First Impressions: Detroit 2025

1. There has been a clear second-best driver in IndyCar this season, and Kyle Kirkwood has a firm hold on that spot as through seven races there have only been two race winners, and Kirkwood has now won twice this season thanks to an outstanding drive in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. Kirkwood was the best car today, but it required a little extra work to pull out this victory.

Kirkwood was in control as the final round of pit stops had begun. However, Callum Ilott had an unsecured left front tire after his final pit stop and Ilott slammed into the turn one barrier to bring out a caution. Kirkwood led the field to the pit lane, but Santino Ferrucci, Kyffin Simpson and Marcus Armstrong had all made their final pit stops prior to the Ilott caution. This shuffled Kirkwood back to fourth with just over 25 laps to go. 

Victory required moves and Kirkwood made then, and in pretty quick fashion. Armstrong was vanquished in a flash. Simpson required some more aggression and some contact. Kirkwood damaged his front wing in the middle of the battle with Simpson, but it did not slow Kirkwood. He quickly overtook Ferrucci, and once in front, Kirkwood was gone. 

The red flag for Louis Foster's suspension failure and collision with Felix Rosenqvist erased the four-second gap Kirkwood had built to the rest of the field, but no one came close to challenging Kirkwood in that final stint. He pulled out another impressive gap after the final restart and won by 3.5931 seconds. 

Kirkwood was the best guy at Long Beach. He was brilliant today. Andretti Global has its street course program figured out. The team had the right strategy today starting on the alternate tire and getting off that compound early. This was going to be a three-stop race, and Kirkwood and company knew that from the beginning. There was no sense in contemplating a two-stop strategy. We would have needed at least 60 laps of caution for a two-stopper to work today just because of how quickly the alternate tire wore. Though Detroit has become famous for the amount of cautions, such a number of caution laps were an absurd expectation, and this race was going to require some aggression to win. 

This is a good turnaround from how the week started when Kirkwood's team lost a sixth-place finish in the Indianapolis 500 due to a technical infraction found post-race. Even with Álex Palou's accident today, Kirkwood, and the rest of the IndyCar field, has a lot of work to do to make this a championship fight, but the least Kirkwood can do is try and secure second. He looks up to that task.

2. It has been a while since we have had a street race where someone who was not at all in the picture had a timely combination of a pit stop and a caution lead to a near-victory. Santino Ferrucci was second today because he made his final pit stop on lap 66, the same lap Callum Ilott also made his final stop only for Ilott's crew to not get a tire properly secured. One man's unsecured tire is another man's vault to the race lead. 

Without this caution, Ferrucci probably finishes somewhere between 12th and 16th. Ferrucci was mid-pack all race. He didn't have a thing for Kirkwood, and he was a little fortunate that the late caution and red flag came out. Ferrucci lost second to Will Power prior to the Foster-Rosenqvist caution, but Power did not have the tires ready on the next restart. Power dropped to fourth and Ferrucci was able to hold off Herta. Credit to Ferrucci for holding onto second. Without that final caution, he probably finishes fifth or so. He caught a break today. Ferrucci will take it as A.J. Foyt Racing has runner-up finishes in consecutive races. 

3. Third is about right for Colton Herta, though he was better than Ferrucci. Herta probably should have been second because he ran behind Kirkwood nearly this entire race. Herta burned off his tires trying to get around Ferrucci and when that didn't work and his push-to-pass was gone, he was left playing defense against Will Power. 

Herta needed a good day. He just had to get some points on the board and make up for the tough month of May. Third is good, but Kirkwood is the better driver at the moment, and the #27 Andretti Global Honda is the best Andretti team at the moment. We don't see the #27 team make mistakes and cost itself results. Until Herta consistently is finishing in the top five and not fumbling away victories and podiums, that is how we should view the hierarchy at this team.

4. Will Power caught a break early because his first pit stop came as Felix Rosenqvist spun into the turn eight barrier to bring out a caution. Power was able to get out of the pit lane between Kirkwood and Herta, which seemed very unlikely considering how close Kirkwood and Herta had been running. With that position, Power was in the fight for a podium. 

Once he was ahead of Ferrucci, it felt the podium was secured. It didn't quite seem like Power could take the fight to Kirkwood on that last restart, but I don't think any of us thought Power would drop to fourth. His tires were not up for it after that final restart, and it easily cost Power two spots. It could have been worse, but Power also needed some points after his rough Indianapolis 500. He now has four top five finishes in the last five races. 

5. Kyffin Simpson held onto fifth. Like Ferrucci, Simpson got a break. He had been running in the middle of the pack and not quite in the top ten. The team took a chance right when the pit window opened and it paid off. Simpson has looked better this year. Entering this race, he had finished outside the top twenty in his last three races, but you almost need to throw the last two out. He was 27th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis because the car did not start. There was a gearbox issue. Simpson never made a lap, and we don't know how he would have raced. Then Simpson was caught in the path of a spinning Kyle Larson at the Indianapolis 500. Neither result was Simpson's fault.

 Let's see how the rest of the season goes. Fifth was kind today, but he has been more competitive this season.

6. Marcus Armstrong was just outside the top ten when the final round of pit stops started. Sixth is generous from how he had been running. He was good today but not this good. This is a nice consolation prize for Meyer Shank Racing after Felix Rosenqvist was caught in a late accident. This is Armstrong's best finish of the season. It is not about how you got the top ten, it is that you got a top ten, and the New Zealander has three this season. 

7. Patricio O'Ward took a risk on strategy, and the late caution may have saved him. O'Ward used the primary tires on his first two stints, but he stopped on under caution on lap 20 for his first pit stop when most of the cars that started on the primary tires when until lap 33 to lap 39. 

His second stint ran laps 21-53 with the alternate tire put on the car at lap 54. O'Ward was on a three-stop strategy, but it was a matter of how long could he go on that alternate tire. He took it at a time when he just had to go about 11 laps to get into the final window, and no one was doing more than ten or 11 laps on the alternate anyway. It was shaking out well for O'Ward. That caution may have prevented him from losing a few extra spots. If it wasn't for the lucky trio who stopped just prior to Ilott's caution, this could have been a top five day for O'Ward.

8. Christian Lundgaard kept getting shuffled back in this race. He didn't quite have what it took to remain with Kirkwood, Herta and Palou early. Then Power got ahead. Then O'Ward was ahead later in the race. The most frustrating part for Lundgaard is likely O'Ward beat him by a position. There was a 14-spot advantage to Lundgaard on the grid, and at the checkered flag O'Ward got Lundgaard by the spot. 

Lundgaard has been the better of the two drivers this season, but it has been close. I think Lundgaard sees his first battle as beating O'Ward in the championship. If he can do that, he takes the mantle at Arrow McLaren, but this is turning into a much tougher battle than how it was looking a month ago. 

9. Josef Newgarden survived to finish ninth today as Newgarden did 30 laps on the alternate tire to close the race. The cautions certainly helped. From 24th on the grid, Newgarden had to do something different. Opening with two stints on the primary tire was going to get him some positions, but he was setting himself to be in trouble on a two-stop strategy. 

I wonder if Newgarden was going to be a three-stop strategy and the Ilott caution caught him out. It felt like Newgarden could run until about lap 73 and then with 27 laps to go the #2 Penske team would have had a decision. 

Newgarden could have taken the alternate tire then and run ten laps before going back to the primary tire for the final 17 laps or so or Newgarden could have done the unthinkable, taken another set of primary tire and then made his pit stop for the alternate compound with under ten laps to go and tried to claw back spots in the sprint to the finish. 

Newgarden wasn't quite on O'Ward's strategy, so I don't think it would have worked out the same way. If the Ilott caution doesn't happen, I think Newgarden finishes 14th or 15th. Though the Ilott caution put Newgarden in a corner and he had to stretch his alternate tire further than any driver dared, it also likely got him five more positions than if the race had remained green.

10. Alexander Rossi did not look like he was positioned to get a top ten finish until he ended up tenth in the closing laps. I am not sure how Rossi got up to tenth. He was outside the top ten and even outside the top fifteen for portions of this race. 

Scott Dixon struggled in those closing laps. Scott McLaughlin was shuffled back at one point. David Malukas was given a penalty for taking out Álex Palou. There are four spots right there. Then Rosenqvist and Foster got together. That's six spots. I guess that is how Rossi got tenth.

11. We must suspend the belief that Scott Dixon is going to turn every race into a two-stop race and running 40 laps on one stint will turn into a race victory. Even though Dixon did 39 laps on his first stint, he was never winning this race today because the alternate tire was not going to last more than ten or 12 laps. 

The long first stint got Dixon track position, but he wasn't going to take the alternate tire 25 to 30 laps on his second stint to somehow pull this one out, especially considering the pace Kirkwood was running. Anyone with a brain watching this race knew the alternate tire was not lasting that long. 

It is disappointing the intelligent people who watch IndyCar did not recognize that, and they defaulted to the belief Dixon is going to work some magic. That was never happening today. I don't think Dixon should have finished 11th though. Obviously, three spots went to the three lucky ducklings who stopped prior to the Ilott caution. Dixon didn't have the pace though in the final stint, and 11th is a little harsh.

12. Scott McLaughlin caught a break because when the first caution came out for Rosenqvist's spin in turn eight, McLaughlin had not stopped and he was still on the alternate tire. It looked like he was going to shuffle back to the very back of the field and outside the top 24. Somehow, McLaughlin made his stop and came out around 14th, ahead of Kirkwood, Power, Herta and company who had all stopped prior to that caution.

I don't know how that happens. I know it happened because Detroit has the shortest pit lane. My guess is because McLaughlin stopped from the lead while the next 12 or 13 cars did not stop, it allowed McLaughlin to make his stop and pull out while Kirkwood and the rest who had already made their first stop were bogged behind the other cars going the pace of the safety car. Because Kirkwood and company were slowed down, McLaughlin could make his stop and blend out ahead of them all.

If McLaughlin had won this race, people would have lost their minds. This is something we should take a look at with the Detroit pit lane. It is not much different from the Nashville street course pit lane where we some similar occurrences of cars pitting from third and coming out in fifth despite half the field not making a pit stop.

Either way, McLaughlin performed his own act of karmic justice when he hit Nolan Siegel on the restart and McLaughlin was given a penalty for avoidable contact. This shuffled him behind all he had jumped, and McLaughlin was never able to comeback from that penalty and he was 12th. 

13. Marcus Ericsson is stuck in the middle of the pack every race. Today, it was because of a slow pit stop. Ericsson had good pace this weekend. The entire Andretti Global team was stout, but this was a missed opportunity for Ericsson. 

14. David Malukas looked poised for a top five finish, and then he nudged Álex Palou into the turn one barrier on the restart after Ilott's caution. That earned Malukas a stop-and-go penalty, and rightfully so. 

Malukas did a lot wrong today. He was swallowed up immediately at the start and went from second to fourth in no time. He settled in, was running well after that and a top five looked promising, he was definitely in line for a top ten finish, and then Malukas does this and it cost A.J. Foyt Racing a double top ten day. The Foyt team was getting lucky that it had both cars in position for top ten finishes for the second consecutive week. Malukas screwed up when the last thing the Foyt team needed from him was a mistake. 

For all the flashes that distract the masses, Malukas is error-prone. He shouldn't be in consideration for a Team Penske seat for quite some time. 

15. There are really only two other drivers outside the top 14 that deserve dedicated attention. 

Sting Ray Robb was 15th. Good for him. Do you know what he did today? I don't know! Someone had to finish 15th, and it was Sting Ray Robb. 

Robert Shwartzman was 16th. Pretty anonymous today. At least he saw the finish.

Conor Daly, whatever time you have left in IndyCar is not being extended when you keep finishing behind your teammate Sting Ray Robb. You must do better than 17th. 

Jacob Abel got his first career lead lap finish and his best finish in IndyCar as he was 18th. Good for you, Jacob! That is the first step of many left to make. 

Nolan Siegel might have been a thorn in everyone's side because Kyle Kirkwood and company came out of the pit lane behind him after their first stops. If it wasn't for McLaughlin punting Siegel, this race could have played out differently. Either way, Siegel was 19th after that incident.

16. This was a brutal day for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Graham Rahal looked to be in the running for a top ten finish and then there was a right-rear wheel nut issue that it cost him multiple laps. The strange thing is Rahal had a wheel nut issue during the morning warm-up as well. 

Devlin DeFrancesco had a loose wheel nut and he drove off course only to back up onto the course for the tire to come loose to bring out a caution as DeFrancesco drove back to the pit lane. This should have ended DeFrancesco's race because there was no need to back onto the circuit and bring out a caution. His race still ended with a mechanical issue. 

Then there was the Louis Foster accident. Foster's right front suspension failed entering the turn three hairpin, and Foster was a passenger as he bounced off the wall and into Felix Rosenqvist. Rosenqvist was collateral damage. Foster was looking to be just outside the top ten, not a great day, but a respectable one for the rookie.

This felt like a promising day for RLLR and it ended with finishes of 20th, 22nd and 23rd. Yikes.

17. Felix Rosenqvist had a strange day. He spun to bring out the first caution, but did little more than nudge the tire barrier in turn eight. He resumed driving immediately. I almost do not understand why that was a caution. Either way, Rosenqvist was still in the mix for a top ten finish, and then he was in the wrong place when Foster spun. Rosenqvist did nothing wrong. He was vastly superior than 21st in the record book will show. 

18. I don't know what happened to Christian Rasmussen that caused his race to ended after 80 laps. Rasmussen had been leading after the Rosenqvist caution early in the race because Rasmussen was the first car on the primary tire. He looked set for a top ten finish, and then we never saw nor heard what went wrong.

19. Who knew it would take David Malukas shutting his brain off for a second to end Álex Palou's hot streak? It is a shame that is how it ended. 

Palou wasn't going to win this race today. He likely wasn't going to finish on the podium either, but he was going to be fourth or fifth. This race was shaping up to be Kirkwood-Power-Herta-Palou. 

Not a bad day. Palou would have lost some ground to Kirkwood but minimal considering how Palou's season has started. 

Let's slow our roll on this meaning the championship is alive. No! This was one result where Palou was unfortunate that a driver of a quarter of his ability couldn't make it through turn one without any contact. Palou is still up 90 points on second in the championship. It is going to require someone to likely win five or six of the final ten races with another two or three podium results in there to be a serious threat to Palou. 

This was one unfortunate result. Palou isn't going to make mistakes and he isn't going to be caught in these accidents moving forward. He will likely finish in the top five in four of the next six races. Until someone is within 25 points of Palou, no one should be excited about a championship battle.

20. Callum Ilott was 26th after his poor pit stop. It is a shame because Ilott was in the running for a top fifteen result, and that is what Prema needs. It needs to check off some boxes. It got to the first race. It finished on the lead lap in the first race with both cars. It made the Indianapolis 500 and floored all of us winning pole position, but Prema needs results. It needs to work its way up the order. That unsecured wheel nut is not on Ilott. That is on the team, and we have seen constant pit lane problems for both Prema cars. 

Prema gets a week off, but the line should be drawn that this is the moment where the team starts to clean up its mistakes over the final ten races of the season.

21. Rinus VeeKay lost drive early in the race and we hardly knew what he could have done today. It is a shame because VeeKay started six and he only completed six laps.

22. Two concerns from this weekend:

One: The wheel nut issues weren't just a RLLR thing. 

Two: A number of teams lost telemetry this weekend. I know at temporary circuits there is a greater chance of a technological problem, but this was the case for many teams this weekend even into the race, and let's not forget we lost a good portion of a test day at Indianapolis in May because of Wi-Fi issues. Things happen, but this thing is happening too regularly in IndyCar circles. Let's keep an eye on this over the remaining race weekends.

23. IndyCar did not resume its experiment of requiring two sets of each tire compound to be used in the race like it had at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. I forgot about it and I wonder if IndyCar forgot about it as well because if there was ever a race to try it and have a mixed up result, it was Detroit. 

It worked today that it was a three-stop race due to the alternate compound, but entering this weekend the door was open for this being a two-stop race. I still think the added wrinkle of using each compound twice is worth it. Drivers would have had to make the alternate tire work today. No one could afford to run two stints at ten laps in length. Even if meant drivers would have had to suffer for two 15-lap stints, it opens this race up a bit. 

I think IndyCar should have tried it again this weekend. I definitely think it should be done at Road America because that is going to be a three-stop race but the pit windows are so small that there is no other strategy to play. We cannot be afraid to experiment at no additional cost. The tires are already there. It is not hurting the teams whatsoever. There is nothing to lose trying it. 

24. And now we get a week off. Good! We all need it. Onto a night race at Gateway in two weeks. Do nothing next week, boys and girls! 

Track Walk: Detroit 2025

The seventh round of the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season ventures up to the Motor City. The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix is on the 1.645-mile downtown street course for the third consecutive year. Chip Ganassi Racing enters not only as the only team to win on the circuit, but it is coming off victory in the Indianapolis 500 with Álex Palou. Palou has won five of the first six races and finished second in the other. That is the best start since A.J. Foyt won five of the first six and finished second in the other to open the 1979 USAC season. However, that was the first season of the first Split, as CART was contesting its first season and a number of teams were not at the five races that were not the Indianapolis 500. This year, Palou has done it against united competition.

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 12:30 p.m. ET on Sunday June 1 with green flag scheduled for 12:47 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: 3:00 p.m. ET (75 minutes)

Saturday:

Second Practice: 9:00 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 12:00 p.m. ET 
Sunday:
Warm-up: 9:32 a.m. ET (25 minutes)
Race: 12:47 p.m. ET (100 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.

If Anyone Can End a Slump, It is Palou

It has become an annual tradition to note no driver has won the Indianapolis 500 and the following race since Juan Pablo Montoya did it in 2000. Montoya was also driving for Chip Ganassi Racing and after he won the "500" on debut, he won at Milwaukee the following weekend. Those victories were in two different series. Ganassi ran Indianapolis as a one-off Indy Racing League entry while continuing full-time in CART. 

No driver has won the Indianapolis 500 and the following race while competing in the same series since Arie Luyendyk followed his Indianapolis victory in 1997 with one at Texas Motor Speedway. Yes, that Texas victory which Luyendyk was awarded after successfully protesting a scoring error that showed Billy Boat and A.J. Foyt Racing as the winners. Luyendyk had not been credited with an extra lap completed. 

Many talented drivers have won the Indianapolis 500 over the 24 years since Montoya scored consecutive victories starting with the Indianapolis 500. 

Since 2001, the average finish for the Indianapolis 500 winner in the following race is 9.45. Note that twice since 2001 has the winner not competed in the following race. Those two drivers were Dan Wheldon in 2011 and Hélio Castroneves in 2021. 

Four times has the Indianapolis 500 winner finished second in the following race. Dario Franchitti was second to Tony Kanaan at Milwaukee in 2007. Scott Dixon was second to Ryan Briscoe at Milwaukee in 2008. In 2012, Franchitti was second at Belle Isle to Dixon. Takuma Sato was runner-up to Dixon at Gateway in 2020. 

On only two other occasions since 2001 has the Indianapolis 500 winner finished in the top five of the following race. Hélio Castroneves was fourth at Texas in 2002, and Franchitti was fifth at Texas in 2010.

Palou has another bit of history he could achieve this weekend in Detroit. Only three drivers have won the race before the Indianapolis 500, the Indianapolis 500 and the race after the Indianapolis 500. Palou would become the fourth. 

Things are quite different from the first time it happened. In 1935, the Indianapolis 500 was the first round of the season. Kelly Petillo won that race, and Petillo had won the 1934 season finale at Mines Field in Los Angeles, California. The next race was on July 4, 1935 at the Minnesota State Fair Speedway and Petillo won the 100-mile dirt event.

We have spoken multiple times about A.J. Foyt's 1964 season in comparison to what Palou has done this season. Foyt won the first seven races in 1964. Indianapolis was the third round that year. The first two victories were at Phoenix and Trenton. The following four victories came at Milwaukee, Langhorne, Trenton and Springfield.

The most recent occurrence of such a winning streak was in 1994. Al Unser, Jr. won at Long Beach, then the Indianapolis 500 and followed it up with a victory at Milwaukee. Coincidentally, Unser, Jr.'s winning streak ended at Detroit at Belle Isle. He was tenth in that race.

On all three occasions, Petillo, Foyt and Unser, Jr. went on to win the championship that season.

Penalties Shake Up Championship

A trio of penalties in the aftermath of the Indianapolis 500 has shifted the championship positions for a few drivers. After the Andretti Global entries of Marcus Ericsson and Kyle Kirkwood, and the Prema entry of Callum Ilott were found with technical infractions in post-race qualifying, all three cars were moved to the end of the results, taking 31st, 32nd and 33rd positions respective. Ericsosn had finsihed second with Kirkwood in sixth and Ilott in 12th. 

Ericsson and Kirkwood were found with modified Energy Management Systems covers, and Ilott's was found with a front wing endplate that did not meet minimum height. Along with the removal of these three cars from their original finishing positions, all three entries were fined $100,000 and the team managers for all three entries are suspended for the Detroit round.

Kirkwood was set to be third in the championship on 180 points after this race. Instead, he drops to fifth on 156 points. Ericsson was about to enter the top ten in the championship after this runner-up result, but the 29-spot drop knocks Ericsson from tenth on 115 points to 20th with 79 points. This was also his fifth consecutive race without a top ten finish. Ilott remains 26th in the championship, but he goes from 58 points to 36 points.

After Indianapolis, Álex Palou leads the championship on 306 points, 112 points clear of Patricio O'Ward in second. Christian Lundgaard is up to third in the championship, 125 points behind Palou. O'Ward and Lundgaard are the only other drivers besides Palou to have multiple podium finishes this season. Felix Rosenqvist is fourth on 165 points with Kirkwood in fifth, 150 points off the championship lead. 

Scott Dixon has exactly half of his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Palou on 153 points. Scott McLaughlin has 145 points after his Indianapolis 500 ended on the pace laps. Will Power is three points behind his Team Penske teammate McLaughlin. Colton Herta is ninth on 120 points, while David Malukas jumped to tenth on 110 pants after finishing tenth. 

Rinus VeeKay and Graham Rahal are tied on 105 points. VeeKay holds the tiebreaker with his best finish being fourth to Rahal's best finish of sixth. Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi are tied on 104 points with Newgarden holding the tiebreaker as his best finish is third to Rossi's eighth. Santino Ferrucci and Marcus Armstrong are tied on 103 points, and the tiebreaker goes to Ferrucci with a best finish of fifth to Armstrong's best finish being seventh.

Christian Rasmussen sits on 95 points, 12 points ahead of Conor Daly and 13 points ahead of Nolan Siegel before we arrive to Ericsson in 20th on 79 points. Rasmussen and Daly each picked up their first top ten finishes of the season in the Indianapolis 500. Kyffin Simpson and Louis Foster are tied on 67 points. Simpson holds the tiebreaker with his best finish being tenth to Foster's best finish of 11th. 

Robert Shwartzman is on 65 points, one point ahead of Devlin DeFrancesco and two points ahead of Sting Ray Robb before we arrive to Ilott on 45 points.

Who Will Finish Second This Week?

While there has been one regular winner this season, second-place has been a rotating cast of characters. Through six races, six different drivers have finished second. 

Scott Dixon was second at St. Petersburg before Patricio O'Ward was runner-up at Thermal Club. Álex Palou's only blemish was second to Kyle Kirkwood at Long Beach. Christian Lundgaard took second to Palou at Barber before Graham Rahal was second at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. David Malukas inherited second at the Indianapolis 500 after Marcus Ericsson's penalty. 

This is the first season with six different runner-up finishers through the first six races since the 2018 season opened with six different runners-up. Graham Rahal, Robert Wickens, Will Power, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Scott Dixon and Ed Carpenter were the runners-up through those first six races.

Felix Rosenqvist is the top driver in the championship without a runner-up finish. In fourth, his best finish this season is fourth, and he has finished in the top ten of five of six races this season. Rosenqvist has not finished second in a race since Portland in 2023. His only other runner-up finishes were in his rookie season in 2019 when he was second at Mid-Ohio and Portland.

Though he has won this season, Kyle Kirkwood has not finished second this season, and the only runner-up finish in Kirkwood's career was last year at Toronto to Andretti Global teammate Colton Herta.

Team Penske has yet to finish in the top two this season in any of the first six races. All three Penske drivers have finished third this season. Will Power was second in the first race held on this Detroit street circuit in 2023. Scott McLaughlin has seven runner-up finishes in his career, four of which have been on ovals, and the only street course where he has finished second is Nashville, where he was runner-up twice. Josef Newgarden's last two runner-up finishes have come at Road America over the last two seasons.

This is the first time Team Penske has not had a top two finish through the first six races of the season since 1999 when it only had one car entered for the first four events, and the best finish for the Penske PC-27B through the first six races was ninth. That was the middle of a 33-race podium drought for the team, which started at Belle Isle in 1998 and went through the 2000 season opener at Homestead.

Colton Herta has five career runner-up finishes, all coming on road/street courses. He was second at Long Beach and Laguna Seca last season. Herta's teammate Marcus Ericsson was runner-up in last year's Detroit race.

Eleven drivers entered in the Detroit race have never finished second in their IndyCar careers. Everyone ranked in the top fourteen in the championship has at least one runner-up finish, as well as Ericsson and Conor Daly.

The last time a season open with seven different runners-up was in 2013. That year saw Hélio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Graham Rahal, Takuma Sato, Carlos Muñoz, Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Jakes were the first seven drivers to finish second. The first driver with multiple second-place results was Hunter-Reay.

Oh... Honda is Undefeated

Lost in Álex Palou's dominance is Honda is undefeated this season. Through six races, Honda has won six times. This is the most consecutive races Honda has won to open a season since engine competition returned to IndyCar in 2012. Dating back to last season, Honda has won seven consecutive races, its longest overall winning streak since 2012 as well. 

There will be 14 Honda drivers looking to extend this winning streak in Chevrolet's backyard while 13 drivers will be defending the home team. 

Chevrolet's name might be on the Detroit Grand Prix, but this has been Honda's race. Honda has won the two races held on this track configuration. Both victories have come at the hand of Chip Ganassi Racing. Last year, Honda swept the top four spots with Scott Dixon leading Marcus Ericsson, Marcus Armstrong and Kyle Kirkwood. In 2023, Palou won from pole position with 74 of 100 laps led. 

Over the 200 laps run in the last two Detroit races, Honda drivers have combined to lead 181 of them. Last year, Honda drivers led 99 of 100 laps. Te only lap a Chevrolet driver led was during a pit cycle under caution. It was lap 34 with Josef Newgarden leading. 

Even prior to the move downtown, Honda has been succeeding in Detroit. At Belle Isle, Honda won ten of 18 races held from 2012 to 2022. Chip Ganassi Racing has a chance to become the first team to win three consecutive Detroit Grand Prix dating back to the original Renaissance Center course, Belle Isle and this current configuration. 

Honda also enters this weekend having won five consecutive street course races and 12 of the last 13 street races since the 2022 Toronto race. Chevrolet's most recent street course victory was the 2024 St. Petersburg race, which Josef Newgarden won on the road, but was awarded to Patricio O'Ward after Team Penske was found to have manipulated the push-to-pass system. 

For Chevrolet, it has taken two of three podium positions in four of the first six races, including in the last three events. Chevrolet has actually had more podium finishes this season with ten to Honda's eight. Chevrolet has also had more different drivers on the podium this season. Through six races, six different Chevrolet drivers have been on the podium while Honda has only had three podium finishes. Álex Palou is responsible for six of Honda's podium finishes with Scott Dixon and Kyle Kirkwood each responsible for one apiece. 

Though Chevrolet has most of the podium finishers, and it has had more drivers on the podium, it has not led nearly as many laps as Honda. Chevrolet has led 257 of 630 laps, 40.793% of the laps run this season. In the last three road/street course races, Chevrolet has led 41 of 265 laps, and Honda combined to lead all 85 laps run at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis three weeks ago. 

Only three active Chevrolet drivers have won the Detroit Grand Prix previously. Will Power was a three-time winner at Belle Isle in 2014, 2016 and 2022. Josef Newgarden won at the circuit in 2019 and Patricio O'Ward won in 2021.

Who Will Be Happy to See June?

On May 1, everyone loves the month of May. On Memorial Day, a fair number of people will be happy once the calendar flips to June. This year is no exception. Detroit marks the fifth consecutive week of competition that started with the Alabama Grand Prix from Barber Motorsports Park. After the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and two consecutive weekends of Indianapolis 500 festivities, IndyCar's longest stretch ends in Detroit and in a new month. 

For the third time in six seasons, Colton Herta failed to finish in the top ten in either May race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. At the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, early front wing damage knocked Herta off the lead lap and he finished 25th. In the Indianapolis 500, Herta had an early pit lane speeding penalty knock him a lap down, and he never able to cycle back to the lead lap. Through attrition and penalties, he was classified in 14th. 

Herta might not be happy for June either. In the last two Detroit races, he has finished 11th and 19th, and last year's race was marred with cautions that knocked him out of the lead from pole position and then he got into the tire barrier making an aggressive move on a damp track.

Josef Newgarden has not finished in the top five since he was third in the St. Petersburg season opener. His best finish in the last five races was tenth at Barber Motorsports Park. His May concluded with finishes of 12th and 22nd in the races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the month is topped off with a penalty for the modified attenuator that relegated Newgarden to 31st on the grid, as well as seeing his strategist Tim Cindric fired from the Team Penske organization along with Ron Ruzewski and Kyle Moyer. 

After opening the season with three top ten finishes in the first four races, Alexander Rossi was 14th and 28th in the two races held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Rossi's Indianapolis 500 ended with a gearbox issue and an unrelated pit fire added insult and additional burns to injury. This was his third time finished 27th or worse in ten Indianapolis 500 starts. 

Marcus Ericsson's penalty after the Indianapolis 500 not only knocked him out of second-place at the final results, but it meant he has now finished outside the top ten in five consecutive races. This was Ericsson's fourth time finishing 20th or worse this season. This is his longest top ten drought since a eight-race stretch that spanned his final seven starts of his rookie season in 2019 and the 2020 season opener. 

Kyffin Simpson's sophomore season started promising. Simpson was 18th at St. Petersburg before finishing 15th at Thermal Club. At the Grand Prix of Long Beach, Simpson scored his first career top ten finish in IndyCar and he picked up fastest lap for good measure. During the month of May, he was 21st at Barber, failed to start the Grand Prix of Indianapolis due to a gearbox issue, and he was caught in a lap 92 accident in the Indianapolis 500 when Kyle Larson spun in front of the Cayamanian. 

Beside Simpson, the only other drivers who finished outside the top twenty in all three races held during the month of May were Sting Ray Robb and Callum Ilott, and the only reason why Jacob Abel isn't on this list is because Abel failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. 

The bad news for those who had a bad day at Indianapolis is the bad luck does not disappear just because the calendar changes.

Since 2001, The average finishing position for the winner after Indianapolis in the Indianapolis 500 is 9.478. Fourteen of the 24 winners had finished in the top ten at Indianapolis in the race prior. Only seven of those drivers were top five finishes. Three of those drivers were runner-up finishers. 

Only once in the last 24 years has the winner following Indianapolis finished outside the top twenty in the "500." That was Ryan Briscoe in 2008, who won at Milwaukee a week after he was 23rd at Indianapolis. 

IMSA

The second and final street race of the IMSA season is this weekend from Detroit with the GTP and GTD Pro classes competing. In GTP, Porsche Penske Motorsport looks to continue its perfect season. Four-for-four, Porsche Penske Motorsport has the top two in the championship. 

Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy won the first three races before it finished second to the #6 Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell at Laguna Seca. Nasr and Tandy lead the championship with 1,490 points while Jaminet and Campbell are 91 points behind the #7 Porsche's duo. 

The #24 BMW M Team RLL BMW of Philipp Eng and Dries Vanthoor has won pole positions for all four races this season. The only problem is the #24 BMW has not finished better than third. Eng and Vanthoor take third in the championship on 1,210 points while the #25 BMW of Sheldon van der Linde and Marco Wittmann are fourth on 1,137 points. 

Acura won last year's race with the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque, but now with Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing has yet to finish better than fifth this season. Meyer Shank Racing had each of its two Acuras score a podium finish in the first two races.

AO Racing is on a strong title defense. It has won the last two races with Laurin Heinrich and Klaus Bachler in the #77 Porsche, and AO Racing won this race last year. Heinrich and Bachler are 70-points ahead of Antonio García and Alexander Sims in the #3 Corvette. García and Sims have finished on the podium in two of the first three races. 

DragonSpeed is a surprising third in the championship with Albert Costa. The #81 Ferrari has started on pole position in the last two races and DragonSpeed was second at Laguna Seca. Costa has 938 points and Giacomo Altoè is his co-driver. 

Daytona winners Christopher Mies and Frédéric Vervisch are fourth on 907 points. The #65 Ford has finished outside the top five of the last two races. Paul Miller Racing's BMWs are tied for fifth in the championship. The #48 BMW of Dan Harper and Max Hesse, and the #1 BMW of Madison Snow and Neil Verhaen are tied on 860 points. 

Lexus has two cars entered this weekend. Aaron Telitz will have Jack Hawksworth join him in the #14 Lexus as Ben Barnicoat remains sidelined after suffering an injury cycling. Parker Thompson and Frankie Montecalvo will be in the #15 Lexus as a one-off in the GTD Pro class. 

The 100-minute race from Detroit will begin at 3:40 p.m. ET on Saturday May 31. 

Indy Lights

While Memorial Day weekend was a busy time for most of the series on the Road to Indy, Indy Lights had the weekend off, and now the series is back for the fifth round of its season from Detroit. 

Dennis Hauger maintained the championship lead after the doubleheader on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. After going off track on the opening lap in race one, Hauger recovered to finish eighth, and he won race two. The Norwegian has 187 points, and he is 15 points ahead of Andretti Global teammate Lochie Hughes. Hughes won the first IMS road course race before finishing second to Hauger in race two. Hughes has been on the podium of all four races this season. 

After opening the season with two consecutive fourth-place finishes, Myles Rowe was third in both IMS road course race, and Rowe is third in the championship on 134 points. Caio Collet was second and fifth in Indianapolis and he has 117 points. Salvador de Alba takes fifth in the championship with 111 points. 

Josh Pierson was sixth and ninth at IMS, and Pierson sits on 102 points, 12 clear of Liam Sceats. Callum Hedge has 88 points while Jordan Missig is ninth on 78 points. 

Andretti Global won last year's race with Louis Foster. In 2023, HMD Motorsports split a doubleheader with Reece Gold and Nolan Siegel. It was the first career victory for each driver.

The Indy Lights race will be run at 10:30 a.m. ET on Sunday June 1, and the race is scheduled for 45 laps. 

Fast Facts

This will be the sixth IndyCar race to take place on June 1 and the first since Josef Newgarden won at Belle Isle in 2019. 

This June 1 marks the 28th anniversary of Greg Moore's first career victory at Milwaukee, and the 17th anniversary of Ryan Briscoe's first career victory at Milwaukee. 

This Sunday will be Tom Sneva's 77th birthday. 

No driver has won six races or more in a season since Will Power won six times in 2011.

Since 1946, there have been 24 instances of drivers winning six races or more in a season.

No driver has won four consecutive races since Sébastien Bourdais in the 2006 Champ Car season. 

Since 1946, there have been nine instances of winning streaks lasting four races or longer.

Only once has a Chip Ganassi Racing driver won four consecutive races. In 1998, Alex Zanardi won at Belle Isle, Portland, Cleveland and Toronto.

In two races on this Detroit street course configuration, the average starting position for a winner is third. Álex Palou won from pole position in 2023 and Scott Dixon won from fifth last year.

Eleven consecutive street races have been won from a top ten starting position.

In each race on this configuration has the winner led the most laps. 

The average number of lead changes at Detroit is 7.5. There were ten lead changes in 2023 and five lead changes in 2024. 

The average number of cautions at Detroit is 7.5. There were seven cautions in 2023 and eight cautions in 2024. The average number of caution laps is 39.5. There were 32 caution laps in 2023 and 47 caution laps in 2024.

In last year's race, there were 27 consecutive caution laps from lap 33 through lap 59 for four separate incidents. 

Half of the cautions in last year's race were for incidents at the turn three hairpin. Seven of the 15 cautions over the last two years have been for turn three incidents. 

In neither of the first Detroit races has the first lap been completed under green flag conditions. 

The longest green flag run in last year's race was 27 laps, the final 27 laps of the race.

Despite all the cautions and incidents in last year's race, only one car failed to finish the race, and that was Christian Rasmussen, whose race ended after 24 laps due to a mechanical issue.  

Predictions

Álex Palou. Just pick Álex Palou for every race moving forward. You are going to be right at least 40% of the time. Besides Palou, Honda remains in control on the street courses, but Chevrolet will be competitive, and at least in the picture. Kyle Kirkwood will be a front-runner. Scott McLaughlin will lead Team Penske and put the Indianapolis 500 behind him. There will be fewer than five cautions and fewer than 25 caution laps. And people will be disappointed they didn't get a mess of a race. Prema will get its best qualifying effort of the season on a road/street course. No one between 11th and 16th in the championship will be tied on points after this race. There will be no disqualifications post-race, but someone will get fined for something. Sleeper: Nolan Siegel. 

First Impressions: Detroit 2024

1. On what was a sloppy race day, it is probably best Scott Dixon pulled out this victory. There were accidents, a rain shower, and with the number of caution laps, it opened the door for someone to stop earlier than thought possible and make it to the end of the race. You didn't need to tell Dixon twice. 

Stopping with 44 laps to go, it would require some help to make it, but this race was always going to provide it. Once Dixon made the stop, everyone should have been afraid. More should have anticipated Dixon's move and come with him. It would be tough for the rest of the field to do it, but if Dixon was shuffled behind a few competitors, it would at least give everyone else a better chance. 

Instead, Dixon held the point as others made their final pit stops, and like Dixon does, he made enough fuel to win comfortably and even make it back to the pit lane on the cool down lap. Add to it Álex Palou's first bad day in over a year-and-a-half, and Dixon is now the championship leader. There are plenty of races to go, and Palou will not disappear, but Dixon knows how to race with a lead. It is setting up for Ganassi to control this championship to Nashville.

2. Marcus Ericsson needed a good day and he got it. This is a race where few performances will stand out. Ericsson made a run late as he had better tires and didn't have to save fuel. He was a little too far back to chase down Dixon, but coming 0.8567 seconds short considering how the last few races went, the Indianapolis 500 especially, is a boost for the Swede. 

3. Marcus Armstrong clung to his first career podium finish. Armstrong was on the same strategy as Dixon, but the sophomore driver learned how difficult it is to go 44 laps to close out a Detroit race. Armstrong did a masterful job holding off Kyle Kirkwood, who looked poised to make a run for the victory. Once Kirkwood was vanquished, Ericsson pushed but Armstrong held strong, but he didn't quite have it in the final laps. Armstrong made it to the finish in third, but he did run out of fuel on the cool down lap. He did all he could. Third is a great result.

4. Kyle Kirkwood didn't have the legs at the finish. On the final restart, he looked set to get ahead of Armstrong and take the fight to Scott Dixon, but Kirkwood could not get ahead of Armstrong. Detroit is a tough place to pass, and Armstrong executed a stout defense that arguably won the race for the Dixon. It killed Kirkwood's tires and he had to let Ericsson go. Kirkwood likely feels a victory slip out of his hands, and I think it did, but fourth is a rare result for Kirkwood. It is his first top five finish that wasn't a victory. He wants to win, but he must pile up these results as well.

5. Alexander Rossi was stuck in the opening lap incident when Will Power spun, and yet he rallied to finish fifth with Will Power right behind him. That is what this race was today. Over half the top ten you wonder how they finished there. This wasn't a good race. That isn't meant to slight Rossi, but he stuck to it, a few things went his way, and he finished fifth. Good for him.

6. Will Power was spun on the opening lap, had about a half-dozen penalties today and he ended up finishing sixth. This was not Power's greatest drive ever. Power didn't stop as earlier as Dixon and Armstrong, but he stopped not long after that. It moved Power to the front. Some could say this was one of his worst performances in quite some time. It was a bad race. Many drivers had bad days. Somebody has to finish sixth. There was a good chance it would be someone with a bad day. A conversation could be had if penalties should increase in severity if a driver has multiple offenses in one race. Persistent infringement should be a thing. 

7. Patricio O'Ward was seventh. I am not sure he did anything brilliant. Like Rossi, O'Ward was caught in the opening lap stack up, and it put him in the back. Then cautions went O’Ward’s way. It ended up in a top ten finish. Take it and run!

8. Felix Rosenqvist had a tire puncture on the opening lap. It could have been costly, but this race was a mess and Rosenqvist could jump up to ninth despite the setback. It makes up for Indianapolis a little bit. Unless it is a victory, you can never truly make up for a lost engine at Indianapolis, but this could have been a 17th-place finish. Eighth is a gift.

9.  It was a weekend for Santino Ferrucci. Practice incidents aside, Ferrucci punted Hélio Castroneves on lap 15. It was a bit of bad driving, but with the way this race went, a stop-and-go penalty could be overcome, and Ferrucci ended up ninth. As many foolish moves he makes, this was Ferrucci's fourth top ten finish through six races. He has been getting results even if it is a long way to get there. This is the best start for an A.J. Foyt Racing driver since Takuma Sato in 2013. Ferrucci isn't going anywhere, even if he is going to run into 80% of the field.

10. Théo Pourchaire drove a damaged car to a tenth-place finish. The incident that caused the damage was pretty eye-opening for Pourchaire. He barely made the corner and used Agustín Canapino as a brake, but Pourchaire held on. It was an impressive weekend for Pourchaire. He jumped onto a new street course and was up to speed immediately. He qualified seventh and looked good enough to make the Fast Six. He wasn't really at fault for the opening lap incident. There were four cars going for one spot on the racetrack. Pourchaire took a car most would have given up on and put it in the top ten. It was likely one of the most difficult drives of his career, and he looked up for it. This was a good pickup for IndyCar.

11. Christian Lundgaard had to stop for a splash of fuel on the final lap and it cost him a top five. Lundgaard still got 11th, but he looked better than that today. Lundgaard had his own fair share of contact, most notably parking his car on Romain Grosjean in the turn three hairpin. That was a bad move on Lundgaard's part. That was after he gambled staying out when the rain started to fall. Again, plenty of drivers had bad races. Lundgaard was just another one. It was 11th for him.

12. Agustín Canapino was working on a top ten result but he was sliding backward in closing laps. A top ten would have been kind to Canapino. Matching a career-best in 12th is still generous, but he didn't really do much wrong. This was not a bad day for Canapino. He had one of the few good days.

13. We are going to breeze through the field here. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing had Pietro Fittipaldi in 13th and Graham Rahal in 15th. Lundgaard was the best RLLR driver on this day. The other two were never in the conversation. RLLR showed good street course pace last year. This wasn't bad this weekend, but it was not great either. Lundgaard is the one guy who can make it work regularly. Rahal can make it work occasionally. Fittipaldi is stuck with the slow third car. 

14. Rinus VeeKay was spun on the mid-race restart when Will Power clipped him. VeeKay was off-strategy and on slick tire while others were on the wet tires. It could have worked out in VeeKay's favor. Instead, he was sent backward due to no fault of his own. At least VeeKay made it that far. Christian Rasmussen lost an engine after 25 laps. Rough day for Ed Carpenter Racing. 

15. Álex Palou was all over the place today, but not in a bad way. The alternate tire was junk and Palou had to stop early to get off of that compound. The cautions fell, Palou jumped ahead and was on the wet tires, which was not the long play, but it got him track position, and right when it looked like Palou was set for a top ten and maybe even a top five, Josef Newgarden spun in turn three, Palou was balked and the top ten streak ended. Palou took 16th, but this could have been much better. 

There are 11 races left this season. Palou is 18 points back. Palou will be fine, but this was the first time we have seen Palou have a bad day, and it wasn't even his fault. As long as Palou can avoid everyone else's mess, he will still be dangerous. 

16. Dale Coyne Racing is not going to do much better than 17th at the moment. Jack Harvey was 17th and really didn't cause any issues. Tristan Vautier was 18th and avoided the issues. Vautier was up to third as he tried to stretch his fuel like Dixon and Armstrong. That is Dale Coyne Racing's only shot at the moment. Even then it was likely not going to shake up in their favor. 

We cannot take anything from these results. Coyne has next to no resources and Vautier was called three days before practice. There will likely be a new different at Road America. This is not a recipe for success.

17. You noticed how two Andretti Global cars were in the top four? Colton Herta blew a good result today. Herta led at the start, took wet tires because he had to make a pit stop anyway and it was raining, and then Herta made a moronic move today trying to pass Palou and Vautier into turn four when the track was still damp off line. That pass was never going to stick. 

It is understandable that Herta was frustrated because he led the first third of this race, wasn't challenge at any point while leading, and yet was behind cars he felt he was better than, but this was not seeing the forest from the trees. Especially after Indianapolis where Herta lost a hefty amount of points, he cannot afford to make a terrible error. He was in the top five of the championship. There are 11 races left after today. Herta might not want to be behind Palou and lose points, but it would be better to lose two points to Palou than to lose 20 points to Palou.

It worked out that Palou ended up 16th while Herta was 19th, but Herta could have been in the top ten while Palou was caught in Newgarden's spin and Herta could have gained points today. It is another case of Herta coughing up points. Andretti Global must fix that. 

18. Scott McLaughlin was the only driver caught out in the rain. McLaughlin slid into the turn one tire barrier while running in a podium position. That knocked McLaughlin off the lead lap and he couldn't recover. Josef Newgarden had a bad pit stop when the fueler couldn't connect the fuel nozzle. Then Newgarden had an unsafe release penalty when he nearly bowled over Christian Lundgaard's crew. Newgarden was on the Dixon/Armstrong strategy, and he got into Kirkwood on the lap 70 restart, spinning himself out and stacking up Palou. 

Newgarden kept going, but then he slapped the barrier and that ended a miserable day. With a result of 26th, this is the fourth result outside the top fifteen through six races for Newgarden in 2024. This has been a problem for Newgarden since the end of last season. He has seven results of 15th or worse in the last ten races dating back to 2023. This isn't good. He cannot bank on winning six oval races to close the season and win the championship. If you cannot finish fifth or sixth once in a while no number of victories will be enough to win the championship. He might have a second Indianapolis 500 victory, but Newgarden has work to do. 

19. It is mostly stragglers from here. With all the incidents today, it should come as no surprise Sting Ray Robb ran into the barrier. Linus Lundqvist was caught in a stack up or two but I am not sure how he was 22nd. Romain Grosjean had enough today. Grosjean wanted to retire the car. The team told him to continue. This is destined to be the one and only year of the Grosjean/Juncos Hollinger Racing marriage.

Kyffin Simpson and Helio Castroneves had both of their races ruined after the Santino Ferrucci contact. Castroneves was run over. Simpson had nowhere to go and was collateral. A stop-and-go penalty doesn't quite have enough bite when the two drivers done wrong end up three laps and four laps down. 

20. This wasn't a good race. This isn't a good track. Belle Isle is not walking through that door. The downtown location is better for a Detroit race. There is more to do and it is easier for people to get to. Belle Isle isn't far, but it isn't the most accessible circuit. There is also a limit on how many people can attend Belle Isle. Far more people can surround a downtown Detroit circuit. That is not changing, but this circuit isn't up to IndyCar quality. 

This is a disservice to the series. I am not even going to play the "race after Indianapolis card" here. If this race was seven days after Portland or Long Beach or Gateway it would still look poor in comparison. 

But it isn't going to change. This is Roger Penske's event with strong Chevrolet support. It isn't going back to Belle Isle. It isn't going to Michigan International Speedway no matter how much you cry about it. This race will stay at the foot of the Renaissance Center forever. This is a corporate picnic and it happens to be an IndyCar race. 

21. At least Road America is next week.

Morning Warm-Up: Detroit 2024

Colton Herta won pole position for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix with a lap at 60.5475 seconds in the final round of qualifying. It is the 12th pole position of Herta's career and his first since Mid-Ohio last year. He is fifth among active IndyCar drivers in pole positions, and Herta is tied for 29th all-time with Parnelli Jones. The Californian had not started better than fourth this season entering Detroit. He is the fifth different pole-sitter through six races this season. Herta's last four podium finishes have all come on street courses, and five of his last six podium finishes have been on street courses. It has been 34 races since Herta's most recent victory in the 2022 Grand Prix of Indianapolis.

Álex Palou was 0.1520 seconds off Herta's top time and Palou will start second. This is Palou's tenth front row start in 70 IndyCar appearances. Only three of Palou's ten career victories have come from the front row. The Catalan driver has seven consecutive top five finishes dating back to last season. In 55 starts with Chip Ganassi Racing, Palou has 33 top five finishes.

After winning from third in the Indianapolis 500 last week, Josef Newgarden starts in third position for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. Newgarden is attempting to become the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 and the race following since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000. After the St. Petersburg penalty, Newgarden has not finished on the podium in a street race since his 2022 Long Beach victory, ten street races ago. 

Scott McLaughlin makes it an all-Team Penske row two. This is McLaughlin's ninth top five start in the last 14 races. The New Zealander has led the most laps this season with 126 laps led. McLaughlin is one of four drivers to lead in at least three races this season. Prior to the first two street course races this season, he had four consecutive top ten finishes on street courses. 

Scott Dixon will start fifth. Dixon has won 12 times in the month of June, the most IndyCar victories in the month. However, Dixon has not won in June since the 2020 Texas race, the first race of that season after a significant delay due to the pandemic. Four times has Dixon won from fifth on the grid, most recently was Road America on June 25, 2017.

Kyle Kirkwood caused a red flag in the final round of qualifying, and it cost Kirkwood his fastest two laps. Instead of starting third, Kirkwood will start sixth. He has finished better than his starting position in four of five races this season with the exception being Kirkwood finishing tenth at Barber Motorsports Park after starting ninth.

Théo Pourchaire is back in the #6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, and Pourchaire qualified a career-best seventh, 0.0287 from making the Fast Six. Pourchaire will drive this car for the remainder of the season. The #6 Chevrolet is 17th in the entrants' championship on 77 points, two points behind the #77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet and four points ahead of the #8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. The #6 McLaren has yet to finish in the top ten this season.

Will Power ended up eighth on the grid, 0.0557 seconds from making the final round of qualifying. Power had started in the top five in the previous four races. The Australian has finished on the podium in the last two visits to Detroit. In each of the previous two years, Power has not finished in the top ten of the Indianapolis 500 the week prior either. He was 24th last week in the "500."

Marcus Ericsson will start ninth in Detroit after starting 18th or worse in the previous three races. Ericsson enters Detroit with three consecutive finishes outside the top fifteen. This is only the second time in Ericsson's IndyCar career he has failed to finish in the top fifteen in three consecutive races. The other time was the fourth, fifth and sixth races of his career, Long Beach, the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis 500 in 2019. 

Santino Ferrucci find himself tenth on the grid, the second consecutive race Ferrucci has started in the top ten. It is the first time he has started in the top ten in consecutive races in his IndyCar career. Ferrucci has three top ten finishes through the first five races. Ferrucci is the first A.J. Foyt Racing driver with three top ten finishes through the first five races of the season since Takuma Sato in 2013.

Christian Lundgaard wound up 11th. Lundgaard has yet to finish in the top ten in his prior two visits to Detroit, whether it be Belle Isle or the downtown circuit. Lundgaard has finished 18th and 23rd in the two street course races this season. Last year, his average finish in street races was 9.8, which included a victory at Toronto and three total top ten finishes.

Patricio O'Ward brought out the red flag in the second round of qualifying after stalling in turn five. This caused O'Ward to lose his fastest two laps and relegated the Mexican to 12th starting position. This is only the fourth time in the last 30 races he is starting outside the top ten. O'Ward is coming off the 11th runner-up finish in his career in 77 starts as he was second in the Indianapolis 500.

Christian Rasmussen missed out on the second round of qualifying by 0.1024 seconds, but 13th will still be the best starting position of Rasmussen's IndyCar career. His 12th place finish at the Indianapolis 500 last year was his best finish of the season. The Dane was ninth and second in the two Indy Lights races held on this Detroit street course last year.

Romain Grosjean takes 14th on the grid. This is the fourth consecutive race where Grosjean has started outside the top ten. Prior to this stretch, only once had the Frenchman gone three consecutive races without starting in the top ten. Grosjean has not finished in the top five in his last 18 starts. 

Felix Rosenqvist missed out on the second round of qualifying for the first time this season, and Rosenqvist will start 15th. The Swede is coming off finishing 27th at the Indianapolis 500 after suffering an engine failure during the race. It was the fifth time Rosenqvist has finished 27th in his career. Four of those results have come at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, three in the Indianapolis 500 and one on the IMS road course. 

Alexander Rossi fell to 16th starting position, matching Rossi's worst starting position of the season. The American is coming off finishing fourth in the Indianapolis 500. Rossi has not had a podium finish on a street course since he was runner-up to Will Power in the final Belle Isle race in 2022.

Pietro Fittipaldi occupies 17th on the grid, his fifth time starting outside the top fifteen this season. Fittipaldi has finished outside the top twenty in three of five races this season after he was 32nd in the Indianapolis 500. Fittipaldi has finished outside the top twenty in eight of 14 career starts.

Rinus VeeKay will be on the outside of row nine. VeeKay was ninth in the Indianapolis 500. VeeKay has not had consecutive top ten finishes since the first two races of the 2022 season. VeeKay's only top five finish on a street course was second in the first Belle Isle race in 2021.

Agustín Canapino takes 19th, his third time starting on the tenth row this season. Canapino enters the sixth race of the season 20th in the championship on 56 points with his best finish being 15th at Long Beach. Last year, Canapino entered the sixth race of the season 18th in the championship on 56 points having finished 12th in the first two races of the season. 

Graham Rahal missed out on advancing from group two by 0.0614 seconds, but Rahal has a six-spot grid penalty after changing to his fifth engine this season through the seventh event, when including the non-championship Thermal Challenge. This drops to Rahal to 20th on the grid from 14th. He has finished outside the top ten in five of his last six street course starts. The exception was Rahal finishing ninth at Toronto last year. Rahal

Linus Lundqvist leads an all-Chip Ganassi Racing row 11. This is the second consecutive race where Lundqvist has qualified outside the top twenty, and he has not started better than 17th this season. Lundqvist won twice at Belle Isle in Indy Lights in 2022. Lundqvist was also second in both Belle Isle Indy Lights races in 2021. 

Marcus Armstrong starts next to Lundqvist in 22nd.This is Armstrong's worst starting position since he started 26th at Barber Motorsports Park in 2023. Armstrong lost an engine after six laps in the Indianapolis 500, pretty much all of which were under caution. It was Armstrong's second retirement of the season. The New Zealander was running at the finish in all 12 starts in 2023.

Sting Ray Robb will start 23rd for the second consecutive race. This is Robb's 23rd consecutive race starting outside the top twenty. Robb matched the second-best career finish with 16th in the Indianapolis 500 last week. Robb had finished 16th at St. Petersburg on debut in 2023. Robb led 23 laps in the Indianapolis 500, the third-most in the race behind only Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden.

Tristan Vautier makes his first IndyCar start since June 10, 2017 at Texas Motor Speedway, and Vautier will do it from 24th on the grid. His most recent street course start was June 14, 2015 at Toronto. Vautier's only top five finish in IndyCar was nine years and two days ago, a fourth at Belle Isle. 

Hélio Castroneves is in the #66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda in place of Tom Blomqvist for Detroit and Road America, and Castroneves will start 25th. Blomqvist's worst starting positions this season were 26th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and 25th in the Indianapolis 500. Last season, Castroneves had an average finish of 17.294. His average finish in five street course races was 19th. 

Jack Harvey takes 26th on the grid. Harvey had an accident in the opening practice on Friday. Between Belle Isle and this downtown Detroit circuit, Harvey has an average finish of 16.75 in the Motor City with his best result being 15th at Belle Isle in 2022. 

Kyffin Simpson has a six-spot grid penalty as Simpson is using his fifth engine of the season. Simpson will drop to 27th on the grid after the penalty after he was to start 23rd from being 12th best in the first qualifying group. Last week's Indianapolis 500 was the first time Simpson did not finish better than his starting position. 

USA's coverage of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix begins at noon Eastern with green flag scheduled for 12:45 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 100 laps.

Track Walk: Detroit 2024

The sixth round of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series has IndyCar on the streets of downtown Detroit for a second consecutive season on the 1.645-mile circuit around the Renaissance Center. Last year's maiden race on this downtown layout saw 189 total passes and 142 passes were for position. Thirty-two percent of the race was run under caution after seven caution periods. The longest green flag run was 35 laps. There were six consecutive caution laps to start race, 13 consecutive caution laps from lap 43 to lap 55, and 13 of 14 laps from lap 82 to lap 95 were run behind the safety car. 

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 12:00 p.m. ET on Sunday June 2 with green flag scheduled for 12:30 p.m. ET.
Channel: USA
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Marty Snider, Kevin Lee and Dillon Welch will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Friday:

First Practice: 3:00 p.m. ET (75 minutes)

Saturday:

Second Practice: 9:10 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 12:15 p.m. ET 
Sunday:
Warm-up: 9:30 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 12:30 p.m. ET (100 laps)

* - All sessions will be available live on Peacock

The Championship Picture

The Indianapolis 500 might no longer award double points, but with additional qualifying points for the Fast 12 and the general atmosphere of the event, combined with what has already been a tumultuous IndyCar season in the championship after the Team Penske penalties for the St. Petersburg infraction, the best thing to do through the first quarter of the season is reset where we are at before starting the final 12 races of the season. 

Álex Palou remains on top. With his fifth top five finish to open the season, Palou has 183 points and he is 20 points ahead of his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon in second. Dixon has three top five finishes and four top ten results. 

Despite his accident, Will Power remains third in the championship, buoyed with 11 additional points for qualifying second for the Indianapolis 500. Power does enter Detroit 26 points behind Palou. Patricio O'Ward closed to within 49 points of the championship lead with his runner-up finish. O'Ward's second was only his second top ten finish of the season. The other was his St. Petersburg victory. 

Colton Herta dropped to fifth in the championship, level with O'Ward on 134 points, but O'Ward owns the tiebreaker thanks to his St. Petersburg victory. Scott McLaughlin entered Indianapolis tied for sixth in the championship, and McLaughlin remains sixth in the championship, but he made up some ground to the championship lead, 12 points closer than he was, now 52 points off the top spot. 

An Indianapolis 500 victory in 2024 earns you $4.288 million and a ten-spot leap in the championship, as Josef Newgarden goes from 17th, 91 points behind Palou, to seventh and 61 points off the Catalan driver. 

Alexander Rossi moved up to eighth, 63 points back. Felix Rosenqvist's first retirement of the season sees him slip from fifth to ninth and 67 points off Palou. Despite finishing seventh in the "500," Kyle Kirkwood dropped from eighth to tenth in the championship, but he only lost two spots to the championship. Kirkwood is 68 points from the top.

Christian Lundgaard dropped to 11th on 102 points. Santino Ferrucci moved from 15th to 12th and sits on 95 points. Rinus VeeKay has 87 points from five races, one more than Graham Rahal, ands points more than Marcus Armstrong, whose Indianapolis 500 lasted only six laps. Romain Grosjean is 16th on 79 points. 

Linus Lundqvist remains the best rookie in the championship, in 17th on 73 points, but Lundqvist is only three points ahead of the next best rookie, his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kyffin Simpson. Marcus Ericsson fell from 16th to 19th in the championship after failing to complete a lap at Indianapolis. Ericsson is on 68 points while Agustín Canapino rounds out the top twenty on 56 markers. 

Christian Rasmussen and Pietro Fittipaldi are tied on 50 points with the tiebreaker going to Rasmussen thanks to Rasmussen's 12th at Indianapolis beating Fittipaldi's best finish this season of 13th at St. Petersburg. 

Jack Harvey did not run the Indianapolis 500 but he is 23rd in points with 47 points, one point more than Tom Blomqvist and Sting Ray Robb, two drivers that have contested every race this season. Callum Ilott's pair of 11th-place finishes between St. Petersburg and the "500" driving the #6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet has him on 39 points, one more than Théo Pourchaire, who will take over the #6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet for the remainder of the season starting in Detroit. 

With 12 races remaining, 648 points remain on the table. 

Can Josef Newgarden Win?

Considering we have just seen the first driver to successfully win consecutive Indianapolis 500s since 2002, Newgarden might be considering himself the man to end the 23-year slump of the Indianapolis 500 winner not backing up his Memorial Day weekend success with a victory in the following race. 

It has not happened since 2000 when Juan Pablo Montoya did it across two series. Montoya won the Indianapolis 500 as a one-off Indy Racing League entry for Chip Ganassi Racing. The following week Montoya won at Milwaukee as a full-time CART competitor. The last driver to win the Indianapolis 500 and the following race while competing in the same series was Arie Luyendyk in 1997, who won Indianapolis and then the inaugural Texas race. 

Since that week in 2000, no driver has been able to win consecutive races starting with the Indianapolis 500, regardless if it was over two series, just in the IRL or after re-unification. 

The last 23 Indianapolis 500 winners have an average finish of 8.6521 in the race following Indianapolis. Last year, Newgarden's tenth-place finish in Detroit made him the 15th of the last 23 winners to have a top ten finish in the subsequent race. It was the eighth time in the last nine years that the Indianapolis 500 winner was in the top ten of the following race. The lone exception in that run was Hélio Castroneves in 2021, who did not run the following race as he was a part-time driver.

Since 2013, the only Indianapolis 500 winner to finish in the top five in the following race was Takuma Sato in 2020 when Sato was runner-up at Gateway. Since 2001, there have been three other occasions where the Indianapolis winner was runner-up in the following race. It happened in consecutive seasons in 2007 and 2008 with Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon, both occurring at Milwaukee. Franchitti did it again in 2012, this time finishing second at Belle Isle. 

Newgarden led two laps last year at Detroit and it was only the seventh time in the last 23 years the Indianapolis 500 winner led a lap in the following race. It was also the fifth time the Indianapolis 500 winner led fewer than 15 laps in that race. The only time the "500" winner led the most laps in the following race was Dixon leading 147 laps on his way to finish second at Milwaukee in 2008.

Three times has Newgarden won consecutive races in his career, including in each of the last two seasons. Entering this season, Newgarden had not had the best results on street courses in the past few years. He was first on the road at St. Petersburg in March before his disqualification, and he was credited for fourth at Long Beach. Newgarden has not finished on the podium in a street race since his 2022 Long Beach victory, ten street races ago. 

Newgarden's average finish on street courses since 2022 is 9.333. He has been classified in the top five in three of the last four street course races dating back to last season, though Newgarden has technically finished in the top five on the road in all four events.

How Did This Winner Do at Indianapolis?

We spend a lot of time looking at how the Indianapolis 500 winner does in the following race and view the lack of a consecutive victory as some kind of hangover or let down. However, how does the winner of the race after the "500" do in the "500" itself? 

Is it a case of a driver riding a wave of momentum from Speedway, Indiana and into the next event? Do drivers bounce back from bad days and put May disappointments behind them? Is it rather scattered and there no clear pattern?

Let's dive into it!

The average finishing position for the winner after Indianapolis in the Indianapolis 500 is 9.772. Thirteen of the 23 winners had finished in the top ten at Indianapolis in the race prior. Only six of those drivers were top five finishes. Three of those drivers were runner-up finishers. 

Only once in the last 23 years has the winner following Indianapolis finished outside the top twenty in the "500." That was Ryan Briscoe in 2008, who won at Milwaukee a week after he was 23rd at Indianapolis. This is unfavorable news for the likes of Kyffin Simpson, Agustín Canapino, Will Power, Felix Rosenqvist, Linus Lundqvist, Marcus Armstrong, Pietro Fittipaldi and Marcus Ericsson.

Since 2001, four times has the ninth-place finisher at Indianapolis gone on to win the next race, the most frequent position to follow up Indianapolis with a victory. This should be pleasing news for Rinus VeeKay.

Only three times has the driver who has led the most laps in the Indianapolis 500 gone on to win the following race. Tony Kanaan led the most laps at Indianapolis in 2007 but the timing of a rainstorm prevented him from finishing better than 12th. Kanaan followed it up with a victory at Milwaukee. Scott Dixon led the most laps at Indianapolis in 2009 with 73 laps led and in 2020 with 111 laps led, however Dixon finished sixth and second respectively in those races. He followed it up with victories at Milwaukee and Gateway respectively.

In nine of the last 23 years, the winner following the Indianapolis 500 did not led a lap at Indianapolis. Four other drivers led fewer than ten laps at Indianapolis. 

In the last 23 years, on one occasion did the winner after Indianapolis not run the Indianapolis 500. That was Mike Conway in 2013, who did not participate at Indianapolis, but took over the #18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda at Belle Isle and then proceeded to win the first race of that doubleheader weekend. 

This is good news for both Dale Coyne Racing drivers this weekend. Jack Harvey will be back in the #18 Honda after Nolan Siegel failed to qualify in this car for the 108th Indianapolis 500. Dale Coyne Racing will welcome back Tristan Vautier in the #51 Honda for Detroit. Vautier last ran an IndyCar race at Texas in 2017, driving in place of an injured Sébastien Bourdais at Dale Coyne Racing.

Scott Dixon has won the race after the Indianapolis 500 in five of the last 23 years. The only other drivers with multiple victories in the race after Indianapolis in this timespan are Tony Kanaan and Will Power, two drivers that have won this race twice. Each time Power won the race after Indianapolis he won the championship. In eight of the 23 seasons has the winner of the race after Indianapolis gone on to win the championship, including in five of the last six seasons. 

The Manufacturers' Battle

Through five races, it is as evenly split as it can be in terms of victories. Chevrolet holds a three to two edge over Honda with 12 races remaining in the season. However, these races have all been rather one-sided. 

Though Patricio O'Ward is credited with the victory, Josef Newgarden led 92 of 100 laps at St. Petersburg. Chevrolet had taken the first four spots on the road prior to the disqualification of two Penske drivers. Either way, it was still a 1-2 for the American manufacturer with Will Power elevating to second after Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin were removed from the podium. 

However, at Long Beach, Honda took charge, sweeping the podium with Scott Dixon leading the way. Honda drivers combined to lead 51 of 85 laps, and Honda took seven of the top ten starting positions in the race. 

Bouncing down to Barber Motorsports Park, Chevrolet again controlled proceedings. With 73 of 90 laps led, Chevrolet went 1-2 again with Scott McLaughlin ahead of Will Power and that is how those two started the race as well. 

At the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Honda took four of the top five spots with Álex Palou winning the race with 39 laps led from pole position. Honda drivers combined for 82 of 85 laps led. Honda drivers led the opening 41 laps. 

Chevrolet was on top at the Indianapolis 500. Chevrolet drivers led 155 of 200 laps. Of the seven drivers that led at least ten laps, six drove Chevrolets. The only Honda driver to lead more than five laps was Scott Dixon with 12. It was Chevrolet's third 1-2 finish of the season with Josef Newgarden ahead of Patricio O'Ward. Chevrolet took seven of the top ten finishers and 13 of the top twenty. 

The 2024 season has seen the manufacturers alternate victories. If the pattern holds in Detroit, Honda should take the victory, and it would be its second consecutive victory on Chevrolet's doorstep. 

Last year, Honda won thanks to Álex Palou leading 74 of 100 laps from pole position. Honda drivers combined to lead another eight laps giving the Japanese manufacturer 82 laps led. Honda and Chevrolet did split the top ten. Honda has won eight of the last nine street courses dating back to Toronto in 2022.

In the manufacturers' championship, Chevrolet has the lead with 408 points to Honda's 386 points. In the drivers' championship, Honda has the top two spots and three of the top five, but the manufacturers are evenly represented in the top ten, each with five drivers apiece. Four different teams are represented in the top eight drivers. 

Through five races there have been five different winners from three different teams, but only one Honda team has won a race. That would be Chip Ganassi Racing. This is the second consecutive season to see five different winners through five races, and the third time in four seasons. The 2021 season opened with seven different winners. Only five teams have put a car on the podium this season through 15 possible opportunities, three Honda teams and two Chevrolet.

IMSA

This is the second of two street course weekends that IndyCar and IMSA shares. Like Long Beach in April, the GTP class will lead the way in IMSA. Unlike Long Beach in April, the GTD Pro class will compete in Detroit and not the GTD class.

The #7 Porsche of Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr has finished on the podium in every race this season and the 24 Hours of Daytona winners lead the GTP championship with 1,357 points. Fifty points back is the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac of Jack Aitken and Pipo Derani. The #31 Cadillac has finished second in three of four races this season.

The #01 Cadillac of Sébastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande won at Long Beach and is third in the championship, 88 points off the top. There have been four different winners through the first four races. The #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura of Jordan Taylor and Louis Delétraz won at Sebring and takes fourth in the championship with 1,244 points, 13 points ahead of Laguna Seca winners Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy in the #6 Porsche.

BMW has yet to finish on the podium this season. The #25 BMW of Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly has 1,088 points, 35 points more than the #24 BMW of Philipp Eng and Jesse Krohn. It has been a rough season for the #10 WTRAndretti Acura of Ricky Taylor and Felipe Albuquerque. With a best finish of fifth, the #10 Acura is a point behind the #24 BMW. 

Gianmaria Bruni has Bent Viscaal remaining as his co-driver in the #5 Proton Competition Porsche for a second consecutive round. Bruni has scored 1,026 points this season, 13 more than Richard Westbrook and Tijmen van der Helm in the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche. 

After a victory at Laguna Seca, Laurin Heinrch and Sea Priaulx lead the GTD Pro championship with 981 points in the #77 AO Racing Porsche. Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth trail by 56 points in the #14 VasserSullivan Lexus. Paul Miller Racing is 93 points off the championship lead with Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow in the #1 BMW, 21 points ahead of the #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin of Mario Farnbacher and Ross Gunn. 

Corvette has one podium finish through three races with the #3 Corvette of Antonio García and Alexander Sims on 812 points, four points ahead of the #4 Corvette of Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg. Pfaff Motorsports is coming off its first podium finish of the season with Oliver Jarvis and Marvin Kirchhöfer finishing second in the #9 McLaren at Laguna Seca. Pfaff has 799 points this season. 

Multimatic's Ford Mustang program has yet to score a top five finish this season. The #64 Ford of Harry Tincknell and Mike Rockenfeller has 774 points while Joey Hand and Dirk Müller have scored 746 points in the #65 Ford. 

There are two one-off entries for Detroit. VasserSullivan is entering the #15 Lexus for Parker Thompson and Frankie Montecalvo. Conquest Racing will run the #34 Ferrari for Daniel Serra and Albert Costa.

IMSA will hold its 100-minute race at 3:10 p.m. ET on Saturday June 1.

Indy Lights

Detroit will be the fifth round of the Indy Lights season, and Detroit marks a milestone weekend for the series. This will be the 500th race in series history. 

Jacob Abel enters this historic weekend with a 25-point lead in the championship over Nolan Siegel. Abel has finished second, first, first and second over the first four races with three pole positions. Siegel opened the year with finishes of first, second and second, but he was fifth in the second race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. 

Louis Foster won the second race on the IMS road course and Foster is up to third in the championship on 142 points. Caio Collet sits in fourth on 109 points, one ahead of Myles Rowe. Michael d'Orlando's season will continue onward to Detroit. D'Orlando is sixth the championship on 104 points, eighth ahead of James Roe, Jr., and Reece Gold. 

Callum Hedge has 93 points, one more than Jonathan Browne. Salvador de Alba has 83 points, nine more than Christian Bogle, and Jamie Chardwick, who was third in the first IMS road course race, is 13th with 69 points.

Last year, Reece Gold and Nolan Siegel split the Detroit doubleheader. Abel was fourth and ninth. Foster started on pole position for each race but finished 19th and third. 

The Indy Lights race will be at 10:35 a.m. ET on Sunday June 2. The race is scheduled for 45 laps.

Fast Facts

This will be the tenth IndyCar race to take place on June 2 and the first since Scott Dixon won at Belle Isle in 2019. Dixon also won at Belle Isle on June 2, 2018. 

The winner of the sixth race of the season has not gone onto win the championship since Simon Pagenaud in 2019.

In four of the last five years IndyCar has held races in Detroit, one of the Detroit race winners has gone onto win the championship that season. 

There have been seven different winners in the last seven races held in Detroit, Michigan. 

Chip Ganassi Racing has won three of the last five races held in Detroit, Michigan, and four of the last eight. 

Last year, Álex Palou won the Detroit race from pole position. The pole-sitter won three of five street course races last year, and the pole-sitter has finished first on the road in four of the last six street course races.

The average starting position for the last seven street course winners is 3.7142 with a median of third. 

Five of the last seven street course winners started in the top five. On the other two occasions, the winner started eighth each time. 

It has been 26 races since the second-place starting position has produced a winner. The most recent winner to start second was Alexander Rossi in the July 2022 IMS road course race.

It has been 78 races since the sixth-place starting position has produced a winner. The most recent winner to start sixth was Scott Dixon at Belle Isle in 2019. This year's Detroit race falls on the five-year anniversary of that race.

The most recent 1-2-3 finish on a street course was Andretti Green Racing's 1-2-3-4 finish at St. Petersburg in 2005.

Hélio Castroneves will drive the #66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda entry this weekend in place of Tom Blomqvist. Castroneves is second all-the in IndyCar starts with 392. He is 15 starts behind tying Mario Andretti's record of 407.

With his start in the Indianapolis 500, Scott Dixon moved into sole possession of third all-time in IndyCar starts with 390, breaking a tie with Tony Kanaan.

Five different drivers have set fastest lap in each race this season. 

There were ten lead changes in last year's Detroit race. It was one of two road/street course races last year to have at least ten lead changes.

The most recent street course race without a lead change was the 2012 Belle Isle race where Scott Dixon led all 60 laps. That race was shortened from 90 laps due to track conditions when the surface was coming apart and the damage caused James Hinchcliffe to have an accident. 

Last year's Detroit race had seven caution periods for 32 laps.

Predictions

Josef Newgarden continues his heater and wins with at least 70 laps led but was a stiff challenge from Álex Palou, who will record his eighth consecutive top five finish dating back to last season. Andretti Global will have a podium finisher. At least three drivers that finished outside the top twenty in the Indianapolis 500 will finish in the top ten in Detroit. There will be fewer caution laps and fewer caution periods than last year's race. Romain Grosjean will avoid contact with the barriers. Graham Rahal will not hit a barrier under caution. We will have at least 15 consecutive green flag laps from the start of the race. Patricio O'Ward will not have a penalty that leads to him making a mistake on track. Sleeper: Marcus Armstrong.

First Impressions: Detroit 2023

1. We may be looking at the first championship claimed early since Sébastien Bourdais in 2007 and the first year when no championship goes to the final race since 2005. Álex Palou looks untouchable, and through seven races, Palou now has two victories after his commanding performance in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, and the Spaniard holds a 51-point lead in the championship. He didn't need double points at Indianapolis to jump out to such a lead. Palou has been ruthless.

Eighth, third, fifth, fifth, first, fourth and first. That is Palou's run of form through seven events and after a clinical performance won him the 2021 title, he is well on his way to a second Astor Cup in 2023.

Palou fought off multiple challenges from Will Power with Scott Dixon lurking in the background. The frenetic nature of the race made it appear the race would swing from Palou's control into Power's, but the middle stint on the alternate tire unwound Power's grasp. It felt like Power went a lap too long and that handed the lead back to Palou. 

A few late cautions put Palou under pressure, but he didn't break. There was a moment he went wide into turn three and it could have cost him, but he held on and ultimately took a relatively easy victory in the closing laps. 

The field should be scared because there isn't a race remaining where it looks like Palou will struggle. He doesn't have any weak spots. Road America? He easily could win there. Same with Mid-Ohio. This victory is Palou's 11th consecutive top ten finish on a street course, so Toronto he is looking at worse at a tenth-place finish. Iowa might be tough, but he could manage a pair of top five finishes. Then it is Nashville, the IMS road course where Palou has already won at, Gateway, Portland and Laguna Seca. The final two tracks he has already won at in his career.

It would be wise if we prepare for history. Palou is on a trip to making it.

2. The circuit moved from Belle Isle to downtown Detroit, but the move didn't change much for Will Power. This race was near identical for Power from last year. Last year, Power went from 16th to first. In this race, Power went from seventh to second, but Power was pushing for the lead most of the afternoon. Power had stout restarts. He lost ground after taking a bump from Scott Dixon, but Power rallied. It was too much to overcome though and second will have to do. 

It is still an impressive performance. Power hasn't started in the top five this season, which is stunning considering his qualifying ability. The race results will come, but if he is finishing second after starting seventh and finishing there with ease, Power could put on a late charge this season if he is starting more at the front.

3. Felix Rosenqvist had a physical drive to third getting around Scott Dixon and then crowding out Alexander Rossi on the move for third. Rosenqvist was in the top ten all race and spent much of it in the top five. For the past two seasons this is what we have seen from Rosenqivst. Sometimes it doesn't end up with a great result, but more times than not it is better than most and it is rather respectable. 

We all know Palou is moving to McLaren. It is a matter of does McLaren expand to four IndyCars or puts Palou in for Rosenqvist? Rosenqvist is doing a convincing job of why the team should grow to four cars. McLaren likely knows that as well.

4. Started fourth, finished fourth, that should be a good day for Scott Dixon. It is. He really wasn't in the same ballpark as Palou and Power. There was a moment where it looked like the door opened and Dixon could have gone from third to first on the one restart. Unfortunately, Dixon couldn't squeeze through. 

Back in 2021, Dixon had tough year and was rarely the top Ganassi finisher. Last year, he had more control leading the team, but through seven races in 2023 Dixon hasn't been the best Ganassi finisher in any of them, and this is happening while Dixon has three top five results and six top ten results. Every Ganassi driver is competing at a high level. Dixon is strong, but not strong enough.

5. Alexander Rossi had second for a moment and then found himself in fifth. Rossi was gifted second when Dixon and Power touched and Rosenqvist was balked. It was a grand chance for Rossi, but his car didn't have the pace on the following restart and Rosenqvist hounded Rossi, and the pass knocked Rossi off the podium and back to fifth. Fifth is good, but it second was in his fingers. 

I don't think Rosenqvist did anything wrong with that pass. It was rough, but most passes today were rough. 

6. If it wasn't for Palou's dominance I would say Kyle Kirkwood was the driver of the day. Kirkwood was plowed over at the start when Callum Ilott misjudged the breaking point. Kirkwood had to replace the rear wing, which meant an early pit stop, but the audible worked to Kirkwood's favor and he was carving his way forward with Colton Herta. They both were in the top ten after their second stops. Kirkwood had a great final stop to gain more positions and then Kirkwood was in the mix when the Power-Dixon stack up happened. He likely made the right choice to back out and not force a pass on Dixon. 

Sixth is incredible considering how Kirkwood's day started. He needs more races like this. 

7. Scott McLaughlin had an odd day. He lost some spots, he had a moment with Romain Grosjean, was out of the top ten and then McLaughlin went elbows out to get back to seventh. It isn't the day McLaughlin would have liked, especially since he stared second. These days happen. 

I don't think Grosjean did anything wrong on that incident. Grosjean was out of the pit lane and he didn't dart across the track. I think McLaughlin was wistful hoping to get to the inside and beat Grosjean to the corner. That didn't work and McLaughlin lost out. 

8. Marcus Armstrong should run the remaining three ovals for Ganassi. Armstrong was eighth today, matching his career best finish. He spent the entire race in the top ten and never lost ground. He always ended up moving forward. In five starts, Armstrong has been the top rookie finisher in all five of them. He leads the rookie championship despite missing two events. I know Takuma Sato did well at Indianapolis, but Armstrong has more of a future ahead of him. He should use Iowa and Gateway to get accustomed to ovals before next year, because Armstrong is going to be full-time next year. If Ganassi doesn't look Armstrong up while losing Palou and possibly letting Marcus Ericsson walk Ganassi should be institutionalized. Armstrong cannot be missed.

9. An unscheduled pit stop shuffled Marcus Ericsson back. Ericsson managed to recover to finish ninth. Ericsson and Palou are the two drivers to have finished in the top ten in every race this season. The problem is Palou has been clearly better. Palou has six consecutive top five finishes. Ericsson had three top five finishes. Ericsson has some work to do. 

10. It wasn't quite Josef Newgarden's weekend. His first pit stop was slow. He didn't have great pace in this one. He ended up tenth. It could have been worse. Another year and another case of the Indianapolis 500 winner not winning the next race. Better luck in 2024.

11. Colton Herta had a broken front wing for about 65% of this race and it finally came off with about six laps to go after contacting with Rinus VeeKay. Herta was a mover early. He stopped under the opening caution for the Kirkwood-Ilott incident and Herta made up a significant amount of ground. He stalled out his run when McLaughlin emerged ahead of Herta after McLaughlin's first pit stop. If Herta was able to clear McLaughlin at that point I think Herta would have challenged for the top five and avoided emerging from his second pit stop behind Agustín Canapino, who blocked Herta, damaging the front wing in the process.

After qualifying issues, to go from 24th to 11th isn't a bad day, but it must be frustrating for Herta because he has one top five finish this season and has more good results slip away from him than fall in his lap.

12. Let's breeze through the field. Devlin DeFrancesco kept his nose clean and was 12th. That is the best you can hope for from DeFrancesco. Simon Pagenaud lost spots early and basically ran around 15th the entire race. It has been such a difficult season that 13th is a good day for Pagenaud. 

13. Agustín Canapino deserved the block call. He made a few moves, nothing dangerous but definitely unsporting, however, Canapino got spots after the early incident and he held his ground. That has been the common theme for Canapino. Many inexperienced drivers are gifted spots and fall like a rock. Canapino entered this year with next to zero single-seater experience and he doesn't blink in those difficult spots. The moments are not too big for him. Armstrong keeps finishing better than Canapino but Canapino is clearly the second-best rookie of the bunch and it isn't even close. 

14. Conor Daly did nothing and finished 15th. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing did not make much progress. Christian Lundgaard was 16th and Jack Harvey was 17th. Rinus VeeKay was battling Herta for 11th, then they had the contact that finally broke off Herta's damaged wing and it knocked VeeKay down the order. VeeKay was in the top ten for a good portion of this race. Unfortunately, the result isn't there again for the Dutchman. Hélio Castroneves was 19th but even that is flattering. 

15. What a wake-up call this was for A.J. Foyt Racing? Benjamin Pedersen 20th. Santino Ferrucci 21st. Both cars three laps down. Pedersen ran over Graham Rahal after Rahal got into the barrier under caution. Pedersen wasn't doing that good anyway before that incident happened. Ferrucci got caught a lap down after Patricio O'Ward got in the barrier, but even then Ferrucci was running 22nd and was going to eventually be a lap down. Then Ferrucci and Sting Ray Robb went off battling for 21st while both drivers were multiple laps down. 

Toto, I don't think we are in Indianapolis anymore. 

16. Speaking of Sting Ray Robb, he is out of his depth. Indy Lights has produced some good talent. Robb is not one of them. I don't care that he finished second in that championship last year. Some years are weak fields and 2022 was one of them. Add insult to injury for Dale Coyne Racing, David Malukas also hit the barrier under caution, ending his race. Maybe we should cool the "Malukas to Ganassi/Penske/Andretti" comments. 

17. Romain Grosjean threw away another result. This time it was seventh. A month ago, we were talking about how Grosjean probably had the best season in IndyCar up to that point but the results didn't go his way. When the accidents continue, it stops being a good season. It was your typical street course incident, catching a bump or a curb at the wrong point and it put Grosjean in the barrier. St. Petersburg wasn't on Grosjean. He lost air on his wing at the wrong place at the wrong time at Texas, but the last two weeks cannot happen if you are Grosjean. 

We saw the frustration after the incident. We cannot ignore the first 15 years of Grosjean's career. He made mistakes and had accidents in Formula One. This is more of the same, but I get the sense the difference now is Grosjean believes in the car he is driving and feels he is a real contender while some of those Formula One accidents were trying to do more with less. It is one thing to have an accident in seventh when you think the car is only good enough for 12th. It is another thing for it to happen when in seventh and believe you should be third, fourth or fifth. 

This weekend was ripe for Grosjean to get that elusive first victory. He has shown some of the best street course pace this season, but it is hard to truly believe it is going to happen because incidents like today are too common. 

18. Graham Rahal needs this week off. The entire Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing organization needs this week off. Today wasn't terrible for Rahal. It wasn't spectacular either, but he was moving forward from 27th. If the strategy plays out, Rahal is in the top fifteen and could be sneaking into the top 12 or ten. But it is cruel to catch a bit of understeer into turn one under caution. This course was rough. The surface likely played into it. The course being an unknown likely factored as well. Rahal's dejection was hard to hear. The man has no confidence at the moment. 

19. Someone must calm Patricio O'Ward down. When things go wrong for him, O'Ward has a habit of making it worse. Today, it was a long stop due to the left rear tire not being secured on his first pit stop. O'Ward hustled to get back on the lead lap and then was over-aggressive overtaking Ferrucci into the final corner and putting the car into the barrier. 

There was a lot of time left in this race when the accident occurred, about 60 laps. O'Ward had been contending for a top five. That might have been gone, but there was still a chance to salvage a result, and O'Ward overdrove the car when the situation required patience. 

He does this too frequently. Last year at Mid-Ohio, when the car started experiencing fuel pressure issues, O'Ward lost his cool over the radio. It happened at Portland in 2021 when that race and the championship was slipping from him. He had a bad moment at St. Petersburg in 2021 when he struggled on the alternate tire. There was the IMS road course race where he plowed into Alexander Rossi prior to the start. A lot people like to compare O'Ward to a ninja, but O'Ward struggles quite often with his emotions. 

This season O'Ward has fourth top five finishes and three results outside the top fifteen and in all three of those races, O'Ward lost his temper. In all three races, he made low-percentage moves and each one cost him. He isn't going to win the championship. He is bound to make another blunder and if he isn't paying attention, Álex Palou is blunder-less. Good luck beating that.

20. Callum Ilott's day lasted all of a lap. Ilott got the braking wrong. It sucks. We need to see him get through those starts. He shows encouraging pace, but there are plenty of races where he doesn't bring the car home and most of those mistakes seem avoidable.

21. I went to Belle Isle last year, loved every moment of it, was sad it was the final year and I walked most of what was this year's course and thought it had potential but would be a tough track. It took some time for me to appreciate Belle Isle, and it is tough to accept it has been replaced for this course, but this course did a good job today. 

Credit must be given to the drivers and Firestone. Firestone produced an alternate tire that dropped off and was difficult late in a stint. The drivers also made smart moves in areas where passing wasn't encouraged but done the right way could be pulled off. Passing happened in more areas than into just the turn three hairpin. I also think the over-under move from the outside of turn three into turn four was more practically than any of us originally imagined. 

It was an active race, but the track is a step down in quality from Belle Isle. Turn one is too tight, but there is nothing else that can be done because that is how tight Rivard Street is, which is the straightaway from turns one to two. I thought turn one would be a possible passing zone and it really wasn't, likely because there was no way for two cars to fit through it. There were more passes into turn two than I imagined, so that was pleasing. 

It also looked liked outside of E Jefferson Avenue, the long straightaway, none of the course was re-paved. Some of the areas around the pit straightaway were likely ground down, but it still needs more work. The nice thing about IndyCar for any international viewer is it does provide an accurate picture of American infrastructure with its street races. It is also an accurate picture of how much IndyCar can demand a city to do for a street race.  

This race was adequate, but it could be much worse. The last thing anyone wants is a race delayed due to red flags for a track blockage, but with how the track is from turn four through turn seven there will inevitably be a pile up in that section that will require a 15 to 30-minute clean-up because three cars blocked the circuit and 15 cars had to stop. 

The unfortunate thing is there isn't much else that can be done. After seeing the streets in that area, there really aren't many other alternatives for a street circuit. This is probably as good as it can be. 

With that said, I thought the double-sided pit lane was brilliant. IndyCar was probably a little fortunate there wasn't a pit cycle under caution. That is where it could have been a mess, but it proved it could work and not cause problems. It looked good. It was resourceful considering the space IndyCar had. Credit to the organizers. 

22. The only other thing I want to say, and I mentioned this a few times last year, I think IndyCar should try one road/street course race where everyone is required to use each tire compound twice. It would automatically make the race three stops, but it would change up the strategy significantly and likely in a good way. We knew in this race nobody was going to end on the alternate compound, but if each team was required to use each compound twice, somebody would likely try it and it would add a different element to the race.

Will Power jumped to the lead on the alternate tire and looked to be in control when he got the top spot from Álex Palou on that restart in the middle of the race. Power opened up a five-second lead, but then Power's tires were gone and ten laps later Palou was back on Power's rear end. It wasn't practical to have the alternate tires last 30 laps, but imagine if someone decided to put on the alternate tires with 15 laps to go. That could provide for an intriguing finish. 

IndyCar should try it once, preferably at a street course but a road course would also work. I don't think it would be a bad thing.

23. Detroit done. May behind us. Everybody take a week off and we will re-group at Road America.