First Impressions: Milwaukee 2024 Race One

1. Oh justice! Sweet, sweet, sweet karmic justice. We will cover a lot of the comments from this weekend on Monday, but a day after being disrespected by the second-most influential front office member of IndyCar, Patricio O'Ward had a statement victory in Milwaukee! One that from the noise coming from the crowd suggests it was a rather popular victory. 

O'Ward looked like a man to beat all race, and to be fair, it felt like six or seven guys could have won this race, but O'Ward found something in clean air and when he got out front, he was gone. In Milwaukee form, the race sprung back-and-forth like a rubber band. When in clean air, the leader could be on his own. Once some traffic came into play, it brought everyone together. 

This was the case in the closing laps as O'Ward had a motivated Will Power on his rear wing. O'Ward did not flinch, showing his composure, and closing out this victory for his third on the season. 

This man has won over the fan base because of his ability but his charisma is taking him further than anyone else in the IndyCar Series. Why he isn't the face of the series and a spokesperson that is out and about at every market is beyond me. He does more than every other driver on the grid, including the past champions and silver spoon Penske drivers, for the series. This might not be his year for the championship, but he is more than capable of winning the next two races and closing out the season with a bang.

2. Forty-three points. That is all Will Power could shrink the deficit between him and Álex Palou in this race. It went in the right direction and Power is now within the margin necessary to keep the championship fight alive into the Nashville season finale. Power will need one more good day tomorrow at Milwaukee to secure the title fight going to the final day of the season. 

For the first 100 laps, it looked like Power was going to take a significant chunk out of Palou's lead. It even looked like Colton Herta and Scott McLaughlin could come into play and stay alive for the title into Nashville. Instead, it looks like it will be at most a two-man battle if it even gets there. 

Power caught a break as he had yet to stop before the final caution for Colton Herta's unsecured left front tire after Herta's final pit stop. If that cycle plays out, there is a good chance Power finishes behind Palou tonight and we are singing a different tune.

There were ten more points in front of Power tonight. It would have been a big difference going to bed tonight down 33 points with a victory versus 43 in second. There is no margin for error tomorrow. Power cannot lose anything. He will start fourth while Palou will start tenth. At the drop of the green flag, Power will have taken out 12 more points. They will go a long way if that holds through the 250 laps, but Power will need more than that.

3. The final caution for Colton Herta's unsecured left front tire after his final pit stop shook up this race and it put Conor Daly, who had a good race but was stuck around 14th and 15th, into a position for a podium result, and Daly stole it! 

Daly was making big moves all race. His car was hooked up on the outside and he made up 12 spots in a blink at the start from 25th on the grid. However, he stalled out on the verge of the top ten. Take 12 cars out of the way and Daly was stiffing a podium. He benefited when Santino Ferrucci was balked in some traffic and Daly never looked back. It is Juncos Hollinger Racing's first podium finish in IndyCar.

Taking a note from soccer and relegation battles, the Leader Circle battle has become the equivalent to relegation. Teams need to finish in the top 22 for the funding, and teams will make decisions to ensure it has the best driver capable of getting them over that line. Daly was called in late and this is what he can do that Agustín Canapino could not. It is effectively a "new manager bounce" except it is with a driver. New driver is tossed in the car and gets better results than seen previously. 

There are still two races to go and it is still tight, but this was a big evening for the #78 crew.

4. Santino Ferrucci was racy again and he can make a car work on the outside like few else can in IndyCar. Every stint he went forward. Every restart he could make up five or six positions at a time. He will be starting better tomorrow, but he went from 19th to fourth, and nearly had a podium. A.J. Foyt Racing has experienced a rejuvenated season, and with two more races it can only get better for this organization.

5. Álex Palou doesn't do anything wrong. It wasn't his best day and Palou still finished fifth. He didn't really push for more than that. Pit cycles were in his favor as Palou stopped early and gained spots. It took him into contention for the top five, but it also put him ahead of championship rivals. After the first stint, Palou was ahead of Power because Palou stopped earlier. That swung the race in a sense. Palou stayed in contention and his team didn't make any mistakes. 

Power will have the advantage on the grid tomorrow but he must know Palou will make up at least four stops. That is eight points Power is going to lose because Palou will drive forward. The pressure is on and if Palou keeps his nose clean, he will at least be significantly in control of the championship, if not have done just enough to clinch his this title.

6. Somehow Linus Lundqvist overcame two slow pit stops because of right rear tire troubles to finish sixth. Lundqvist was competitive and was hanging with pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin through the opening stint. The slow tire change on the right rear cost Lundqvist on the first stop, but he remained in the top ten and had a strong day at a time when he is auditioning for a seat in 2025. It hasn't been a great year, but a day like this one can turn some heads.

7. Alexander Rossi did nothing and finished seventh. That is harsh but we are over two years removed form his most recent victory. Rossi has led 32 laps since the start of 2023, 102 laps since the start of 2022 and 104 laps since the start of 2021. It has been years since we have gone into a race weekend and seen Rossi be the man to beat. We know he is capable of it, but he hasn't been able to extract anything more out of that car at Arrow McLaren. He should have been able to do it at least once over the last two seasons. That is what makes seventh such a disappointment because it doesn't appear he can do much better than that. 

8. It was a weird race for Scott McLaughlin because he led the opening stint, lost the lead to Lundqvist for a moment, cycled down a few spots during the first pit cycle and then he was back in the lead because McLaughlin did not stop under the caution for Katherine Legge's spin. McLaughlin held off drivers on fresher tires, but then McLaughlin went too long and ended up getting cycled back anyway and this is ultimately what cost him the victory and more because he wound up eighth. 

It feels like McLaughlin had the best car tonight but it didn't quite pan out and that was more down to strategy than the car. There was hesitation to stop early, and that is understandable on an oval, but it cost the front-runners dearly, and McLaughlin lost out more than most.

9. Christian Lundgaard probably cannot fathom how he finished ninth tonight. The answer is Colton Herta not getting his left front tire secured on his final pit stop and running long on the penultimate stint hoping a caution would come. Lundgaard got it. None of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing cars were good tonight. They aren't going to be good tomorrow. I would love to see where Lundgaard was running and his average running position through the first 180 laps compared to the final 70 laps. 

Due to the Herta caution, Lundgaard was one of four cars that had yet to stop and O'Ward and Ferrucci had made their final stops and remained on the lead lap through the pit cycle. This meant Lundgaard would restart no worse than sixth. He lost a number of spots because the car was not good, but it was good enough to get a top ten finish. 

10. Scott Dixon's balance was off in qualifying and he didn't look all that good during the race, but he snuck out a top ten finish in tenth, a small victory in his 400th start. It was odd to see Dixon be second in practice and then fail to crack the top ten in qualifying for either race. I really thought we would see Dixon qualify in the top five and be a threat in this race. That didn't quite happen.

The Ganassi cars looked good. Lundqvist held his own. It will be interesting to see how Dixon and company responds tomorrow.

11. With Conor Daly finishing third, Ed Carpenter Racing needed something good out of Christian Rasmussen, and it got 11th, which eases the bleeding a bit. This could have been catastrophic for Ed Carpenter Racing. It still isn't good in terms of the Leader Circle, but the gap is not insurmountable with two races remaining. Elsewhere, Rinus VeeKay looked poised for a top ten finish and then the final caution bit him the hard and he could only finish 14th. 

12. Let's blow through the field because I have a preview to write for tomorrow's race still and it is already late. Andretti Global had a rough day. Kyle Kirkwood clipped his crew members on a pit stop and could never really overcome that penalty. Twelfth was as good as it was going to get. 

This was a big blow for Colton Herta because he had a good shot at remaining alive for the championship today. For a moment, it looked like Herta was going to be the guy to beat. This team makes too many mistakes, driver and crew combined. Strategy was a weak point as well. 

I don't understand how Herta is not brought into pit lane when he has lost ten second to O'Ward after being on his gearbox until getting stuck in traffic. I don't get it. Herta should have came into pit lane about eight laps earlier than he did for his second pit stop. It was clear stopping early was the way to go and they were in the window for two more stops from there. Put pressure on O'Ward and everyone else. 

They needed to do something big to stay in the championship hunt. They have nothing to lose rolling the dice. It could be the case the ghost of Iowa haunts the #26 team after being on pit lane as Palou spun, costing them a shot at victory, but they entered today below the cutline to remain championship eligible into the season finale. This is the time to gamble, and it likely would have paid out today.

We will cover Marcus Ericsson and Josef Newgarden here because they got together in turns one and two battling for second after the both of them were aggressive on strategy, stopped early for their third pit stops and both went from outside the top ten and up to second and third. That is how powerful stopping early was in this race. They were both still over nine seconds behind O'Ward after the stop but they both made up over ten spots in one pit cycle.

This was a racing incident. Two cars, side-by-side through the long, low-banked corners in Milwaukee. Neither gave an inch, both ended up out. Ericsson didn't do anything wrong. Newgarden didn't do anything wrong. It was an unfortunate result for both because it seems both drivers have been magnets to bad days this season. It is uncommon to see these two have as many run-ins as they have.

13. Meyer Shank Racing didn't have a good day despite having good pace. Felix Rosenqvist ended up losing spots late and fell out of a possible top ten finish to 13th. David Malukas was running in the top ten before the first pit stop and once he was cycled out he never got back into contention. Malukas ended up 15th. This has been a much better season for MSR, but they must work on closing races.

14. Jack Harvey was 16th, which isn't great but as good as it gets for Dale Coyne Racing, and I feel like I have written that after about 11 races this season. Katherine Legge didn't hit anything when she spun and rallied to finish 19th. That is a good bounce back for Legge.

15. I don't think Nolan Siegel has experienced tire degradation like this before in his life and he was 17th. Siegel is still 19 years old. It is ok for him to have some learning experiences. This was one of them. 

16. Don't let Christian Lundgaard's result fool you. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was bad and Pietro Fittipaldi in 18th and Graham Rahal in 20th are a true indication of this team's oval pace. I don't get how it hasn't gotten any better over the last three seasons. It was bad in 2022. It was a nightmare in 2023. It isn't better in 2024. I don't get it and I do not understand how any free agent would choose to go to RLLR in 2025. Is Alexander Rossi really going to lower himself to struggling to make the Indianapolis 500? It might be a great spot for a young kid with nothing to lose (Jüri Vips), but veterans don't need that headache.

17. Marcus Armstrong was hosed when his team decide to try and make this race a two-stop race when nearly everyone else was convinced it was going to be a four-stop race. Armstrong did over 80 laps or nearly 80 laps on his first stint after hoping to make it 85 laps. This caught him two laps down when Legge spun and Armstrong could never get out of that hole. At least Chip Ganassi Racing can say it had all the strategies covered, but no one should have ever considered attempting a two-stop race tonight.

Kyffin Simpson had electrical issues, lost many laps and then always appeared to be directly in front of the leader, especially when another Ganassi car was in the top five. Not Simpson's greatest night. 

18. Sting Ray Robb had some issue and ended up finishing six laps down. That about wraps up his night.

19. Add this as Exhibit #254 as to why I think Romain Grosjean will not be back in IndyCar next year. Grosjean and the team were on two entirely different pages in terms of fuel mapping and whether or not they were saving fuel for a three-stop race or running a four-stop race. Then Grosjean had some suspension damage after he, Kirkwood and Rasmussen bumped together while running three-wide in turn four, and Grosjean was on the radio screaming for a caution while he and everyone else was still running. 

Grosjean ran well most of this race. He was running in front of Daly on the cusp of the top ten as well. This man spent a decade in Formula One! I guess about half of IndyCar is good enough to spend a decade in Formula One as well. 

20. To close because we get to do this all over tomorrow, this was a fun race and a great reminder of how fun Milwaukee can be. Tire wear dictated this race and it threw everyone for a loop. Everyone had to adjust on the fly. Some did better than others and it showed. It sucks that we didn't have this race for nine years, and it was a good crowd even if the standard should be higher. Night one of this revival was sufficient. It should set up well for day two. 

Morning Warm-Up: Milwaukee 2024 Race One

Like the Iowa doubleheader weekend, Milwaukee has one qualifying session to set the grid for both races. Qualifying is scheduled for this afternoon at 2:15 p.m. ET. The first lap of each qualifying run will set the grid for Saturday evening's race while the second lap of each qualifying run will set the grid for Sunday's race.

There was a practice session held on Friday afternoon, and Josef Newgarden topped the session with a lap of 23.0156 seconds. Newgarden has won two of four oval races this season, including the most recent one held two weeks ago at Gateway Motorsports Park. Newgarden has won at least three races in six of the last seven seasons, and he has won at least three oval races in each of the last two seasons. He is looking for his second pole position of the season. The first was at the St. Petersburg season opener. Even if Newgarden is the fastest qualifier, he will not be starting first for race one. He has a nine-spot grid penalty for taking his fifth engine this season.

On the cusp of his 400th career start, Scott Dixon was second-quickest in practice, 0.0993 seconds off Newgarden's top time. Dixon could become the sixth driver to win in a century mark start. The previous five all did it in their 100th start and the most recent was Patrick Carpentier at Mid-Ohio on August 11, 2002. All five century mark winners occured in the month of August. A.J. Foyt, Roger McCluskey and Mario Andretti all did it at Springfield in 1965, 1968 and 1968 respectively. Mike Mosley won in his 100th start at Milwaukee on August 17, 1975. Dixon has finished in the top five in each of his first three century mark starts.

Patricio O'Ward was 0.1477 seconds off Newgarden's fastest time. O'Ward is attempting to avoid his four-race top ten finish slump since a seven-race stretch that spanned the 2019 and 2020 seasons. He has finished in the top five of the 15th race of the season in all three seasons he has contested a 15th race. O’Ward has led only 33 laps this season, nine in the Indianapolis 500 and 24 at Mid-Ohio. 

Felix Rosenqvist took fourth on the time chart with a lap at 23.1812 seconds. Rosenqvist is coming off his best oval finish of the season with a sixth at Gateway Motorsports Park, but his average finish on ovals this season is 18th. The Swede's average finish in the last eight races is 15.125 after opening the season at 10.5 over the first six races.

Scott McLaughlin round out the top five for Team Penske, 0.1725 seconds off his teammate Newgarden. McLaughlin has finished on the podium in the last three oval races and he has started on pole position in the last two oval races. A total of 391 of the 472 laps McLaughlin has led this season have come on ovals. That is 82.838%.

In his first appearance at the Milwaukee Mile, Marcus Armstrong made it three New Zealanders in the top six, and Armstrong was the fastest Chip Ganassi Racing car. He has been the best starting Ganassi driver in two of the last three races. There will be some extra work for Armstrong in race one, as he has a nine-spot grid penalty awaiting him fo an unapproved engine change.

Linus Lundqvist was the second-fastest Chip Ganassi Racing driver, seventh overall, and 0.0111 seconds off his teammate Armstrong. Lundqvist was also 0.2478 seconds off Newgarden's fastest lap, the final driver within a quarter second of the top spot. Lundqvist was third at Iowa, but his average finish on ovals this season is 16th, however, his finishing position has improved in each subsequent oval race.

David Malukas completed 69 laps in the practice session, and Malukas was 0.2682 seconds off the top. In 13 oval starts, Malukas has three top ten finishes and five top ten finishes. He has had at least two top ten finishes on ovals in each of his first two seasons. Portland last week was the first time Malukas has finished better than his starting position, going form 25h to 20th. 

Álex Palou has his eyes set on possibly clinching his third championship this weekend, and the weekend started off in promising form with Palou ninth in practice, 0.289 seconds slower than Newgarden. Palou has four consecutive top five finishes with three races remaining. His longest top five finish streak is eight races, and he has had two eight-race top five streaks in his career.

Colton Herta rounded out the top ten in practice with Herta running 0.3107 seconds slower than Newgarden in the session. Colton's father Bryan Herta made ten starts at the Milwaukee Mile with his best finish being sixth. The only track where Bryan Herta made more starts in his IndyCar career was Michigan International Speedway. With fifth-place finishes in the last two oval races, this is the first season where Colton Herta has earned multiple top five finishes.

Will Power has a milestone weekend of his own as his 300th start falls in the middle of a tense championship fight for the Australian. Power was second in his 100th start at Sonoma in 2012, and he was third in his 200th start at Mid-Ohio in 2018. His 2014 Milwaukee victory came in his 137th start. Power has not won four races in a season since 2016.

A surprise 12th quickest was Jack Harvey in the #18 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing. Harvey was 0.3394 seconds off Newgarden in first. Harvey's best starting position this season was 16th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. His best finish was 13th at Barber Motorsports Park. Dale Coyne Racing has produced two top ten finishes in 22 Milwaukee appearances for the team. Harvey made two starts at Milwaukee in Indy Lights. 

Santino Ferrucci was 13th in the practice session a week after Ferrucci won pole position for the Portland race. A.J. Foyt Racing has not won pole position in consecutive races since 1998 when Billy Boat won four consecutive pole positions to close out that season. However, Boat failed to finish better than ninth in any of those four races. A.J. Foyt Racing has not won a race from pole position since A.J. Foyt's 67th and final victory at Pocono on June 21, 1981.

Alexander Rossi could not do better than 14th in practice as Rossi looks to end a top ten finish drought that is three races long. Rossi had eight top ten finishes in the first ten races. He has failed to finish in the top ten since and missed Toronto due to a broken thumb. Despite his slump, Rossi has only lost one spot in the championship, dropping from eighth to ninth over this time. 

Nolan Siegel's unexpected rookie season continues with him visiting Milwaukee, preparing for his fourth oval race of the season. Siegel went from 20th to seventh at Gateway, and he led eight laps in the process. He has yet to start in the top ten on an oval this season, and that will likely continue into Saturday's race. Siegel has a nine-spot for an unapproved engine chance in the #6 McLaren Chevrolet.

Kyle Kirkwood was a hair over a half-second slower than the fastest practice lap. Kirkwood was 0.5038 seconds off the top spot. Gateway two weeks ago was the first time he has started inside the top ten for an oval race in his IndyCar career. His career average starting position in oval races is 18.0714.

Rinus VeeKay enters Milwaukee with his top ten finish streak having just ended in Portland. The good news is VeeKay's streak ended only with an 11th-place finish. The Dutchman will have some work to do to get back into the top ten as he was 17th in practice, 0.5296 seconds off first but 0.2189 seconds outside the top ten.

Christian Rasmussen is in for Ed Carpenter in the #20 Chevrolet as Rasmussen will run the final three races. It was already going to be a trying weekend down in 18th after practice, but the Dane's session ended early after an accident in turn two. To add insult to injury, Rasmussen has a nine-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change.

Romain Grosjean took 19th in practice. In 15 oval starts in his career, Grosjean has only three top ten finishes, and all three of those results have come at Iowa Speedway. Despite Grosjean having finished outside the top fifteen in seven of the first 14 races, he has only failed to finish two races this season. 

Sting Ray Robb rounded out the top twenty in practice, 0.7288 seconds slower than Newgarden in the session. Robb has an average finish of 15.25 in the four oval races this season. Part of that is boosted from a ninth at Gateway two weeks ago. He has completed all but three of 960 laps run on ovals this year.

Marcus Ericsson was stuck in 21st, 0.835 seconds from the top spot. Entering this season, Ericsson had 11 consecutive top ten finishes in oval races. This season, Ericsson has finished outside the top twenty in three of four oval races, and his average finish in ovals is 22.25. He has only led one lap through the first 14 races, lap 55 at Toronto.

Graham Rahal was the top Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver, but Rahal was the top RLLR driver in 22nd, 0.8847 seconds behind Newgarden. The three RLLR cars were all bunched together in the final practice results. Rahal was third in the 2015 Milwaukee race, IndyCar’s most recent visit to the circuit. He has not won at Milwaukee, just like his father Bobby, who in 18 starts had two runner-up finishes and only led 22 laps out of a possible 3,492 laps.

Pietro Fittipaldi was the next of the RLLR cars on the time sheet, and Fittipaldi was only 0.0344 seconds off Rahal. Like the Rahal family, the Fittipaldi family has never won at Milwaukee. Emerson Fittipaldi was runner-up in the 1994 race, and Christian Fittipaldi's best result was fourth. Pietro Fittipaldi will drop nine spots down from his qualifying result due to an unapproved engine change.

Christian Lundgaard was the slowest of the three RLLR cars, 24th overall, but Lundgaard had the three RLLR covered by 0.0365 seconds. Lundgaard has an average starting position of 22.785 on ovals with his best oval starting spot being 17th. Like his teammate Fittipaldi, Lundgaard will serve a nine-spot grid penalty, and that will likely not help his averages. This will be Lundgaard's 50th career start.

Conor Daly had the distinction of being the first driver more than a second slower than Newgarden. Daly was 1.0054 seconds slower in practice, putting him 25th in the session.  Daly will also be the seventh driver to serve a nine-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change.

Kyffin Simpson could only run a lap at 24.1162 seconds in the practice session. Simpson has started outside the top twenty in six of the last seven races, which includes three oval events. After opening the season with four consecutive top twenty results, Simpson has three top twenty finishes in the last ten races, including 16th at Portland last week.

Katherine Legge was the slowest in the session, 1.2349 seconds from the top spot. Legge has finished two laps down and five laps down in her first two Milwaukee appearances. Legge has not finished on the lead lap in 18 consecutive starts. Her most recent lead lap finish was at TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands on September 2, 2007 when she completed all 69 laps and finished 12th driving for Dale Coyne Racing. 

Qualifying for the first race of the HyVee 250s will be at 2:15 p.m. ET. Peacock's coverage of the first HyVee 250 will be at 5:40 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 6:00 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 250 laps.

Best of the Month: August 2024

I am not going to lie but I had nothing for this month. It is partly because we didn't really have a full month of motorsports in August. We had two weeks of real competition. Most series were off due to the Olympics or Formula One had its summer break. Nothing really happened. I could have done the "it's great to have racing back" spiel but it is lazy. Thankfully, NASCAR saved the month, and the best thing about August 2024 is what is to come in 2025.

2025 NASCAR Schedule

NASCAR released the 2025 schedule for its three national touring division, and it is amazing what changing two or three race weekends will do. For all three series, it is mostly the same. Same tracks. Same race distances. Most are in the same time of the year. A few took big leaps around the calendar, but it is nothing crazy. It is the little things though that make all the difference. 

Let's start in the Cup Series, where the biggest domino fell. Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City will host the Cup Series for the first time on June 15, 2025. This will be the first international race for the Cup Series since 1958, and the first time a NASCAR national series is competing in Mexico City since the then-NASCAR Busch/Nationwide Series raced at the circuit from 2005 to 2008. 

This is about 20 years overdue. NASCAR should have taken the Cup Series to Mexico City immediately after that first Busch Series race in 2005. That 2005 race was an incredible weekend, and honestly, it is probably the closest feeling a NASCAR weekend has come to the inaugural Brickyard 400 in the last 30 years. It brought out top Mexican drivers as well as some of the best road course ringers around. You had extra Cup drivers competing in it, and a local stole the show in qualifying. 

Jorge Goeters, on his series debut, won pole position and stunned everyone. Goeters took pole position away from a field that included Robby Gordon, Martin Truex, Jr., Boris Said, Ron Fellows, Kevin Harvick, Paul Menard, Carl Edwards and Elliott Sadler. That is literally eight of the other nine top ten starters. That is not including Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, Ron Hornaday, Rusty Wallace, Denny Hamlin and Adrián Fernández, who were also in this field. 

It will be a remarkable crowd, and it remained an event of note throughout its first spell. The Cup race is coming about 20 years later than it should have. 

Other than Mexico City, it is mostly moving pieces around on the Cup side. Austin is moving up a few weeks. Homestead is moving to March. Watkins Glen is back to August. Gateway, Loudon and Darlington are now playoff races. Michigan is moving to June. It is nothing crazy. 

We should acknowledge the In-Season Tournament NASCAR will introduce for next year. It should be noted that the 32-driver bracket will be set based on the results over the Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono races. 

The five-race tournament will begin at Atlanta on June 28 before moving to Chicago, Sonoma, Dover and concluding with the Brickyard 400 from Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 27.

This is exactly how NASCAR would draw up a tournament. The first three rounds are all crapshoots. With Atlanta turned into a flat-out, pack race, the door is wide open for upsets. That continues onward to Chicago and Sonoma. They have made a tournament that is centered around chaos. Any lap could bust a bracket. A driver could be having a great day and then he is caught in an accident or is pushed into a tire barrier. That is what NASCAR wants. 

The final two races are rather normal in Dover and Indianapolis, and that is the scary thing because with this bracket format, there will only be two matchups during the Dover race and one during the Brickyard 400, and this is where chaos could lead to the downfall of the tournament. 

If you have semifinal matchups that are Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. vs. Christopher Bell and Michael McDowell vs. Kyle Larson at Dover, it could be a pretty boring storyline to follow. It will be great over the first two rounds because there will be 16 matchups and eight matchups, and plenty to watch for, but if you have two matchups and Bell is running third while Stenhouse is 27th, and Larson is leading while McDowell is 25th, it will be pretty bland. It could set up a good final, but when it is one matchup, all the eggs are in that basket. It could be Bell vs. Larson, but if Bell loses an engine on lap 56 of 160 laps, it is over right then and there. 

In that case, the fall back is the Brickyard 400 and the race itself can makeup for the tournament. 

Credit to NASCAR because it put up five races that should keep it interesting and even if the tournament is a little flat, the races should hold up on their own. 

And that is just the Cup Series! 

NASCAR's second division has its own new events. Along with returning to Mexico City, it will visit Rockingham Speedway on April 19, Easter Saturday. The Truck Series will also compete at Rockingham that weekend. Rockingham has been a possible venue since it received $9 million dollars from the state of North Carolina from the American Rescue Plan. This is the same way North Wilkesboro Speedway received $18 million, which allowed it to return to the NASCAR schedule with the All-Star Race. 

And the Truck Series does one better! Not only is the Truck Series going to Rockingham, but it will visit Lime Rock Park for the first time ever on June 28. That also isn't mentioning that Watkins Glen will be back on the schedule and the Charlotte Roval will host the Truck Series for the first time ever. 

To put it honestly, NASCAR is trying shit. There is a detriment to trying shit, see Road America, but NASCAR has branched out more in the last four years than it had in the decade that preceded it. In the moment, it feels great. In eight years, we could be wondering why we have a bunch of two or three-year stints at venues and question NASCAR's lack of long-term commitment, but NASCAR is going to different places. Five years ago, could anyone have imagined North Wilkesboro, Rockingham, Lime Rock Park, Portland and Mexico City all hosting NASCAR national touring series? I am not sure anyone could have imagined one of those tracks hosting a race let alone all five and that will be the case in 2025!

And who knows what is next? 

Montreal? Maybe. 

San Diego street course? That's new. 

Why couldn't Stafford Motor Speedway or Road Atlanta host a race? 

Pikes Peak International Raceway is still standing and there is no race in Colorado. 

Things have kind of gone quiet on the Nashville Fairgrounds, but it could be on a schedule soon. 

We aren't sure what is going on with the Fontana redevelopment, but that could lead to something. 

There has been some teasing of a race in Brazil. 

In NASCAR of the 2020s, it all sounds plausible. 

September Preview

This is actually a fun weekend in its own right because September 1 will have MotoGP from Aragón, Formula One from Monza, the FIA World Endurance Championship from Austin, IndyCar from Milwaukee and the Southern 500 from Darlington. 

That is a great way to start September and that isn't even taking into consideration that over the rest of this month there NASCAR playoffs will start, IndyCar will run a season finale, IMSA has its first endurance race from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and there are two Formula One races before Formula One goes on a quiet autumn break.

Other events of note in September:

MotoGP will spend two weekends at Misano and a race in Indonesia.

Mugello hosts the European Le Mans Series for the first time.

The World Rally Championship will contest the Acropolis Rally and Rally Chile.

World Superbike visits Magny-Cours, Cremona and Aragón.

Track Walk: Milwaukee 2024

The 15th and 16th rounds of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season is a return to the Milwaukee Mile. The one-mile oval in Wisconsin's largest city is back on the IndyCar schedule for the first time since 2015. Opened in 1903, the Milwaukee Mile is the oldest racetrack in the United States, and it first hosted IndyCar in 1939. After years of hosting two, and in some cases three races, Milwaukee has hosted the second-most races in IndyCar history after only Indianapolis Motor Speedway. These will be the third and fourth-latest IndyCar races held at Milwaukee. Prior to this year, only twice have Milwaukee races taken place in September, first in 1946 and then in 1981.

Coverage

Time: Peacock’s coverage for race one begins at 5:40 p.m. ET on Saturday August 31 with green flag scheduled for 6:00 p.m. ET. USA’s coverage for race two begins at 2:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 2:50 p.m. ET.
Channel: Peacock & USA
Announcers: Kevin Lee, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Georgia Henneberry and Dillon Welch will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Friday:

First Practice: 3:35 p.m. ET (2 hours and 10 minutes)

Saturday:

Qualifying: 2:15 p.m. ET 

Race: 6:00 p.m. ET (250 laps)
Sunday:
Race: 2:50 p.m. ET (250 laps)

Palou's Championship Hopes

Álex Palou is in position to clinch the championship early. With a 54-point advantage over Will Power entering the Milwaukee round, Palou can clinch his third IndyCar championship if he leaves this doubleheader weekend with a 55-point lead. 

After his Portland victory, Power owns the tiebreaker over Palou as Power now has three victories to Palou's two. 

Palou has finished in the top five in four consecutive races, which includes a second at Iowa and a fourth at Gateway. He has finished in the top five in three of the first four oval races this season. While Power has won two of the last four races, his average finish over the last six races is 10.1667, and his victories at Iowa and Portland are his only top ten finish over that six-race stretch. 

There are eight drivers mathematically alive for the championship entering this weekend. 

Colton Herta dropped to 67 points behind Palou after the Portland weekend. Herta also enters this weekend with four consecutive top five finishes and six top five finishes in the last seven races. He has finished fifth in the last two oval races. 

Scott McLaughlin enters Milwaukee as the leader in oval points. With 175 points, McLaughlin is only two points ahead of Josef Newgarden in the unofficial oval championship. However, the New Zealander is 88 points behind Palou with three races remaining. McLaughlin has finished in the top six of every oval race this season, and he has been on the podium in the last three oval races.

After being taken out on the opening lap at Portland, Scott Dixon has fallen to fifth in the championship, 101 points off his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate. Portland was the first time Dixon failed to complete a lap in a race since the 2005 Motegi race. This is the first time he has gone consecutive races without a top ten finish since the August 2021 between the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and Gateway. He has not gone three consecutive races without a top ten result since 2014 over the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Indianapolis 500 and Belle Isle.

Patricio O'Ward already has an active three-race drought without a top ten finish. O'Ward has fallen to 124 points off Palou. Prior to the Olympic break, O'Ward was third in the championship and 52 points off the championship lead. He has two runner-up finishes this season on ovals. 

Josef Newgarden has been heading in the right direction in the last two races. With a victory and a third-place, Newgarden has consecutive podium finishes for the first time this season and for the first time since he swept the Iowa doubleheader last year. The only problem is Newgarden is still 131 points behind Palou, a one-point improvement from where he was at the Olympic break. 

There are 162 points left on the table over the final three races, and Kyle Kirkwood is 142 points behinds Palou. Kirkwood has not finished better than seventh over the first four oval races, and he has only one top five finish in the last six races. 

Palou has a chance to become the 13th driver with at least three IndyCar championships, and this would be the 17th time a driver has won consecutive championships, the first since Dario Franchitti's three-peat from 2009 to 2011. Palou would be the first driver to clinch consecutive championships with races to spare since Sébastien Bourdais from 2005 to 2007.

Dixon's 400th Start

This is a historic weekend for Scott Dixon as he enters Milwaukee with 399 IndyCar starts to his name. By taking the green flag on Saturday, Dixon will become the second driver in IndyCar history to reach 400 starts joining Mario Andretti. Andretti holds the all-time record at 407 starts.

Come Saturday, Dixon's career will span 23 years, five months and 21 days. He made his debut on March 11, 2001 at Fundidora Park in Monterrey, Mexico driving the #18 Reynard-Toyota for PacWest Racing. He qualified 14th and finished 13th. Dixon's first 23 starts came with PacWest Racing over the 2001 season and the first three races of the 2002 season. 

When PacWest Racing shuts it doors during the season, Dixon joined Chip Ganassi Racing in the #44 Lola-Toyota. His first race with Ganassi was on June 2, 2002 at Milwaukee, where he qualified fourth and finished sixth. 

Dixon's first 39 starts came in CART with the following 360 starts coming in the current IndyCar Series. He has made 336 consecutive starts, an IndyCar record and 101 more starts than the next longest active streak. That would be Graham Rahal on 235 consecutive starts.

The last race Dixon missed was July 25, 2004 at Milwaukee. A pair of practice accidents left him with a bone chipped in his right thumb and a sprained ankle. Dixon was not cleared for competition that weekend. 

In his first 399 starts, Dixon has won 58 races, second all-time. In his 24 seasons in IndyCar, he has won a race in 22 of them, including in a record 20 consecutive seasons. His 141 podium finishes are second all-time, three behind Mario Andretti’s record. Dixon holds the record for most top five finishes with 210. No other driver has 200 top five finishes. Dixon has 295 top ten finishes, and he has led 6,822 laps, the second-most all-time. He has also won six championships, one behind A.J. Foyt's record.

Dixon's first 87 starts were with Toyota powered cars. From 2014 through 2016, he drove with Chevrolet engines behind him in 50 races. His remaining 262 starts have been with Honda. Dixon's Honda starts alone would rank 13th all-time.

His first teammate was Maurício Gugelmin, a 38-year-old Brazilian who won the 1985 British Formula Three championship and who spent five seasons in Formula One with his best finish being third in the 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix. One of Dixon's current teammates, Kyffin Simpson, was not even born when Dixon made his IndyCar debut. Simpson has only been alive for 330 of Dixon's starts. During his career, Dixon has had 27 different drivers as teammates.

Dixon’s first 399 starts have occurred at 52 different circuits. Of those 52 circuits, Dixon has won at 28 of them, an IndyCar record. He has raced in 23 states and eight countries on five continents. He has won in 16 of those states, but only three countries.

Dixon's 400th start will come 30 years, one month and 15 days after Mario Andretti established the club on July 17, 1994. In his 400th start, Andretti started tenth and finished fourth at Toronto. 

Milwaukee Experience

It wasn't that long ago IndyCar raced at Milwaukee, but nine years is a considerable amount of time. Things change quickly, enough so that only five drivers this weekend have raced previously at Milwaukee in IndyCar.

Scott Dixon leads the way, as he has made 12 starts at the one-mile oval. He is one of three active drivers that raced at Milwaukee in CART/Champ Car and the IRL/IndyCar Series. Milwaukee is one of the 28 tracks Dixon has won at in his career. He was triumphant in 2009, winning from fourth on the grid with 27 laps led. He led the final 25 laps after overtaking Ryan Briscoe. Dixon has five top five finishes and nine top ten finishes at this circuit, including a seven top ten finishes in his last eight visits. 

Will Power is another past Milwaukee winner entered in this year's race. With seven starts, Power won in 2014 at Milwaukee with 229 laps led from pole position. Though Power has three top five finishes at the circuit, he has finished outside the top ten in his other four visits and he has led only a combined four laps in his six Milwaukee starts outside of his victory. All eyes will be on Dixon for his 400th start, but he isn't the only one hitting a milestone this weekend. The first Milwaukee race is slated to be Power's 300th career start.

Graham Rahal has also made seven Milwaukee starts, but Rahal could not find victory at the circuit. He was runner-up in the 2011 race and he was third in the most recent Milwaukee visit in 2015. Rahal was eighth in the most recent oval race at Iowa, but he has not finished in the top five on an oval since he was third in the second race of the 2021 Texas doubleheader. In his 15 oval starts since that Texas race, Rahal has an average finish of 18.4667. 

Josef Newgarden only made four Milwaukee starts, but Newgarden ended on a high-note. He returns to Milwaukee having finished fifth in each of the last two races here. In both of those races he started in top five. He started on pole position for the 2015 race, the first pole position of his IndyCar career. He led 109 laps, but he lost the lead through the pit cycles and did not have cautions fall in his favor. Milwaukee is one of three oval circuits Newgarden has not won at in his IndyCar career. The other two are Fontana and Pocono. He has won at five different ovals. 

The forgotten driver that has Milwaukee experience is Katherine Legge, who is back in the #51 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing. Legge has contested all four oval races so far this season in the #51 Honda. Her first of two Milwaukee appearances came in Champ Car in 2006. She started eighth and finished sixth, which remains Legge's best finish in IndyCar. She returned to Milwaukee in 2012 and she finished 18th after starting 15th.

One day you were probably expecting to see listed here was Ed Carpenter. While Carpenter has made 11 starts at Milwaukee, Carpenter has decided to step aside for the final three races of the season, and Christian Rasmussen will close out the season in the #20 Chevrolet. Carpenter has not finished in the top ten in his last 15 starts with an average finish of 19.8 during that span. Thirteen of those last 15 results have been outside the top 15, including Carpenter’s last eight races. 

Power was fastest at the Milwaukee test held in June. Twenty of 27 cars participated in that test as Chip Ganassi Racing was absent due to its 24 Hours of Le Mans commitments, and Juncos Hollinger Racing was absent because Romain Grosjean was also at Le Mans with the Lamborghini program.

It was a Penske 1-2-3 at the Milwaukee test as Newgarden and Milwaukee debutant Scott McLaughlin were second and third. Power ran the fastest lap at 22.6001 seconds (161.521 mph). 

Doubleheader Results

There has been at least one doubleheader round held at oval in every IndyCar season since 2020. Milwaukee will become the fourth oval circuit to host a doubleheader during that time. Iowa has had a doubleheader in four of the last five seasons while Gateway and Texas Motor Speedway each hosted one doubleheader. 

Only once in the last six oval doubleheader weekends has a driver swept the two races. That was Josef Newgarden in the 2023 Iowa doubleheader. However, only six times has a driver finished on the podium in both races of an oval doubleheader. Scott McLaughlin did it at Iowa earlier this season when he finished first and third. In the 2022 Iowa doubleheader, Patricio O'Ward and Will Power both did it with O'Ward finishing second and first, and Power finished third and second. 

O'Ward has finished on the podium in both races of an oval doubleheader weekend more than any other driver since 2020. Along with Iowa 2022, he was third and second at Gateway in 2020, and he was third and first at Texas in 2021. 

Sixteen times has a driver finished in the top five of both races of an oval doubleheader weekend, and in four of the last six oval doubleheader weekends at least three drivers have had double top five weekends. However, there have never been more than three drivers to finish in the top five of both races. There has also been never fewer than two drivers to finish in the top five of both races. 

In none of these six doubleheader weekends has the winner started in the same starting position in each race. In only two of the six weekends has both race winners started in the top five. In the last four oval doubleheader weekends, the winner of the second race has started worse than the winner of the first race, and in the last three of these weekends, the second race winner has started outside the top five. 

Team Penske has been running the show on ovals, and it hasn't been just on the doubleheader weekends. Team Penske has won four consecutive oval races and nine of the last ten oval races. Penske has swept the last two oval doubleheader weekends and three of the six held since 2020. Penske has had at least two podium finishers in the last six races held over a oval doubleheader weekend and in eight of the 12 races held over these six weekends. 

Extending this to Chevrolet, it has won 11 of the last 12 oval races, and in oval doubleheader weekends Chevrolet has swept the races on four of six occasions. On both occasions Chevrolet did not sweep the weekend, it was Scott Dixon taking the victory for Honda. Both of those Dixon victories were in the first race of the doubleheader weekend. Only once has Honda had multiple podium finishers in a race over these six doubleheader weekends. Dixon won the first Gateway race in 2020 ahead of Takuma Sato. 

No team has won more at Milwaukee than Team Penske. The organization has won eight times including three of the last ten Milwaukee races it has entered. Three other active teams have Milwaukee victories. Andretti Global has won at the circuit five times while Chip Ganassi Racing has four Milwaukee victories. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing won twice at the circuit.

Indy Lights

This is the penultimate race of the Indy Lights season, and with his victory at Portland, Jacob Abel extended the championship battle into Milwaukee.

Abel took the victory, his third of the season and first since the first race of the IMS road course weekend in May, but Louis Foster finished second at Portland. It was the ninth consecutive race Foster has finished in the top two, and Foster's championship lead remains 80 points entering the final two races. 

If Foster finishes sixth or better at Milwaukee, he will clinch the championship. On Foster's side is he has won the first two oval races held this season at Iowa and Gateway. He has also finished worse than sixth in only one race this season, and that was seventh in the first IMS road course race in May. 

Foster is looking to become the sixth Andretti Global driver to win the Indy Lights championship and the fourth Andretti driver to it in the last six Indy Lights seasons. He wold also become the first British champion in the series since Alex Lloyd in 2007 and the fifth British champion the history of the series. 

While Foster and Abel are the only ones fighting for the championship, Caio Collet could clinch third in the championship this weekend. Collet has 376 points, 77 points ahead of Callum Hedge. Hedge had his top five streak snapped at three races after he was 13th at Portland. 

There is a tight battle for fifth in the championship as 22 points cover fifth to ninth with two races remaining. Reece Gold sits on 276 points, nine points ahead of Jamie Chadwick and ten points ahead of Salvador de Alba. James Roe, Jr. is 20 points outside the top five and Myles Rowe is 22 points back. 

Indy Lights will run a 100-lap race at 3:50 p.m. ET on Saturday August 31.

Fast Facts

Saturday's race will be the ninth IndyCar race held on August 31, and the first since Justin Wilson won at Belle Isle in 2008. It was the final victory for Newman/Haas Racing. 

August 31 was also the date of Maurício Gugelmin's only IndyCar victory. It came at Vancouver in 1997.

Sunday's race will be the 17th IndyCar race held on September 1, and the first since Will Power won at Portland in 2019. 

The average starting position for a Milwaukee winner is 4.522 with a median of third.

Ten of the last 12 Milwaukee races have been won from a top five starting position. Those other two Milwaukee races were both won from 11th.

Thirteen of 113 Milwaukee races have been won from outside the top ten.

This will be the 40th year Milwaukee has hosted multiple races. Milwaukee hosted at least two races in every season from 1947 to 1982. In 1947, 1948 and 1965, three races were held at the circuit. From 2004 to 2006, Champ Car and the Indy Racing League each ran at the track.

Chevrolet won all four Milwaukee races contested since engine competition returned to IndyCar in 2012.

The most recent Milwaukee race in 2015 had 15 cars finish on the lead lap, the most ever for a Milwaukee race.

The fewest drivers to finish on the lead lap for a Milwaukee race was nine on June 8, 1969.

Only one Milwaukee race has been rain-shortened. The 1994 race ended after 192 of 200 laps due to rain. 

The average number of lead changes in a Milwaukee race is 4.168 with a median of 4.5. 

The last nine Milwaukee races have had at least five lead changes with the last three races having at least eight lead changes.

Seven Milwaukee races have had at least ten lead changes.

The most lead changes in a Milwaukee race is 12, which occurred on June 3, 2001. Kenny Bräck won that race.

Seven Milwaukee races have featured no lead changes, most recently on June 5, 2004 with Ryan Hunter-Reay. Hunter-Reay led 250 laps in that race.

The fewest laps led by a Milwaukee winner was nine by Joe Leonard on June 7, 1970.

The average number of cautions in a Milwaukee race since 1972 is 3.964 with a median of four. The average number of caution laps is 28.736 with a median of 26.

The most caution periods in a Milwaukee race was eight on June 8, 1976. The most caution laps in a Milwaukee race was 79 on May 31, 2003.

Predictions

Colton Herta and Josef Newgarden split the weekend while Will Power will do just enough to keep the championship alive heading to Nashville, but Álex Palou's championship lead will still be greater than 40 points. The two races will be within 15% of each other in total passes. Chevrolet teams will combine to lead at least 350 of 500 laps over the weekend. There will be no funny business with the hybrid on pit lane or during qualifying. There will be no funny business on a restart. Alexander Rossi will be the top finishing Arrow McLaren driver in both races. Scott Dixon gets at least one top ten finish and does not lose significant ground due to a poor pit strategy. The longest green flag run in one of these races will be more than 150 laps. Sleeper: Kyle Kirkwood.

Musings From the Weekend: What Once was Old is New, But Will it Improve?

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

Will Power kept his championship hopes alive. The Dutch did not get to party as they wished. A new winner has mixed up the NASCAR playoff picture, while also delegitimizing the system in place. It was also a centennial moment. Shane van Gisbergen is getting a ride he already should have had, but is unnecessarily changing his number in the process. There were some sports car races. MotoGP confirmed Thailand is hosting the season opener in 2025 and 2026. A pair of championships were claimed in the Road to Indy series. The NASCAR Truck Series held a race at Milwaukee, and that leads us to another race weekend that is about to happen at Milwaukee.

What Once was Old is New, But Will it Improve?

It is a new race on the IndyCar schedule considering it was not there in 2023, but the Milwaukee Mile is more familiar with IndyCar than nearly every other track on the schedule. Having hosted 113 races, the Milwaukee Mile has hosted the second-most IndyCar races ever. After a nine-year absence, the one-mile oval returns to the IndyCar calendar with a doubleheader. 

When Milwaukee fell off the schedule in 2015, I likened it to IndyCar's stomach, an important organ to the series and its history and almost necessary for it to exist. For a motorsports comparison, Monza's place on the Formula One schedule might have been more apt for Milwaukee and IndyCar, if you consider Indianapolis and Silverstone equals. You need places and races with decades of history to remind you where you came from and where you stand today. 

Nine years is a lot of time to think. A Milwaukee return isn't exactly what IndyCar needs at the moment. 

It is nice, but haven't we done this before? Milwaukee went away for a year in 2010. It had a pair of good shows after reunification, and then financial terms could not be met between IndyCar and the Wisconsin State Fair Park, which operates the speedway. When it returned in 2011, it was done with a heaping pile of nostalgia as Randy Bernard recognized the importance of such a place even as a CEO without a racing background. It was a great decision on paper. It didn't quite pan out in reality. 

The first year back was not close to what 2008 and 2009 looked like. Excuses came out the woodwork. Weather. Lack of promotion. Father's Day weekend. Spec-series. The revival of the Milwaukee Mile could not escape any of these detractors. It moved to Saturday of Father's Day weekend. It moved to August. It moved to July. Michael Andretti stepped in as a promoter. Bus trips were organized to take fans from the Indianapolis-area and Chicago-area to Milwaukee. It was billed as "Indy Fest." Graham Rahal and Alex Tagliani and other drivers got involved. The crowds improved minimally, but not enough to continue onward. 

What has changed in nine years to justify a return? 

The good news is Wisconsin is not the problem. In 2016, IndyCar returned to Road America after nine years away. Healthy crowds greeted IndyCar that first weekend back in Elkhart Lake, and they have been there every year Road America has been on the schedule. If a track over an hour north of Milwaukee can draw about 50,000 spectators on race day, the area isn't the issue. If that crowd had shown up every year to Milwaukee, Milwaukee wouldn't have fallen off the schedule. There is also a chance Road America would have never returned. 

However, there wasn't a real clamoring for Milwaukee to return. At least nothing stronger than the usual rose-tinted nostalgia we get for anything IndyCar-related from over 25 years ago. Things haven't been going so well in recent years to justify another date in Wisconsin. It isn't a case of people are missing out on attending Road America and a second race weekend in the area is needed to meet the demand. This race exists because IndyCar is organizing it. This isn't an independent promoter organizing a race weekend and paying IndyCar to be there. IndyCar is creating this weekend to have another oval on the calendar, but we aren't certain this will do better than the ovals that have previously fallen off the schedule.

It is ok to have a Midwest base, but IndyCar must expand beyond that. Wisconsin didn't need another race weekend. IndyCar needs race weekends elsewhere, especially when it is no longer racing in the second-most populous state in the nation and completely neglects the Northeast where over 50 million people live. 

This feels more like a Roger Penske pet project that answers to nostalgia but does not consider the future of IndyCar. It is great to be back at Milwaukee, but it isn't quite what IndyCar needs at the moment. If he is hoping to expand IndyCar's reach and increase its value, Milwaukee isn't the answer. IndyCar needs to be where it isn't and be accessible to more people who do not have the series in their backyard. 

It would be one thing if we could guarantee 30,000 people are going to show up to both days of this doubleheader and pack the place, but we cannot even guarantee that. If this isn't going to be a knockout, money-maker, why roll the dice on this event instead of rolling the dice elsewhere where the reward could be much greater? 

If attendance was good enough nine years ago, Milwaukee wouldn't have left. That is the truth for any race that falls off the IndyCar schedule. IndyCar isn't abandoning these places. If the crowd was there, the race would have continued. IndyCar didn't leave Texas Motor Speedway to spite Texas. It left because it couldn't draw 5,000 people. If 50,000 people were showing up, Texas likely would have remained on the schedule. With this return to Milwaukee, it must at least draw a crowd. If Milwaukee is returning, it must establish itself as a dependable weekend, which are rare in IndyCar circles, especially for ovals. IndyCar cannot afford to have another doubleheader weekend with about 10,000 people showing up each day. This runs the risk of looking like a half-baked event where not enough homework was done to justify putting it on the calendar.

Road America provides enough proof that anything less than 50,000 spectators over the weekend is unacceptable. Heck, Barber Motorsports Park reported 86,000 spectators attending over its three-day weekend in April. The Milwaukee Mile reports capacity at 34,463 spectators. That is nearly 70,000 spectators over a doubleheader. That is asking a lot for IndyCar, but it is clearly doable. The question is if IndyCar has done its research and can draw such a crowd and create an event that has staying power or does this race weekend exist for the sake of existing and everyone has their fingers crossed it will be some sort of success? Fingers crossed should not be the strategy for a top-tier series.

After nine years away, IndyCar cannot afford to return to Milwaukee and have it look exactly like how it was in 2015. This race weekend must look better and notably better. Less than a week until the first race, it doesn't feel like there is a buzz for Milwaukee's return. There is nothing that suggests this will be a big weekend. Considering that it will be a holiday weekend with two races and there is a chance the IndyCar championship could be claimed, all the ingredients are there for this to be a grand return, and yet no extra excitement is there. We don't feel it coming from IndyCar or the drivers or Milwaukee itself. There is a lack of hype, and that shouldn't be the case with any new event, let alone one of this stature. This should feel like something that is can't miss, and it feels like most don't even realize it is happening. 

Returning to Milwaukee isn't enough to celebrate. This must be a self-sustaining event with a long-term future. If we are searching for silver linings a week from now that is failure. 

Champions From the Weekend

Lochie Hughes clinched the USF Pro 2000 championship with finishes of sixth and second from Portland.

Max Garcia clinched the U.S. F2000 championship with finishes of second, first and second from Portland.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Will Power, but did you know...

Lando Norris won the Dutch Grand Prix, his second victory of the season.

Harrison Burton won the NASCAR Cup race from Daytona, his first career victory and the 100th Cup victory Wood Brothers Racing. Ryan Truex won the Grand National Series race, his second victory of the season. Layne Riggs won the Truck race from Milwaukee, his first career victory.

The #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW of Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow won the IMSA race from Virginia International Raceway. The #32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG of Kenton Koch and Mikaël Grenier won in GTD.

Jacob Abel won the Indy Lights race from Portland. Nikita Johnson swept the USF Pro 2000 races from Portland. Michael Costello (race one) and G3 Argyros (race three) won the other U.S. F2000 races.

The #14 AO by TF Oreca-Gibson of Louis Delétraz, Jonny Edgar and Robert Kubica won the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The #11 Eurointernational Ligier-Nissan of Adam Ali and Matthew Bell won in LMP3. The #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Takeshi Kimura, Esteban Masson and Daniel Serra won in LMGT3.

The #32 Team WRT BMW of Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts and the #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Lucas Auer and Maro Engel split the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup races from Magny-Cours.

Coming Up This Weekend

Milwaukee's return to the IndyCar schedule, this time with a doubleheader.

Formula One returns to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix.

NASCAR's regular season closes with the Southern 500 from Darlington.

The FIA World Endurance Championship is back at Austin for the third stint of Lone Star Le Mans.

MotoGP is back at Aragón after a year away.

Super GT has a round at Suzuka.

First Impressions: Portland 2024

1. When it was necessary, Will Power went out and thrashed the field to keep his championship hopes alive. Even with an emphatic drive to a Portland victory, Power has work to do at Milwaukee next week to keep the championship alive heading into the finale. With 54 points between Álex Palou and Power, Power needs to outscore Palou by at least five points over the two Milwaukee races to stay alive for Nashville. With Power on three victories, the tiebreaker is in his hands as of now. Power did what he had to do today, and it was an old school Power performance. 

Power beat Santino Ferrucci at the jump into turn one and it was lights out from there. Come on, did anyone think Ferrucci was going to hold off Power at the start? Did anyone think Power wasn't going to pull away from the field? To be fair, Power didn't really pull away until the final stint. Palou kept him honest, but Power's team was flawless today. The driver didn't make a mistake. The pit crew was lightyears ahead of the competition today. After every pit stop, Power's gap grew to Palou. The #12 Penske crew did what it had to do. It will have to do it three more times if Power wants to pull out what appears to be an improbable third championship.

2. Álex Palou was giving it his all to beat Power today. This was a chance to extend the lead and essentially give him a head start on his coronation ceremony in Milwaukee. Pit stops killed Palou's team today. They could not match Power's team and once we got through the final stops, Palou settled for second. 

This race showed how hard it is to beat Palou. 

Palou does not make any mistakes. He started third today when every one of his championship rivals but Power started behind him. Palou spent basically the entire race in a top three position. He never put a wheel wrong, never had a slow stop though they were not as quick as Power's, and he finished second. He only lost 12 points to Power today and he is still 54 points clear with three races to go. 

Milwaukee and Nashville are two unknowns for Palou, but he will race smart and get something out of it. It will require Power to be basically perfect to overtake Palou for the Astor Cup.

3. Josef Newgarden was 23.2046 seconds back of Will Power in third. That was the kind of day we saw from Portland. Power was dominant today. Newgarden ran well. He was never close to the lead, and he really made up spots through pit cycles. He wasn't in a podium spot until the final third of the race. He let other strategies fade around him and then wound up third. 

Considering how Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Newgarden's season has been, a race where he started fifth and finished third without anything notable happening is a big change for him in 2024. The title is essentially out of reach. He needs a flu bug to help him win the championship, but Newgarden should feel good entering a three-race oval stretch to close the season.

4. Colton Herta probably should finish fourth, but he had a chance for third only for a bad choice by the team, and then an unexpected penalty, to cost him. 

Herta was closing on Newgarden on the penultimate stint, and Herta caught Newgarden. Newgarden was stuck behind Linus Lundqvist. 

I do not understand why Herta did not pit immediately when he got to Newgarden's gearbox. I understand Herta had gone longer on the previous stint and was hoping for a shorter stint to close the race and needing less fuel on that final stop, but Newgarden was going to lose time behind Lundqvist. Herta could have had clean air help him flipped that spot into his favor. Instead, Herta spent about three laps longer than necessary behind Newgarden, losing time to the cars that already stopped, and then Herta and his crew botched that stop anyway.

It wasn't a great pit stop to begin with, but Herta stalled and it looked disastrous. However, Herta restarted the car on his own, a no-no because the hybrid system is not supposed to be activated on the pit lane, but apparently it was. Herta didn't lose any extra spots. He was only three seconds behind Newgarden after that pit cycle, but Herta was handed a penalty for the illegal use of the hybrid system. Herta was basically told to give up ten seconds on track. I don't know if that is what is written in the rulebook, but that is what he was told to do. That penalty didn't cost Herta a position but it only confirmed third was not going to be his on this day. 

The irritating thing is the hybrid system clearly does not work as well as IndyCar says it works. That isn't a slight on the hybrid and I am not dismissing what it can do. Will Power would not have won at Iowa without it. But IndyCar says the hybrid doesn't work on pit lane and it is deactivated, but it clearly is operational after this Herta incident. IndyCar doesn't have a handle on it. It would like you to believe it does, but if IndyCar cannot enforce the rules, why have the rules at all and why do these rules exist?

If a driver can restart the car on pit lane, why not just allow it? No one wants to see a driver lose 30 seconds because he stalled on pit lane and the crew has to scramble to get the starter out. That doesn't make the race better. Let the drivers use the system to the most of its ability. It looks more ridiculous not using it. 

Herta's team could have avoided this if it had just stopped earlier and had one good pit stop, but we shouldn't be creating unnecessary penalties especially when IndyCar doesn't have to ability to regulate the systems as they have intended.

5. Marcus Armstrong is making Chip Ganassi's life really difficult. This is in a good way. Chip Ganassi Racing will likely have only three cars next season due to the new charter rules. Chip Ganassi Racing is currently a five-car team. Two drivers are going to lose this game of musical chairs. 

Palou and Scott Dixon are safe. Armstrong has four top five finishes this season, including two in the last three races and he has three consecutive top ten finishes. Chip Ganassi Racing must stick with Armstrong. It is clicking for him in his sophomore season. He has had some growing pains, but he has made steps forward and he should be better next year. This was a strong day for Armstrong.

6. Marcus Ericsson did not make much buzz in this one, but Ericsson hasn't had many days where he drives clean and makes up spots in 2024, and he needed a race like this one. This hasn't been a great season, but it hasn't been a bad season either for the Swede. Unfortunately, he has been swept up in a number of things that haven't been his fault. Ovals have been cruel to him this year. A drive to sixth was much needed. 

7. An engine penalty knocked Scott McLaughlin down to 20th on the grid, and McLaughlin slowly worked his way up to seventh. It wasn't anything fancy. Three spots here, three spots there and all of a sudden, McLaughlin was seventh. Any Team Penske car should accidentally finish seventh. Team Penske drivers could be forced to get out of a car and do a dizzy-bat race at the halfway point and that driver should still finish in the top seven. The pit crews are the best. The cars are the best. There should be no surprise when a Team Penske car makes up 13 spots. This wasn't surprising today.

8. Santino Ferrucci should not be disappointed finishing eighth after starting on his first career pole position. This is still A.J. Foyt Racing. Ferrucci had one top ten finish last season. He has eight top ten finishes this season, and he is sitting for tenth in points with three races remaining. This has been a better season than many saw possible. Ferrucci had good speed today. That one-lap pace didn't translate over 30-lap stints, and the pit crew cannot match the other teams, but Ferrucci had a good enough a car to still finish eighth. He didn't overdrive the car and he didn't make any mistakes.

It is nuts that Foyt had not re-signed Ferrucci for next year. He really should have been extended after Indianapolis. What is Foyt waiting for? This is the best one of its drivers has done in over 20 years. Don't blow this!

9. Graham Rahal got a top ten finish in ninth. It has been a rough year for Rahal and the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team. This hasn't been a complete nosedive from 2023 but it is a step back. It was good to see Rahal have a day where he stayed around the top ten all race, ran strong and got a good result.

10. Kyle Kirkwood was running better than tenth for most of this race. Kirkwood was up to third after stopping early and using two sets of alternate tires to start the race. Kirkwood's race unraveled a bit when after his second pit stop when he was battling Toby Sowery out of the pit lane. Sowery was able to keep Kirkwood behind him, which was crucial because after Newgarden stopped, Newgarden came out directly ahead of Sowery.

If Kirkwood had been able to keep Sowery behind him, Kirkwood likely would have been out ahead of Newgarden. 

However, it didn't matter as Kirkwood got a penalty for blocking. It was deemed Kirkwood made a reactionary move on Sowery heading into turn four on his out lap. Kirkwood was told to give up a position, which was to Romain Grosjean, but because Conor Daly was so close to Grosjean, Kirkwood ended up losing two spots and lost a lot of time.

That was harsh and I think the officials were a little overboard on this call. First off, it is tough to call that a block. Kirkwood was just out of the pit lane. He was on cold tires. He was making it difficult for Sowery, but there wasn't anything malicious there. Second, Sowery ended up getting ahead of Kirkwood anyway. That doesn't mean a block didn't happen, but telling a driver to give a position to a driver that was not blocked is over the top. 

Going back to Gateway, Colton Herta clearly attempted a block on Linus Lundqvist even if Lundqvist ended up making the pass. Herta was penalized a position after the race because of how late the block occurred in the race. If you hold the standard that a position should only be given up for a block when the position never change, you run the risk of basically allowing the move Herta did to continue. I don't know how you de-incentivize such a move without it costing a driver a position, but I don't think Kirkwood's move today warranted a blocking penalty today. 

It is a catch-22. We don't want to see the Herta move, and maybe that deserves an additional penalty, but I feel like Kirkwood got too much of a reprimand for hard racing when he is doing all he can to not lose time during a pit cycle. 

Kirkwood might have been in a tough spot anyway. I don't know if he would have finished third today, but without the penalty and the time lost falling behind two Juncos Hollinger Racing cars, I think he would have been competing for a top five finish. He likely finishes better than tenth.

We didn't talk about the opening lap and the incident between Kirkwood and Scott Dixon. We will get to that in a little bit.

11. We are going to breeze through some drivers.

Rinus VeeKay had another good day to finish 11th. VeeKay picked a great time to be running well again. Right when a contract is on the line. He looked posed for a top ten result, but lost out in the later stints.

12. Alexander Rossi had a strong start to the race, but he fell flat mid-race and finished 12th. This was a bad weekend for Arrow McLaren. Patricio O'Ward was 15th and did nothing all race. Nolan Siegal was 21st and had one significant off-course moment. Arrow McLaren has gotten its head straight, but this feels like a return to the early part of the season when Arrow McLaren could not do anything right and was barely able to finish in the top ten. It is a mystery how McLaren can be this anonymous in some races.

13. While Graham Rahal was in the top ten, the rest of the RLLR team was having a whale of a day. Christian Lundgaard has not been comfortable for most of this season, and he dropped like a rock from fourth on the grid. Jüri Vips had a fuel probe issue early and still finished 19th in what was a good outing considering Vips has been on the sidelines for basically an entire year. Pietro Fittipaldi hit Scott Dixon on the opening lap in a move that was honestly Fittipaldi's fault. I know Dixon said Fittipaldi did nothing wrong, but Fittipaldi made a low probability move and flew over the curbs. That is a penalty every race. And then Fittipaldi bulldozed in to Conor Daly into turn one! That was another penalty. 

I will be honest. Fittipaldi is 19th in points and tied with Sting Ray Robb. It is tight for the Leader Circle spots, but I think Vips should get a shot at Milwaukee and Nashville. Fittipaldi has shown nothing on the ovals to suggest he will be that much better than the unknown of Vips. I don't know if Vips is approved for ovals. I don't think he has done an oval test, but we could squeeze one in if needed. I think we have seen enough from Fittipaldi this season. It wasn't a good year. Vips should get a little greater of an opportunity, especially since it seems he is almost a lock for a full-time ride in 2025.

14. Not the greatest day from Meyer Shank Racing. Felix Rosenqvist was 14th. David Malukas couldn't do better than 20th after starting 25th. MSR just didn't have it today. Not the end of the world. MSR has been much better than last year. In 2023, a 14th and a 20th was a borderline great day for this organization.

15. Doubling back to the Chip Ganassi Racing game of musical chairs. Kyffin Simpson was 16th in what was a good day for him. Simpson ended up on the lead lap. Linus Lundqvist did nothing today and was 23rd. I do not understand how Ganassi does not pick Armstrong for the third seat in 2025. 

Simpson has been ok this year, but he has come down to earth from how his season started. Lundqvist has been disappointing but he has two podium finishes saving his season. I don't think Lundqvist has been that good, not as good as a driver who was completely overlooked ahead of the 2023 season after winning the 2022 Indy Lights championship but was then good enough after three starts in relief for the injured Simon Pagenaud to end up in a Chip Ganassi Racing seat for the 2024 season. Hindsight is 20/20, but what was Ganassi in a rush for? 

16. Toby Sowery might be the best rookie this season. Théo Pourchaire does deserve some recognition as well. Sowery has definitely been the best Dale Coyne Racing driver. His battle with Kirkwood and not making contact or dropping a wheel off course was rather impressive. If there was any justice in this world, Sowery would be full-time for Dale Coyne Racing next year. 

As for Jack Harvey, 24th today. Didn't do much of anything. Hasn't done much of anything this season. Harvey has nearly 90 more starts than Sowery. He has finished on the podium before. Dale Coyne Racing is not an easy situation to be in, but Sowery has been the standout for DCR this year.

16. Sting Ray Robb was 18th, which isn't bad. Not great, not as good as ninth. It could have been worse. 

17. When Conor Daly was signed to fill out the Juncos Hollinger Racing #78 Chevrolet for the final five races, the #78 Chevrolet was only five points behind the #41 A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet for the final Leader Circle spot. I thought Conor Daly could definitely out-score Sting Ray Robb by five points over the final five races. It appears I might be wrong. Twenty-second today for Daly and he has finished behind Robb in both races so far with Robb scoring nine points more than Daly over that period. Brutal.

18. Let's cover some incidents. Romain Grosjean had a spin all on his own while fighting for a top five spot. Grosjean spun over the curbs entering turn one. It cost him a lot of time, but what cost him even more was spinning around and right into Christian Rasmussen, who already had one off-road excursion in this race. The contact punctured Grosjean's rear tire and Grosjean then went off-course trying to get back around the circuit. All these antics led to an additional penalty for the Frenchman.

It is incredible how badly Grosjean punted away a great result today. Mistakes happen. Unfortunately, he makes mistakes all the time. Nobody else spun in the chicane today. Nobody else had the steering wheel bounce out of their hands at Toronto last year. For all the good Grosjean can do, 75% of the time it will be wasted. For the first half of this race, I thought Grosjean is in a good spot and had made some great strides with a small team. After he spun, I thought there is no way he will be back in 2025. When he boils over, he boils over big time. I know Juncos Hollinger Racing might be seeing an ownership structural change between now and 2025, but JHR must be asking if Grosjean is worth it.

This was just an extra punch to the gut for Rasmussen today. It had already been a rough day. This contact was a bummer. 

19. Have you noticed how we have not mentioned Scott Dixon yet? Dixon's race lasted about eight corners as Dixon was knocked off course on the opening lap after Pietro Fittipaldi attempted to cut the curbs to the inside in turn eight. This ricocheted Fittipaldi into Dixon and sent Dixon off course and into the barrier. 

Dixon forgave Fittipaldi and said it was all Kyle Kirkwood's fault because Kirkwood had forced Dixon to drop his tires off course on exit of turn seven after Kirkwood made a pass. 

This wasn't on Kirkwood. It cannot be a penalty to make a pass. Kirkwood didn't dive into the corner and force Dixon off. Kirkwood wasn't close to contact with Dixon. Kirkwood made a great pass. Dixon was on the outside. He could have backed out and lived to fight another day or held his car on the track. It sucks that Dixon was going to lose a spot or two there, but Fittipaldi was making a move no one has ever made before at Portland. 

Nobody cuts those curbs to the inside of turn eight. Nobody in their right mind would have suggested making that move prior to this race. Dixon is upset he lost spots due to the Kirkwood move, but the Fittipaldi move was plain nonsense. That was never going to work and that is what ended Dixon's race, not Kirkwood's pass.

20. Well, wasn't this a busy Portland race? Now we have a doubleheader ahead of us from Milwaukee. Fun.

Morning Warm-Up: Portland 2024

Santino Ferrucci took a stunning pole position at Portland International Raceway on Saturday, and with a lap at 58.2046 seconds, Ferrucci will lead the field to the green flag for the Grand Prix of Portland. It is Ferrucci's first career pole position and A.J. Foyt Racing's first pole position since the second race of the 2014 Belle Isle doubleheader, 172 races ago. After opening the season with seven top ten finishes from the first ten races, Ferrucci has finished outside the top ten in three consecutive races. His average finish at Portland is 17.667. This will be Ferrucci's 74th career start. Only ten drivers have taken at least 74 starts to get a first career victory. Only two drivers have had their first career victory come at Portland, Al Unser, Jr. in 1984 and Mark Blundell in 1997.

Will Power was 0.1074 seconds off the top qualifying time in the final round of qualifying, and Power will start second. This is his best starting position since he started second in the Indianapolis 500. Power has still yet to win a pole position in 2024. The last time he did not win a pole position in a season was 2008. Power has finished outside the top ten in the last two races. Power is looking to avoid three consecutive finishes outside the top ten since a five-race stretch over the 2021 season.

Álex Palou will be third on the grid after falling 0.2270 seconds off pole position. Palou could match Michael Andretti and Al Unser, Jr. for most Portland victories at three. It would be the 20th time in IndyCar history a driver would have won three of his first four starts at a circuit. The most recent driver to do it was Will Power at São Paulo, who won the first three editions of the Brazilian race from 2010 through 2012. 

Christian Lundgaard starts fourth, his best starting position since he started second in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Lundgaard had started outside the top fifteen in four consecutive races prior to Portland. After opening the season with two top ten finishes in the first four races, Lundgaard has two top ten finishes in the last nine races.

Josef Newgarden fell 0.0097 seconds short of making the final round of qualifying, but a pair of engine penalties and elevated Newgarden to a top five starting position. Newgarden is looking for consecutive victories for the fourth time in his career. He has won consecutive races in each of the last two seasons. Newgarden has finished fifth in three of five Portland starts, and he has never finished worse than tenth at the track.

Romain Grosjean also benefits from those pair of engine penalties, and Grosjean will start to Newgarden's outside on row three. Grosjean was 0.0428 seconds off making the final round. Prior to this year's race, the Frenchman's best starting position at Portland was 15th. Grosjean's average finish at Portland is 22.667. Out of 330 possible laps, he has completed only 236 laps in his three starts here. This will be Grosjean's 61st career start. Only 17 drivers have taken at least 61 starts to get a first career victory.

Marcus Armstrong moves up to seventh starting position. After starting the season with four consecutive races starting in the top ten, this is only the fourth time in ten races Armstrong has started in the top ten. Armstrong is looking for his third consecutive top ten finish. He has had two consecutive top ten finishes on three occasions in his career.

Colton Herta will be on the outside of row four. This is Herta's worst starting position ever at Portland. Entering Portland with three consecutive top five finishes, Herta has never had four consecutive top five finishes in his IndyCar career. His best finish at Portland was fourth in his first start at the track in 2019. Herta led 36 laps in that race.

Scott Dixon has car #9 in ninth starting position. Dixon has won the 14th race of the season the last two years, and he has finished on the podium in the 14th race in six consecutive seasons. He has finished third in the last three Portland races. Dixon has won from ninth starting position twice in his career. The first time was the 2015 Sonoma race, which won him the championship. The other was the first race of the 2020 Road America doubleheader, another season where Dixon won the title.

Marcus Ericsson rounds out the top ten. Ericcson was the slowest in the second round of qualifying, but he was only 0.0978 seconds from making it to the Fast Six. Ericsson enters Portland having failed to finish in the top ten in the last three races. It is the second time this season the Swede has gone three consecutive races without a top ten result. Prior to 2024, he had not gone at least three consecutive starts without a top ten finish since an eight-race that covered seven starts in 2019 and the 2020 season opener at Texas.

Row three will actually be row six, as Kyle Kirkwood and Graham Rahal each have six-spot grid penalties for taking on his fifth engine this season despite Kirkwood and Rahal qualifting fifth and sixth respectively in the final round of qualifying. Despite the penalty, 11th is Kirkwood's best starting position ever at Portland. Kirkwood's average finish on permanent road courses this season is 7.8.

This was the first time Graham Rahal made the Fast Six this season. Rahal's best starting position this season on a road or street course was seventh at Barber Motorsports Park. It has been been 16 races since Rahal's most recent top five finish, second in the August 2023 Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course race.

Pietro Fittipaldi was 0.0182 seconds off advancing from the first group of qualifying to the second round. This is Fittipaldi's best starting position since he started 11th for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May. Fittipaldi's only top ten finish in his IndyCar career came at Portland six years ago. He was ninth in the 2018 race. It was the fifth race of his IndyCar career.

Rinus VeeKay takes the outside of row seven. This is the ninth consecutive race VeeKay is starting outside the top ten. VeeKay is going for his fifth consecutive top ten finish. Ed Carpenter Racing has had a car finish in the top six in three of the last five Portland races, including with VeeKay last year after starting 13th. Prior to that, the Dutchman had finished 17th and 20th in his first two trips to Portland.

Jüri Vips is back for his first race of the 2024 after competing in two races last season, and he will start 15th. He made his IndyCar debut last year at Portland, starting and finishing 18th. He started 13th at Laguna Seca last year, but ended up 24th after being caught in the opening lap accident and completing only 71 of 95 laps in a glorified test session for the Estonian.

Christian Rasmussen starts directly behind his Ed Carpenter Racing teammate VeeKay in 16th. This is scheduled to be Rasmussen's final start of the IndyCar season. In the first ten races together as teammates, VeeKay holds the head-to-head advantage, beating Rasmussen six times.

Alexander Rossi has his worst starting position ever at Portland in 17th. Rossi had started in the top nine in his first five trips to Portland. In the 14th race of the season, Rossi has three podium and five top five finishes, but he has finished outside the top ten in the other three races. 

Felix Rosenqvist makes it two drivers on row nine with their worst Portland starting positions as the Swede is in 18th. Rosenqvist had started in the top 11 in his first four Portland appearances. Rosenqvist has finished second twice in four Portland starts, and he has finished in the top ten in all four of his Portland appearances.

Toby Sowery has his best career starting position, as Sowery will start 19th for his third career start. Sowery is responsible for the #51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda's two best finishes this season. He was 13th at Mid-Ohio and 15th at Toronto. The other eight drivers for DCR in 2024 have combined for one top fifteen finish.

Scott McLaughlin had ended up seventh in group two, 0.0413 seconds off making the second round of qualifying, but a six-spot grid penalty for taking on a fifth engine this season drops McLaughlin to 20th starting position. McLaughlin has a pattern of finishes at Portland, ninth, first and ninth through his first three starts. Last year was the first time he did not lead at Portland. 

Linus Lundqvist takes 21st starting position. This is the fifth consecutive race Lundqvist has started outside the top ten. He enters Portland with a 71-point advantage in the rookie of the year battle. However, he has been the best finishing rookie in only four races this season.

Patricio O'Ward has his worst starting position of the season in 22nd. O'Ward had started in the top twenty in 21 consecutive races. His last time starting outside the top twenty was 25th at Mid-Ohio last year. He went on to finish eighth in the race. O'Ward has finished fourth in the last two Portland races. He has at least three top five finishes at eight different circuits.

Nolan Siegel makes it two consecutive Arrow McLaren drivers on the grid with Siegel in 23rd. Siegel was second in last year's Indy Lights race from Portland and he picked up fastest lap in the process. He has been the top finishing rookie twice this season. On both occasions, Siegel finished 12th. 

Sting Ray Robb improves on his average starting position as 24th on the grid betters Robb's average of 24.461 entering this weekend. His average drops to 24.428. Robb has finished outside the top twenty in five of nine road/street course races this season.

David Malukas has a six-spot grid penalty in the #66 Honda taking on its fifth engine of the season. This drops Malukas down to 25th, his worst starting position of the season. He was averaging a 7.667 starting position in his first six starts this season. Malukas was eighth in last year's Portland race. The only road or street course where he has multiple top ten finishes is Mid-Ohio.

Conor Daly was the slowest in group one, but he will start 26th after all grid penalties are applied. Daly has not had a top ten finish in his last 14 road/street course starts. His most recent top ten on a road or street course was fifth in the 2022 Grand Prix of Indianapolis. 

Jack Harvey will start from 27th. This is Harvey's sixth time starting outside the top 25 in 11 appearances this season. Harvey had failed to finished in three of his last four starts, and he has finished off the lead lap in five consecutive starts.

Kyffin Simpson's six-spot grid penalty for taking a fifth engine this season drops him to 28th, last on the grid. Simpson has finished outside the top twenty in five consecutive road/street course races after having finished in the top fifteen in three of the first four road/street course races this season.

USA's coverage of the Grand Prix of Portland begins at 3:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 3:30 p.m. The race is scheduled for 110 laps.