A chilly practice yielded a familiar result with Alex Palou leading the all car roundfield by eight hundredths of a second. What may have been a surprise were the three drivers right behind him- Kyffin Simpson, Santino Ferrucci, and Nolan Siegel. Track temperature was 72 degrees at the green flag.
Will Power was the quickest of the Team Penske cars in 12th. Scott McLaughlin was 19th, and Josef Newgarden finished 21st,
Rinus VeeKay’s car stalled and required a tow in with about seven minutes left in the session. VeeKay did not record a time.
Palou also led Group 1, improving his time by a tenth,. Louis Foster was next, 0.15 seconds behind. VeeKay spun in the grass at turn 12, but kept going and did not stop the session.
Group 2 saw Alexander Rossi lead, but his time was a half second slower than {Palou’s best lap.
Alex Palou put on a clinic today. He drove a masterful race, aided by great pit strategy, and perfect pit execution. Palou has won three of the first four races and finished second in the fourth. He enters the IMS races with a 61 point lead over Christian Lundgaard.
Lundgaard has suddenly become the leader at Arrow McLaren. His second place today is his third straight podium finish. I would not count him out of standing on the top step of the platform one time before June. Lundgaard is the only driver with a shot at possibly catching Palou.
If Rinus VeeKay isn’t a unanimous pick for Driver of the Day, there just wasn’t a winner today. The Netherlands driver backed up his Fast Six from Saturday with a fourth place finish, one spot higher than where he started the race. He has done well at Barber, but to drive a Dale Coyne Racing machine to such heights is an accomplishment.
VeeKay finished just 0.33 of a second behind third place Scott McLaughlin.
Today’s race saw some of the best racing of the year with some battles in the top 10.
The best news of the weekend- I heard that Barber will be run in April in 2026, where it rightly belongs.
Now for the rest of the day:
FOX showed more improvement during the broadcast, but some key items are still lacking. I don’t know why there is still no pit timer. There were several bad pit stops, which they covered, but how much time was lost? I would like to know. This information will be essential during the Indianapolis 500 in three weeks.
Once again there was no pass for the lead, or even a fight for the top spot. While there were some great battles, it was evident that passing is very difficult. Is the hybrid really holding back the racing that much? I would hate to see a processional 500 like we had in the late 2000s.
All four races in 2025 have had a sameness to them. They have been mostly processional with pit strategies being the one intriguing thing about them. That is great for the hard core fan, but it isn’t going to lure new fans in. Perhaps it’s the lack of yellows, 339 consecutive laps of green flag, which is another thing altogether, or perhaps it is the drag of the hybrid.
Thanks for following along this weekend. Tomorrow I start covering the month of May. It’s hard to believe there is another race in just six days.
New blood in the Top 12, but the Gast Six ended with the same old faces at the top.
Louis Foster, Nolan Siegel, Kyffin Simpson, and Marcus Armstrong made it into Round 2, but the Fast Six looked pretty much the same. Scott McLaughlin, Will Power, Colton Herta, and Alex Palou battled for the pole. In the end, Palou won his first pole of the year, edging McLaughlin and Herta. For Power, it was his first trip out of round 1 this season. Siegel earned his first career Fast Six, and Rinus VeeKay gave Dale Coyne a rare appearance in the final round.
FOX improved their qualifying coverage by adding the deltas to sixth and first to the scoring chart. Fans have been clamoring for this all season. It added to the drama, especially in the last two minutes of each session.
While the top of the chart didn’t change at the first Thermal practice, the team that ended the day second, third, and fourth showed that testing paid off handsomely.
Alex Palou had the fastest lap in the two-tiered practice session, with Kyle Kirkwood right on his heels. Kirkwood’s Andretti teammates Marcus Ericsson and Colton Herta were third and fourth. Andretti has tested at Thermal earlier this year.
Photo from Penske Entertainment
Kirkwood led the 45 minute segment which was shortened when Robert Shwartzman stopped his burning car on track about halfway through the timed period.
Shwartzman’s fire appeared to be from a fuel leak. The AMR safety team took the car apart on the track, even removing the driver’s seat. He will use the backup car tomorrow. Shwartzman had an issue in St. Pete as well. The rookie has lost a lot of valuable track time in the young season.
The first small group session also had a red flag stoppage when Devlin DeFrancesco got stuck in the sand off course.
David Malukas and Felix Rosenqvist had excursions off track, but they were able to continue.
Notes
As expected, tire strategy will be key on Sunday. The primaries looked really shredded after the few laps run today.
FOX
FOX had a timing and scoring graphics issue as practice began., but it was corrected.
The telemetry dash still blocks the sponsors on the aeroscreen frame, but I did notice that the graphic stayed on for a shorter time, and the sponsors got a bit of time, probably not enough.
The driver pictures looked like paintings instead of the cartoons three weeks ago. It is an improvement, but I wonder if FOX has heard of these things called photographs.
I liked the ghost car graphic comparing Will Power and Rosenqvist on a lap. I hope to see more of that during qualifying.
The best thing on the broadcast was the cutaway going inside the cockpit into the interior of the nose to explain brake bias. It was the best thing I have seen from the broadcast partner. More, please.
It took 75 laps to make it a race, but what had been a processional event got suddenly interesting as Sting Ray Robb held up leader Alex Palou and allowed Josef Newgarden to inch closer. The early caution changed the race long term as several drivers ditched the primary tires. The move worked out for many of them.
Another near miss for Scott Dixon. Had his radio worked, he might have scored his first win at St. Pete. He ends the day with his fifth runner up, eighth podium, and 11th top five in the season opener. In the post race press conference Dixon said that he stayed out a lap too long, and was caught in traffic.
Of the top five finishers, four started the race on alternates and pitted during the only caution.
Alex Palou begins 2025 where he ended 2024- leading the points. Palou used an undercut pit stop to get to the front.
Pato O’Ward finished 11th after starting 23rd. O’Ward pitted during the first lap caution and pitted three more times during the race.
Bad Weekend– Will Power has had some rough weekends, and this one has to rank among one of his worst. A hybrid failure cut short Friday’s practice. He failed to make Round 2 in qualifying. This morning there was another hybrid issue in warm up. Power’s race ended just three corners into the race when he was caught up in the incident with Nolan Siegel and Louis Foster.
Strong team debuts– Alexander Rossi finished 10th in his first race for ECR. Rinus VeeKay came home in 9th as he begins his stint at Dale Coyne Racing.
PREMA had a solid debut with Callum Ilott finishing 19th and Robert Shwartzman 20th. Shwartzman was the top finishing rookie.
Keep an eye on Meyer Shank this season. Marcus Armstrong led three laps before a broken tow link ended his day. Felix Rosenqvist finished seventh.
Colton Herta had a disappointing day as he caught the wrong end of the pit cycle. he definitely had a car better than 16th. Teammate Kyle Kirkwood finished fifth, his fifth top five and 11th top 10 in his last 18 races.
I haven’t heard attendance figures yet, but I think the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg set another record.
That will do it for me this weekend. Thanks for following along. I will have more thoughts after I watch the FOX broadcast of the race.
INDIANAPOLIS (Friday, Oct. 11, 2024) – There’s still one jewel missing from Alex Palou’s racing crown, but testing Oct. 11 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway showed he may be closer than ever to adding it next May.
Reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Palou has won the championship three times in the last four seasons, but he still seeks his first Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge victory. But Palou led testing on the historic 2.5-mile oval Friday with a top speed of 224.342 mph in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
.Palou’s best Indy 500 finish is second, behind Helio Castroneves’ historic fourth win in 2021. Palou earned his first “500” pole in 2023. “It was a good day of testing,” Palou said. “We tried a lot of stuff. Yesterday was Firestone, today was more us, Ganassi and Honda. We’re happy. You want to come here, and even if you’re testing a bunch of stuff, you want to be first.”
Looming right behind Palou on the speed chart was two-time reigning Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden, second at 223.973 in the No. 2 Shell Powering Progress Team Penske Chevrolet. Rinus VeeKay was third at 223.383 in the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda in his first day of testing with that team.
Graham Rahal was fourth at 222.650 in the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, with 2022 “500” winner Marcus Ericsson rounding out the top five at 222.324 in the No. 28 Andretti Global Honda.
Eleven car-and-driver combinations – one driver from each team – combined to turn 1,123 laps in six hours of testing Friday after four drivers tested tires Thursday afternoon for Firestone. A primary area of focus for all teams and drivers was the new hybrid system, which made its competitive debut in July 2024.
The hybrid system offers the competitors and their twin-turbo V6 engines an additional 60 horsepower. Previous iterations of the hybrid package were previously tested during the development process, but this test marked the debut of the system as it will race next May.
“I think the overtake we get (from the hybrid) is nice,” Palou said. “I think it’s good enough to set up a pass maybe in the middle of the pack. We’ll have to see.”
The 109th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge is Sunday, May 25, live on FOX and the INDYCAR Radio Network. Visit IMS.com for ticket and event details.
INDIANAPOLIS (Monday, Sept. 30, 2024) – Alex Palou was honored for his third NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship in the past four years during the Victory Lap Celebration on Sept. 30, the headline of an incomparable 2024 season for Chip Ganassi Racing. Palou won two races in the No. 10 DHL Honda and scored 13 top-five finishes in 17 races to become just the 13th driver in history to earn at least three INDYCAR SERIES championships. He is just the seventh driver to win three titles in four years and first since Dario Franchitti won three straight from 2009-11 – also for Chip Ganassi Racing. Spanish driver Palou won the Astor Challenge Cup for the title by 31 points over Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian’s Colton Herta, earning the 16th INDYCAR SERIES championship for Chip Ganassi Racing and the organization’s fourth in the last five seasons. Palou was one of four members of Chip Ganassi Racing to receive special honors at the ceremony, which took place in the Gallagher Pavilion at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Linus Lundqvist of Sweden received the Rookie of the Year Award as the top-finishing first-year driver in the standings. The 2022 INDY NXT by Firestone champion recorded a pole, two podiums and four top-10 finishes in the No. 8 The American Legion Honda to surpass Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kyffin Simpson by 97 points in the standings. Team owner Chip Ganassi accepted the Championship Owner Award, and Palou’s chief mechanic, Ricky Davis, was presented the Pennzoil Chief Mechanic Award. Additional season honors for the Ganassi team included the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Team Manager award to Blair Julian and Mike LeGallic. The awards haul was a reward for a dominant year by Indianapolis-based Chip Ganassi Racing. The team took the top spot in the driver standings and the Rookie of the Year title in the same season for the second straight year. Much like the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship and Rookie of the Year, the Manufacturers Award race had a familiar result. Chevrolet edged Honda by just 132 points to win its third consecutive engine manufacturer title and ninth overall since it returned to the series in 2012. Eric Warren, General Motors executive director of global motorsports competition, accepted the award on behalf of the Chevrolet team. Team Penske took home a pair of end-of-season awards. Scott McLaughlin claimed the season-long NTT P1 Award, while Will Power accepted the Firestone Pit Performance Award on behalf of his No. 12 Team Penske crew. INDYCAR’s development series was also recognized at the Victory Lap Celebration, as Louis Foster of Andretti Global was honored as 2024 INDY NXT by Firestone champion, capping a dominant season. Foster won a series-high eight of the 14 races this season in the No. 26 Copart / Novara Technologies entry. He led the series in wins, poles, podiums, laps led and completed every lap of competition to beat Abel Motorsports’ Jacob Abel to the title by 122 points.HMD Motorsports’ Caio Collet was named INDY NXT by Firestone Rookie of the Year. Collet, from Sao Palou, Brazil, finished third in the series standings with a victory.
The weather has turned out beautifully, and it looks like we will get the entire day in.
Points leader Alex Palou was fastest in the prequalifying practice for the Music City Grand Prix. Palou turned a quick lap of 199.682 miles an hour. His closest challenger for the title, Will Power, was sixth fastest. Plaou leads by 33 points. While he could earn a point for winning the pole this afternoon, Palou can start no better than 10th. due to an engine change.
The session stopped early when Nolan Seigel crashed hard in Turn 2. The incident heavily damaged the wall and required a lengthy repair.
I sat in the grandstand for part of practice this morning. It is y first time at this track. It is a very well maintained facility. There is a shuttle from the infield to the grandstand-not just any shuttle. It is a luxury touring bus. I was expecting a tram or a fancy golf cart, but this is way beyond that. Nice work, Scott Borchetta,
The first pole of the hybrid era goes to Alex Palou by a razor thin margin. Palou slipped by Pato O’Ward on his last lap by 0.0024 seconds, the closest front row difference since Indycar began knockout qualifying. Palou won the race at Mid-Ohio last year.
David Malukas will start third as he made his first Fast Six. Malukas has not finished worse than 10th in his career at Mid-Ohio. In his two starts with Meyer Shank Racing, and his first two races of the season, Malukas has gone beyond the first round. He started 12th at Laguna Seca.
Colton Herta will start 4th, followed by Marcus Armstrong and Marcus Ericsson.
Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, and Will Power were eliminated in Round 1. Alexander Rossi had been fast in the practices, but went out in Round 2.
Youth Will Be Served
All the drivers in the Fast Six began their Indycar careers in 2019 or later. The youth movement has taken a little longer to assert itself than I expected, but we may be seeing the beginning of a power shift.
Close Qualifying
2024 will be known for the year of the hybrid, but it could also distinguish itself as the season with the closest front rows on road and street courses. Three of the six closest front rows have occured this year.
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 