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  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Simon Pagenaud snaps year-long winless streak at Iowa

    Simon Pagenaud snaps year-long winless streak at Iowa

    Using strategy, Simon Pagenaud ended a year-long drought Friday night at Iowa Speedway to earn his first-ever track win at Iowa Speedway.

    “Wow, this place is tough!,” Pagenaud said after coming from 23rd to first. “What a night! What a day for us. First of all, it was an amazing group effort from the whole Team Penske to recover from Road America. I made a mistake. We unloaded really well. This morning was a lot of fun. Qualifying was disheartening, but these guys never give up and that’s what this team is all about. It’s amazing to get the Menards car to be shining here in Iowa is awesome. So, I’m really proud for John and everybody at Menards and Chevy. Obviously, we had the horsepower and the fuel conception, but most importantly, I can’t believe it. I have to re-watch the race. How did I get there? I don’t know. The last 50 laps were certainly a lot of tension, a lot of tension. When (Scott) Dixon is chasing you, you’d better hit your marks.”

    The Frenchman started dead last in 23rd position, as Pagenaud was unable to post a qualifying lap earlier Friday afternoon due to not getting the car off the pit lane, as the team reported it was a fuel pressure issue.

    When the green flag flew, Conor Daly led the first 14 laps of the event from the pole, but Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden took the lead and checked out by four seconds over Daly. Green flag pit stops were already underway at Lap 45 when Takuma Sato and Zach Veach became the first drivers on pit road.

    About 10 laps later, Newgarden remained the leader, but Pagenaud ended up on pit road on Lap 58 for four tires and fuel. Meanwhile, Newgarden stretched his strategy and didn’t pit until Lap 70. With pit stops cycling out, Sato grabbed the lead at Lap 77. When green flag pit stops were complete, Sato had the lead over Will Power by two seconds.

    After being out front for several laps, Sato had to give up the lead on Lap 127 for a pit stop, which allowed Newgarden to get the lead and his teammate, Pagenaud, followed in second, 1.7 seconds back. Though Newgarden pitted again a few moments later and Pagenaud saw his first lead of the night on Lap 140.

    However, the first caution of the night flew when Power had a scary moment on the frontstretch as he slightly brushed the wall but his left front tire was not safely secured and fell off the car. Unfortunately, the incident would end Power’s night early and he would be credited with a 21st place finish.

    During the caution, race leaders made their pit stops, which included eventual race winner, Simon Pagenaud.

    Another wild moment came prior to the restart with 94 to go. IndyCar officials waved off the restart, which did cause some confusion. Two drivers, Colton Herta and rookie Rinus VeeKay had a major accident on the frontstretch again. Herta was unaware of the restart being waved off and went right over the top of VeeKay’s car, crashing into the SAFER barrier. Thankfully, both drivers would end up being okay.

    After a couple of yellows, rookie Pato O’ Ward held the lead over Pagenaud. Pagenaud was a man on a mission. Eventually, the Team Penske driver made his move with 72 to go to take the top spot.

    The rest of the Iowa 250 would go caution-free, but as the case was throughout the first half of the race, pit strategy would play a factor in determining the victor. As many others made their final stop of the night, Pagenaud tried to stretch his lead and save gas at the same time. With laps winding down, Pagenaud had to fend off an already three-time IndyCar winner this year, Scott Dixon.

    Dixon looked on the inside of Pagenaud’s No. 22 Menards Chevrolet with around 18 to go. He got side-by-side with him, but could never make the pass and slid up the track. By making the move a little too early, this ultimately hurt Dixon’s chances as he fell back and had to regroup again. Pagenaud did end up running into lap traffic, which allowed Dixon to close in. However, it was too little, too late for the New Zealander as Pagenaud scored his first victory of the 2020 IndyCar season and his first at Iowa Speedway.

    When asked if he could have a repeat performance on Saturday night, Pagenaud says he thinks there’s a chance.

    “I do, I do. I never give up,” the Team Penske driver said. “If I’ve got to do it again, I’ll do it again. This was certainly a pretty cool win on an oval. Indy will always be the top, but this one was pretty cool, too.”

    In addition to Pagenaud’s victory, he became the seventh driver to accomplish the feat after starting 23rd or worse. The last to do so was Helio Castroneves in 2008 at Chicagoland Speedway.

    Friday night’s victory was Pagenaud’s 15th of his NTT IndyCar Series career.

    With the victory, Pagenaud moves into second in the championship points standings, 50 points behind leader Scott Dixon.

    There were seven cautions for 26 laps and six leaders among eight lead changes.

    Two penalties were seen. One was for the No. 15 of Graham Rahal, who received a pit safety infraction, and the other was for Conor Daly who also received a pit safety infraction. The consequence of those will be a post-race fine.

    Official Results following the IndyCar Iowa 250 at Iowa Speedway

    1. Simon Pagenaud, led 83 laps
    2. Scott Dixon
    3. Oliver Askew
    4. Pato O’ Ward, led 30 laps
    5. Josef Newagarden, led 68 laps
    6. Alexander Rossi
    7. Jack Harvey
    8. Conor Daly, led 13 laps
    9. Marcus Ericsson
    10. Takuma Sato, led 49 laps, 1 lap down
    11. Alex Palou, 1 lap down
    12. Graham Rahal, 2 laps down
    13. Santino Ferrucci, 3 laps down
    14. Felix Rosenqvist, led seven laps, 3 laps down
    15. Ed Carpenter, 3 laps down
    16. Ryan Hunter-Reay, 3 laps down
    17. Charlie Kimball, 5 laps down
    18. Tony Kanaan, OUT, In Pits
    19. Colton Herta, OUT, Contact
    20. Rinus VeeKay, OUT, Contact
    21. Will Power, OUT, Contact
    22. Marco Andretti, OUT, Mechanical
    23. Zach Veach, OUT, Mechanical

    Up Next: The NTT IndyCar Series will remain at Iowa Speedway for race No. 2 Saturday night July 18 live on NBCSN. Telecast begins at 8:30 p.m./ET.

  • Simon Pagenaud fends off Scott Dixon in back-to-back IndyCar Challenge wins

    Simon Pagenaud fends off Scott Dixon in back-to-back IndyCar Challenge wins

    In what was a thrilling final 10 laps at IndyCar’s virtual return at Twin Ring Motegi, last week’s Michigan winner Simon Pagenaud, held off a hard charging Scott Dixon for his second consecutive IndyCar challenge win.

    Pagenaud took the lead with seven to go after Oliver Askew made contact with leader Will Power.

    “Wow, it was a crazy race,” Pagenaud said to NBC Sports. “It was very hectic with Will (Power) at one point and then (Scott) Dixon at the end. But man, we worked hard. I will tell you, we worked hard all week to be competitive. I think I am catching up, I think I am getting there. Certainly, I get a lot of prep from Ben Bretzman, my race strategist and as you can see, he’s doing a great job with the pit stops.”

    “I am having a lot of fun. It’s so stressful, because you’re still lacking a lot of feedback. So, I’m learning another way to race. Though, it’s the same behavior as usual for all the drivers out there.”

    Before IndyCar made their virtual return to the oval in Japan, qualifying was held shortly before NBCSN came on the air. Robert Wickens was able to put his No. 6 machine on the front row for the pole. For James Hinchcliffe, however, internet issues plagued him and prevented him from competing in today’s race. He was credited with a 33rd place finish.

    As the Firestone 175 got underway, there were several accidents, some as early as Lap 2. Tony Kanaan went flipping on the backstretch but no caution was called. One lap later, Max Chilton went spinning around. However, the first and only caution of the race was called on Lap 5 as IndyCar veteran Helio Castroneves and others were involved in a multi-vehicle wreck.

    The restart came on Lap 8 with Oliver Askew in the lead and pole sitter Wickens dropped to 10th. But, it didn’t take long for Will Power to take the lead on Lap 12. After Power took the lead, the Firestone 175 went into a long green flag run. Though, on Lap 31, Felipe Nasr was parked by race control due to poor connectivity.

    Just 14 laps before halfway, the first round of green flag pit stops began. Santino Ferrucci was the first to pit on Lap 42. The top runners like Scott McLaughlin pitted on lap 48, as Power pitted on Lap 49, while Dixon and Pagenaud pitted on Lap 50. During the pit stop cycle, Sage Karam, Josef Newgarden, Takuma Sato, and NASCAR Cup Champion Kyle Busch all stayed out a few laps longer due to pitting early in the race. They were hoping to catch a caution but they ran out of time and had to make a stop.

    After the stops, Team Penske driver and Pagenaud’s teammate, Will Power, cycled out in the lead on Lap 56, right at the halfway point. Despite Power having a dominating racecar, he was challenged for the first time in the race. On Lap 75, Scott Dixon ran down Power and took the lead. The two traded the top spots in a thrilling battle, before Dixon maintained the advantage.

    With the laps clicking off toward the finish, the last round of green flag pit stops took place. The first to pit was Jack Harvey with 29 to go, followed by eventual race winner Pagenaud on the same lap. The leaders Dixon, Power, and McLaughlin all pitted one lap later.

    Hoping to stretch their fuel mileage, Newgarden and Askew had not pitted. The only way the two could stay on track was to catch a caution and have a lucky break. However, Askew pitted with 16 to go, as the race leader Newgarden had to pit with 14 to go.

    After the pit stops, things heated up on the track. While Power cycled back into the lead again, Askew accidentally made contact with him and McLaughlin. McLaughlin had the most damage and went flipping, as Power suffered major right side damage, eventually costing Power the race.

    Due to those accidents, Pagenaud took the race lead with seven to go with Dixon breathing down his neck. Pagenaud was trying all he could to prevent Dixon from catching him in the draft. With two to go, Dixon made a dive bomb move to try and pass Pagenaud for the win. However, Dixon had to check up, which allowed Pagenaud to pull away with the lead and another race win in the IndyCar Challenge.

    After Pagenaud crossed the finish line, Dixon’s car hit the wall taking Castroneves and several others. In the end, it was Pagenaud and the No. 22 DXC Technology scoring back-to-back virtual wins.

    “No, I’ve never had that happen,” Pagenaud said to NBC Sports after Dixon’s car went rage mode. “You know, Dixon can be upset, it’s the last lap of the race. I’m racing for the win and I’m going to go for it, and he (Dixon) went for it too. Just sometimes, this can be like real life situations. Dixon is a great racer and it’s a pleasure to race with him.”

    Official Results

    1. Simon Pagenaud
    2. Scott Dixon
    3. Will Power
    4. Marcus Ericsson
    5. Robert Wickens
    6. Jack Harvey
    7. Sage Karam
    8. Zach Veach
    9. Santino Ferrucci
    10. Graham Rahl
    11. Conor Daly
    12. Takuma Sato
    13. Kyle Busch
    14. Felix Rosenqvist
    15. Josef Newgarden
    16. Ryan Hunter-Reay
    17. Ed Carpenter
    18. Colton Herta
    19. Dalton Kellett
    20. Sebastien Bourdais
    21. Oliver Askew
    22. Alex Palou
    23. Rinus VeeKay, one lap down
    24. Scott McLaughlin, one lap down
    25. Marco Andretti, one lap down
    26. Pato O’Ward, one lap down
    27. Kyle Kaiser, one lap down
    28. Alexander Rossi, two laps down
    29. Helio Castroneves, three laps down
    30. Tony Kanaan, 27 laps down
    31. Felipe Nasr, OUT, Parked
    32. Max Chilton, OUT
    33. James Hinchcliffe, OUT, DNS

    Up Next: The IndyCar Challenge continues next week with Round 5 taking place at Circuit of the Americus on Saturday April 25 live on NBCSN. The time of the event is yet to be announced.

  • Dixon and Pagenaud come up short in championship

    Dixon and Pagenaud come up short in championship

    Not too far off from Josef Newgarden were championship hopefuls, Scott Dixon and Simon Pagenaud. Pagenaud came into the final race of the season, third in the standings just 42 points back looking for the second championship of his career. It would be his first since 2016 and all Pagenaud needed to do was beat the other three, and win the race.

    For Scott Dixon to further elevate his legacy, he needed to win the race as well. Dixon was the longshot 85 points back, looking to go back-to-back in his career. Should Dixon have won, it would have been the sixth title of his legendary IndyCar career.

    Dixon had a really good starting spot of second heading into the season finale on Sunday. In what was a longshot, he would hope for Newgarden, Alexander Rossi and Pagenaud to fail early to see him winning the race. However, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver spent most of the event behind the back bumper of race leader Colton Herta.

    He never got to lead a lap, but realistically was still eligible to win the title if everything worked in his favor. But, Dixon’s title chances came to an end on Kap 51, as Ed Jones retired from the race due to a mechanical problem. With Jones out of the race, so was Dixon’s title chances as he was eliminated from title contention due to being too far back and all the bonus points being taken up by Herta.

    Still, despite the news, Dixon knew he only had one thing to do to cap the season off and that was to win. Having to fend off title challenger Pagenaud started to make it difficult for him to catch the race leaders. In the end, Dixon finished third and fourth in the championship, -63 back.

    “It was frustrating, we had a lot of drag in the middle and the end of each stint,” Dixon explained to IndyCar Radio. “We were tight there at the end, definitely put a lot of pressure on Simon (Pagenaud) there and we came close a few times. That’s hard racing. The manufacture points for Honda at the end there was pretty tight. So we had to make sure we stayed in front. It’s always nice to race for a podium and it’s fantastic to race with Simon, he’s a great driver. He definitely had a very fast car today.”

    Despite being the longshot, Dixon will end the 2019 season with two wins, 10 podiums and 214 laps led.

    For Simon Pagenaud, he was chasing down Dixon late in the going as it appeared Pagenaud had finally found something that made his car work. There was one close moment in the race, where him and Alexander Rossi barely made contact with each other, which made IndyCar officials take the incident under review.

    With the close call, the officials determined no action and the drivers kept on jockeying for position. Pagenaud’s car started to rally late and caught Dixon. He was trying all he could to pass him, realizing he still might have a shot to win the title. However, Dixon kept Pagenaud behind him and the laps ran out of time, as Pagenaud finished fourth in the race, second in the championship -25 behind his teammate and champion Josef Newgarden.

    “First of all it was an amazing race, very happy we could give a show to the fans, you guys came en mass,” Pagenaud said to IndyCar Radio. “I want to thank you, we all want to thank you for being here for supporting us as a sport. Just an amazing year for Team Penske. I get the (Indy) 500 and Josef (Newgarden) gets the championship, it’s pretty much a perfect picture for us.”

    “I gave it everything I had. The car was amazing and fantastic. I tried to give everything I had to the DXC Technology car. It was tough to pass (Scott) Dixon for sure. We had a great battle, but not enough in the end. Nonetheless, 2019 has probably been my best racing season so far.”

    Simon Pagenaud will end the season three wins including winning the Indy 500, four podiums and three pole position, along with 268 laps led.

  • Pagenaud out-duels Rossi to win 103rd Indy 500

    Pagenaud out-duels Rossi to win 103rd Indy 500

    INDIANAPOLIS — All the talk about Simon Pagenaud entering the Month of May was his slow start to the season and that he’d be out of his ride at Team Penske if things didn’t turn around. After sweeping the Month of May, he’s now the points leader.

    On the final restart of the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 with 13 laps to go, Pagenaud pounced on race leader Alexander Rossi to take the lead heading into Turn 1. Rossi replied in kind the following lap, and Pagenaud took it and held it for the next seven laps. Coming to three to go, Rossi drafted and passed him on the front stretch to retake the lead. On the backstretch with two to go, Pagenaud followed suit, took it from Rossi for good, snaked his way down the backstretch on the final lap to break Rossi’s draft and score his fourth career victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

    “It’s been such an intense race. I believe we led the most laps of the race. The car was just on rails. The yellows came out perfectly. The stars are aligned. Man, wow, I’m seeing myself on TV with this. It’s pretty amazing. It’s a dream come true, a lifetime of trying to achieve this. So I’m just speechless. It’s just incredible.”

    It’s his 12th career NTT IndyCar Series victory in 127 career starts. He led a race high of 116 laps.

    2016 race winner Rossi finished runner-up and earned his 14th career podium in 56 career starts.

    In the end, the difference was “horsepower.”

    “That’s unfortunately the way it is,” he said. “(Pagenaud) did a great job. Obviously, he was on pole and led the most laps, but I think we had the superior car. We just didn’t have enough there at the end.”

    2017 race winner Takuma Sato, who was at one point a lap down, rounded out the podium (10th of his career).

    “My race, one stage it looked really tough,” Sato said. “We got some little issues after the first pit stop, so we had to come back, and then I think it got a lap down in 31st place.

    “But I think we had to do head down the job and recalculate. Our team did a great job to stretch the field and then get back to the pack. I think it took more than 100 laps. But I think it was brilliant, and after the restart, it was very exciting. Pato, P6, P5, P4 and finally got P3, and then I got everything I had. Obviously I have on board Alex, but we were just flying all over the place with the temperature, and it was a great battle. It is a little bit of a pity that we couldn’t challenge for the win, but we got third under some very difficult circumstances, I think.”

    Josef Newgarden and defending race winner Will Power rounded out the top five.

    Ed Carpenter, Santino Ferrucci, 2014 race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, 2013 race winner Tony Kanaan and Conor Daly rounded out the top 10.

    Race summary

    Simon Pagenaud led the field to green shortly before 1 p.m. Pagenaud led the first 32 laps before making his first stop of the day on Lap 33. Four different drivers took over the race lead before it cycled back to Pagenaud.

    This pattern of lead changes during green flag pit cycles continued until Lap 151, when Newgarden slingshot past Pagenaud entering Turn 3 to make the first on track pass for the lead of the race. He held serve until he pitted with 29 laps to go. During this pit cycle, a five-car wreck brought out the fourth caution of the race and set up the run to the finish.

    What else happened

    Colton Herta brought out the first caution of the race on Lap 6 when his car stalled on the access road in Turn 4.

    Kyle Kaiser brought out the second caution on Lap 73 when he got loose, overcorrected and hit the wall in Turn 4.

    Marcus Ericsson brought out the third caution on Lap 138 when he spun on entry and hit the inside pit wall.

    Who had a good day

    Santino Ferrucci earned his career best finish of seventh.

    Who had a bad day

    Scott Dixon, who entered the race second in points, was caught up in the five-car wreck with 22 laps to go and suffered front wing damage.

    Nuts and bolts

    The race lasted two hours, 50 minutes and 39 seconds, at an average speed of 175.794 mph. There were 29 lead changes among 10 different drivers and four cautions for 29 laps.

    Pagenaud leaves with a one point lead over Newgarden.

    IndyCar returns to action on Saturday on the streets of Belle Isle in Detroit, as part of the two-race weekend double-header Detroit Grand Prix.

  • Rossi comes up short in Indy 500 bid

    Rossi comes up short in Indy 500 bid

    INDIANAPOLIS — Alexander Rossi was asked what made the difference in the end that cost him in his duel with Simon Pagenaud in the closing laps of the 103rd Indianapolis 500.

    He said it was the horsepower differential between Chevrolet and Honda and the straight-line speed.

    “Obviously the 22 guys fully deserve it,” Rossi said. “They were on pole. He led probably 70 percent of the laps. Yeah, I mean, he was a deserving winner for sure.”

    The last caution particularly hurt him, as he was going to cycle out to the lead at the conclusion of the green flag pit cycle, having passed Pagenaud for said spot.

    “We were doing a lot better on fuel mileage than (Pagenaud) was, so that was the first kind of nail in the proverbial coffin.”

    On the final restart with 13 laps to go, Pagenaud pounced on him coming to the line and took the lead heading into Turn 1. He was able to match him for a few laps, and even took the lead with three laps to go. But with two to go, Pagenaud overtook him for the final time and won.

    “We didn’t have the speed out front,” he said. “I mean, I was flat for the last 15 laps, and there’s not much more you can do.”

    Bad luck basically sums up the day for Rossi at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In addition to the untimely caution, he suffered a slow stop because the fuel pump wouldn’t connect to his car. Then came his battle with the lapped car of Oriol Servia, who blocked him for multiple laps.

    “I think it was one of the most disrespectful things I’ve ever seen in a race car, to be honest,” he said. “He’s a lap down and defending, putting me to the wall at 230 miles an hour. It’s unacceptable. It’s unacceptable for him, and it’s unacceptable that INDYCAR allowed it to happen as long as they did.”

    At the end of the day, it was an excellent race to the win that he and Pagenaud put on. Maybe in time, he said he could take solace in that aspect.

    “Ultimately it was a good day for the team,” he said. “You know, I think that we put a huge focus all month as we always do on the race car. The car was by far the best in the field in terms of what we could do and pass at will when I needed to. I didn’t see anyone else doing that. So a huge testament to the whole Andretti Autosport organization for really my fourth year here giving me a car that was capable of winning.

    “So that’s a great thing, and I’m very, very thankful for that.

    “But as I said, leading up to this many times, once you’ve won this thing once, the desire to win just ramps up exponentially every year, so it sucks to come this close and really have nothing that we as a team could have done differently. I’m proud of them. I’m proud of the effort that they always put in, and yeah, when we get No. 2, it’s going to be probably a huge explosion of emotions because we all want it really bad.”

    He leaves Indianapolis third in points, trailing new points leader Pagenaud by 23.

  • Pagenaud ends drought in the rain at Indy

    Pagenaud ends drought in the rain at Indy

    INDIANAPOLIS — During his time with Peugeot Sport’s sportscar program, Simon Pagenaud was forced to test in wet weather conditions (be it natural or manually wetting the track) to practice racing in the wet.

    “…we did days and days of reliability just going around the circle, and we would do days in the rain, days in the dry, days on soft tires, days on medium, days on hard,” Pagenaud said. “It was amazing the amount of testing we did and the laps. So I did drive a lot in the rain in my career, but quite frankly, in France, it rains all the time, especially where I’m from. So I’ve done a lot of laps in the rain in my career. I always loved it. The first few laps I did in rain I crashed a lot, but I was fast, so I just had to figure out how to dial it back a little bit, and it’s working.

    He demonstrated the results of said testing, as he went from fifth to first in the final 17 laps on the Grand Prix course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

    Following the final restart of the sixth annual IndyCar Grand Prix, Pagenaud commenced his drive through the field. With six to go, with only three seconds of push to pass (P2P) remaining, Pagenaud used it, outbraked and overtook Jack Harvey heading into Turn 1.

    “…when it started raining, obviously had no knowledge of the track, no knowledge of our setup in the rain,” he said. “I thought, okay, the sports cars have been racing a lot in the rain, a lot of racing in the rain, so I thought I’m just going to attack right away and see. And right away I noticed our car was much better now that it’s on the braking, so I could really attack and get the tires hot quickly, and that’s how I jumped a lot of people right away, and then I gained confidence.

    “Then I noticed that other people were struggling with tire wear, and we didn’t. So then I kept on pushing but was still trying to keep the tires underneath me. But yeah, it was just incredible to see the pace we had in the rain conditions. I took a lot of risks for sure, maybe more than Dixon needed to take some risk because we were in a position where I can take some risks right now and the car was so good that I just gave it 100 percent, 100 percent every lap.

    Then he turned his attention to race leader Scott Dixon. He cut the lead from 5.1 seconds with six to go to 3.9 with five to go, then 1.8 with four to go and half a second with three to go.

    With two to go, he pulled to Dixon’s bumper at the end of Hullman Boulevard (Turn 7). As they rounded Turn 8 and 9, he powered around Dixon’s outside and usurped the lead and drove on to his 12th career victory in the NTT IndyCar Series.

    “Honestly in the last two laps to go, I almost started out saving second, and then all of a sudden I realized, wait, I’ve got too much pace for this, and we caught Scott by a lot, and I guess you call it the penultimate lap, the one before the last, and when I realized that I had a shot, but I was out of Push-to-Pass, so my only chance was to get him on the infield,” he said. “But quite frankly, none of the passes I made today I planned. I just drove with full instinct mode, and it worked out.”

    It’s his third career victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and first since Sonoma Raceway in 2017 (snaps a 22-race winless streak).

    Dixon, who led a race high of 41 laps, finished second for the 43rd time in his career.

    “…it was generally a pretty good day,” Dixon said. “We had some good pace.

    “Conditions were really tricky all day, but a lot of fun actually. I think it’s always hard to tell with a circuit like this, especially after the kind of sealant they put on some of the portions of the oval, how tough it’s going to be once you start to get some moisture on there. But all in all, the Firestone red tires, I never got to the blacks, had a ton of grip and it was a lot of fun.”

    Harvey, who’s previous career best finish was 10th, rounded out the podium in third.

    “It was a bit more of a handful than I probably would have hoped for,” Harvey said. “It looked like we were running pretty good in the dry. I mean, I thought it was the best start I’ve had in IndyCar, too; to be able to split Felix and Scott at the start was pretty solid. And then I think we ran on pace, top 3 in the dry. Car was great.

    Matheus Leist and Spencer Pigot rounded out the top five.

    Ed Jones, Will Power, Felix Rosenqvist, Graham Rahal and Santino Ferrucci rounded out the top 10.

    Race summary

    Rosenqvist led the field to green at 3:50 p.m. After a caution for a wreck in Turn 14, Dixon bested his teammate on the restart and took the race lead.

    “The start was a little tricky, kind of misjudged it with Felix, and actually the 60 car had a great start,” Dixon said. “So kind of just fought in line there and was seeing how it was going to play out. The restart we got that really good jump, got both the 60 and the 10, kind of set us out.”

    From there until the final caution, drivers pitted for new tires at random intervals to maintain as much grip as possible, with the threat of rain looming.

    Tony Kanaan was the first to jump to full wets on Lap 55, but was roughly 30 seconds slower than the race leader.

    Helio Castroneves followed suit on Lap 60, but spun on pit exit and stalled his car in the grass in Turn 1. Everyone ducked onto pit road within seconds of his spin to switch onto wets, before the caution flew on Lap 61. This set up the run to the finish.

    Who had a good day

    After starting 21st, Matheus Leist earned his career best finish with a fourth.

    Who had a bad day

    It wasn’t a great day for the two drivers at the top of the standings.

    Alexander Rossi’s day was all but ruined on the start, after contact with Patricio O’Ward.

    Later in the race, points leader Josef Newgarden’s crew lost control of a tire and it rolled out of the box and stopped next to the outside pit wall.

    He was sent to the tail-end of the field on the ensuing restart, as a result.

    Nuts and bolts

    The race lasted two hours and 26 seconds, at an average speed of 103.254 mph.

    There were 10 lead changes among six different drivers and three cautions for 15 laps.

    Newgarden leaves with a six-point lead over Dixon.

  • Dixon wins Texas; Pagenaud, Rossi score best Texas finishes

    Dixon wins Texas; Pagenaud, Rossi score best Texas finishes

    Scott Dixon scored his third win at Texas Motor Speedway when he won the DXC 600, his second win of 2018 and second win in three races. Dixon held off Simon Pagenaud in second, Alexander Rossi in third, James Hinchcliffe in fourth and Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded out the top-five. Graham Rahal finished sixth, Takuma Sato finished seventh, eighth went to Sebastien Bourdais, and Ed Jones and Charlie Kimball rounded out the top-10.

    “Good race, smooth, pretty tricky toward the end,” said Dixon. “Great team effort with everybody on the PNC crew, a great effort on their part.” Dixon also pointed out that the race was started on scuffed tires as they were a concern heading into the race.

    Newgarden and Pagenaud started on the front row, with Newgarden leading early before the race’s first caution on Lap 5 when the No. 4 entry of Matheus Leist lost power and pulled off the track. Leist emerged uninjured as his AJ Foyt Racing entry caught fire. Shortly after his AFR teammate Tony Kanaan pulled off the track after contact with the wall led to suspension problems, an issue rookie Zack Veach also faced after scraping the wall.

    Tire issues plagued the race early, as several drivers including the Penske cars of Will Power and Newgarden made stops to change tires out of sequence with the rest of field. Most of the race was run under green until Lap 173 when the lapped car of Ed Carpenter turned down on rookie Robert Wickens, sending both into the wall and out of the race.

    The night’s biggest incident happened on Lap 205 when the 12 of Power slid into rookie Zachary Claman De Melo, who was making a pass on the outside of Power off of the fourth turn. Both went into the wall with Power taking the most damage. Both drivers retired from the race and Power will be facing a penalty for the incident.

    Pagenaud summed up the race as being fast and physical, although his runner-up finish was his best finish at the speedway, an accomplishment third-place finisher Rossi can also hold onto.

    Dixon was the dominant car of the night, leading 119 laps while Newgarden led 59 laps before being penalized on lap 226 for jumping the restart. Newgarden finished 13th, four laps down. Rookie Wickens also had a strong showing before his incident with Carpenter as he led 31 laps. His accident was his first oval DNF this season, having had his only other DNF in the first race of the season at St. Peterburg.

    The next race will be June 24 at Road America on NBCSN.

     

  • Hot 20 – Motor Car Racing’s biggest day after one of NASCAR’s most newsworthy weeks

    Hot 20 – Motor Car Racing’s biggest day after one of NASCAR’s most newsworthy weeks

    Change. Sometimes change is good, like when you win a few million dollars. That is good. You get married to your sweetheart. Good. Your children start arriving. If you are a mature adult, and not some self-serving narcissist, that is very good. New talented drivers emerge on the scene. That is also a good thing.

    Some change sucks. Your favorite driver retiring, for example, if only for very selfish reasons. Trying to dump the Southern 500 was a bad thing. Abandoning such traditional names as the Firecracker 400 and the World 600 is not only bad but makes you appear dumb as a stick. About as dumb as adding a third stage for points in a 600-mile race, allowing the possibility of the driver finishing 26th to wind up with more points than the race winner. That is bad, also.

    As for changes in the 2018 schedule, good or bad? That is the question. Moving the Brickyard 400 to September? Iconic track, bad venue for NASCAR in my opinion. It does not much matter. Move Richmond from the final race of the regular campaign to the second of the Chase? It might work. Small market, short track, tons of tradition. Maybe.

    Changing the fall race in Charlotte to include its road course section? The World 600 is iconic. The fall race is not. Anything that includes another road course is good, but we will not know for sure until we see it. Will we be entertained? The fact that it is a Chase race ticks a box, and if it continues to be a 500-mile contest it would be by far the longest road course endurance test on the circuit.

    They thought about changing to the road course at Indianapolis. Those in charge of the iconic venue said no. Indy was all about the oval, in their opinion, period. I guess they decided not to cry over spilled milk and moved on.

    The Hall of Fame might need to change. Each year, they elect five more to be enshrined. Once, you needed a championship or 40 plus wins to get in. Now, no title and under 20 victories might still be enough. Mind you, Wendell Scott won just one race but his NASCAR journey was a lot like Andy Dufresne’s trek out of Shawshank. He deserves to be there. Dale Earnhardt Jr., on the other hand, once was a long-shot but today he is an automatic thanks to Curtis Turner’s induction in 2016. Is a change required? You be the judge.

    This week, the new inductees were announced. For a change, I can not argue with any of them. Engine builder and team owner Robert Yates. Inaugural NASCAR champ Red Byron. Championship crew chief and team owner Ray Evernham. Broadcast icon Ken Squier. Truck king Ron Hornaday. Next year, maybe mechanic, builder and crew chief Smokey Yunick might be included. He may not have kissed many rings and certainly no one’s ass, but he more than earned his spot. A softening of their attitude regarding him would be a most welcome change.

    Of course, for a change, this Sunday it is about more than just NASCAR. The Formula One offering starts the day with the Grand Prix of Monaco. Back on this side of the pond, the open wheelers are featured in the Indianapolis 500. Down south, the World 600 comes our way from Charlotte, North Carolina.

    Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton lead the way in F-1’s sixth race of the season. IndyCar finds Simon Pagenaud and Scott Dixon the top dogs. As for NASCAR, here is a look at our Hot 20 heading to Charlotte. In the words of Jackie Stewart, let the motor car racing begin.

    1. MARTIN TRUEX JR. – 2 WINS – 431 PTS
    When it comes to who should win this race this year, Truex is a “no change” kind of guy.

    2. BRAD KESELOWSKI – 2 WINS – 408 PTS
    A rule is not “made up” if you failed to read the fine print. Sticker tires are 100% unused.

    3. JIMMIE JOHNSON – 2 WINS – 323 PTS
    NASCAR makes up new rules, Johnson keeps winning championships. Expect more rules.

    4. KYLE LARSON – 1 WIN – 475 PTS
    Thinks All-Star race and season finale should move to different venues. He is wrong, of course.

    5. JOEY LOGANO – 1 WIN – 320 PTS
    Joey and Danica will be in the lineup. Aric Almirola is gone for two or three months.

    6. RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – 1 WIN – 276 PTS
    You would think a boy from Olive Branch, Mississippi would be the most peaceful guy out there.

    7. KURT BUSCH – 1 WIN – 246 PTS
    Well, all day long at the track all I hear is how great Kyle is at this or that! Kyle, Kyle, Kyle!

    8. RYAN NEWMAN – 1 WIN – 238 PTS
    Rocket Man? Amongst our race winners, it is more like he is the Invisible Man.

    9. CHASE ELLIOTT – 361 PTS
    After the fan vote last week, Chase is the new Danica. Okay, a more manly version.

    10. JAMIE MCMURRAY – 354 PTS
    Has won twice at Charlotte, but never this classic event.

    11. KEVIN HARVICK – 347 PTS
    Believes Truck Series should be run at non-Cup tracks, to bring out the fans. Harvick is right.

    12. KYLE BUSCH – 325 PTS
    Last week it was for money, this week it is for points.

    13. CLINT BOWYER – 317 PTS
    If it is not a rule, then Crew Chief Mike Bugarewicz gets in touch with his inner Smokey Yunick.

    14. RYAN BLANEY – 291 PTS
    His dad did not get his shot until he was in his late 30’s. Ryan knows that he is a fortunate son.

    15. DENNY HAMLIN – 289 PTS
    29 career wins, but not one yet at Charlotte. There is always Sunday.

    16. TREVOR BAYNE – 250 PTS
    Failed to join his fellow stars in Saturday’s big race. He has incentive to do well this weekend.

    17. KASEY KAHNE – 242 PTS
    Last week he won $1000 in a World of Outlaws race. So, they release prize money figures?

    18. MATT KENSETH – 233 PTS
    At least seven in the line-up for Sunday will wind up in the Hall of Fame. Matt is one of them.

    19. ERIK JONES – 217 PTS
    Stay off the grass.

    20. DANIEL SUAREZ – 217 PTS
    Was last week his coming out party?