Tag: XPel Grand Prix

Road America Preview

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Photo from Road America Facebook page

As you are reading this post, I am on y way to Milwaukee to catch the Brewers’ game this afternoon before I head up to Elkhart Lake as the second half of the IndyCar season begins.

IndyCar has made a change to the hybrid for the rest of 2026, reducing the power from 10-25%, depending on the track. I’m not su if the reduction will be announced before each race.

The reduction was deemed necessary to lessen the load on the hybrid system in order to preserve it. The system has had several failures this season, and they have created a parts shortage. It sounds to me that of more issues may cause the supplier to not have parts available towards the end of the season.

I think the situation calls for a reevaluation of the hybrid system. If there is any question about the availability of replacement parts, which could affect the final standings, maybe the series should consider shutting the units down entirely for the final nine races. That may be the only fair solution.

Crucial Weekend for Kirkwood and Malukas

Alex Palou leads Kyle Kirkwood by 49 points, and he is 68 points ahead of David Malukas. Both drivers need to gain some ground this weekend. With two street race left on the schedule, both of which should favor Kirkwood, and three ovals remaining, of which I think Malukas wins one, nay narro2wing of the gap on Sunday will help them.

Palou won this race last year, and Chip Ganassi racing has won seven times at Road America, so it is a daunting task facing the challengers. We are seeing a few chinks in Palou’s armor, however, another result outside the top 5 or top could provide an opening.

Qualifying is Key

In the past 11 races at Road America, no driver has won from further back than ninth. The winner this weekend will likely come from the first two rows. There is the added element of weather with rain possible both Saturday and Sunday. It seems rain has followed the series since mid-May.

Drivers to Watch

In addition to Palou, Kirkwood, and Malukas, Three drivers I will be watching with a lot of interest are Pato O’Ward, Graham Rahal, and Scott McLaughlin.

O’Ward has hung around the top five all season, but he has yet to get on the podium. His teammate, Christian Lundgaard, is ahead of him in the points. O’Ward has not seemed to have the pace he has shown in previous seasons. Perhaps this wekend we see O’Ward break through.\

Graham Rahal has been on the podium three times in 2026, the most podiums he has earned in four years. I look for him to get another one for RLL.

Scott McLaughlin is hungry for a win. He last saw Victory Circle in 2024. Road Americas is his strongest type of track, and Team Penske has made a very good rebound this year.

In the end, Alex Palou should put more distance between himself and his closest pursuers as he gets his fifth victory of the season. The good news is I think he only wins one more after in 2026 after Sunday.

I’ll be back Friday morning with a weather update and any other news tidbits that pop up.

XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Presented by AMR Fast Facts 

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From IndyCar. My preview will be up Thursday morning.

 Race weekend: Friday, June 19 – Sunday, June 21
Track: Road America, a 4.014-mile, 14-turn permanent road course (clockwise), in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
Race distance: NTT INDYCAR SERIES: 55 laps / 220.77 miles | INDY NXT by Firestone: Race 1 – 20 laps / 80.28 miles or 55 minutes; Race 2- 18 laps / 72.25 miles or 50 minutes
Push-to-pass parameters: NTT INDYCAR SERIES: 200 seconds of total time with a maximum time of 20 seconds per activation. | INDY NXT by Firestone: 65 seconds of total time.
Hybrid energy deployment parameters: Unlimited activation, with a maximum deployment of 600 kilojoules (kj) per lap
Firestone tire allotment: Six sets primary (hard/black sidewall) and five sets alternate (soft/red sidewall) to be used during the event weekend. Teams fielding a rookie driver may use one additional set of primary tires. Teams must use one set of primary and one set of new (sticker) alternate tires for at least two laps in the race. 
INDY NXT by Firestone: Three new sets to be used during the race weekend. Teams are permitted to use one set of carryover tires from their saved sets allotment during the first 15 minutes of practice and must start one of the two races on the set of tires used in qualifying.
X: @RoadAmerica, @INDYCAR, @INDYNXT, #XPELGP, #INDYCAR #ROADAMERICA
Instagram: @RoadAmerica, @INDYCAR, @INDYNXT, #XPELGP, #INDYCAR #ROADAMERICA
Threads: @INDYCAR, @INDYNXT
Facebook: @Road America, @INDYCAR, @INDYNXT, #XPELGP, #INDYCAR #ROADAMERICA
TikTok: @INDYCAR, @INDYNXT, #INDYCARYouTube: @RaceRoadAmerica, @INDYCAR
Event website: www.roadamerica.com
INDYCAR website: www.indycar.com

2025 race winners:NTT INDYCAR SERIESAlex Palou (No. 10 SOLO Cup Chip Ganassi Racing Honda)INDY NXT by FirestoneCaio Collet (No. 76 HMD Motorsports)
2025 NTT P1 Award winner:Louis Foster (No. 45 Droplight / Desnuda Tequila Honda) 1:44.5141, 138.263 mph
2025 INDY NXT by Firestone pole winner:Dennis Hauger (No. 28 Andretti Global) 1:52.3301, 128.642 mph
Qualifying lap record:NTT INDYCAR SERIESDario Franchitti, 1:39.866, 145.924 mph, Aug. 19, 2000INDY NXT by FirestoneKyffin Simpson, 1:49.1028, 132.448 mph, June 17, 2023
FOX Sports telecasts:
NTT INDYCAR SERIES:
 Practice 1, 4 p.m. ET Friday, FS2 (live);
Practice 2, 11 a.m. ET Saturday, FS1 (live);
Qualifying, 2 p.m. ET Saturday, FS1 (live);
Warmup, 11 a.m. ET Sunday, FS1 (live);
Race, 2 p.m. ET Sunday, FOX (live).
Will Buxton is the play-by-play announcer for FOX’s coverage of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, alongside analysts Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe. Georgia Henneberry, Kevin Lee and Jack Harvey are the pit reporters. A Spanish-language telecast will be available on FOX Deportes. |
 INDY NXT by Firestone:
 Practice 1, 3 p.m. ET Friday, FS1 (live);
Qualifying, 11 a.m. ET Saturday, FS1 (live);
Race 1, 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday, FS1 (live);
Race 2, Noon ET Sunday, FS1.
Kevin Lee is the play-by-play announcer for FOX Sports’ coverage of INDY NXT by Firestone alongside analyst Jack Harvey. Georgia Henneberry is the pit reporter

.INDYCAR Radio Powered by OnlyBulls broadcasts: Mark Jaynes is the anchor alongside driver analyst Davey Hamilton. Nick Yeoman, Jake Query and Michael Young are the turn announcers. Alex Wollf, Joel Sebastianelli and DJ Clark are the pit reporters.The XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Presented by AMR race (1:30 p.m. ET Sunday),
INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Road America doubleheader (12:25 p.m. Saturday and 11:55 a.m. Sunday) and all NTT INDYCAR SERIES and INDY NXT by Firestone practices and qualifying sessions air live on network affiliates, SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation 218, indycar.com/leaderboard and the INDYCAR App powered by NTT DATA.
At-track schedule (all times Central Time):
Friday, June 19
2-2:45 p.m. – INDY NXT by Firestone Practice 1, FS1 (live)
3:05-4:20 p.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice 1, FS2 (live)
Saturday, June 20
9-9:30 a.m. – INDY NXT by Firestone Qualifying (two groups/12 minutes each), FS1 (live)
10:05-10:55 a.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice 2, FS1 (live)
11:31 a.m. – INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Road America Race 1 Command to Start Engines
11:36 a.m. – INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Road America Race 1 (20 laps/55 minutes), FS1 (live)
1:05-2:30 p.m. – Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award (Three rounds of knockout qualifying), FS1 (live)
Sunday, June 21
10:05-10:35 a.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES Warmup, FS1 (live)
11:01 a.m. – INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Road America Race 2 Command to Start Engines
11:06 a.m. – INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Road America Race 2 (18 laps/50 minutes), FS1 (live)
12:30 p.m. — Driver introductions1 p.m. – FOX on air
1:20 p.m. –  XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Command to Start Engines
1:27 p.m. –  XPEL Grand Prix at Road America (55 laps/220.77 miles), FOX (live)

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Notes:There have been five winners in the first nine NTT INDYCAR SERIES races this season. Alex Palou (Streets of St. Petersburg, Barber Motorsports Park, Streets of Long Beach and Streets of Detroit), Josef Newgarden (Phoenix Raceway, World Wide Technology Raceway), Kyle Kirkwood (Streets of Arlington), Christian Lundgaard (Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course) and Felix Rosenqvist (Indianapolis 500).
The XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Presented by AMR will be the 37th INDYCAR SERIES event conducted at Road America since it hosted its first INDYCAR event in 1982. Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi and Alex Palou have three wins, the most by an INDYCAR SERIES driver at the track.
Alex Palou’s three wins are the most by an active driver at Road America. Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden and Will Power have each won twice at Road America. Other previous Road America winners entered include Alexander Rossi and Felix Rosenqvist.
The driver who has gone on to win the championship has won at Road America 10 times: Mario Andretti (1984), Michael Andretti (1991), Jacques Villeneuve (1995), Alex Zanardi (1997), Cristiano da Matta (2002), Sebastien Bourdais (2007), Scott Dixon (2020) and Alex Palou (2021, 2023, 2025).Scott Dixon and Will Power have competed in 13 previous races at Road America, most of any driver.
Sixteen entered drivers have led laps at the track: Josef Newgarden 159, Will Power 76, Scott Dixon 70, Alexander Rossi 70, Pato O’Ward 43, Scott McLaughlin 26, Alex Palou 24, Felix Rosenqvist 20, Marcus Armstrong 5, Christian Lundgaard 5, Graham Rahal 5, Kyle Kirkwood 4, Marcus Ericsson 4, Louis Foster 3, David Malukas 2 and Kyffin Simpson 2.
Chip Ganassi Racing has won eight times at Road America (1997, 2001, 2017, a sweep of the 2020 doubleheader, 2021, 2023 and 2025), including five of the last seven INDYCAR SERIES races at “America’s National Park of Speed.” CGR is one of three current teams with wins at the track. Team Penske has won seven times at Road America (1989, 1992, 1993, 2016, 2018, 2022 and 2024) while Andretti Global won in 2019.
Rookies Caio Collet, Dennis Hauger and Mick Schumacher will race an NTT INDYCAR SERIES car at Road America for the first time this weekend. Collet won the INDY NXT race at the track in 2025.

INDY NXT by Firestone Notes:
The ultra-competitive INDY NXT by Firestone season continues with a doubleheader visit to Road America. Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR’s Nikita Johnson leads the point standings by just two points over HMD Motorsports’ Enzo Fittipaldi with HMD’s Tymek Kucharczyk five points back. It’s the closest margin between the top three after eight races since Linus Lundqvist, David Malukas and Kyle Kirkwood were separated by four points in 2021.Group qualifying will decide the starting grid for both races at America’s National Park of Speed. Based on the best lap times from the practice session immediately preceding qualifying, the fastest driver in that session will choose which group will compete in the first of the two qualifying sessions. With 12 minutes allotted for each group (with a guarantee of one timed lap), the fastest driver between the two sessions will be awarded Race 1 pole position with the drivers who finished behind that driver, in order and in that group, occupying the odd-numbered starting positions (3, 5, 7, etc.) for the race and the drivers who finished in order from the other group occupying the even-numbered starting positions (2, 4, 6, etc.). A driver’s second best lap will be determine the pole position for Race 2. One driver and entrant championship point will be awarded to the fastest car in each qualifying group for each race.

Road America Wrap Up- Palou Flies Solo

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The air was hot, the track was hot, and t5he action was hot. Teams played Pit Stop Roulette, but in the end, we saw the same result.

The fuel save master just missed, and the tire master came out on top again. In an entertaining, action packed race at Road America where the winner wasn’t decided until the last three laps. Alex Palou won his sixth race of the year after Scott Dixon fell two laps short on fuel.

Some thoughts:

The chaotic start with eight laps of caution in the first 12 laps led to a wide mix of pit and tire strategies, which in turn led to a lot of on track battles. From my view in turn 5, I’m surprise there were only five caution periods. Drivers were pushing each other to the outside with lots of contact. I have never seen so much dust kicked off at the exit of the turn as I did yesterday.

I had a good view of Sting Ray Robb’s incident. he was fortunate that he scrubbed off some speed on the concrete barrier before he hit the tire wall. It appeared he couldn’t brake. It seems I say this every race, but hats off to the safety design features of this chassis. Robb stopped in a place where the AMR safety stations a truck, but still it seemed as if they were headed to Robb before he came to an abrupt stop.

Great Drives

Santino Ferrucci finished third after starting 18th. Scott Dixon finished ninth from 25th on the grid, and he had a chance to win because of pit strategy. Rinus VeeKay started 22nd and finished 10th, overcoming three penalties.

David Malukas started seventh, went off track on lap 1, and roared back to end the race where he started. Malukas complained of the heat affecting him. While no other driver mentioned it, I’m sure heat was a factor for many.

Penske’s Lost Year

For the last two races, I have thought that Team Penske would begin a comeback to being a factor. At Gateway the trio of Will Power, Scott McLaughlin, and Josef Newgarden qualified first, second, and fifth. None finished the race.

Yesterday the team started fourth, eighth, and 10th. They finished 12th, 14th, and 25th. Josef Newgarden has four results lower than 20th and is 17th in points. McLaughlin and Power are still in the top 10 in points, but ypoun have to wonder for how long?

Even before the organizational shakeup in May, the team seemed not quite up to their usual standards. It is sad to see a team decline as rapidly as they have.

MSR Rising

Felix Rosenqvist finished second as he continues to quietly stay in the top five in points. Rosenqvist is now fourth in the standings, and teammate Marcus Armstrong’s fifth place result has him standing 11th for the year.

MSR has thrived in their relationship with Chip Ganassi Racing.

Foyt Ascending

It ius ironic that A. J. Foyt Racing is doing better tha the team they have atechnical alliance. The association with Team Penske has yielded marked improvement for one of the smallest teams in the paddock.

As not6ed earlier, Santino Ferrucci and David Malukas both had top 10 results yesterday. Ferruci is now ninth in points and Malukas is 12th, a far cry from the years when this team hovered on the brink of missing out on the Leaders ‘Circle.

After seven rather mundane races, IndyCar has produced two very good, exciting races with lots of passing, position battles, and doubts about who would win until near the end of the race. I hope this trend continues when the series goes to Mid-Ohio in a couple of weeks.

Results

Race Day at Road America

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Today’s schedule: All Times Central Warmup and IndyNXT on FS!; IndyCar race on FOX.

Good morning from an already warm Road America. The temperature should be around 91 degrees by the green flag. If you’re at the track, remmeber to hydrate early and often.

There will actually be a third race today, as many fans from Indianapolis will be racing home to watch Game 7 of the NBA Finals. I will be among them, so there will be a very brief post race report. Go Pacers!

As for the featured race, could this be a very good day for Louis Foster? He has looked strong all weekend. Alex Palou looks to be in position to shake off his post 500 funk and return to victory lane. Kyle Kirkwood starts right behind Palou, and the two title contenders might have an interesting battle today.

Tire strategy will be key this afternoon. Graham Rahal ran the Fast Six on primaries, so he has plenty of alternate tires to se in the race. Other drivers used scuffed alternates. We will have a better idea of tire plans when the starting tire compounds are declared after warmups.

I will be back with warmup results and starting tire choices later. stay safe out there today.

Road America Saturday- The Heat is On

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Today’s schedule all sessions on FS. Times Central

9 am- IndyNXT Practice 2

10 am- IndyCar Practice 2

12:30 pm Indy NXT Qualifications

1:30 pm IndyCar Qualifications

Weather from @Indycar_Wxman

if you are at the track, please stay hydrated. Although there is a breeze, it may n ot provide much relief. Stay safe, fans.

Temperatures for practice will not be too bad, but at qualifying time things could change. How will the cars react to very different conditions from yesterday/ Will the hybrid units have any issues?

I could see a second straight Team Penske front row lockout today. They were very strong Friday and at Road America the team is usually quite good.

The most puzzling result yesterday was Colton Herta in 23rd. Herta usually does well here, and he won the pole two years ago.

I plan to watch practice from turn 7. I’m unsure of my vantage point for qualifying, assuming I go outside for it. I will be back after practice with results and qualifying groups.

Nothing New at the Front

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Kyle Kirkwood turned the fastest lap in today’s only practice session for Sunday’s XPel GP at Road America. Kirkwood edged Devlin deFrancesco by0.1533 seconds and Will Power by 0.1914 seconds. Kirkwood has won the last two races, but he faces a stiff challenge from the Team Penske cars this weekend. All three Chevy powered drivers were within three tenths of a second or less of Kirkwood.

Two red flags interrupted practice. Santino Ferrucci went off course and needed a tow in. With less than five minutes remaining Alexander Rossi sopun in turn 1 and ended up in the sand trap. Less than a minute remained when the green was thrown.

In a post practice media availability Newgarden showed no ill effects from his crash at Gateway last Sunday. he attributed it to bad timing.

“I had nowhere to go,” he said.

Newgarden said that if fans want to see what an IndyCar can do, IMS and Road America are the two tracks that show the performance of the cars.

Notes

Team Penske cars looked very strong, finishing today third, fourth, and sixth.

The new bridge is very nice and much safer than the old tunnel. I have said since my first trip here in2016 that the tunnel was dangerous and needed to be either all pedestrians or all vehicles. It is now pedestrians only.

Heatb will be a factor tomorrow and Sunday. Some teams had hybrid issues in the heat at Thermal. Both Newgarden and Felix Rosenqvist don does not anticipate any issues this weekend.

Results

That will do it for me for today. Thanks for following along. I’ll be back tomorrow with morning practice results and qualifying groups. All sessions are on FS1 tomorrow.