the No. 30 Dallara-Honda on a full-time basis and compete alongside returning names Graham Rahal and Christian Lundgaard, the latter who achieved his first career victory at Toronto. The 2024 season is set to mark Fittipaldi’s first full-time campaign in the IndyCar circuit after he made a combined nine starts during the 2018 and 2021 seasons. He is a former champion of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series and the World Series Formula V8 3.5 division.

    Lastly, Team Penske returns as a three-car stable with the same competitors for a third consecutive season, headlined by returning champions Josef Newgarden and Will Power along with Scott McLaughlin. Newgarden, the reigning Indianapolis 500 champion and a two-time IndyCar champion from Hendersonville, Tennessee, retains driving responsibilities of the No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, where he won four races in 2023, as he competes alongside Will Power, the 2018 Indy 500 champion and another two-time champion from Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, who returns to pilot the No. 12 Chevrolet and strives to return to Victory Lane after going winless in 2023. After recording a single victory and finishing in third place during this past season’s IndyCar campaign, McLaughlin, a three-time Supercars champion from Christchurch, New Zealand, returns to pilot Penske’s No. 3 Chevrolet for a third full-time season. With familiar names retaining their places at Team Penske, the organization strives for both an 18th IndyCar championship and a 20th Indianapolis 500 title for the 2024 season.

    Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    With nearly the entire grid of the 2024 NTT INDYCAR Series field set, the season is scheduled to commence at the Streets of St. Petersburg for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 10, 2024. The opener’s air broadcast coverage will be provided on NBC while the time start remains to be determined.

  • Arrow McLaren SP inks Kanaan, NTT Data for 2023 IndyCar season

    Arrow McLaren SP inks Kanaan, NTT Data for 2023 IndyCar season

    In a major off-season blockbuster move for McLaren Racing, NTT Data will be joining forces with Arrow McLaren SP on a multiyear basis that will include serving as a key primary sponsor for Felix Rosenqvist for the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season. The team was also proud to reveal that the 2013 Indianapolis 500 champion Tony Kanaan will be piloting a fourth AMSP entry sponsored by NTT Data for the 107th running of the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that will occur on May 28, 2023.

    The move comes after months of speculation towards AMSP’s fourth competitor choice for the 2023 Indy 500 and as the team prepares to field three full-time entries for the upcoming IndyCar season for its drivers Rosenqvist, Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi, who announced his move to the team in June following a seven-year run with Andretti Autosport.

    As part of the multiyear deal, NTT Data will serve as the Official IT Services Partner for AMSP’s operations while serving as an associate sponsor for O’Ward and Rossi. The global technology and business solutions provider was previously the Official IT Services Partner for Chip Ganassi Racing and was a key partner for the organization since 2013. It has also been serving as a title sponsor for the IndyCar Series since 2019.

    “NTT DATA joining our great group of partners is a huge boost for Arrow McLaren SP,” Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, said. “I’m thrilled they will be representing our No. 6 car as a Lead Partner and a major sponsor for our fourth entry in the Indy 500, piloted by Tony Kanaan. Tony proved last year he can compete with the best of them, and I’m excited to see him put on a show with our team next May.”

    “We welcome the opportunity to partner with McLaren, a long-term and valued client, and to demonstrate how sponsorships simultaneously build awareness and enhance business-to-business relationships,” Bob Pryor, CEO of NTT Data Services, added. “NTT DATA is also proud of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES’ growth with a strong international stable of drivers, great leadership from Penske Entertainment, and a passionate fan base attracted to the highly competitive product – where any driver can win in any weekend.”

    For Kanaan, the 2023 Indy 500 is set to mark his 22nd consecutive appearance competing in one of the most prestigious motorsport events across the world and his first competing under the McLaren banner. He spent the previous two seasons as a part-time competitor for Chip Ganassi Racing, where he finished 10th during the 2021 Indy 500 before notching a strong third-place effort during this past season’s event. He claimed his first and lone Indy 500 victory to date in 2013, which occurred after 12 previous attempts.

    Through a total of 388 career starts in IndyCar competition, Kanaan has achieved one championship (2004), 17 victories, 13 poles, 79 podiums and 4,077 laps led.

    “I feel extremely lucky to get another shot racing in the Indianapolis 500,” Kanaan said. “I’m excited to work with Pato, Felix and Alexander and race with the Arrow McLaren SP team. My biggest battle in last year’s race was against these three drivers so working with them and driving with them will be exciting for all of us.” 

    In addition to Kanaan’s Indy 500 entry, NTT Data will be sponsoring Rosenqvist’s No. 6 Dallara-Chevrolet for 10 IndyCar events in 2023, which will commence at the Streets of St. Petersburg for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 5 and conclude at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey on September 10. The new partnership deal with AMSP reunites NTT Data with Rosenqvist, who was previously sponsored by the IT solutions provider when he competed for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2019 and 2020. It also comes nearly two months after Rosenqvist was announced to remain with the organization for the upcoming season.

    The 30-year-old Rosenqvist from Värnamo, Sweden, is coming off a strong 2022 season with AMSP, where he achieved a single podium result at the Exhibition Place in Toronto, Canada, in July along with nine additional top-10 results throughout the 17-race schedule before finishing in eighth place in the final driver’s standings, one spot behind teammate O’Ward.

    “I look forward to representing NTT DATA once again,” Rosenqvist said. “They’re a great partner and are committed to the series. I welcome them to the McLaren Racing family and am ready to start the season off in St. Petersburg, racing the No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. It will also be great to race alongside Tony and learn from him as we prepare for the Indy 500.”

    The new partnership between NTT Data and Arrow McLaren SP is set to commence at the Streets of St. Petersburg for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 5, which will also commence the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season. The event’s coverage is scheduled to occur at noon ET on NBC.

  • Rosenqvist retained by Arrow McLaren SP, Palou remains at Chip Ganassi Racing in 2023

    Rosenqvist retained by Arrow McLaren SP, Palou remains at Chip Ganassi Racing in 2023

    Three days following the conclusion of the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season, the future fates for both Felix Rosenqvist and Alex Palou were revealed. For Rosenqvist, he will be remaining as a full-time driver for Arrow McLaren SP and be part of the team’s three-car expansion for next season. Palou, meanwhile, will continue to pilot the No 10 Dallara-Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.

    The news comes following a summer-long swirl highlighting both competitors and organizations that started in July when Palou initially disputed the news of CGR retaining him for 2023 by announcing his intentions of joining McLaren in 2023. Palou’s news of being placed as an option for McLaren prompted Ganassi to file a civil action lawsuit against the Spaniard who won the 2021 IndyCar championship in Ganassi’s No. 10 entry, which lasted throughout the summer. The contract dispute between Palou and CGR also began to affect Rosenqvist’s future with McLaren and AMSP, in spite of the Swedish competitor signing a contract extension to remain at McLaren, but with no specific series announced.

    With the news on Wednesday that Palou and CGR have reached a resolution to their contract dispute, Rosenqvist, who also appeared to be remaining in IndyCar with McLaren for next season, will compete in his third season for AMSP in 2023. The news means that Rosenqvist completes AMSP’s three-driver lineup that includes Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi, who was announced to be joining the organization in June while being replaced at Andretti Autosport by Kyle Kirkwood.

    “There’s no better way to enter the off-season than with this news!” Rosenqvist said. “I love this team, and I’m so happy to continue working with all the incredible people I’ve gotten to know over the past two seasons. With everything the team has in the pipeline, the continuing relationship with Pato and the addition of Alex Rossi, we are going to bring our A-game for 2023. It will be the most exciting season for me so far. Let it be March already!”

    Rosenqvist, who last visited Victory Lane in the IndyCar circuit since Road America in July 2020, is coming off a strong 2022 campaign, where he finished in eighth place in the final drivers’ standings with 393 points on the strength of two poles and his maiden podium with McLaren after finishing third at the Exhibition Place in Toronto, Canada, in July. He also piloted the No. 7 AMSP Dallara-Chevrolet to a total of 10 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 11.8 throughout the 17-race schedule. His eighth-place result in this year’s final standings marked an improvement of 13 spots from the previous season, where he finished no higher than sixth place on the track and missed two races in June following a hard accident during the first of a Belle Isle Street Circuit doubleheader feature on Saturday, June 12. His 2021 average-finishing result was 16.4.

    “I’m delighted that Felix will again be racing with AMSP through 2023,” Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, added. “He had a strong 2022 season, and I look forward to seeing what he, Alex Rossi and Pato O’Ward can do when they join forces in papaya. It’s also great to have Alex Palou joining the McLaren Racing family in our Testing of Previous Cars programme.”

    For Palou, the 2023 season will also mark his third campaign with Chip Ganassi Racing. The Spaniard, who won the 2021 IndyCar title with Ganassi on the strength of his first three career victories, capped off the 2022 season by capturing his first elusive checkered flag of the season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. The victory along with six podiums, 173 laps led and an average-finishing result of 8.0 throughout the 17-race schedule were enough for Palou to conclude the season in fifth place in the final standings despite tying Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin for fourth place with 510 points.

    Photo by Tim Jarrold for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Following the news, Palou, who will still participate in a McLaren F1 testing session at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain this week, took to social media to confirm his racing plans for next season.

    With both drivers’ plans for next season set, they turn their attention to contend for the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series championship. The 2023 schedule remains to be determined.

  • Alexander Rossi snaps three-year winless drought to reign the Gallagher Grand Prix

    Alexander Rossi snaps three-year winless drought to reign the Gallagher Grand Prix

    After enduring a difficult stretch for the past three seasons, Alexander Rossi made a triumphant return to Victory Lane after winning the Gallagher Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course on Sunday, July 30.

    The 30-year-old Rossi from Nevada City, California, was running in second place approaching the halfway segment between Laps 42 and 43 of 85 when his teammate and race leader Colton Herta fell off the pace and was eliminated following a mechanical issue. From there, Rossi assumed full control of the race and managed to beat rookie Christian Lundgaard by three-and-a-half seconds to snap a 49-year winless drought and record his first NTT IndyCar Series victory of the 2022 season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Felix Rosenqvist started on pole position for the second time this season after notching a pole-winning lap at 125.030 mph in one minute, 10.2265 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Alexander Rossi, who clocked in his best lap at 124.539 mph in one minute, 10.5030 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, the field fanned out to multiple lanes through the frontstretch and entering the first turn as Rosenqvist retained the lead ahead of Alexander Rossi and Josef Newgarden, who bolted his way from the third row to third place. Then in Turn 2, Pato O’Ward, coming off his victory at Iowa Speedway, plummeted down the leaderboard after getting hit by Will Power and spinning while running towards the front. 

    With the event remaining under green, Rosenqvist retained the lead ahead of Rossi and Newgarden. His No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet continued to lead the field through the 14-turn circuit and back to the frontstretch as the first lap was recorded.

    Through the second lap, Rosenqvist remained as the leader by seven-tenths of a second over Rossi followed by Newgarden, Herta and Lundgaard while Conor Daly, Devlin DeFrancesco, Alex Palou, Scott McLaughlin and Jack Harvey were in the top 10.

    During the following lap, the first caution flew when Dalton Kellett made contact against Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Carvana Dallara-Honda as he spun in Turn 7 in front of O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet. During the caution period, few names like Takuma Sato and O’Ward pitted while the rest led by Rosenqvist remained on the track.

    When the event proceeded under green by the fourth lap, Rosenqvist continued to lead ahead of Rossi and the field. A few laps later, Colton Herta, who won at Indy’s Road Course in May, muscled his No. 26 Gainbridge Dallara-Honda into the runner-up spot while Lundgaard and Newgarden, who was penalized and forced to surrender two spots on the track for exceeding track limits, were in the top five.

    Then on the seventh lap, Herta gained strong run and overtook Rosenqvist in Turn 7 to move into the lead. Shortly after, teammate Rossi took over the runner-up lap as Lundgaard moved his No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara-Honda into the top three.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Herta was leading by more than a second over teammate Rossi followed by Lundgaard, Rosenqvist and Newgarden while Conor Daly, Scott McLaughlin, Devlin DeFrancesco, Alex Palou and Jack Harvey occupied the top 10. Behind, Graham Rahal was in 11th ahead of Rinus VeeKay, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves and Romain Grosjean while Marcus Ericsson was in 19th ahead of Jimmie Johnson and Will Power.

    Shortly after, names like VeeKay, Dixon, Castroneves, David Malukas and Callum Ilott pitted under green. By then, Simon Pagenaud made an unscheduled pit stop. When Lap 13 occurred, more names like Palou, Rahal, McLaughlin and Conor Daly, who stalled his car, pitted under green.

    During the following lap, Herta surrendered the lead to pit along with Rosenqvist, Rossi and Lundgaard as McLaughlin moved into the lead.

    By Lap 20, McLaughlin, who continued to stretch his fuel tank as part of a strategic move, remained as the leader by more than 14 seconds over Ericsson while Johnson, Power and O’Ward were in the top five. By then, Herta was in seventh behind Takuma Sato while Kellett, Rossi and Lundgaard were in the top 10. Newgarden was in 11th ahead of Palou, Simon Pagenaud, VeeKay and Rosenqvist while Dixon in 18th in between DeFrancesco and Harvey.

    Two laps later, the leader McLaughlin pitted his No. 3 Gallagher Dallara-Chevrolet under green along with Ericsson. Once Jimmie Johnson pitted by Lap 24, Power cycled his No. 12 Verizon 5G Dallara-Chevrolet into the lead followed by O’Ward, Sato, Herta and Rossi.

    At the Lap 30 mark, Power was leading by more than three seconds over Herta followed by Rossi, Lundgaard and Sato. McLaughlin was in sixth while Newgarden, Palou, Pagenaud and VeeKay were in the top 10. By then, O’Ward pitted for fresh red tires.

    During the following lap, Power surrendered the lead to pit for fresh red tires along with Sato while Herta cycled his way back into the lead ahead of teammate Rossi.

    Then on Lap 35, names like VeeKay, Rosenqvist, Rahal, DeFrancesco, Jack Harvey, David Malukas, Helio Castroneves, rookie Kyle Kirkwood, Dixon, Grosjean and Conor Daly under green as Simon Pagenaud’s No. 60 SiriusXM Dallara-Honda was off the pace after running out of fuel as he came to a stop off the course in Turn 10. Just as Herta, Rossi, Newgarden, McLaughlin and Lundgaard peeled off the track to pit, the caution flew for Pagenaud’s issue.

    When the green flag waved and the race restarted on Lap 38, Herta retained the lead ahead of teammate Rossi, Lundgaard, Power, Johnson, McLaughlin, Newgarden and O’Ward. 

    Then as the event reached its halfway mark between Laps 42 and 43, Rossi assumed the lead after teammate Herta, who was leading, fell off the pace through Turns 10 to 12 due to a mechanical issue with no clutch as his car came to a stop inside the pit lane entrance. With Herta out of contention and out of the race, Rossi was out in front by more than a second over Lundgaard followed by Power, Johnson and McLaughlin while Newgarden, VeeKay, Rahal, O’Ward and Dixon were in the top 10.

    Through Lap 50, Rossi’s No. 27 NAPA/AutoNation Dallara-Honda was leading by more than three seconds over Lundgaard’s No. 30  while Team Penske’s Power, McLaughlin and Newgarden were in the top five. By then, Johnson surrendered his spot in the top 10 to pit. Meanwhile, Castroneves was mired back in 22nd after making earlier contact with Kirkwood that sent Kirkwood spinning in Turn 9. The contact prompted IndyCar to issue the four-time Indianapolis 500 champion a penalty for avoidable contact.

    With less than 30 laps remaining, Rossi continued to lead by nearly four seconds over Lundgaard as Power, McLaughlin and Newgarden remained in the top five. VeeKay was in sixth ahead of Rahal, Dixon, Palou and Rosenqvist. By then, O’Ward was back in 11th and Ericsson was in 12th while Sato, Harvey and Callum Ilott were in the top 15. David Malukas was in 16th followed by Conor Daly, Devlin DeFrancesco, Romain Grosjean and Helio Castroneves while Jimmie Johnson was back in 22nd.

    Then with nearly 25 laps remaining, Power pitted under green along with O’Ward, Dixon, Sato and Ilott. Newgarden, VeeKay, Rahal, Palou, Harvey, Malukas, Daly, DeFrancesco, Grosjean and Johnson pitted not long after before the leader Rossi pitted along with Lundgaard, McLaughlin, Rosenqvist and Ericsson.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event and with most of the leaders having made a pit stop under green, Rossi retained the lead by two-and-a-half seconds over Lundgaard while third-place Power trailed by. Power’s teammates McLaughlin and Newgarden remained in the top five while VeeKay, Rahal, Dixon, Rosenqvist and Palou were scored in the top 10. Ericsson, meanwhile, was in 11th ahead of O’Ward, Sato, Ilott and Harvey while Malukas, Daly, DeFrancesco, Grosjean and Castroneves occupied the top 20. Following his late pit stop, Jimmie Johnson was mired back in 23rd behind Kyle Kirkwood.

    With 10 laps remaining, Rossi, who was trying to navigate his way around the lapped car of Dalton Kellett, continued to lead by less than three seconds over runner-up Lundgaard and more than 14 seconds over third-place Power as McLaughlin and Newgarden remained in the top five. In addition, VeeKay, Rahal, Dixon, Rosenqvist and Palou continued to run in the top 10. 

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Rossi stabilized his advantage to four seconds over Lundgaard while third-place Power trailed by nearly 16 seconds as he could not close in on the top-two competitors.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Rossi remained as the leader by more than four seconds over Lundgaard. Despite making light contact with the wall earlier, Rossi, who had a clear racetrack in front of him, was able to smoothly navigate his way through the 14-turn circuit for a final time and cycle back to the frontstretch as he claimed his first checkered flag in more than three years.

    With the victory, Rossi became the eighth different winner of the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season as he also notched his eighth career victory and his first since winning at Road America in June 2019. He also became the second American competitor to win in this year’s IndyCar season and he recorded the fourth victory of the season for Honda. The victory occurred as Rossi is down to his final four races with Andretti Autosport before moving to Arrow McLaren SP in 2023.

    “It’s a relief, man,” Rossi said on NBC. “It’s been so many things for so long. I do feel for Colton [Herta]. I do, but I’m happy. Thankfully, something came our way. I just wanna give a huge shoutout to Andretti Autosport and their continued belief, NAPA Auto Parts and AutoNation. I’m so happy to drive pink. The Honda power. There’s just been so much belief for so long and it’s nice to finally accomplish it. To kind of come back at Indianapolis at home is pretty amazing…It was the No. 27’s turn [to win]. That’s awesome.”

    Meanwhile, rookie Christian Lundgaard claimed both his career-best IndyCar result and maiden podium result by finishing in second place in his 14th series start while Will Power, who won the Gallagher Grand Prix a year ago, reassumed the points lead after rounding out the podium in third place.

    “I think at the end of the third stint, I was catching Alex [Rossi],” Lundgaard said. “I was really hoping because every pit stop, we always caught up. We lost a bit in the beginning of the stint. I think the Andretti car just had so much better power than we did today. That was what killed our rear tires and we struggled on the long run. But, it sure does feel like a birthday present. I think the results speak for themselves. Coming in this weekend, we knew we had a strong car. I wasn’t so happy in practice. I think there was definitely something we found there. Then, we rolled into qualifying with last year’s car. Look where we are. I love to be at Indy. Now to have a podium, this being the place. I would’ve preferred it now being the other way around, but we’ll take that next year.”

    “Definitely a rough start,” Power said. “[I] Got pushed around in Turn 1, got pushed into Pato [O’Ward], we spun him. Then, Helio [Castroneves] went for a big move and pushed me on the curb, but great recovery. You can never expect a normal day in IndyCar. It was just one of those things. Everyone’s very aggressive and it’s so hard to win in this series. It’s the toughest series in the world. Everyone fights hard for positions. Just got to keep in clean, but great job by the Verizon 5G guys. It’s amazing that we can go all the way back there and recover to third. I’m so happy for that. It’s gonna be coming time here. Just gotta do what you know. I know this game so well. I know I can change very quickly, but you got to take what you can get every race day.”

    Power’s teammates McLaughlin and Newgarden finished in the top five while VeeKay, Rahal, Dixon, pole-sitter Felix Rosenqvist and Alex Palou completed the top 10.

    Following the event, Conor Daly, who ended up 17th, was issued a penalty from IndyCar for late blocking against 18th-place finisher Devlin DeFrancesco, whom Daly vocalled his displeasure towards for forcing him off the track in Turn 12 earlier.

    There were five lead changes for five different leaders. The event featured two cautions for five laps.

    With his third-place result, Will Power leads the standings by nine points over Marcus Ericsson, 32 over Josef Newgarden, 38 over Scott Dixon, 46 over Pato O’Ward, 52 over Alex Palou, 81 over Scott McLaughlin and 113 over Alexander Rossi.

    Results.

    1. Alexander Rossi, 44 laps led

    2. Christian Lundgaard

    3. Will Power, seven laps led

    4. Scott McLaughlin, 10 laps led

    5. Josef Newgarden

    6. Rinus VeeKay

    7. Graham Rahal

    8. Scott Dixon

    9. Felix Rosenqvist, seven laps led

    10. Alex Palou

    11. Marcus Ericsson

    12. Pato O’Ward

    13. David Malukas

    14. Callum Ilott

    15. Takuma Sato

    16. Romain Grosjean

    17. Conor Daly

    18. Devlin DeFrancesco

    19. Helio Castroneves

    20. Jack Harvey

    21. Dalton Kellett, one lap down

    22. Jimmie Johnson, one lap down

    23. Kyle Kirkwood, one lap down

    24. Colton Herta – OUT, Mechanical, 17 laps led

    25. Simon Pagenaud – OUT, Off Course

    Next on the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series schedule is the second annual running of the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Street Circuit in Nashville, Tennessee. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, August 7, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Scott McLaughlin scores second IndyCar career victory at Mid-Ohio

    Scott McLaughlin scores second IndyCar career victory at Mid-Ohio

    Scott McLaughlin capitalized from a late-race misfortune that knocked Pato O’Ward out of contention to dominate and fend off Alex Palou to win the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Sunday, July 3.

    The 29-year-old McLaughlin from Hamilton, New Zealand, led a race-high 45 of 80 laps in his No. 3 Odyssey Battery Dallara-Chevrolet and managed to pull away from the field during an 18-lap dash to the finish, including a late charge from Palou, to notch his second career victory in the NTT IndyCar Series.

    With on-track qualifying occurring on Saturday, Pato O’Ward became the ninth different pole winner through the first nine scheduled events after establishing a pole-winning lap at 121.861 mph in 1:06.7054. Joining him on the front row was Scott McLaughlin, who clocked in his best lap at 121.619 mph in 1:06.8382.

    Following a delayed, cautious start, the green flag waved on Lap 3 of 80. At the start, O’Ward took off with the lead as teammate Felix Rosenqvist mad an early bid on McLaughlin for the runner-up spot, with the latter retaining the spot. As the field jostled for positions early, Will Power spun his No. 12 Verizon 5G Dallara-Chevrolet in Turn 9, but the event remained under green.  

    Through the first five scheduled laps, O’Ward was leading by nearly nine-tenths of a second over McLaughlin followed by Rosenqvist, Colton Herta and Scott Dixon while Simon Pagenaud, Alex Palou, rookie Kyle Kirkwood, rookie David Malukas and Alenxader Rossi.

    Four laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Rosenqvist, who was in third place and was coming off a new multi-year deal with McLaren Racing, pulled his No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet off the course in Turn 4 due to a mechanical issue and with smoke billowing out of his car.

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 13, O’Ward retained the lead ahead of McLaughlin while Dixon and Herta battled for third place ahead of Pagenaud. With Dixon moving into third place, Herta just managed to fend off Pagenaud for fourth place as Palou started to close in for his bid for a top-five spot.

    Twenty laps into the event, O’Ward continued to lead by more than a second over McLaughlin followed by Dixon, Herta and Pagenaud while Palou, Malukas, Kirkwood, Rossi and rookie Callum Ilott were in the top 10. By then, Josef Newgarden was in 11th ahead of Rinus VeeKay, Helio Castroneves, Marcus Ericsson and Takuma Sato while Conor Daly, Romain Grosjean, Devlin DeFrancesco, Will Power and Christian Lundgaard occupied the top 20. Graham Rahal, who was making his 250th IndyCar career start, was mired in 23rd while Jimmie Johnson was back in 25th ahead of Jack Harvey.

    Four laps later, the first round of green flag pit stops commenced as Newgarden pitted his No. 2 PPG Dallara-Chevrolet along with VeeKay, Grosjean and Lundgaard. Palou would soon pit along with Castroneves and Malukas, Rossi, Ilott, Simona De Silverstro, Kirkwood, Conor Daly, Dalton Kellett, Pagenaud, Takuma Sato, DeFrancesco and rookie Tatiana Calderon.

    Then on Lap 30, O’Ward, who was radioing power issues, surrendered the lead to pit followed by Dixon as McLaughlin took over the lead. Shortly after, the caution flew when Kirkwood got loose entering Turn 9, went off the course and wrecked his No. 14 AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara-Chevrolet against the tire barriers.

    With the race restarting under green on Lap 36, McLaughlin fended off Palou to retain the lead through the first two corners and entering Turn 3. Then as Palou challenged McLaughlin for the lead, the caution returned when Dalton Kellett got hit by Jack Harvey in Turn 2, spun and stalled his car.

    As the race restarted under green at the halfway mark on Lap 40, McLaughlin retained the lead for a second time ahead of Palou as Herta, O’Ward and Dixon occupied the top five. 

    With 30 laps remaining, McLaughlin was leading by a second over Palou while Herta, VeeKay and Dixon were in the top five. Newgarden, who started 14th, was up in sixth place followed by Ericsson, Power, Rossi and Grosjean while O’Ward was back to 12th after being overtaken by Pagenaud.

    Three laps later, names like Newgarden, Malukas, Ilott, Castronevs, Lundgaard, Graham Rahal, Conor Day, DeFrancesco, Sato, Simona de Silvestro and O’Ward pitted under green. Then, disaster struck for O’Ward, who stalled his No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet while trying to exit his pit stall and retired due to a mechanical issue. At the time of O’Ward’s issue, the leader McLaughlin along with Palou, VeeKay, Dixon, Ericsson, Power, Rossi, Grosjean and Pagenaud pitted. Not long after, the caution flew when Tatiana Calderon pulled her car off the course in between Turns 4 and 5 due to a mechanical issue. 

    When the race restarted under green with 23 laps remaining, Herta, who did not pit during the previous pit cycle, took off with the lead followed by McLaughlin while Palou, Power, VeeKay and Dixon occupied the top six. By then, Ilott limped his car back to pit road after he fell off the pace prior to the start and eventually retired due to a mechanical issue to his No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Dallara-Chevrolet.

    During the following lap, however, the caution flew when teammates Grosjean and Rossi, both of whom made contact with one another earlier, made contact for a second time and went off the course in Turn 2, with Grosjean’s No. 28 Andretti Autosport Dallara-Honda ending up in the tire barriers while Rossi continued. During the caution period, Herta surrendered the lead to McLaughlin to pit.

    Down to the final 18 laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. At the start, McLaughlin took off with the lead while teammate Power challenged Palou for the runner-up spot as the field fanned out and scrambled for late positions.

    During the following lap, Herta, who was mired towards the rear of the field, received the slightest of contact from teammate Grosjean, who earlier voiced his frustration in being hit by teammate Rossi prior to the previous restart, as Herta went off the course, spun his No. 26 Andretti Autosport Dallara-Honda and continued.

    With 10 laps remaining, McLaughlin continued to lead by more than a second over Palou followed by Power, VeeKay and Dixon while Ericsson, Newgarden, Castroneves, Malukas and Jack Harvey were in the top 10. By then, the drama within the Andretti Autosport camp continued as Rossi made contact with teammate Devlin DeFrancesco in Turn 6. In addition, Rossi and Grosjean were assessed pass-through penalties through pit road following their run-in on the track.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, McLaughlin remained as the leader by six-tenths of a seconds over Palou while Power, VeeKay and Dixon stabilized themselves in the top five. Ericsson, Newgarden, Castroneves, Malukas and Pagenaud were scored in the top 10 while Lundgaard, Rahal, Daly, Sato and Jimmie Johnson were in the top 15.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, McLaughlin stabilized his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Palou, who had the Australian within his sights but was not close enough to ignite a bid for the lead. Having a clear circuit in front of him for a final time and through the 13-turn circuit, McLaughlin was able to cycle his way back to the finish line and claim his second career checkered flag in the IndyCar circuit by more than half a second over Palou’s No. 10 NTT Data Dallara-Honda.

    With the victory, McLaughlin became the second IndyCar competitor to achieve multiple victories this season as he recorded the sixth IndyCar victory of the season for Team Penske along with the 12th for the organization at Mid-Ohio. The Mid-Ohio victory also marked his first podium result in IndyCar since he claimed his maiden IndyCar victory at the Streets of St. Petersburg in Florida followed by a runner-up result at Texas Motor Speedway in March.

    “Amazing,” McLaughlin said on NBC. “I really wanted to get a win here with mom and dad. Our first time with Odyssey Battery on the car. It was awesome, as well, to have them onboard, but to have mom and dad here is super special. America’s weekend! Last night, I was dressed up as a bald eagle, so maybe, I need to do that every July 4th weekend. [The race] was tough. You’re thinking about your fuel, but thankfully, Chevy gave us the great fuel mileage and drive ability off the restarts. That allowed to get a little bit of a gap from Palou and Honda there, so I’m really proud of the guys [with] the car they gave me. It was a little hard to drive towards the end. I would’ve loved to make it a little bit easier for myself, but yeah, super proud of everyone. Great pit stops from this car No. 3 team…We’re going to the moon!”

    Palou claimed his third runner-up result of the season after being half a second shy of claiming his first IndyCar victory of the season while Power rallied from his opening lap spin to finish in third place and round out the podium.

    VeeKay and Dixon finished in the top five while Ericsson, Newgarden, Castroneves, Malukas and Pagenaud completed the top 10 on the track. Notably, Herta finished 15th ahead of Jimmie Johnson, Rossi ended up 19th and Grosjean settled in 21st, a lap down.

    There were three lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 17 laps.

    With his sixth-place result, Marcus Ericsson continues to lead the championship standings by 20 points over Will Power, 34 over Josef Newgarden, 35 over Alex Palou, 65 over Pato O’Ward, 67 over Scott Dixon and 69 over Scott McLaughlin.

    Results.

    1. Scott McLaughlin, 45 laps led

    2. Alex Palou

    3. Will Power

    4. Rinus VeeKay

    5. Scott Dixon

    6. Marcus Ericsson

    7. Josef Newgarden

    8. Helio Castroneves

    9. David Malukas

    10. Simon Pagenaud

    11. Christian Lundgaard

    12. Graham Rahal

    13. Conor Daly

    14. Takuma Sato

    15. Colton Herta, seven laps led

    16. Jimmie Johnson

    17. Devlin DeFrancesco

    18. Simona De Silvestro

    19. Alexander Rossi

    20. Jack Harvey

    21. Romain Grosjean, one lap down

    22. Dalton Kellett, two laps down

    23. Callum Ilott – OUT, Mechanical

    24. Pato O’Ward – OUT, Mechanical, 28 laps led

    25. Tatiana Calderon – OUT, Mechanical

    26. Kyle Kirkwood – OUT, Contact

    27. Felix Rosenqvist – OUT, Mechanical

    Next on the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series schedule is the series’ return to the Exhibition Place in Toronto, Canada, for the Honda Indy Toronto following a two-year absence. The event is scheduled to occur on July 17 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC Peacock.

  • Marcus Ericsson capitalizes late to win the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500

    Marcus Ericsson capitalizes late to win the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500

    On a bright, sunny afternoon at Indianapolis, Indiana, that was dominated by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, teammate Marcus Ericsson capitalized late under the final 15 laps to storm to the lead and fend off the field during a two-lap shootout to win the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 29.

    The 31-year-old Ericsson from Kumla, Sweden, led three times for a total of 13 of the 200-scheduled laps, including the final 11, and had appeared to have the victory sealed with six laps remaining when the caution flew following a single-car wreck involving Ericsson’s teammate Jimmie Johnson. With the event briefly placed in a hiatus before being placed in a two-lap dash to the finish, Ericsson fended off a late challenge from Pato O’Ward to claim his first Indy 500 triumph under caution.

    With the starting lineup determined through two on-track qualifying sessions between May 21-22, Scott Dixon started on pole position after recording the fastest four-lap average qualifying  speed at 234.046 mph, which was more than enough for him to notch his fifth Indy 500 pole. Teammate Alex Palou achieved the second-fastest four-lap average speed at 233.499 mph followed by Rinus VeeKay, who turned in the third-fastest four-lap average speed at 233.385 mph.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Dixon jumped ahead with the lead as the field scrambled behind. Then through the backstretch, Palou made a move on his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate to take the lead. As the field returned to the start/finish line, Palou led the first lap while Dixon and VeeKay battled for the runner-up spot.   

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Palou was leading by more than a tenth of a second over teammate Dixon followed by VeeKay, Marcus Ericsson and Ed Carpenter while Tony Kanaan, Pato O’Ward, Felix Rosenqvist, Will Power, and Romain Grosjean were in the top 10.

    Three laps later, Dixon made a move on teammate Palou through the first turn to take the lead for the first time while VeeKay remained in third ahead of Ericsson and Carpenter. By the Lap 10 mark, however, Palou made a move to the outside of teammate Dixon through the frontstretch to reassume the lead.

    By Lap 20, Palou, who had swapped the lead a handful of times with teammate Dixon, was leading ahead of teammate Dixon while VeeKay continued to run in third place. Ericsson also remained in fourth ahead of Ed Carpenter, Kanaan, O’Ward, Rosenqvist, Santino Ferrucci and Romain Grosjean while Will Power, Takuma Sato, Josef Newgarden, David Malukas, Alexander Rossi, Jimmie Johnson, Simon Pagenaud, Conor Daly, JR Hildebrand and Scott McLaughlin were in the top 20. Meanwhile, Marco Andretti was in 22nd, Helio Castroneves was in 25th behind Sage Karam, Colton Herta was mired in 27th behind Callum Ilott and Juan Pablo Montoya was in 29th behind Jack Harvey. 

    Ten laps later and with Dixon out in front ahead of teammate Palou, the first round of green flag pit stops commenced as Dixon surrendered the lead to pit along with Conor Daly and Dalton Kellett. Soon after, Palou pitted along with Santino Ferrucci, Jimmie Johnson, rookie Kyle Kirkwood, VeeKay, Grosjean, Devlin DeFrancesco, Stefan Wilson, Ericsson, Carpenter, Kanaan, O’Ward, Rosenqvist, Sato, Newgarden, Malukas, Rossi, Andretti, Power, Graham Rahal, Jack Harvey and others. 

    When the green flag pit stops sequence concluded on Lap 37 as Castroneves and Montoya pitted, Palou cycled his way back to the lead followed by VeeKay, Dixon, Ericsson and Carpenter while O’Ward, Rosenqvist, Ferrucci, Kanaan and Sato were in the top 10.

    Two laps later, the first caution of the event flew when VeeKay, who was pursuing Palou in the runner-up spot, got loose entering Turn 2 and collided against the outside wall, thus ending his event with a wrecked No. 21 Bitcoin Dallara-Chevrolet. During the caution period, some like Power pitted while the rest led by Palou remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 46, Palou led teammates Dixon and Ericsson through the first two turns while the field behind jostled for positions. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Dixon reassumed the lead over Palou while O’Ward was up in third place ahead of Ericsson, Carpenter and Kanaan.

    As the field reached the one-quarter mark on Lap 50, Palou swapped spots with teammate Dixon to reassume the lead while O’Ward, Ericsson, Carpenter, Kanaan, Sato, Rosenqvist, Ferrucci and Malukas occupied the top 10.

    Nearing the Lap 70 mark, the second round of green flag pit stops commenced as Dixon, who was running in the runner-up spot behind teammate Palou, pitted his No. 9 PNC Bank Dallara-Honda along with Daly and Herta. 

    Shortly after and just as Palou was making a pit stop, the second caution of the event flew when Callum Ilott got loose, spun and pounded the outside wall in Turn 2 before he slid down the track and pounded the inside wall as his Indy 500 debut came to an end with a wrecked No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Dallara-Chevrolet. During the caution period, the majority of the competitors who had yet to pit pitted as O’Ward exited first ahead of Ericsson, Kanaan, Ferrucci, Carpenter and Rosenqvist. During the pit stops, Palou, who was penalized for pitting at the time where pit road was closed, made another pit stop for fuel as he was shuffled towards the rear of the field.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 77, Dixon, who cycled to the lead amid the reshuffling under caution, took off with the lead followed by Daly and O’Ward as the field fanned out through the backstretch.

    Three laps later, Hoosier native Conor Daly overtook Dixon on the frontstretch to assume the lead for the first time in his No. 20 BitNile Dallara-Chevrolet as the crowd erupted in a chorus with cheers. During the following lap, however, Dixon reassumed the lead through the frontstretch. Daly, though, was quick to launch himself back to the lead another three laps later.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Dixon was out in front by nearly four-tenths of a second over Daly while O’Ward, Ericsson, Kanaan, Ferrucci, Carpenter, Newgarden, Rosenqvist and Sato were in the top 10. Simon Pagenaud was in 11th ahead of McLaughlin, David Malukas, Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi while Sage Karam, Marco Andretti, Grosjean, Rahal and Montoya were in the top 20. Meanwhile, Will Power was in 24th, Palou was mired in 26th ahead of Kyle Kirkwood and Jimmie Johnson and Herta was back in 30th.

    Five laps later, another round of green flag pit stops ensued as Daly pitted. Not long after, however, the caution flew when Romain Grosjean snapped sideways and collided against the Turn 2 outside wall, which left Grosjean with a wrecked No. 28 DHL Dallara-Honda and out in his Indy 500 debut. By then, this marked the third incident of the day, all of which occurred in Turn 2.

    Under caution, the leaders led by Dixon, who was running low on fuel, pitted and Dixon retained the lead by exiting his pit stall with the top spot ahead of O’Ward, Ferrucci, Rosenqvist, Carpenter and Kanaan.

    With 89 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Daly, who cycled his way to the lead while also fending off Dixon for the lead, was quickly overtaken by O’Ward as O’Ward, fresh off a new contract extension with Arrow McLaren SP, made a bold move on the outside lane to rocket to the lead. Not long after, however, Dixon returned the favor by returning to the lead while O’Ward was left to battle against Daly and Ferrucci while Rosenqvist was in fifth.

    With 75 laps remaining, Dixon was leading by nearly seven-tenths of a second over O’Ward while Daly, Rosenqvist and Ferrucci were in the top five. Kanaan stabilized himself in sixth place ahead of Ericsson, Takuma Sato, Carptenter and Pagenaud while Castroneves was in 11th.

    Fifteen laps later, Dixon continued to lead by more than seven-tenths of a second over O’Ward while Daly, Rosenqvist and Ferrucci completed the top 10. Earlier, Colton Herta took his No. 26 Gainbridge Dallara-Honda to the garage due to a mechanical issue.

    Just then, another round of green flag pit stops occurred as Dixon surrendered the lead to pit. Shortly after, Daly pitted along with Dalton Kellett, Rosenqvist, Sage Karam, Devlin DeFrancesco, Power, Jack Harvey, O’Ward, Ferrucci, Montoya, Rahal, Kanaan, Sato, Malukas, Pagenaud, Scott McLaughlin, Christian Lundgaard, Newgarden, Andretti, Ericsson, Castroneves, Rossi, Jimmie Johnson and others.

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event and with the green flag pit stops sequence complete, O’Ward, who cycled his way back to the lead three laps earlier after Alex Palou pitted, was leading by more than a second over Dixon while Rosenqvist was up in third place. Daly and Ferrucci occupied the top five ahead of Ericsson, Kanaan, Pagenaud, Castroneves and Rossi.

    A few laps later, the caution flew when Scott McLaughlin got loose briefly entering Turn 3 before shooting his No. 3 Pennzoil Dallara-Chevrolet dead straight into the outside wall as his event came to an end following the hard wreck.

    With 43 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Dixon overtook O’Ward to reassume the lead as the field fanned out to multiple lanes through the backstretch. O’Ward, however, was able to reassume the top spot with 39 laps remaining. 

    Nearing the final 35 laps of the event, Dixon made another move on O’Ward exiting the frontstretch to reassume the lead. 

    Three laps later, Ed Carpenter made a pit stop under green as Dixon was leading by two-tenths of a second over O’Ward and seven-tenths of a second over Felix Rosenqvist.

    Then with nearly 25 laps remaining, another round of pit stops under green commenced as Rosenqvist pitted his No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet followed by Rossi while Dixon continued to lead ahead of O’Ward. Not long after, Dixon surrendered the lead to pit followed by Daly, Ferrucci and Christian Lundgaard. Then, disaster struck for Dixon, whose opportunity to win a second Indy 500 title was spoiled after he was forced to serve a pass-through penalty for speeding while entering pit road. With Dixon out of contention, Rosenqvist emerged as the first competitor who had pitted just as O’Ward pitted.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Tony Kanaan, who was one of several competitors who had yet to pit, was leading followed by Pagenaud, Palou, Castroneves and Newgarden while Power, Andretti, Johnson, Sato and Harvey were in the top 10.

    With 15 laps remaining, Marco Andretti and Jimmie Johnson, both of whom had yet to pit, were leading followed by Ericsson, who overtook Rosenqvist earlier on the track and emerged as the highest-running competitor with fresh tires and enough fuel to the finish. Sato was in fourth followed by O’Ward and Kanaan while Harvey, Rosenqvist, Rossi and Daly were in the top 10.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event and with the green flag pit stops complete as Andretti and Johnson pitted, Marcus Ericsson cycled his No. 8 Huski Chocolate Dallara-Honda to the lead followed by O’Ward, who trailed by more than three seconds, and Tony Kanaan, who was charging hard in his No. 1 American Legion Dallara-Honda while trailing by more than four seconds, while Rosenqvist and Sato were in the top five.

    Then with six laps remaining, the caution flew when Jimmie Johnson got loose after hitting the apron in Turn 2, spun and pounded his No. 48 Carvana Dallara-Honda head-on into the Turn 2 outside wall. The incident, which evaporated Ericsson’s steady advantage over O’Ward and Kanaan, was enough for IndyCar to direct the field to pit road and draw the event into a red flag situation.

    When the red flag was lifted, the field made their way back on the racing surface under a cautious pace. As the race restarted under green with two laps remaining under green, Ericsson retained the lead with a decent start while O’Ward, Rosenqvist and Kanaan battled behind. It did not take, however, for O’Ward to pull away as he issue a challenge on Ericsson for the lead with both seeking their first Indy 500 victory.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Ericsson remained as the leader ahead of O’Ward, who gained a big run through the frontstretch as he tried to pounce alongside Ericsson for the lead and win, but Ericsson managed to pull ahead of O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet through Turn 1 to retain the lead while Kanaan and Rosenqvist trailed behind. 

    Then as Ericsson made his way to Turn 3, the caution flew and the race was official when Sage Karam wrecked in Turn 2. With the race official and concluding under caution, Ericsson made his way back to the finish line to claim the biggest victory of his career.

    With the victory, Ericsson became the newest winner of the Indianapolis 500 since Simon Pagenaud won in 2019 and the 74th overall as he notched his third NTT IndyCar Series career victory in his 52nd series start. The 2022 Indy 500 victory was also the first for Chip Ganassi Racing since 2012 made by Dario Franchitti and the fifth overall as Ericsson joined Kenny Bräck as the only Swedish competitors to win the Indy 500.

    “I couldn’t believe it [when the caution flew],” Ericsson said on NBC. “I felt you can never take anything for granted and obviously, there was still laps to go and I was praying so hard. It was not gonna be another yellow, but I knew there was probably gonna be one. It was hard to sort of refocus, but I knew the car was amazing. The No. 8 crew and Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda has done such an amazing job so I knew the Huski Chocolate car was fast enough, but it was still hard. I had to do everything there and then to keep them behind. I can’t believe it. I’m so happy.”

    “My family’s here,” Ericsson added. “My mom and dad, my brother, my girlfriend, my manager…they’re all here today. I won. I can’t believe it. I love [oval tracks].”

    Behind, Pato O’Ward, who was aiming to become the first Mexican-born competitor to win the Indy 500, settled in a disappointing second place while Tony Kanaan, who was making his lone IndyCar start of the season, came home in third place.

    “[Ericsson] was gonna put me in the wall if I would’ve gone for it,” O’Ward said. “We were alongside each other. Man, I’m so proud of the team and proud of myself. We did everything to get it done and even getting a massive run on him. We had no wicker, less downforce and still, not enough speed to get by him, even with a massive run. It’s frustrating, it’s bittersweet. I’m so proud, but it definitely stings because I feel like the team and I did everything perfectly to get it done and something that’s out of our control was why we’ve struggled in the end…Next year, we’ll come back with a faster and better race car and go at it again.”

    Rosenqvist and Rossi finished in the top five while Conor Daly, Castroneves, Pagenaud, Palou and Santino Ferrucci completed the top 10 on the track.

    Notably, Montoya finished 11th, Newgarden ended up 13th, Will Power settled in 15th, Ed Carpenter came home in 18th and Scott Dixon, who led a race-high 95 laps, fell back to 21st.

    “It’s just heartbreaking,” Dixon said. “I don’t know. It must’ve been very close. I kind of came into the pit and I locked the rears [tires], kind of locked all four [tires] and I knew it was gonna be close. I think it was like a mile hour over or something. Just frustrating. The car was really good all day. We had really good speed. I think the team did an amazing job on strategy. I just messed up.”

    Marco Andretti ended up in 22nd, three spots ahead of Takuma Sato, while Jimmie Johnson ended up in 28th place following his late accident.

    There were 38 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 31 laps.

    With his first Indianapolis 500 victory, Marcus Ericsson leapt from eighth to first in the championship standings by 13 points over Pato O’Ward, 14 over Alex Palou, 24 over Will Power, 52 over Josef Newgarden and 60 over Scott Dixon.

    Results.

    1. Marcus Ericsson. 13 laps led

    2. Pato O’Ward, 26 laps led

    3. Tony Kanaan, six laps led

    4. Felix Rosenqvist

    5. Alexander Rossi

    6. Conor Daly, seven laps led

    7. Helio Castroneves

    8. Simon Pagenaud

    9. Alex Palou, 47 laps led

    10. Santino Ferrucci

    11. Juan Pablo Montoya

    12. JR Hildebrand

    13. Josef Newgarden

    14. Graham Rahal

    15. Will Power

    16. David Malukas

    17. Kyle Kirkwood

    18. Ed Carpenter

    19. Devlin DeFrancesco

    20. Christian Lundgaard

    21. Scott Dixon, 95 laps led

    22. Marco Andretti, three laps led

    23. Sage Karam, one lap down

    24. Jack Harvey, one lap down

    25. Takuma Sato, one lap down

    26. Dalton Kellett, two laps down

    27. Stefan Wilson, seven laps down

    28. Jimmie Johnson – OUT, Contact, two laps led

    29. Scott McLaughlin – OUT, Contact

    30. Colton Herta – OUT, Mechanical

    31. Romain Grosjean – OUT, Contact

    32. Callum Ilott – OUT, Contact

    33. Rinus VeeKay – OUT, Contact, one lap led

    Next on the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series schedule is the series’ final event at Belle Isle Street Circuit for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix in Detroit, Michigan. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, June 5, at 3 p.m. ET on the USA Network.

  • Colton Herta outlasts Mother Nature for first IndyCar victory of 2022 at GMR Grand Prix

    Colton Herta outlasts Mother Nature for first IndyCar victory of 2022 at GMR Grand Prix

    Colton Herta survived a chaotic, tricky and slick run in the midwest by notching his first NTT IndyCar Series victory of the season in the rain-shortened GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course on Saturday, May 14.

    The 22-year-old Herta from Valencia, Santa Clarita, California, led three times for a race-high 50 of 75 shortened laps and benefitted for a late pit stop for slick tires to overtake Pato O’Ward during a Lap 66 restart and fend off the field by Lap 73 when the caution flew due to an on-track incident. During the caution period, the event was reaching its two-hour time limit and running on a 21-minute clock session due to the wet, foggy conditions amid a delayed start that also shortened the event by 10 laps from the original 85 planned. With the event concluding on Lap 75, Herta was able to navigate his way around the circuit under two cautious pace laps to claim his first triumph of the season following a string of misfortunes.

    With on-track qualifying occurring on Friday, Will Power secured his 64th career pole position after posting a pole-winning speed at 125.854 mph in one minute, 9.7664 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Alex Palou, who logged a qualifying speed at 125.777 mph in one minute, 9.8090 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced amid a delayed start due to inclement weather, Power led the field ahead of Palou, Josef Newgarden and the field entering the first two turns as the field jumbled behind. Through Turns 4, 5 and 6, Power maintained the lead. Then in Turn 7, Alex Palou moved into the lead and Pato O’Ward moved into the runner-up spot as Newgarden and Power were both overtaken. Soon after, O’Ward overtook Palou entering Turn 12 and went on to lead the first lap.

    During the following lap and as O’Ward was leading, teammate Felix Rosenqvist cycled his No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet into second place while Palou, Power and Conor Daly were in the top five. 

    Following the third lap, O’Ward surrendered the lead to pit early while teammate Rosenqvist moved into the lead. By then, names like Alexander Rossi, Josef Newgarden, Will Power, Rinus VeeKay pitted. Soon after, Palou, Romain Grosjean, Callum Ilott, Juan Pablo Montoya, Hello Castroneves, Dalton Kellett, David Malukas, Jimmie Johnson and Marcus Ericsson also pitted.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Colton Herta, who made a bold save while slipping sideways as he pursued O’Ward earlier through the infield, cycled his No. 26 Gainbridge Dallara-Honda into the lead followed by O’Ward and Rosenqvist. Shortly after, the first caution flew when Palou spun his No. 10 American Legion Dallara-Honda in Turn 10.

    When the race restarted on the ninth lap, Herta maintained the lead ahead of O’Ward, Rosenqvist and the field. 

    On Lap 16, the caution flew when contact between Rossi and Newgarden resulted with Newgarden’s No. 2 PPG Dallara-Chevrolet getting turned off the front nose of Jack Harvey through Turn 12 as he took his car to the garage and dropped out of race-winning contention. Under caution, some like Marcus Ericsson, Kirkwood and Palou pitted while the rest led by Herta remained on the track.

    On Lap 20, the race restarted under green. At the start, Herta retained the lead ahead of O’Ward and Rosenqvist while Takuma Sato muscled his way into fourth place over Power. Following the first three turns, however, the caution returned for a two-car wreck involving Rinus VeeKay and Devlin DeFrancesco, where the former got loose, went off the course, came back across the circuit sideways and was hit by the latter.

    Four laps later, the race resumed under green as the skies darkened. At the start, Herta retained the lead ahead of Arrow McLaren SP’s O’Ward and Rosenqvist while Sato retained fourth place ahead of Power, Rossi and the field. 

    Through the first 30 laps of the event, Herta was leading by more than seven-tenths of a second over O’Ward while Rosenqvist, Sato and Power were running in the top five. Challenging Power for a top-five spot was Rossi while Harvey, Scott McLaughlin, Romain Grosjean and Callum Ilott occupied the top 10. Simon Pagenaud was in 11th followed by Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, Graham Rahal and David Malukas while Christina Lundgaard, Dalton Kellett, Tatiana Calderon, Juan Pablo Montoya and Ericsson were in the top 20. Meanwhile, Jimmie Johnson was in 21st ahead of Kirkwood while Palou was mired in 24th place.

    Three laps later, O’Ward returned to the lead as Herta pitted under green. By then, names like Takuma Sato, Scott McLaughlin and Dalton Kellett pitted. Then during the following lap, Herta pitted as teammate Rosenqvist inherited the lead. Along with O’Ward, names like Rossi, Grosjean, Ilott, Power and Pagenaud pitted.By Lap 35, Rosenqvist surrendered the lead to pit along with Castroneves, Rahal, Montoya and Malukas.

    Not long after, Kellett made contact with the tire barriers between Turns 5 and 6 and stalled his car as the caution flew. Prior to the caution, Dixon limped his No. 9 PNC Bank Dallara-Honda to pit road under a slow pace after running out of fuel. At the moment of caution, Ericsson was scored the leader followed by Kirkwood, Herta, Rosenqvist and O’Ward.

    During the caution period, the precipitation steadily increased around the circuit. Despite the wet circuit, the race restarted under green on Lap 41. At the start, disaster struck for O’Ward, who got loose while making a move on Herta in Turn 1 and spun as his No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet was then his by teammate Rosenqvist, whose front nose was destroyed. The incident, which also involved Sato spinning, drew another caution as the field surpassed the halfway mark on Lap 43. In the midst of the carnage, Ericsson retained the lead ahead of Kirkwood, Herta, McLaughlin and Harvey.

    Under caution, some like Kirkwood pitted while the rest led by Ericsson remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 45, the field fanned out to multiple lanes as Ericsson retained a narrow advantage over Herta. Through the infield backstretch, however, Herta reassumed the lead followed by McLaughlin as the field continued to scramble for positions. 

    At the Lap 50 mark, Herta extended his advantage to more than a second over McLaughlin while Harvey, Grosjean and Pagenaud were in the top five. Power was in sixth followed by O’Ward while Ilott, Castroneves and Conor Daly were in the top 10. By then, Ericsson was mired back in 13th while Dixon, who raced his way back on the lead lap during the previous restart, was lapped and back in 21st.

    During the following lap, some like Ericsson pitted under green while the rest led by Herta remained on the track. On the track, Grosjean spun in Turn 7 after getting hit by Harvey.

    On Lap 57, the caution flew when Jimmie Johnson spun in Turn 10. Under caution, the lead lap competitors pitted as McLaughlin edged Herta to assume the lead. Soon after and with the precipitation intensifying, some like Herta, Dixon, Rossi, Palou, Power, Pagenaud, Harvey, Daly, Castroneves, Montoya and Ilott pitted for a second time for wet tires. In the process, O’Ward moved up to second place behind Herta.

    Soon after, the event became a timed event with IndyCar given 20 minutes to have the event completed since the event was reaching its two-hour time limit amid the wet conditions and the delayed start. In the process, the field led by McLaughlin continued to run on the circuit under a cautious pace behind the pace car. Just then, the leader McLaughlin spun through Turns 10 and 11 under the final 17 minutes as O’Ward cycled back to the lead. 

    When the race restarted under green with approximately 14 minutes left and on Lap 66, Herta gained a huge run on O’Ward prior to the first turn to reassume the lead as O’Ward fended off Pagenaud to retain the runner-up spot. Soon after, however, the caution flew when McLaughlin spun and stalled his car between Turns 2 and 3.

    Under caution and with 10 minutes of the event remaining, Herta continued to lead ahead of O’Ward, Pagenaud, Power and Daly while Montoya, Ericsson, Castroneves, Ilott and Sato were in the top 10.

    Then as time continued to expire, O’Ward spun under caution, which allowed Pagenaud and Power to move up to second and third while O’Ward fell back to fourth. Meanwhile, Herta remained as the leader as time continued to expire.

    With approximately six minutes left, the race proceeded under green on Lap 70 while O’Ward pitted. At the start, Herta retained the lead ahead of Pagenaud and Power while Daly and Montoya were in the top five. 

    With under five laps minutes, Herta was leading by more than two seconds over Pagenaud while third-place Power trailed by more than seven seconds. In the process, Daly retained fourth ahead of Ericsson, who overtook Montoya, while Sato, Rosenqvist, Castroneves and Ilott were in the top 10.

    With two minutes left and as the race continued to run under green amid the wet conditions, Herta extended his advantage to nearly four seconds over Pagenaud while Power, Ericsson and Daly were in the top five.

    Shortly after, the caution flew on Lap 73 when Montoya wrecked in Turn 11. The incident and caution were enough for the remaining time of the event to expire as Herta, who endured an up-and-down start to the season, was able to cautiously navigate his way around the 14-turn circuit for a final time and claim the checkered flag on Lap 75 for his first victory of the season. 

    With his first IndyCar victory of the 2022 season, Herta notched his seventh career win in the IndyCar circuit, his first at Indianapolis and first since winning the final two scheduled events of the 2021 season. The Indy victory, which was a first of the season for Andretti Autosport and for Honda, was enough to boost Herta up five spots in the championship standings to sixth place.

    “[Pitting for slick tires] sure helped us a lot,” Herta said on NBC. “We gained a lot of positions there. Man, this is awesome. That was the hardest race I think I’ve ever done. Wet [tires] to dry [tires], dry back to wet. Thank you so much to the Hoosiers [fans] for sticking around. I know you’re used to this kind of weather, so thank you very much. I love you guys. ”

    Finishing in the runner-up spot was Pagenaud, who notched his first podium result in his first season with Meyer Shank Racing and first since the 2021 Indy 500. Meanwhile, Power settled in third place for his fifth consecutive top-four result through the first five scheduled IndyCar events. Power’s podium result was enough for him to assume the points lead.


    “I couldn’t see, couldn’t drive at the end,” Pagenaud, who started 20th, said. “That was unfortunate. The car felt really good in the wets, but I just couldn’t see. I was looking for lights on the sides to find a braking point, but it was treacherous at the end…It was really tough to finish the race. An amazing job from everybody at Meyer Shank Racing. We made the right calls on the tires. It was really tricky to decide, but overall, it was a great race. It was a really good job.” 

    “It was just so hard to decide, whether to go to wets or slicks there when it was raining on one side of the track and it was dry on the other,” Power added. “Stoked with third. Really happy to get the Verizon 5G Chevy on the podium after a mayhem day. I tried to be smart, sit back and didn’t want to take any too big of a risk…You could pick the wrong tire and it can be a terrible day, but in every situation, I just try to be as smart as I could, not take a big risk. It’s usually not fun not racing for a win, but it wasn’t the condition to try to do that, especially with the points battle.”

    Ericsson came home in fourth place followed by Conor Daly while Rosenqvist, Sato, Ilott, Lundgaard and Dixon finished in the top 10.

    In the midst of the on-track chaos, Rossi finished 11th, Castroneves settled in 14th, O’Ward fell back to 19th behind Grosjean and Palou and McLaughlin finished 20th. Johnson finished 22nd while Montoya, who was in position for a top-10 run prior to his late incident, ended up 24th.

    There were 10 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 31 laps.

    With his third-place result, Will Power leads the championship standings by 16 points over both teammate Scott McLaughlin and Alex Palou, 30 over teammate Josef Newgarden, 37 over Scott Dixon, 38 over Colton Herta and 42 over Pato O’Ward.

    Results.

    1. Colton Herta, 50 laps led

    2. Simon Pagenaud

    3. Will Power

    4. Marcus Ericsson, 10 laps led

    5. Conor Daly

    6. Felix Rosenqvist, four laps led

    7. Takuma Sato

    8. Callum Ilott

    9. Christian Lundgaard

    10. Scott Dixon

    11. Alexander Rossi

    12. David Malukas

    13. Jack Harvey

    14. Helio Castroneves

    15. Tatiana Calderon, one lap led

    16. Graham Rahal

    17. Romain Grosjean, one lap down

    18. Alex Palou, one lap down

    19. Pato O’Ward, one lap down, five laps led

    20. Scott McLaughlin, one lap down, five laps led

    21. Devlin DeFrancesco, two laps down

    22. Jimmie Johnson, two laps down

    23. Rinus VeeKay, two laps down

    24. Juan Pablo Montoya – OUT, Contact

    25. Josef Newgarden, 15 laps down

    26. Kyle Kirkwood – OUT, Contact

    27. Dalton Kellett – OUT, Contact

    Next on the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series schedule is the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The starting lineup for the event will be determined through two qualifying sessions between May 21-22. The main event will then occur on May 29 with the event’s coverage to occur at 11 a.m.  ET on NBC.