Dixon Wins the Gallagher Grand Prix

Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) won the Gallagher Grand Prix in record setting fashion. Dixon set the record for the most consecutive starts in IndyCar history at 319 starts. Dixon has also won at least one race in the last 19 seasons. The feats came at the loss of Graham Rahal whom had made leaps to attain the top spot but came up just short at the end of the race. Dixon’s win marks his first of the 2023 season. Race results were as follows:

Elsewhere on the grid Newgarden received a fatal blow to his championship hopes. He finished 25th which effectively has taken him out of the championship running. We’ve seen more chaotic finishes to a season but it doesn’t look like a championship win is in the cards for the Team Penske driver. Next up is the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

World Wide Technology Raceway is an intriguing 1.25-mile (2.01 km) oval favored by many of the drivers who race there due to the unique shape and varying degrees of banking in each corner. Turns 1 & 2 have characteristics similar to New Hampshire Motor Speedway while Turns 3 & 4 are similar to Phoenix Raceway and the track’s egg shape is reminiscent of the oval at Twin Ring Motegi.

Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti) returned to the top spot on the box in Nashville, Tennessee for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. Kirkwood’s last win came during the Long Beach Grand Prix early this season in a surprising much more event filled race. The big Machine Music City Grand Prix historically has been the home to many crashes and on track incidents in the past however this year the race remained relatively clean compared to previous years. This year there were two red flags that halted action which is in stark contrast to the 8 cautions, red flag and 10 car DNF we saw in 2022. Kirkwood led for 34 laps in the race and never looked back.

For Kirkwood the win mark his second career win and second win of the 2023 season. Kirkwood had the following words afetr the race, “I think this year with everyone being so, ‘It’s going to be a crash fest, it’s Crashville,’ and that sort of thing. Maybe there’s a hesitancy from all the drivers. We had that last year at Detroit where everyone was like, ‘It’s a street course so we’re going to expect some yellows, get off the greens early, blah, blah blah.’ Then Will (Power) started on primaries (tires) and walked away from everyone and it stayed green the entire race.”

Scott McLaughlin was not able to capitalize on his pole position. McLaughlin had the following words after the race, “I’m disappointed. I don’t know what happened…I didn’t change my procedure and I’m normally pretty good on restarts. I was just terrible. I’ve got to do a little bit of a study on that.”

Top Ten After the Race

Top 10 in points: Palou 513, Newgarden 429, Dixon 387, McLaughlin 371, Ericsson 357, O’Ward 353, Power 337, Lundgaard 297, Kirkwood 290, Herta 285.

Josef Newgarden secured the double at Iowa Speedway after winning the Hyvee Homefront 250 and the Hyvee Onestep 250. The back to back wins gave Newgarden a big boost in the points. Newgarden won race 2 by less than a second ahead of teammate and 2022 champion Will Power. Behind power was ALex Palou in a hard fought third. The top 5 drivers were the only drivers on the lead lap of the race when the checkered flag flew.

In an interview with the IndyCar Media Newgarden stated, “We knew we had a great car, and the pressure was there because I think we wanted to execute on it and make sure it was a great weekend. I’m happy now. When you finish the first race, it’s great to have a doubleheader, but you just feel incomplete until you get through today. To be able to come back and do it again, I’m so proud of the team.”

Newgarden continued

“It’s very gratifying because I know how good our car is here. When you show up with a car like this, you’ve got the pressure to just execute and get the job done. When you don’t get the job done, you feel like you did something wrong.”

The win was Newgarden’s 29th career victory in the series.

Newgarden will split the $10,000 winnings with Team Penske and his chosen charities, SeriousFun Children’s Network and Wags and Walks Nashville, with his victory recognizing the PeopleReady Force For Good Challenge.

The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on Sunday, Aug. 6 on the streets of Nashville, Tennessee – Newgarden’s hometown. He will look to make it 3 in a row ins a few weeks time.

Christian Lundgaard became the first Danish driver to win a race in the NTT IndyCar Series earlier today with his win at Honda Indy Toronto. Lundgaard won the race by over 11 seconds in dominant fashion ahead of Alex Palou. The 21 year will celebrate a birthday in one weeks time so what better way to celebrate a birthday than with a race win. The win ended a 3 year dry spell at RLL Racing and the elation in the team garage was one for the books.

Lundgaard had the following words after the race, “ “First win! I have to thank HPD for this one, quite honestly, because of the tricky conditions we had in qualifying with the wet. I had never driven qualifying [in the wet]—max attack, especially on a street circuit—and they helped me tune in my throttle maps to get the absolute maximum performance. And today, making fuel mileage was so easy! We were pulling away. We had to save less fuel than the others, but we were getting better fuel mileage and going faster. The first one you don’t forget, so thank you, Honda.”

Alex Palou’s Extends Championship Lead Despite P15 Start

Sunday’s final top-10 finishing order: Lundgaard, Alex Palou, Colton Herta, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, Marcus Armstrong, Pato O’Ward, Graham Rahal and Felix Rosenqvist. Palou extended his championship lead to 117 points on the weekend after his second place finish. Palou started the race from P15 so a podium was beyond the expectation of the team. To leave the race extending his championship lead after starting 15th is a testament to how dominant Palou has been in 2023.

Palou had the following words, “It was a tough day for the 10 car. We started P15 because we didn’t really nail our qualifying. But the car was super fast.  We knew this during the whole weekend. We made an alternative [pit] strategy when we were already up front and from there it was just about making the fuel mileage. Kudos to Honda! We just made a ton of fuel—I think we were making more fuel than we had in the car! Really fun day. Really glad that we got that #10 Journie Rewards on the podium, so P2 feels good today!”

Next up for the series is Iowa Speedway for a double header. The HY-VEE Home Front 250 takes place on Saturday, July 22; with the HY-VEE One Step 250 running on Sunday, July 23.

Alex Palou (Ganassi Racing) is a man on a mission. Having won 4 of the last 5 races Palou has extended his championship lead substantially over his competitors. Palou is running away with the championship and no one seems to have an answer for him. When ask about his dominance he took the humble approach by stating, “I think maybe we’re starting to honestly. But it’s really tight. It’s about putting everything together. We’ve been able to do this quite often this year. Hopefully we’ll be able to keep it together. We haven’t been fastest in practice or qualifying, but we have been in the races and that’s where it matters.”

Palou Continued Regarding Setting the New Benchmark on the Grid

“I would say it’s the same target if you are 10 points or 50 points in front,” Palou said. “So, yeah, obviously everybody is seeing what we’re doing. We’ve got three wins in a row. We can keep it going because I know we have good cars and a great team. So, yeah, I don’t think it’s getting larger.” Some might not agree. With every win in the result column for Palou Will power loses more and more ground for a potential title defense. Two time world champion Josef Newgarden also feels like he’s taken a back seat for his championship run. Scott Dixon remains 6 points ahead of Newgarden. Both he and Newgarden will need answers and fast if they want any chance at cutting into this lead by the end of the season. With his third win in a row Palou takes a 110 point lead ahead of Scott Dixon in the standings

Top 10 NTT IndyCar Standings Post Race

Palou 377, Dixon 267, Newgarden 261, Ericsson 255, O’Ward 250, McLaughlin 229, Power 226, Rossi 216, Herta 204, Lundgaard 194.

Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing) secured his third win of the season int he short 55 lap sprint race at Road America this weekend. The win is the latest addition to Palou’s points lead in the championship as his sits comfortably at the top of the table with a 74 point lead. Palou drove his No. 10 Honda fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing to victory by 4.5610 seconds over Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. Pato O’Ward finished third in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet to round out the top 3.

The win marked Palou’s 7th career victory in his recent positive swing in form. Palou has won 3 of the last 4 races and has shown no signs of slowing down. Palou stated, “We started with a lot of speed. Big mistake by my part in practice two. We went back on track, and it (car) was even better than in practice two. We’re going to try and keep it rolling. We have an amazing team behind us. “It’s been an amazing weekend. I’m super happy. They gave me the pit stop that gave us the win. It was an amazing day for the No. 10 American Legion Ganassi car, and we’re going to keep it going.”

Herta Delivered a Frustrating Finish After Late Pit Stop

One man who isn’t thrilled with the outcome of the race is Colton Herta who led for 34 out of 55 laps but was only able to secure a P5 finish. Herta made his final stop on Lap 40, with Palou pitting for the last time on lap 41. This one lap offset proved to be the deciding factor. Herta was forced to save fuel over the final 14 laps, with Palou on full power.

Palou used that speed advantage to cut Herta’s lead to two-tenths of a second by Lap 45. On Lap 49 Palou drove in the dagger by passing Herta on turn 1 to take the lead and runaway with the victory. Herta was visibly frustrated. Herta stated after the race, “It’s a frustrating one. We had the best car. We were cruising the whole time. I had so much more in it, and we never really got to show it because we were always saving fuel, trying to go that lap later. That’s a killer.”

Full Race Results are Below

Alex Palou won the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix in a commanding fashion this weekend on the streets of Detroit. Palou led the race for 74 laps of the 100. After securing pole Palou took off with a vengeance. However he did have to fend off a few challenges for the front spot against Will Power. As reported by NBC Sports Palou stated the following after the race, “It was a really fun race. It was a lot better than I expected. We had a lot more grip today than what we did (Friday and Saturday), and I think the track evolved a lot during the weekend. Obviously, I had a clean race, but honestly Detroit did a tremendous job. The fans were amazing. I was mind-blown of how many fans we had today being a first-time event. Also the podium on victory lane was really fun. Yeah, hopefully we can tweak some stuff (on the track) and make it even better for next year. But, yeah, cannot wait.”

Palou had a moment on lap 56 where his car had to be placed into emergency mode “I was already heading to Turn 2, I switched to emergency mode because that’s the only way to take all the issues out. It went well, but you lose a lot of performance up-shifting. That’s why Will got us, until the exit of Turn 3, I got it back to normal, then it was all right.” Power was able to build a 2 second lead in the scuffle but Palou gathered himself and was able to take back the track position.

Will Power Fighting the Good Fight but Will it Be Enough?

Power had a good fight towards the closing stages of the race. However in the end Power couldn’t match the pace. He stated, “I did everything I could. He [Palou] was just too quick, man. Too good today.” With no wins in 2023 Will Power may be beginning to question where the season has gone and if he will be able to mount an offense to get back into championship running. There is a long season ahead but no one wants to fight from behind in the closing stages of the season. We will see if Power can turn things around in Wisconsin in a few weeks.

The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR on Sunday, June 18 in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Josef Newgarden etched his name in the history books by becoming a first time Indy 500 winner this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after starting from P17. The win did not come easy as chaos would ensure during the closing laps of the race. During the final 16 laps of the race there were 3 red flags. Former F1 driver Marcus Ericsson held the lead during the start of the final lap of the race. Due to a controversial decision by the race steward to not allow the race to finish under a caution leading to a one lap shootout. Ericsson lost out on the final lap of the race allowing Newgarden to steal away the coveted win.

Newgarden only led the race for 5 laps but was able to work his way through the on track chaos to the last lap showdown that saw him victorious. “I was just trying to stay locked in,” Newgarden said. “I was emotional the last 10 laps because I knew we were in a position to fight for this win at the end. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I knew it was going to come to some last-lap shootout like it always is these days, which is exciting but stressful for us.”

Ericsson Disagrees with One Lap Shootout Call

Ericsson was furious with the decision. “It was an unfair, dangerous end to the race,” he said. “We’ve never done a restart out of the pits. We don’t get the tires up to temperature. We did everything right today. I did an awesome last restart. I caught Josef completely off guard, kept the lead into turn one which no one has done all day. I just couldn’t hold it on the back. I’m proud of us, congratulations to Josef, he’s a worthy champion. I’m just disappointed with the way that ended. I don’t think that was fair.”

A scary moment arose whin Kyle Kirkwood and Felix Rosenqvist crashed and sent a tire over the wall towards the stands. Luckily no one was seriously injured in the crash. Rosenqvist gave a recount of the incident. “I started pushing and pushing, and it got worse and worse and worse,” Rosenqvist said as he described the events leading up to the crash. “I thought I would make it, but the rear started coming around and I had to catch it and hit the wall. Really unfortunate I couldn’t stay up there, I knew I had a whole train behind me so I wanted to make sure no one else hit me, but something broke in the rear and I came back on the track and Kyle hit me.”

Newgarden will split the $20,000 winnings with Team Penske and his chosen charities, SeriousFun Children’s Network and Wags and Walks Nashville, for his victory as part of the PeopleReady Force For Good Challenge.

The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit presented by Lear on Sunday, June 4 on a new circuit on the streets of Detroit.

INDIANAPOLIS (Friday, May 26, 2023) – Takuma Sato was the fastest driver in Miller Lite Carb Day practice Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, leading the final session before the 107th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

Two-time “500” winner Sato led with a top lap of 39.4988 seconds, 227.855 mph in the No. 11 Deloitte Honda fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing. Sato, from Tokyo, will start eighth in the race Sunday (11 a.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, Universo, INDYCAR Radio Network).

SEE: Practice Results

“The 11 car is just getting to a nice feeling, which is exactly what I really wanted,” Sato said. “My boys did a fantastic job the entire week. The organization did fantastic, so I’m happy.”

All 33 starters combined to turn 2,355 laps (5,887.5 miles) in just two hours of incident-free track action.

Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Scott Dixon was second at 227.285 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda in breezy conditions under sunny skies and air temperatures in the low 70s. 2008 Indy 500 winner Dixon will start sixth Sunday, when the air temperature is expected to reach the high 70s.

“It didn’t start very well, to be honest,” Dixon said of the two-hour session. “The car was definitely off on balance. We had to work on it a bit. Definitely some strong competitors out there. But it was fun to run with the 21 (Rinus VeeKay), Pato (O’Ward) a little bit and then the 10 (Alex Palou).

“Where we ended was a big improvement, so good on that side of things. Again, I still think we’ve got more to find.”

Those discoveries will come on engineer’s laptops instead of at speed. The next time cars will be on track will be during the pace laps for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” at 12:45 p.m. Sunday on the 2.5-mile oval.

Reigning series champion Will Power and 2018 “500” winner Will Power was third today at 226.953 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. Power starts 12th Sunday. Pole sitter Alex Palou ended up fourth at 226.945 in the No. 10 The American Legion Honda, giving Chip Ganassi Racing three of the top four cars before a large, sun-soaked Miller Lite Carb Day crowd.

Kyle Kirkwood rounded out the top five at 226.872 in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda fielded by Andretti Autosport. Kirkwood will start 15th Sunday.

Ganassi, Dixon Win Pit Stop Challenge: Scott Dixon and the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda crew shared a $50,000 prize for winning the Indy 500 Pit Stop Challenge on Friday afternoon.

Dixon and his CGR team, led by crew chief Tyler Rees, beat Will Power and the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet crew in three rounds in the best-of-three final. It was the fourth Pit Stop Challenge win for Ganassi and Dixon, who also won together in 2012, 2014 and 2018.

Power’s Team Penske crew will share $25,000 for finishing runner-up in the annual contest, which featured a record purse of $150,000 this year. Teams change all four tires and simulate fueling in the contest.

Dixon edged Power, 11.561 seconds to 12.047 seconds, in the first round. Power turned the tables in Round 2, edging a thrilling 11.829-11.947 victory. But Dixon and his crew – nicknamed “The Wolfpack – prevailed in the final, 11.012-12.552.

The last time the Pit Stop Challenge winner also won the Indianapolis 500 in the same year was 2009 with Helio Castroneves and Team Penske.

The NTT IndyCar series hosted the GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Road Coarse this weekend ahead of the Indy500. It was another amazing win for the Chip Ganassi group (Chip Ganassi Wins with IMSA) as Alex Palou found the perfect combination of speed and strategy to win the GMR Grand Prix. It was Palou’s first win of the season. After starting third on the grid Palou was able to drive his No. 10 American Legion Honda to a 16.801s victory over P2 finisher Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi finished third in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, his first podium result with the team he joined this season after seven years at Andretti Autosport. There were 13 lap leader changes in the race.

Full Race Results and Statistics are Below

1. (3) Alex Palou, Honda, 85, Running
2. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 85, Running
3. (10) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 85, Running
4. (1) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 85, Running
5. (2) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 85, Running
6. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 85, Running
7. (13) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 85, Running
8. (7) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 85, Running
9. (14) Colton Herta, Honda, 85, Running
10. (8) Graham Rahal, Honda, 85, Running
11. (18) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 85, Running
12. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 85, Running
13. (17) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 85, Running
14. (6) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 85, Running
15. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 85, Running
16. (16) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 85, Running
17. (15) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 84, Running
18. (24) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 84, Running
19. (21) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 84, Running
20. (4) Jack Harvey, Honda, 84, Running
21. (25) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 84, Running
22. (26) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 84, Running
23. (27) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 80, Running
24. (23) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 79, Running
25. (19) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 58, Mechanical
26. (20) David Malukas, Honda, 2, Contact
27. (22) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 1, Contact

Race Statistics

Winner’s average speed: 115.234 mph
Time of Race: 01:47:56.7003
Margin of victory: 16.8006 seconds
Cautions: 1 for 3 laps
Lead changes: 12 among 8 drivers

Lap Leaders

Palou, Alex Laps 1 – 17
Lundgaard, Christian Laps 18 – 19
Rosenqvist, Felix Laps 20 – 22
Ericsson, Marcus Lap 23
Rahal, Graham Laps 24 – 30
Lundgaard, Christian Laps 31 – 41
Palou, Alex Laps 42 – 43
Ericsson, Marcus Lap 44
Dixon, Scott Laps 45 – 47
Palou, Alex Laps 48 – 59
O’Ward, Pato Laps 60 – 61
Rossi, Alexander Laps 62 – 64
Palou, Alex Laps 65 – 85

NTT IndyCar SERIES Point Standings: Palou 174, O’Ward 168, Ericsson 155, Grosjean 134, McLaughlin 133, Newgarden 131, Dixon 127, Power 122, Lundgaard 111, Rossi 108, Kirkwood 108, Herta 107, Rosenqvist 97, Ilott 92, Rahal 86, Malukas 79, Armstrong 77, VeeKay 64, Canapino 56, Castroneves 53, Harvey 53, Ferrucci 51, Pagenaud 50, Daly 49, DeFrancesco 46, Robb 42, Pedersen 40, Ed Carpenter 17, Takuma Sato 5

For more updates on the upcoming Indy500 check out the NTT IndyCar Series.