Caution free races, cheating scandals, firings gave way to some outstanding racing in the second half of the year. While turmoil reigned off track and the racing improved, there was one constant throughout the season- Alex Palou. Palou won the title by nearly 200 points after winning five of the first six races, and six of the first 10.

After a first lap caution at the St. Pete opener end3ed after lap 6, we did not see another yellow flag for 408 laps. the next caution came on lap 70 of the Sonsio Grand Prix on the IMS road course in race number five. As if to make up for lost time, the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 featured seven cautions for 45 laps. No race went caution free the rest of the year, and the racing coincidentally got much better.

The Indianapolis 500 saw another rules infraction scandal involving Team Penske when it was discovered that the cars of Josef Newgarden and Will Power had unapproved modifications to the attenuator. Their cars were moved to the rear of the starting grid, and three top Penske officials were dismissed from the team.

After the race the second-place car of Marcus Ericsson and the sixth place car of Andretti teammate Kyle Kirkwood were disqualified and place 31st and 32nd in the finishing order. The car of Callum Ilott was moved to 33rd from12th place, all three cars failing post race inspection.

At Detroit another team received a technical penalty. After that, there were no more infractions announced the rest of the year.

IndyCar is looking to have an independent technical inspection team beginning in 2026, and i hope we have seen the last of violations on the scale we saw this year.

After Palou won the first two races of the year, and Kyle Kirkwood won the third event at Long Beach, no one batted an eye.It appeared to be a typical season on the horizon. But Palou won at Barber and swept May at Indianapolis. Still the season was young, and surely Palou would cool off.

Hopes were high for a championship battle after Kirkwood won at Detroit and Gateway, but Palou came back to win Road America, and he had Mid Ohio in his grasp until a late race error in turn 9 handed the victory to Palou’s teammate Scott Dixon.

Palou won the second race at Iowa and then took the checkered flag at Laguna Serca for his final win of the season. A third place at Portland clinched his third consecutive title with two races left.

Palou’s season- eight wins, tying him for the fourth highest single season total in history, six poles, 14 top fives, 15 top 10s, and 13 podiums (8 wins, 4 seconds, 1 third).

Notable

Some things that stood out in 2025:

Rookie Robert Shwartzman winning the pole at the Indianapolis 500 for new team PREMA.

Christian Rasmussen winning his first career race for ECR at Milwaukee.

Louis Foster winning Rookie of the Year honors over Robert Shwartzman by two points in a race that wasn’t decided until the final lap, of the season.

Pato O’Ward’s strong second half of the season in which he won twice and took command of second place in the standings.

Best races, in order- Nashville, Milwaukee, Gateway, Iowa 2.

Worst races, in order- Thermal, Laguna Seca, Barber.

I want to thank all who followed along this season. I appreciate all of you. I will be on site for the IMSA race at IMS, and I will be doing some historic features the rest of the year.

St. Pete isn’t that fart off, is it?