The ninth round of the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season sees the return of the first natural-terrain road course in just over two months with the series moving north to Road America. This is the halfway point of the season. Eight races have been completed, and when we are through with the 55 laps on Sunday, eight races will remain. Through eight races, 25 drivers have finished in the top ten, 15 drivers have finished in the top five, 12 drivers have stood on the podium, but only two drivers have won a race, the fewest through eight races since 1980.
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday June 22 with green flag scheduled for 1:47 p.m. ET.
Channel: Fox
Announcers: Will Buxton, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Georgia Henneberry and Jack Harvey will work pit lane.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 4:30 p.m. ET (75 minutes)
Saturday:
Second Practice: 11:00 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 2:30 p.m. ET
Sunday:
Warm-up: 10:02 a.m. ET (25 minutes)
Race: 1:47 p.m. ET (55 laps)
FS2 will have coverage of Friday practice session while FS1 will have coverage of Saturday's sessions and the Sunday morning warm-up. Fox will have race coverage.
The Fight at the Top
Only two winners through eight races means the top of the IndyCar championship is separating from the rest of the field. Álex Palou's start of five victories and a second in the first six races of the season has put him firmly ahead of the field, but a pair of drivers are trying to remain close. Surprisingly the closest to Palou is a driver who has yet to win.
Though winless, Patricio O’Ward is 73 points behind Palou through eight races. This is thanks in part to four podium finishes this season. O'Ward is the only driver with multiple runner-up finishes, and Gateway was his third time finishing runner-up this year. This is the third consecutive season he has finished runner-up in at least three races. Like 2023, he has three runner-up finishes within the first eight races and has yet to win this season.
Beyond second, O'Ward's worst finish this season is 13th. He has five consecutive top ten finishes and he has led laps in three consecutive races.
This start to the season has O'Ward two points ahead of the only other driver to win a race this year. Kyle Kirkwood has three victories, but he is 75 points behind Palou in the championship. The disqualification from the Indianapolis 500 has been a substantial blow to his championship hopes. Kirkwood went from scoring 29 points in the Indianapolis 500 to five points after his penalty and being placed in 32nd.
When it comes to results on the road, Kirkwood hasn't finished worse than 11th this season. Last year, he opened the season having finished no worse than 11th in the first ten races. Kirkwood will head to Road America off the back of consecutive victories, one on the streets of Detroit and the other on the 1.25-mile Gateway Motorsports Park. Gateway was Kirkwood's first oval victory, and he has yet to win on a permanent road course in his IndyCar career.
Road America is a circuit that has been good to Palou, hit-or-miss for O'Ward, and unnoticeable but improving for Kirkwood.
Palou has won twice in six Road America starts. Outside of the 2022 race where contact with then-Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Ericsson sent Palou into the turn five gravel and ended his race with a damaged car, Palou has finished in the top seven in every Road America start. He has four top five finishes at the circuit.
He might have two wins, but Palou has been rather fortunate in those races as over his six starts at the track he has led only 18 laps. In 2021, Palou took the lead on the final restart with two laps to go when Josef Newgarden suffered gearbox issues. In 2023, Palou took the lead in the final pit cycle, leaping ahead of Colton Herta and he led the final seven laps.
O'Ward's first career pole position came at Road America for the second race of the 2020 doubleheader. The first career victory slipped through his fingers as the alternate tire compound wore down and saw Felix Rosenqvist take the lead with two laps remaining as O'Ward settled for second after leading 43 of 55 laps.
In seven starts, O'Ward has two podium finishes, but in three other races he has finished eighth or ninth. In the other two races, he was 17th in 2019, a lap down driving for Carlin, and he lost an engine with nine laps remaining in the 2022 race and was placed in 26th.
Kirkwood's results have improved over three years at Road America. He was 20th in 2022 after starting 24th driving for A.J. Foyt Racing. In his first year with Andretti Global, Kirkwood qualified sixth but dropped to ninth at the finish. Last year, he started fourth and led three laps before finishing fifth.
This is the first season in which only two drivers have combined to win the first eight races since the 1980 CART season when Johnny Rutherford and Bobby Unser combined to win the first nine races. Rutherford won five times and Unser won four times.
Kirkwood is attempting to become the first Andretti Global driver to win three consecutive races since Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2012. A third Road America victory for Palou would tie him for the most all-time at the circuit with Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi and Michael Andretti.
Who is Knocking on the Door for a First Victory This Season?
Patricio O'Ward might be leading the charge to become the third winner of the 2025 IndyCar season, but there are plenty of worthy candidates who could get on the board this weekend.
Over the first four races of the season, Christian Lundgaard was the closest driver to Palou. An eighth and three consecutive podium finishes had Lundgaard the closest to the Catalan and Lundgaard looked primed to get his first victory withe Arrow McLaren organization. In the four races since, Lundgaard has finished outside the top ten twice and his best finish is seventh.
This dip in form has dropped Lundgaard to fourth in the championship and 114 points behind Palou's championship lead. In three starts at Road America, the Dane has finished tenth, seventh and 11th. He has started 13th, seventh and 13th in those races. Lundgaard hasn't led a lap since Long Beach.
A well-timed caution got Scott Dixon off the snide at Gateway. A night that looked to be destined to be a third consecutive finish outside the top ten, Dixon's longest slump since 2014, was flipped when Dixon was able to stretch his fuel and be the last car to make its penultimate pit stop. Dixon had a lap on the field and he all of a sudden was in control.
The race did not play out in Dixon's favor, but he still finished fourth, much better than where his night was heading prior to the caution. It was his third top five finish of the season. This is the third time in four seasons Dixon has not won one of the first eight races in a season. Since Road America returned to the schedule, Dixon has two victories, six top ten finishes and seven top ten results. He hasn't led a lap in the last three Road America races.
Felix Rosenqvist had opened the IndyCar season rather strong for the second consecutive year. Rosenqvist had three top five finishes in the first six races. He was fourth at the Indianapolis 500. His worst finish was 13th. In the last two races, the Swede has finished 21st and 16th. Ironically, he has led laps in the lap in the last two races after not leading a lap in the first six events.
Road America is the site of Rosenqvist's only IndyCar victory, but it has been nearly five years and 83 starts since that triumphant day. Outside of that race, Road America has not been one of Rosenqvist's better tracks. His next best finish is sixth, and he has finished outside the top ten three times, including in the last two races.
This season has been hit or miss for Colton Herta. Four top ten finishes and four finishes outside the top ten has Herta ninth in the championship on 170 points, 165 points from Palou's championship lead and Herta is the second-best Andretti Global driver. Herta was third at Detroit, but he has finished outside the top ten in three of the last four two of which has been results outside the top fifteen.
Herta has not won yet at Road America, but his worst finish at the circuit is eighth in seven starts. He has five top five finishes. Herta has started on the front row five times at Road America as well. He has led a combined 42 laps over the last two visits to Elkhart Lake.
Only once since 2016 has a Road America winner not been from Team Penske or Chip Ganassi Racing. The driver responsible for that victory was Alexander Rossi, who won the 2019 race with Andretti Autosport. Rossi is now on his second team since that Road America victory. In his 95 starts since that Road America victory, Rossi has won only once. He will entered this weekend on a 45-race winless streak.
Along with his victory, Rossi has two other podium finishes at Road America. He started on pole position in 2022 and finished third after leading 16 laps. He has started in the top 11 in eight consecutive Road America races. The biggest hurdle in Rossi's way will be his new team. Ed Carpenter Racing has not had a top ten finisher in seven consecutive Road America races, and the team's best finish at the circuit is eighth.
Who is Knocking on the Door for a First Victory Ever?
In the last three races, we have been on the door step of a first-time winner. At the Indianapolis 500, David Malukas was running in the top five and finished third on the road, ultimately promoted to second after Marcus Ericsson was disqualified. At Detroit, Malukas' teammate Santino Ferrucci made his final pit stop on the right side of a caution and was vaulted into the lead. Ferrucci went on to finish second. Last week at Gateway, a number of drivers were positioned to get a first career victory. Malukas ended up leading the most laps.
The next first-time winner will be the 300th winner in IndyCar history, and Road America is a place known for first-time winners. Eight drivers saw their first victory come on the famed Wisconsin circuit.
The top driver in the championship without an IndyCar victory is Marcus Armstrong. The Meyer Shank Racing driver is tenth on 153 points. Armstrong has finished in the top ten in the last two races, and he has three top ten finishes in the last four races. This weekend will be the 38th start of Armstrong's career this weekend. His only podium finish was third at Detroit last year. Road America has not been a kind track for the New Zealander. He was a lap down in 24th in 2023, and last year he started third but spun his Ganassi teammate Linus Lundqvist, who had started on pole position, on the opening lap. This led to a penalty, but Armstrong would retire due to mechanical issues after 35 laps.
Santino Ferrucci returns to Road America on a tear. Gateway was Ferrucci's third consecutive top five finish, a first for him in his IndyCar career and the first for an A.J. Foyt Racing driver Eliseo Salazar in 2002. No Foyt driver has had four consecutive top five finishes since Salazar had a four-race stretch starting in the 2001 season finale and covering the first three races of 2001. Ferrucci was sixth in both Road America races in 2020, but he has finished 15th or worse in his other three starts.
David Malukas led 67 laps at Gateway but brushing the wall proved to be costly and it dropped him to a 12th-place finish. Though Malukas is 12th in the championship on 147 points, two points behind his Foyt teammate Ferrucci, Malukas' only top ten finish was second in the Indianapolis 500. On permanent road courses this season, he has finished 18th, 16th and 23rd. He was 16th at Road America as a rookie in 2022 and 27th after having an engine failure in 2023.
Christian Rasmussen was third at Gateway, his first career podium finish in IndyCar, but it wasn't after a helter skelter night. Rasmussen exited pit lane on first after his first pit stop. The team was unable to get the car full of fuel on that stop and he was forced to stop early on the second stint. The caution for the Louis Foster/Josef Newgarden accident appeared to come at the right time and allow Rasmussen to get back on cycle, but he had to make an emergency stop for a splash for fuel and was forced to restart at the rear of the field. Despite all this, Rasmussen ended up scoring Ed Carpenter Racing its first poiudm finish in 54 races.
Conor Daly also spent a fair portion of the Gateway race at the front. Daly was the big mover early in the race driving into the top ten. He ended up leading 36 laps, and it was the second time in three races Daly has led. However, Daly lost significant time on pit stops and it shuffled him out of the battle for victory. He was sixth at Gateway, but while he has two top ten finishes in two oval races, his average finish elsewhere is 18.1667. In four Road America starts, he has an average finish of 18.25 with his best finish being 14th in his most recent visit in 2022.
Eight drivers have scored their first career victory at Road America, but it is a bit of be careful of what you ask for. For half of those drivers, it is their only IndyCar victory.
Team Penske's Woeful Weekend
For all the excitement over the mix of drivers at the front at Gateway, one team had a disastrous weekend, and if any one of these nights had gone differently, perhaps we would not be celebrating a wide-open race.
All three Team Penske cars failed to finish the Gateway race. All three fell out of the race while in a contending position. Will Power lost a tire while running second. Josef Newgarden was caught in the path of a spinning Louis Foster while leading. Scott McLaughlin was knocked around while in the top five and eventually retired due to mechanical issues.
With finishing positions of 24th, 25th and 27th, this is the first time Team Penske has had multiple cars finish outside the top twenty on the road since the 1998 CART season finale at Fontana where Al Unser, Jr. was 27th and André Ribeiro was 28th. Ribeiro was out after completing six laps due to an accident. Unser, Jr. retired due to an oil leak on lap 34.
Team Penske is winless through eight races for the first time since 2021. Penske won the ninth race that season. Penske hasn't had a car finish in the top two yet this season, the first time it hasn't had a top two finisher within the first eight races since 1999. The team is on a three-race podium slump, the team's first since 2023, and it has not had a four-race podium drought since 2013 when it had a five-race run without a driver on the rostrum from Long Beach through the Belle Isle doubleheader. All three of its drivers are ranked seventh or worse in the championship. None of its drivers have more than one podium finish this year.
Will Power is seventh in the championship. Power does have four top five finishes in the last six races, but he was 16th at the Indianapolis 500 and his tire failure at Gateway put him in last place. He did get his first pole position in nearly two years last week. Power is the defending Road America race winner, and that victory ended a two-year winless streak. However, no driver has won consecutive Road America races since Jacques Villeneuve in 1994 and 1995.
Scott McLaughlin has finished 30th, 12th and 24th in the last three races. McLaughlin had not had three consecutive finishes outside the top ten since 2022 when he failed to finish in the top ten in either May race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he followed that with a 19th at Belle Isle. He was third last year at Road America with a race-high 18 laps led despite starting eighth.
Josef Newgarden's hardship continues. With his Gateway accident, Newgarden has gone seven consecutive races without a top five finish. He has finished outside the top twenty in three races this season, including both oval events. This is his third consecutive season with at least three finishes worse than 20th. Prior to this run Newgarden had only four total finishes outside the top twenty over 98 starts from 2017 through 2022. He has 11 over his last 42 races.
If there is any hope for Team Penske it is that the team has won four of the last ten Road America races, including last year with Power. The bad news for Team Penske is it has not won consecutive Road America races since 1992 and 1993 with Emerson Fittipaldi and Paul Tracy respectively.
Road to Indy
It will be a full weekend from Road America as all three Road to Indy series will compete, and there is even a triple-header this weekend.
While IndyCar has two winners through eight races, Indy Lights has only two winners through six races, and both drivers are from Andretti Global.
Dennis Hauger has a 19-point lead over Lochie Hughes with Hughes coming off his second victory of the season at Gateway. Hauger was fifth. Hughes has finished in the top five of every race this season. The two drivers have also combined to win every pole position, and like victories, Hauger holds a 4-2 advantage.
Caio Collet is on 195 points in third, 78 points behind Hauger, and Myles Rowe is fourth on 186 points. Rowe was second t Gateway while Collet was third. Salvador de Alba was fourth at Gateway and he is fifth in the championship on 167 points, five ahead of Josh Pierson. Callum Hedge has 133 points in seventh with Jordan Missig on 115 points. Sebastian Murray is ninth on 109 points and Niels Koolen and Jack William Miller are tied on 108 points in tenth.
Hughes swept the USF Pro 2000 triple-header held at Road America last year, and he also won at the circuit in 2023 in U.S. F2000. Last year, Jamie Chadwick won the race ahead of Louis Foster and Jacob Abel.
Indy Lights will race at 11:06 a.m. ET on Saturday for 20 laps or 55 minutes.
Max Garcia holds a 41-points championship lead in USF Pro 2000 with Ariel Elkin in second as USF Pro 2000 is set for a triple-header weekend. Elkin has won three of the last four races while Garcia has yet to finish worse than fourth in 2025. Alessandro de Tullio is 48 points off Garcia. After winning three of the first four races, de Tullio has finished second twice in the last five but he was 15th, ninth and 20th on the IMS road course.
Mac Clark is finding form. Clark was four consecutive top five finishes, three of which are podium results. The Canadian is on 174 points in fourth. Tied for fifth are Jacob Douglas and Max Taylor. Douglas won the second race from the IMS road course and Taylor's best finish this season is third. Taylor on last year at Road America in U.S. F2000.
Michael Costello is seventh in the championship on 129 points. Jace Denmark sits in eighth with 118 points. Nicholas Monteiro has finished sixth in four consecutive races and this has Monteiro ninth in points on 113. Cooper Brecklin rounds out the top ten with 102 points.
USF Pro 2000 will race at 9:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, 5:25 p.m. ET on Saturday and 8:55 a.m. ET on Sunday. All three races are scheduled for 15 laps or 40 minutes.
The U.S. F2000 championship sees another twist in the visa plight of Liam McNeilly. After winning the first five races, McNeilly was unable to re-enter the country ahead of the IMS road course round in May. The Briton also missed the Indianapolis Raceway Park round and McNeilly is not entered this weekend for Road America.
Despite missing three races, McNeilly remains third in the championship on 163 points, 27 points off championship leader Thomas Schrage.
Schrage has finished on the podium in six consecutive races. He split the IMS road course weekend with Jack Jeffers, who its second in the championship and seven points behind Schrage.
Teddy Musella and G3 Argyros are tied on 135 points. Caleb Gafrarar is sixth on 116 points, two ahead of Evan Cooley. Anthony Martella won the IRP round and this has lifted Martella to eighth in the championship 106 points. Sebastián Garzón and Brad Majman are tied on 102 points.
U.S. F2000 will race twice on Saturday, first at 12:25 p.m. ET and then at 6:20 p.m. ET. Both races are scheduled for 12 laps or 40 laps.
Fast Facts
This will be the eighth IndyCar race to take place on June 22, and the first since 2008 when Dan Wheldon won at Iowa.
June 22 was also Dan Wheldon's birthday, and he would have turned 47 years old this year.
Wheldon is the most recent driver to win on his birthday, and he remains the most recent birthday winner.
The other birthday winners are Dario Resta (August 19, 1916), Joe Boyer (May 30, 1924), Lou Moore (September 12, 1931), Tony Bettenhausen (September 12, 1953), Al Unser (May 29, 1971), Nigel Mansell (August 8, 1993), Sam Hornish, Jr. (July 2, 2006), and Scott Dixon (July 22, 2007).
We will have one potential birthday winner later this season. Laguna Seca will run on July 27, the same day as Louis Foster's 22nd birthday.
The average starting position for a Road America winner is 3.8 with a median of third.
Twenty-eight of 34 Road America races have been won from a top five starting position.
Only one Road America race has been won from outside the top ten. Alex Tagliani won from 13th in 2004.
Since returning to the schedule in 2016, only once has a podium finisher started outside the top ten at Road America. Álex Palou went from 14th to third in the first race of the 2020 doubleheader.
Nine times has a Road America winner gone on to win the championship.
Nineteen times has the Road America winner not led the most laps.
Five of the eight race winners this season did not lead the most laps.
Twice has the Road America winner led only the final lap (Héctor Rebaque 1982, Michael Andretti 1996).
The average number of lead changes in a Road America race is 4.324 with a median of four.
Five consecutive Road America races have had eight lead changes or greater. None of the previous 11 Road America races had more than six lead changes.
The average number of cautions in a Road America race is 2.294 with a median of two. The average number of caution laps is 6.705 with a median of six.
Five of the last six Road America races have had at least three cautions. The previous four Road America races had two cautions or fewer.
Predictions
Let's keep this party rolling. Kyle Kirkwood gets his third consecutive victory and we remain with only two IndyCar winners through the first nine races. Team Penske does get a podium finisher, and that driver leads at least 16 laps. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has at least two cars finish inside the top twenty. No Chip Ganassi Racing drivers will touch one another during the race. Meyer Shank Racing has a double top ten day. Nolan Siegel and Scott McLaughlin never cross paths. A.J. Foyt Racing comes back down to earth. There are no last-second driver changes at any team. Sleeper: Rinus VeeKay.