The eighth round of the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season takes place at Road America, the longest track on the IndyCar schedule. It will be the 33rd time IndyCar has raced around the famed course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Through seven races, there have been six different winners this season and we have had seven different pole-sitters. While there has been variety, it is rather contained this season. Team Penske has four victories, the only team with multiple victories this season. Penske has two of the top five in the championship while Chip Ganassi Racing also has two in the top five of the championship. After this weekend, IndyCar will have two weeks off before hitting the midway point of the season at Mid-Ohio.
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 12:30 p.m. ET on Sunday June 12 with green flag scheduled for 12:50 p.m. ET.
Channel: NBC
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Marty Snider, Kevin Lee and Dave Burns will work pit lane.
Channel: NBC
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Marty Snider, Kevin Lee and Dave Burns will work pit lane.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 4:25 p.m. ET (75 minutes)
Saturday:
Second Practice: 10:45 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 1:45 p.m. ET
Qualifying: 1:45 p.m. ET
Final Practice: 5:20 p.m. ET (30 minutes)
Sunday:
Race: 12:50 p.m. ET (55 laps)
* - All sessions will be available live on Peacock
Power Back On Top
After dropping to fourth in the championship following his 15th place finish in the Indianapolis 500, Will Power's victory at Belle Isle has put him back in the championship lead. Power holds a three-point advantage over Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson entering Road America.
Power has not been worse than fourth in the championship this season and he has six top five finishes from seven races, his most top five finishes through seven races in his IndyCar career. Belle Isle was Power's first street course victory since Toronto 2016 and after starting 16th this was the third time Power has won from outside a top ten starting position in his career, all three of which have come on street courses.
Belle Isle wasn't just another victory for Power. It was his 41st career victory, putting him one behind tying Michael Andretti for fourth all-time. With 41 victories in 258 starts, Power has a 15.891% winning percentage. Andretti's 42nd victory came in his 293rd start at Long Beach in 2002. Andretti ended his career with a 13.249% winning percentage.
Through seven races, Power has the best average finish in IndyCar at 4.8571. He is the only driver with at least five top five finishes this season, and he is one of three drivers with six top ten finishes this season. Power's 78 laps led are tied for third most in IndyCar with Colton Herta, and Power has led in four races. Only Álex Palou has led more races this season.
Since 1946, this is the 38th time a driver has had at least six top five finishes through the first seven races. In 26 of the first 37 occasions, that driver has gone on to win the championship. This is the fifth time in the last six seasons a driver has scored at least six top five finishes in seven races. However, in two of those four occasions, that driver did not win the championship. In 2017 and 2018, Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi each had six top five finishes, but did not bring home the championship. However, in 2019 and 2020, Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon each opened with six top five finishes through seven races and held on to claim the title.
In Power's favor are his Road America results. In seven races since IndyCar's return in 2016, Power has five podium finishes on the Wisconsin road course. He has made the Fast Six on six occasions with his worst starting position at Road America being eighth. Since 2016, Power has the third best average finish at Road America among the drivers with at least three starts. Power's average finish is 6.7, and Power's average starting position of 3.6 is behind only Colton Herta. He is one of five drivers with five top ten finishes in the last seven Road America races, and he and Scott Dixon are tied for most top five finishes at Road America with five apiece.
One other thing to give Power confidence this weekend is the last time he won at Belle Isle in 2016, he won the following race, which was at Road America.
Newgarden's Shot at Redemption
While Power found redemption at Belle Isle last week, scoring victory one year after his car's failure to restart after red flag conditions were lifted while leading, Road America will be the second consecutive race where a Team Penske driver seeks retribution from a lost result in 2021.
Last year, Josef Newgarden led 32 laps at Road America from pole position when a late caution caused a restart with two laps to go. Newgarden had to hold off Álex Palou, but unfortunately gearbox issues on the restart cost Newgarden the lead and the American dropped like a rock in the final two laps, crossing the finish line 21st.
That one failure saw Newgarden go from possibly scoring the maximum 54 points to bringing home only 13 points. Throw in the additional ten points Palou scored from inheriting the race victory and that mechanical failure caused a 51-point swing in the championship. Newgarden lost the 2021 championship by 38 points to Palou.
Road America was the second consecutive victory that slipped through Newgarden's fingers last year. At the previous race, Newgarden lost the lead with three laps to go at Belle Isle after leading the first 67 laps. This year, Newgarden was fourth at Belle Isle after leading the first 13 laps from pole position, but the two-stop strategy and running long the alternate tire compound in the opening stint cost him valuable time while Power and Dixon started on the primary tires and clawed their way up the field and Alexander Rossi vaulted forward on the three-stop strategy.
After a feast or famine start, Newgarden found some middle ground at Belle Isle. He might have finished fourth, but he had either won or finished outside the top ten in the first six races of the season. Three top ten finishes is his fewest through the first seven races of a season since he had two in the first seven races of 2014.
An argument could be made Road America owes Newgarden two victories. Besides last year's heartbreak, in the first race of the 2020 doubleheader, Newgarden led 25 of the first 27 laps from pole position but stalled on his second pit stop and ended up 14th in that race. After finishing no worse than eighth in his first four Road America races, three of which were podium results, Newgarden has finished ninth or worse in his last three Road America starts. Two of those last three starts were from pole position.
Newgarden is one of two drivers to complete all 380 laps at Road America since 2016 along with Simon Pagenaud. Newgarden has led 123 laps at the track, more than double the next best driver, his teammate Will Power, who has led 60 laps.
Another thing on Newgarden's side this weekend is this will be his third shot to complete the PeopleReady Force For Good Challenge. With victories at the Texas oval and Long Beach street course, all Newgarden needs is a victory on a road course to claim the $1 million prize, half of which will go to a charity of the team's choosing. Newgarden will get consecutive cracks to complete the challenge as following Road America will be Mid-Ohio.
Every other winner will only have a chance to check off a box in the next two races. Marcus Ericsson could check off the road course box, but the earliest he could complete the challenge would be the Toronto race next month. Scott McLaughlin and Will Power both could complete the road course requirement this weekend, but they could not claim the $1 million prize until Iowa next month.
Patricio O'Ward and Colton Herta cannot check off another box until Toronto, as O'Ward and Herta already took care of the road course victory last month. O'Ward won at Barber and Herta won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Rising and Falling
Heading into the second weekend of June, the IndyCar championship is all jumbled up from where it was at the start of May.
Marcus Ericsson is the most notable leaper over the last three races. Ericsson was tied for ninth in the championship, 60 points off the championship lead after the Barber Motorsports Park round. Three consecutive top ten finishes with an Indianapolis 500 victory smack-dab in the middle of that run and Ericsson is up to second in the championship, three points behind Power's lead. Ericsson has three consecutive top ten finishes at Road America.
After Barber Motorsports Park on May 1, Alexander Rossi was 13th in the championship. Entering Road America, Rossi is up to seventh in the championship off the back of consecutive top five finishes between the Indianapolis 500 and Belle Isle. This is the first time he has had consecutive top five finishes since a four-race streak at the end of the 2020 season between the Mid-Ohio doubleheader and Harvest Grand Prix doubleheader. Rossi is not only up six positions, he is also up eight points from where he was after Barber, now only trailing the championship lead by 74 points instead of 82 points.
Felix Rosenqvist hasn't had the sexiest results, but his three consecutive top ten finishes, including a fourth-place finish at Indianapolis has Rosenqvist up to ninth in the championship, 81 points behind Power in the championship. After Barber, Rosenqvist was 16th in the championship, 88 points off the lead. The Swede returns to the location of his one and only IndyCar victory. He missed last year's Road America race while recovering from a concussion suffered in a horrendous accident in the first Belle Isle race.
Conor Daly might not have cracked the top ten in the IndyCar championship, but Daly is up from 19th after Barber, 94 points off the championship lead, to 12th after Belle Isle, albeit he is now 100 points off the championship lead. Daly has turned around his season to be the top Ed Carpenter Racing finisher in four of seven races. On the other hand, Rinus VeeKay has gone from seventh in the championship, 38 points off the championship lead after Barber to 13th, 107 points behind Power, a six-spot, 69-point drop over the last three races.
VeeKay isn't even the most notable fall over the last three races.
Scott McLaughlin has gone from second in the championship, three points off Álex Palou's championship lead after Barber to tenth in the championship, 82 points off Power's lead. McLaughlin has finished outside the top fifteen in the last three races.
Romain Grosjean was the top Andretti Autosport driver in the championship after Barber, eighth and 43 points off the lead. After two finishes of 17th and a 31st in the Indianapolis 500, Grosjean is now the third best Andretti driver in the championship, down to 14th and 114 points off the championship lead.
Tied with Marcus Ericsson after Barber Motorsports Park was Graham Rahal. Now 117 points a part, Rahal is down to 15th in the championship with finishes of 16th, 14th and 26th in the last three races.
Open Door at Road America
There have been six different winners through seven races this IndyCar season, but there have also been six different winners in the seven Road America races since IndyCar's return in 2016.
Scott Dixon is only the repeat winner in the last seven races while Will Power, Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi, Felix Rosenqvist and Álex Palou have all stood on the top of the podium at the famed circuit. Prior to IndyCar's return in 2016, CART/Champ Car had 11 different winners in its final 12 races at the circuit. The only repeat winner during that time was Bruno Junqueira.
With 27 drivers entered this weekend, 20 have a chance to keep up the run at Road America.
Marcus Ericsson would be a different winner, and Ericsson could also extend Chip Ganassi Racing's Road America winning streak to four races.
Patricio O'Ward nearly had his first IndyCar victory come at the circuit in the second race of the 2020 doubleheader only for worn alternate tires to cost him in the closing laps to Rosenqvist. O'Ward has three consecutive top ten finishes at the circuit.
As mentioned above, Simon Pagenaud has completed every lap at Road America since 2016, however Pagenaud has finished outside the top ten in his last three Road America starts. His only top five result here was fourth in the 2017 race.
In four Road America starts, Colton Herta is averaging a fifth-place finish. Herta's worst result was eighth as a rookie in 2019. He was runner-up to Palou last year after Newgarden's mechanical issues late. Despite having started on pole position in the 2019 race, Herta has yet to lead a lap at Road America.
While Graham Rahal is in a slump, not many are more competitive at Road America than Rahal. He had six consecutive top ten finishes before his last two starts. In the second race of the 2020 doubleheader, Rahal was taken out on the opening lap. Last year, he was 11th. Prior to last year, he had started in the top ten in every one of his Road America starts, and he has started in the top six in six Road America races.
Rinus VeeKay, Kyle Kirkwood and David Malukas won the last three Indy Lights races at Road America, and each has additional Road to Indy victories at the track. In 2017, VeeKay swept the U.S. F2000 races. Kirkwood swept the U.S. F2000 races the following year and then swept the Indy Pro 2000 races in 2019. Last year, Kirkwood split the Indy Lights races with Malukas. A suspension issue in the second race knocked Kirkwood out of a possible podium finish. Malukas swept the 2018 Indy Pro 2000 races at Road America, his first victories in Road to Indy competition.
There is a familiar name returning to the IndyCar grid this weekend. Simona de Silvestro returns with Paretta Autosport, in the first of a three-race program run in partnership with Ed Carpenter Racing. De Silvestro will also run Mid-Ohio next month and Nashville in August. This will be de Silvestro's first road/street course start in IndyCar since she finished fourth in the one and only NOLA Motorsports Park race driving for Andretti Autosport in 2015. She has not raced at Road America since the 2008 Atlantics Championship doubleheader.
Road to Indy
All three Road to Indy series will be competing at Road America this weekend, and it is getting late early in Indy Lights. Road America marks the halfway point in the 2022 Indy Lights season with only seven races remaining after this weekend.
Linus Lundqvist has a stranglehold on the championship after sweeping the Belle Isle doubleheader. Lundqvist has 283 points and an 84-point lead over Benjamin Pedersen. Lundqvist has won four races this season while there have only been two other winners this season. Pedersen has been runner-up three times. Danial Frost and Sting Ray Robb are tied for third in the championship on 191 points. Frost holds the tiebreaker with his victory on the IMS road course. Robb has finished in third position in four of the last five races.
Matthew Brabham scored a pair of top five finishes in Detroit, his first top five finishes since his St. Petersburg victory. Brabham has 186 points, 97 points off the championship lead. Hunter McElrea is sixth in the championship on 163 points while Christian Rasmussen and Kyffin Simpson are tied on 147 points. Rasmussen was 13th in both Belle Isle races. Antonio Serravalle is on 145 points while Jacob Abel rounds out the top ten on 136 points.
Ernie Francis, Jr. has 134 points. Christian Bogle scored his first top five finish in Indy Lights competition in the first Belle Isle race. Bogle has 128 points. James Roe, Jr. had a pair of top ten finishes in Detroit and now has 116 points in the championship.
Indy Lights will race at 10:35 a.m. ET on Sunday June 11. It is scheduled for 20 laps.
Indy Pro 2000 will surpass its halfway point during the middle of the Road America weekend. Louis Foster has won the last two races and holds the championship lead with 184 points. Foster has a 14-point lead over Reece Gold after Gold was runner-up to Foster at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Nolan Siegel is 17 points back in third with seven top ten finishes from eight races.
Enaam Ahmed is 41 points behind Foster with six top five finishes this season. Josh Green rounds out the top five, 45 points behind Foster with Braden Eves 49 points back. Green was third at IRP, his first podium finish since winning the St. Petersburg season opener. Eves has one top five finish in the last four races. Kiko Porto has yet to finish on the podium this year and has 129 points, good enough for seventh in the championship.
Colin Kaminsky has 119 points with Jack William Miller on 112 points. Salvador da Alba rounds out the top ten with 108 points. Yuven Sundaramoorthy sits on 104 points with Wyatt Brichacek on 102 points.
The first Indy Pro 2000 race will be at 3:15 p.m. ET on Saturday June 11 with the second race set for 9:30 a.m. ET on Sunday June 12.
U.S. F2000 will also enter the second half of its season during the middle of the Road America weekend. Michael d'Orlando took the championship lead with his victory at Indianapolis Raceway Park, his seventh top five finish through eight races. D'Orlando has 177 points and a 17-point advantage over Myles Rowe. Rowe was third at IRP. Jagger Jones is 19 points back after finishing fifth on the 0.686-mile oval.
Billy Frazer has finished seventh in the last two races and has dropped to fourth in the championship, 25 points off d'Orlando. Jace Denmark has finished fourth in the last three races and he is fifth in the championship, 32 points back. Bijoy Garg was runner-up at IRP and he is 52 points behind d'Orlando.
Simon Sikes has finished outside of the top five in the last four races and has dropped to seventh in the championship on 119 points. Thomas Nepveu sits on 115 points, nine points ahead of Spike Kohlbecker. Christian Weir rounds out the top ten on 99 points.
There will be an extra d'Orlando on the grid this weekend. Nicholas d'Orlando, Michael's younger brother, will make his U.S. F2000 debut at Road America.
Both U.S. F2000 races will be on Saturday June 11, first at noon ET and then at 4:20 p.m. ET.
Fast Facts
This will be the 13th time an IndyCar race has taken place on June 12 and the first time since last year when Marcus Ericsson won the first Belle Isle race.
Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi are tied for the most Road America victories with three apiece.
Newman/Haas Racing leads all teams with ten Road America victories. Chip Ganassi Racing is second all-time with seven victories while Team Penske has five victories.
Paul Tracy remains the only driver to win at Road America in IndyCar and Indy Lights.
The average starting position for a Road America winner is 3.84375 with a median of fifth.
The last three Road America races have been won from outside the first two rows of the grid. It is the first time three consecutive Road America races have been won from further back than fourth position.
Fourteen of 32 Road America races have been won from the front row. The pole-sitter has won ten times at Road America.
Seven Road America races have been won from outside a top five starting position.
The worst starting position for a Road America winner is 13th by Alex Tagliani in the 2004 race. Tagliani is the only driver to win from outside the top ten at Road America.
The driver who has led the most laps has won every odd-numbered race this season. The driver who has led the most laps has not won any of the even-numbered races this season.
Eight drivers have had their first career victory come at Road America.
Honda has had at least seven top ten finishers in the last six Road America races.
Neither manufacture has swept a Road America podium since the track returned to the schedule.
The average number of lead changes in a Road America race is 4.3125 with a median of four.
Last year's race had 11 lead changes, matching the most all-time in a Road America race, which first occurred in 1983.
The average number of cautions in a Road America race is 2.129 with a median of two. The average number of caution laps is 6.48387 with a median of five.
The last three Road America races have had multiple caution periods after three of the previous four Road America races had one caution or fewer.
Predictions
Two years after his most recent victory, Alexander Rossi is back on the top step of the podium, but this victory will be by under five seconds. Andretti Autosport will have multiple top five finishers. Felix Rosenqvist keeps his top ten streak going. David Malukas will get his first career top ten finish. Rinus VeeKay will not have an accident on the final lap. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has its best day of the season. There will be under two cautions. There will be under six lead changes. The first retirement will be a Chevrolet. At least one driver will finish at least ten positions better than his or her starting position. Sleeper: David Malukas.
