Today’s Indycar Schedule: All Times Eastern

Gates Open 8:30 AM

9:30 AM – 11:00 AM ET Practice 1 Peacock

1:00 PM – 2:15 PM ET Qualifying Peacock

NASCAR practices run in between the Indycar sessions.

Indycar once again gets to be a guest in their own house. The Gallagher Grand Prix, a part of Brickyard Weekend, is somewhat a leftover from the pandemic years when Indycar scrambled to build a schedule.

There are just four on track sessions for the series, which completes its entire program around 2:30 tomorrow afternoon.

The IMS road course has been dominated by Team Penske drivers, who have have won eight times on this layout. Will power leads the way with five, including his victory in the 2021 race on this weekend. He is the heavy favorite again.

The NTT Indycar Series has had great momentum this season with really good racing and improved attendance at most tracks. I hope the off track drama involving Alex Palou and his Chip Ganassi Racing Team, and to some extent McLaren, can be shoved completely out of the way for a couple days.

I think that may be hard, as all eyes will be on Palou’s performance and the team’s strategy. Palou has finished sixth, sixth, and 13th in his last three races and is 44 points behind leader Marcus Ericsson.

A Change at the Top?

Will Power trails Ericsson by just eight points and he has a good chance to retake the top spot tomorrow. In May, Power finished third and Ericsson fourth in the GMR Grand Prix. Power also won the pole for that race.

The results in May gave Power the points lead, which Ericsson took over two weeks later by winning the Indianapolis 500. How ironic should Power take the lead for the second time at the same track.

Will Newgarden Race?

Late Thursday afternoon, the Indycar medical staff cleared Josef Newgarden to drive in this morning’s practice only. He will undergo another evaluation afterwards to determine if his weekend can continue.

Newgarden is third in points, 34 points behind. Missing a race would be a severe blow to his title chances, but the health and safety of the drivers has to take priority here.

Rookie Battle Tightening

Christian Lundgaard’s DNF Sunday and David Malukas’ eighth place finish shrunk Lundgaard’s lead to just four points in the rookie standings. I think Malukas will take the lead after tomorrow’s race. He has matured quickly after a difficult start to the season.

Consistency from AMSP?

Pato O’Ward had a win and a second place last weekend. Felix Rosenqvist finished seventh Sunday after crashing out of Race 1 at Iowa. The team has had difficulty stringing successful weekends together. If O’Ward is to make a run at the title, a series of strong results is imperative.

Notes

I think this is Power’s race to lose. The end of the season is setting up with some intramural team battles. Team Penske has Power and Newgarden , Ganassi has Ericsson, Scott Dixon, and Palou is still in the mix.

Tomorrow will be Alexander Rossi’s last race for Andretti Autosport at IMS. It’s sad to see his time at the team end on such a sour note. Rossi won the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie in 2016 with Andretti.

IMS has scheduled a major announcement at 11 AM this morning in the Dex Imaging Media Center. I suspect a new series is coming to the track in 2023.