First Impressions: Toronto 2025

1. Not every race will be pretty, and sometimes a victory comes from an early break. For Patricio O'Ward, stopping after two laps to remove the alternate tire paid dividends, as Scott McLaughlin had an accident after an unsecured tire came loose with McLaughlin attempting the same strategy. Instead of running at the back of the top ten, O'Ward lifted himself up to a better spot with three sets of fresh primary tires at his use.

The other cautions fell in O'Ward's favor as many teams were caught out on strategy. This put O'Ward in a spot to pounce and take a race victory. On the final pit stop, O'Ward crew nailed it and leaped ahead of Rinus VeeKay. From there, O'Ward ran away, untouched, and the late caution for Nolan Siegel and Felix Rosenqvist coming together in the final set of corners sealed the Mexican driver his second victory of the season. 

O'Ward ran to how the race played out. He didn't have to drive from tenth to first on the track. He had to make a few passes, but he found a way to the front and was able to make the most of how all the cautions fell. The team still had to nail its pit stop to get O'Ward to the front, and the pit stand didn't overthink it. They caught a break and didn't waste it.  

2. Rinus VeeKay took a stunning second place finish thanks to the cautions, but also to the strategy. VeeKay started on the alternate tire but ran until lap 13 instead of stopping under the McLaughlin caution. Then VeeKay did 44 laps on his middle stint to get into the window for the final round of pit stops while leading. Unfortunately, VeeKay's stop wasn't blisteringly quick. O'Ward ran a lap longer while having a better pit stop. This put O'Ward into the lead and VeeKay was fighting from behind, but never got close again to first.

It is still wonderful for VeeKay and Dale Coyne Racing. It has been a refreshing season for both parties. Dale Coyne Racing couldn't dream of a top ten finish last season let alone a podium. VeeKay did all he could and ended 2024 on a high, but time had run its course at Ed Carpenter Racing. However, VeeKay was not a hot commodity. The last driver hired for the 2025 season, VeeKay has reminded everyone how he was once seen as an emerging start. He won at 19 years old in 2021. He is still only 24, younger than O'Ward, Colton Herta, Kyle Kirkwood and Álex Palou. He has finished on the podium at least once in four of six IndyCar seasons and he has one driven for Ed Carpenter and Dale Coyne. 

I don't know how long Coyne can keep VeeKay, but top teams should be considering the Dutchman for next season.

3. Kyffin Simpson also benefitted from the cautions, but strangely, Simpson was the only Ganassi driver to start on the alternate tire. He went to lap 16 and then ran 42 laps on his middle stint. This put Simpson into a podium position, and he was little fortunate the final caution happened because Colton Herta was closing on Simpson. 

In his sophomore season, Simpson has podium, two top five finishes and five top ten results, but his best two results have been down to timely cautions in street races. He has raced well. He did well at Mid-Ohio, but I think the results have been a little flattering. It has been a strong year, but let's remember the context.

4. I don't know how Colton Herta could have been more caught out behind the eight-ball today. Starting on the alternate tire, Herta was always going to stop early. The McLaughlin caution sent Herta back into traffic, but he still in a spot where he could climb up the order. Herta made a lot of passes, but he always had work to do. Herta likely had the best car today, but sometimes it doesn't matter if you have the best car if your strategy is slightly off. 

5. Marcus Ericsson was also one of the few to stop before the McLaughlin caution, and it was a wonderful turn for the Swede. Ericsson was able to hang in the top ten for nearly the entire race. He was able to get a top five out of this and end his slump. Ericsson needed a day where nothing went against him. That was pretty much the case today. 

6. It is remarkable Kyle Kirkwood was able to recover after he was spun entering the pit lane under caution. That first pit box has its advantages. The disadvantage is an eager driver behind you can ruin your day. Marcus Armstrong got into the back of Kirkwood, and it looked like it was day over, but Kirkwood was a man on a mission. He likely was second-best to his teammate Herta today. Seeing as how things played out, that Armstrong spin likely only cost Kirkwood one spot in the final order. Perhaps he would have gotten ahead of Herta at some point. It could have been worse.

7. Graham Rahal had a quiet day and finished seventh, and I do not think Rahal minds that. We have seen plenty of races where there are incidents all over the place and Rahal is caught in something not of his doing. Today, Rahal steered clear of the chaos. The cautions didn't even cost him on strategy. He kept running in the top ten. That is a positive thing for him and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

8. Callum Ilott scores Prema's best finish one week after the team scored its best finish. Eighth is a good showing, and Ilott didn't do anything. He ended up making four stops as he made a stop on lap 38 for fuel-only, but that was after he caught a piece of the Jacob Abel-Josef Newgarden incident. The car was able to continue. Like Rahal, this is the kind of race where we usually see Ilott swept into something. Ilott nearly was, but it worked out where he was able to slip through. Ilott deserved this day.

9. David Malukas was nearly screwed. The McLaughlin caution really threw off everyone starting on the primary tire. Malukas took his alternate tire on lap 34, and he ran 15 laps, but that was about five laps too soon to make it to the finish. Malukas had to stop from third on track on lap 74, but Malukas had fresh tires and flew from about 17th to ninth in the final 26 laps. It looked like Malukas wasn't going to finish in the top 15. It turned into a top ten. He did make a little error on that final pit stop as the right rear tire was not secure. The team caught it in time though. 

10. Considering Scott Dixon was starting 17th, I understand why he started on the primary tire. Dixon had to do something different, but the flurry of cautions early kind of forced him to stay out as long as he could. He went 41 laps to open the race. The alternate tire was not going to last that long. Dixon ran 14 laps, which got him into the window for a two-stop race, but he was outside the top ten. Dixon did have better tires down the stretch and made up a few spots. It ends in a top ten, which is good, and maybe the most this team could have done with the strategy chosen and how the cautions fell.

11. I don't know where to start on Team Penske, but Will Power was its best finisher in 11th, Power seemed to be bumping into everyone despite having started fourth. He went backward quickly in this race Nothing went his way today, but he didn't look that racy out there either. Eleventh is a kind day to Power.

12. With Álex Palou finishing 12th, the championship gap to O'Ward is down to 99 points with four races remaining. I don't understand why Palou started on the primary tire, especially from second on the grid. 

Without the early cautions, everyone on the alternate compound stops within the first ten laps, which opens the door for those starting on the primary to run a 10-12 lap stint in the middle of the race. It would be a three-stopper for everyone. All I can think is Palou felt confident that he would get to the lead by lap 12 or 15 as all the primary starters would be in pit lane and he could go to lap 25 or lap 30 and then stop for the alternate tire. 

In that case, it sets up to where everyone is making their second stop at the same time. Everyone who stopped early to get rid of the alternate tire are stopping again between laps 35-40, maybe they can run to lap 45. If Palou needs a 10-15 lap stint, he is stopping between laps 35-45. It shakes out to where everyone will be together at the halfway point, but with the cautions, Palou had nowhere to go on strategy. 

Palou didn't have the greatest start, likely due to the tires, but his 12th-place result today was down to strategy, not because Chip Ganassi Racing did something wrong and the car wasn't in the ballpark. 

13. I think we need to cool it on acting like the championship is in play.

No. 

O'Ward needs to basically outscore Palou by 25 points over four consecutive races. If O'Ward wins all four, he needs Palou to finish eighth or worse in every race. If O'Ward is second in all four, he needs Palou to finish 15th or worse in every race. If O'Ward is third in all four, he needs Palou to finish 20th or worse in every race.

O'Ward isn't going to be on the podium in all four races. Palou isn't going to finish eighth or worse in all four. Two of Palou's best tracks are still ahead of him. Let's cool it. 

Mathematically, it is still alive. That doesn't mean we should suspend reason. More must be done than this one race. Is there any reason to believe that will be the case? Let's see where we are after Laguna Seca. 

14. Let's run through the field: This was an off weekend for Christian Lundgaard, and it doesn't help that his teammate won. Lundgaard struggled late as well. He nearly ended up in the barrier after contact with Conor Daly. This was a little surprising as Lundgaard has done well in street races.

Nolan Siegel was caught with nowhere to go when Felix Rosenqvist spun, but Siegel was still running about 15th when that happened. It wasn't going to be a brilliant day anyway for Siegel.

15. This was nearly a good day for Meyer Shank Racing. Both cars were in the top ten. Marcus Armstrong spun Kirkwood entering pit lane, earning Armstrong a penalty. Felix Rosenqvist blew turn three while running in the top ten, and then he spun on his own after battling front wing damage for most of the race, but which really got worse in the final stint. 

This is MSR's first truly bad day of the season. It sucks, but it also hasn't been the norm for this group. I expect MSR to bounce back at Laguna Seca.

16. Conor Daly was in a top ten spot until his tires were gone in the final stint. Daly dropped to 15th. Sting Ray Ray was a lap down in 17th, benefitting from the amount of attrition. That sounds about right for Juncos Hollinger Racing.

17. What a terrible day for Ed Carpenter Racing. Christian Rasmussen spun into the barrier after contact with Will Power in turn five. Alexander Rossi clipped the barrier exiting the final corner. Rossi's day was done. Rasmussen was able to continue but finish seven laps down. Woof!

The incident with Power was a racing incident. They were side-by-side in the corner. If we call that a penalty, no one will ever attempt a pass on a street course again.

18. I must have missed what happened to Louis Foster because his race was over after 67 laps. Devlin DeFrancesco was caught in the Abel-Newgarden incident, and DeFrancesco retired after 57 laps. At least Graham Rahal had a good day for RLLR.

19. I don't know where to begin on Team Penske. This feels surreal.

The McLaughlin accident after an unsecured tire does not happen to Team Penske. That happens to every other team. It was two laps into the race. I understand the strategy, but let's nail the first pit stop, why don't we? Take a breather. That strategy is not entirely dependent on the in-lap and out-lap. It is all about the following stint and then taking advantage of those on the primary tire on the next stint. 

Josef Newgarden had no where to go when Jacob Abel ran wide in the first corner. Of all the drivers to get caught in that incident in 2025, it is going to be Newgarden. 

I don't know how you can watch this Penske season and not be speechless. 

20. For the second consecutive Sunday, we were down a car. Santino Ferrucci had an accident in the morning warm-up, and A.J. Foyt Racing was unable to make the repairs or roll out a back-up car in time for the race. The circuit was damp, but drying, during the warm-up. 

I have long felt the warm-up session should not exist on Sundays for reasons like this. It is a negative for fans. It puts the crews in a position where they could have to thrash to re-build a car, and once done, the reward is to now do pit stops for a two-hour race. 

We saw one fewer car because there was an accident too soon to the start of the race. I also think it wasn't worth the risk to participate on a damp track when everyone knows it will be dry for the race. 

If the teams need to do a systems check, have an installation lap session at the start of the day like they have on ovals, and have the teams go out and run at 60% or 70%.  

Break the field up into four groups. Run the final four rows for five minutes. Once they are in, the next four rows go out. After that, split the final six rows into two groups of three and let them go out. 

You can still call it a warm-up. You can still have it be a broadcasted session. Turn into a race preview. Usher drivers to-and-from the Fox patio setup and have an abundance of interviews, but with the drivers. Have it be a time where the drivers can interact with fans on race morning. It can still be a session, but I don't think there is any benefit into making it a full session. Give the teams more practice time on Friday and Saturday where they can run in anger. 

21. These races happen, but they don't feel entirely satisfying. I do think it is time IndyCar increases the minimum lap amount on each tire compound to five or ten laps, and make it green flag laps. 

Does anyone understand why the limit is so low and is only two laps? That can be achieved in a caution period, and we saw that happen at St. Petersburg. There was a lot of action in this race, but something was taken away because you have a portion of the field that have to run 10-15 laps on one compound and the rest got away with doing two laps on it because of a timely yellow. That is part of the strategy but we can acknowledge the rules are flawed and could be improved. 

Either that or Toronto should have been a race where IndyCar mandated each team used both compounds twice. 

I don't understand how IndyCar ran that experiment once at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, a race that is already guaranteed to be a three-stop race, but did not try it at a street race where it would be more beneficial. Even with five additional laps, we went into this weekend thinking a two-stop strategy was still on the board. The cautions made that possible. 

I am ok with IndyCar trying things, especially things that aren't going to cost anything extra. It was willing to experiment once earlier this season, and since then it has been scared off from trying again. I hope IndyCar is open minded for 2026 because I don't think either would hurt this race and a few others.

22. The end is in sight with Laguna Seca a week away, and then a much deserved week off.

23. If forgot Robert Shwartzman! Shwartzman was 16th. I honestly don't know what he did today. There. All bases covered.

Morning Warm-Up: Toronto 2025

Colton Herta won pole position for the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto after running a lap at 59.832 seconds in the final round of qualifying. It is the second consecutive year Herta has started on pole position for this race, and the third time he has started first at Exhibition Place. Last year, he won from pole position while leading 81 of 85 laps. Herta seeks to become the first driver to win consecutive Toronto races since Scott Dixon swept the 2013 doubleheader. The most recent driver to win in consecutive years at Toronto was Michael Andretti in 2000 and 2001. He has won from pole position five times in his first 15 pole positions, but he has also finished outside the top ten in five races when starting first.

Álex Palou was 0.2758 seconds off Herta's top time and Palou will start second. This is Palou's six front row start of the season and he has started no worse than ninth this season. Five consecutive Toronto races have been won from the front row. With his victory at Iowa last week, Palou is now tied with Ryan Hunter-Reay for 24th all-time in victories, each has 18. Iowa was the 11th different circuit Palou has won at. Four of Palou's seven victories this season have come from the front row.

Marcus Armstrong has his best starting position of the season in third. Armstrong enters this weekend with six consecutive top ten finishes, and he scored his second career podium finish when he was third at Iowa last Sunday. His eight top ten finishes this season are Armstrong's most in a single season. This will be Armstrong's 42nd career start, and he is looking for his first career victory. Only once has a driver had a first career victory in a 42nd career start. That was Bobby Unser on July 4, 1966 in the Pike Peak International Hill Climb.

Will Power takes fourth on the grid. This is only the third time Power has started in the top five this season. Power has one street course victory in the last nine seasons. That would be the final Belle Isle race in 2022, a season which ended in Power's second championship. Through 12 races, Power has led only four laps this season. He has not finished in the top ten of the last six Toronto races with an average finish of 16.333 over that time.

Graham Rahal will start fifth, his best start in a street race since Rahal started fifth for the 2018 Long Beach race. Rahal has four consecutive top ten finishes at Toronto. He enters this weekend having not finished in the top five of his last 32 starts when he was second at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in August 2023. It has been 136 starts since Rahal's most recent IndyCar victory. Today's race falls on the 39th anniversary of Graham's father Bobby winning the inaugural Toronto race.

Kyle Kirkwood was unable to get a proper flying lap completed in the final round of qualifying, and this puts Kirkwood sixth on the grid. Kirkwood has five consecutive top five finishes in street races and eight consecutive top ten finishes in street races. The sixth-place starter has not won on a road or street course since Scott Dixon won the second race of the 2019 Belle Isle doubleheader. Three times has the sixth-place starter won at Toronto, most recently with Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2012 in the #28 Andretti Autosport entry.

Louis Foster missed out on the final round of qualifying by 0.1697 seconds, and Foster will start seventh. It is his fifth time starting in the top ten this season. However, his average finish when starting in the top ten is 15th. His average finish in the eight races starting outside the top ten is 19.625. Foster has finished on the lead lap in four consecutive races after having only three lead lap finishes in his first eight starts. He has finished 14th in the last three races.

Marcus Ericsson has his best starting position since Long Beach in April as Ericsson will start eighth. The Swede was 0.2703 seconds from making it to the final round of qualifying. Ericsson enters this weekend with 11 consecutive results outside the top ten. He has finished outside the top ten in three of his four Toronto starts. In 2022, Ericsson started ninth and finished fifth.

Rinus VeeKay starts in the top ten for the third time this season as the Dutchman will take ninth on the grid. Prior to this weekend VeeKay has started four consecutive races outside the top twenty, and five consecutive races outside the top fifteen. In his prior two top ten starts, VeeKay went from fifth to fourth at Barber Motorsports Park, but in Detroit, he retired after six laps due to an engine issue after starting sixth.

Patricio O'Ward rounds out the top ten. In four street course races this season, O'Ward never qualified better than ninth, and his last street race with a starting spot better than ninth was third in the 2024 St. Petersburg season opener. O'Ward's best finish in three Toronto starts is eighth. He has finished outside the top ten in six consecutive steet races since his St. Petersburg's victory to open the 2023 season.

Callum Ilott made it out of the first round of qualifying for the second time this season, and he will start 11th, moving up a position as Scott Dixon was 11th in round two, but Dixon has a six-spot grid penalty for taking on his sixth engine this season. Ilott did not finish either race at Iowa. It was the first time Ilott has failed to finish consecutive races in his IndyCar career. 

Nolan Siegel was 0.0340 seconds from advancing from the first qualifying group, but he will slide up to 12th. Siegel had qualified in the top ten in the last three races, though he was unable to start last Sunday's race from Iowa. In five street course starts, Siegel's best finish is 19th, and he has only finished on the lead lap in one street course start. He completed all the laps on his way to finishing 20th at Long Beach this past April.

Kyffin Simpson missed out on the second round of qualifying by 0.0288 seconds, and Simpson takes 13th starting position. Last year, Simpson's average finish in street races was 19.25. Through three street races this season, his average is 11th. No matter what, the worst Simpson's average finish in street races in 2025 will be 15th. Simpson has finished better than his starting spot in five of the last six races.

Scott McLaughlin will start outside the top ten for the fourth consecutive race, as the New Zealander was 0.07 seconds from advancing in round one. Starting 16th, this will be the first time McLaughlin has failed to start in the top ten in at least four consecutive races since the final 11 races of his rookie season in 2021. McLaughlin has finished outside the top twenty in five of 12 races this season. Prior to this season, he had eight total results outside the top twenty in his first 68 starts.

David Malukas fell 0.0694 seconds from making the second round. Instead, Malukas will occupy the inside of row eight. He had started in the top ten in the last two street course races. Malukas' only career top ten finish on a street course came last year at Toronto. He started and finished sixth. His career average finish in street races is 17.1428.

Felix Rosenqvist has his worst starting position of the season in 16th. It is Rosenqvist's worst start in 16 races when he started 18th at Portland last year. Rosenqvist has finished worse than his starting position in three of four Toronto starts. The only time he has finished better was when he started outside the top five. He went from eighth to third in 2022.

Scott Dixon drops to 17th after his grid penalty. Dixon was second at Iowa last Sunday. It was the 53rd time he has finished second in his IndyCar career. Dixon is second all-time in runner-up finishes, three behind Mario Andretti's record. The last time Dixon won a race after finishing second was in 2019. He finished second at Iowa, the 12th race of the season, and then won at Mid-Ohio. Last Sunday's Iowa race was the 12th race of the season.

Josef Newgarden failed to make it out of the first round of qualifying for the third consecutive street course race, and Newgarden will start 18th. He was 0.1273 seconds off advancing. After finishing second and tenth at Iowa last week, Newgarden is looking for his first three-race top ten streak since 2023 when he had a four-race top five streak that started at Toronto with a fifth, and included a sweep of the Iowa doubleheader before capping off with a fourth in his hometown Nashville.

Christian Lundgaard is starting outside the top ten for a third consecutive race with Lundgaard slotting into 19th on the grid. This is also the Dane's worst start at Toronto. Lundgaard has not finished worse than eighth in his last four street course starts. He went from 12th to third at Long Beach in April, and a timely caution allowed him to go from 22nd to sixth in the second Iowa race last week.

Robert Shwartzman will round out the top twenty on the grid. With a ninth-place finish last week at Iowa Speedway, Shwartzman is the only rookie with multiple top ten finishes this season. In street races, Shwartzman's finishing position has approved by two spots in each race. He was 20th at St. Petersburg, 18th at Long Beach, and 16th at Detroit.

Conor Daly will take 21st on the grid. This is the third time in four street races Daly has started outside the top twenty. Daly has not finished better than 17th in his three street course starts this season. His average finish in five Toronto starts is 15.4. This is Daly's first Toronto appearance since 2022 when he went from 25th to 20th.

Christian Rasmussen starts 22nd, his 12th time in 13 races starting outside the top fifteen. The only time he started in the top fifteen was starting tenth at Detroit. He has started outside the top fifteen in 22 of 26 career starts. While Rasmussen has finished in the top ten in all four oval races this season, his best street course result is 15th, and his average finish in street races is 20.667.

Santino Ferrucci rolls off from 23rd position, the 12th time in 13 races Ferrucci is starting outside the top ten. It is the eighth time he has started outside the top fifteen. All four of his top ten finishes this season have come from grid positions of 15th or worse. While Ferrucci was 11th in his first Toronto start in 2019, he has finished 17th and 20th in his other two visits to Exhibition Place. 

Alexander Rossi is directly behind his Ed Carpenter Racing teammate Rasmussen in the 24th grid position. This the eighth consecutive race Rossi has started outside the top ten after opening the season with three top ten starts in the first five races. Rossi missed last year's Toronto race due to a wrist injury. Prior to that, he had finished 23rd and 16th in his last two trips to Toronto.

Sting Ray Robb was the slowest in the first qualifying group, and this places Robb 25th in the starting order. Robb's best two finishes this season have been on street courses. He was ninth at Long Beach and 15th at Detroit. He made up at least ten spots in each of those races, starting 19th and 26th respectively. His best finish in two trips to Toronto is 19th.

Devlin DeFrancesco rolls off from his home race in 26th position. It is his worst starting position since he started 27th at Barber Motorsports Park at the start of May. This is the worst starting spot for a Canadian at Toronto since 1994 when 31 cars started the race, and Claude Bourbonnais started 26th and Ross Bentley started 30th. DeFrancesco's best finish in his home race at Toronto is 18th. Two years ago, he was out after ten laps due to brake issues. 

Jacob Abel was the slowest car in the second qualifying group, and Abel takes 27th on the grid. This is Abel's tenth time starting 25th or worse in 2025. Abel is coming off his career best finish of 11th in the second Iowa race. After failing to finish on the lead lap in his first five starts, Abel has led lap finishes in four of his last six starts.

Fox's coverage of the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto will begin at noon ET with green flag scheduled for 12:22 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 90 laps.

Track Walk: Toronto 2025

The 13th round of the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season is the one international trip on the schedule. Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada hosts an IndyCar race from the 39th time and this will be the 81st time IndyCar has raced in Canada. There have been four different winners in the last four Toronto races, and Honda has won three consecutive times. Canada will have one native driver entered in this year's race as we hit 22 years since a Canadian won in Toronto, and this year's race falls five days short of the 21st anniversary of the last Canadian win on Canadian soil. That would be Paul Tracy in the final Vancouver race on July 25, 2004. Only five races remain in the 2025 season, and this will be the final street race of the season.

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 12:00 p.m. ET on Sunday July 20 with green flag scheduled for 12:20 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: 10:30 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 2:30 p.m. ET 
Sunday:
Warm-up: 8:32 a.m. ET (25 minutes)
Race: 12:20 p.m. ET (90 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.

Five More Laps

Prior to the 2025 season, Toronto was one of six races to see its race distance increased. This year's Toronto race will be 90 laps. Outside of the 2014 doubleheader, every Toronto race since it returned to the schedule in 2009 has been scheduled for 85 laps. This will be the longest Toronto race since 2003, which was scheduled for 112 laps.

This distance change is meant to change pit strategy and discourage fuel saving, making a three-stop strategy more likely than a two-stopper.

At Mid-Ohio earlier this month, the additional ten laps had most teams running a three-stop strategy, however, Scott Dixon was still able to win the race despite making one fewer pit stop. It was the third consecutive time a 90-lap Mid-Ohio race was won with a two-stop strategy. Though Dixon won on a two-stop strategy, the next four finishers made it on three stops. Six of the top ten finishers were three-stoppers, and four made it on two-stop strategies. However, 18 of the 22 lead lap finishers made at least three pit stops.

At 85 laps, Toronto has been a clear two-stop race. Seven consecutive Toronto races have been won with a two-stop strategy. The last Toronto race won with three pit stops was in 2015 when Josef Newgarden, along with the rest of the top fifteen used a three-stop strategy. 

In the last six Toronto races, no one finishing in the top seven made more than two pit stops. In 2022, the top 13 finishers each made it on two stops. 

However, there should be some concerns whether five extra laps will lead to one more pit stop. 

Last year, Kyle Kirkwood won at Toronto after stopping on lap 34 and lap 53, however, Álex Palou ended up finishing fourth after stopping on lap 24 and lap 49. Palou went 36 laps on his final stint. If drivers can make it 30 laps, this will easily be a two-stop race. 

In 2022 and 2023, each winner stopped prior to lap 49. In 2022, Scott Dixon made his final stop on lap 46 and lap 46 was the earliest anyone made their final pit stop. In 2023, Christian Lundgaard stopped on lap 18 and lap 48, but two drivers stopped prior to lap 48 and made it to the finish. Palou and Colton Herta each stopped on lap 43, and made it 42 laps on their final stint. 

Cautions did play a small factor. In 2022, there were two cautions for nine laps after lap 46. However, in 2023, there was only one caution for five laps after lap 43, and that came from lap 46 through lap 50. In last year's race, nine of the final 21 laps were under caution. 

Last year's race saw Rinus VeeKay and Graham Rahal finish in the top ten on three-stop strategies, but they ended up eighth and tenth respectively. There were only 12 cars that finished on the lead lap in last year's race, and 12 cars failed to finish the race. In 2023, Rahal was the only driver in the top ten with more than two pit stops, and Rahal stopped four times on his way to finishing ninth. Rahal stopped under the first caution for an opening lap incident. He then stopped on lap 37 before stopping under caution on lap 43 and then under caution on lap 48 when he was more in the pit window. In 2019, Rahal also finished ninth after making three stops, the only non-two-stopper in the top ten of that race.

The Final Street Race

Toronto is the fourth of four street races on the 2025 schedule, and only two drivers could end up as the king of the road.

With his two victories at Long Beach and Detroit, Kyle Kirkwood has the most street course points this season. Add on 30 from St. Petersburg and Kirkwood has scored 137 points from the first three street course events. The only driver who could pass him is Álex Palou. Palou has 96 points, 41 points behind Kirkwood with 54 points left on the table. 

Kirkwood will clinch best street course driver with a 16th-place finish.

If Kirkwood does not start the Toronto race, Scott Dixon has an outside shot at best street course driver. Dixon has scored 86 points through three street course races, 51 points behind Kirkwood. Along with an absent Kirkwood, Dixon would need to win Toronto with at least two bonus points scored to surpass the American. 

Dixon has more pressure behind and then a chance to jump to the top. Christian Lundgaard has 85 street course points while Scott McLaughlin rounds out the top five on 83 points. Lundgaard's best street course finish was third at Long Beach while McLaughlin's best was fourth at St. Petersburg after starting on pole position and leading the most laps. 

Colton Herta sits on 78 points while Felix Rosenqvist and Will Power are tied on 68 points. Rosenqvist and Power's best street course finish is fourth. Power holds the tiebreaker with his next best being fifth to Rosenqvist's seventh. 

There is a four-way for ninth. Josef Newgarden, Kyffin Simpson, Marcus Ericsson and Patricio O'Ward are all tied on 63 points. In order of tiebreaker, Newgarden is ahead as his best finish was third at St. Petersburg, Simpson was fifth at Detroit, Ericsson was sixth at St. Petersburg, and O'Ward's only top ten finish this year on a street course was seventh at Detroit. 

Alexander Rossi is eight points off the four-way tie for ninth with Marcus Armstrong a further three points behind Rossi. Santino Ferrucci rounds out the top fifteen on 50 points. Though Ferrucci was runner-up at Detroit, he suffered a 26-point penalty after his team was found to have run the incorrect driver equivalency weight. 

Sting Ray Robb has scored 47 points on street courses, one more than David Malukas. Rinus VeeKay has 38 points from street courses with Graham Rahal and Robert Shwartzman each earning 36 points from street races. Rahal holds the tiebreaker over Shwartzman as Rahal's best street cours result was 12th to Shwartzman's 16th. 

Conor Daly has 31 points while Christian Rasmussen has 29, Louis Foster has 28, Nolan Siegel has 26, Callum Ilott has 25, Jacob Abel has 24 and Devlin DeFrancesco has 21 points from three street course starts.

Siegel was not cleared to drive in the second Iowa race last week after his accident in the first race of the weekend. Arrow McLaren has contact Linus Lundqvist to be its reserve driver should the Swede's services be required.

Dating back to last season, Honda has won six consecutive street course races. Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Global have split the races three apiece. Scott Dixon and Kyle Kirkwood have each won twice while Colton Herta and Álex Palou have each won once.

Team Penske is Winless

We have completed 12 races and Team Penske is winless. 

The team did have its best race of the season at Iowa. 

In the Saturday race, Team Penske went 2-3-4 with Josef Newgarden ahead of Will Power and Scott McLaughlin. It was Penske's first time with multiple podium finishers all season. The team had three total podium finishes in the first ten races. The first Iowa race was the first double top five day for the team since the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May, and it was the team's first double top ten day since Detroit at the start of June.

However, thing reared its ugly head on Sunday. McLaughlin was caught in an opening lap incident when Devlin DeFrancesco spun. Power suffered an engine issue and was done after 21 laps. Newgarden drove a respectable race and led 72 laps, but untimely cautions shuffled the Tennessean back to a tenth-place finish. The second Iowa race was the fourth time this season Penske has had multiple cars finish outside the top twenty. Prior to this season, Team Penske had not had a race where multiple cars failed to finish in the top twenty on the racetrack since 1998 CART season finale at Fontana.

This is the first time Team Penske has failed to win one of the first 12 races in a season since its winless season in 1999. Newgarden enters Toronto on a 16-race winless streak, his longest slump since he went winless in the first 67 starts of his career. Power is on a 15-race winless streak while McLaughlin is on a  13-race winless streak. 

Prior to the two-year quarantine from Toronto due to the global pandemic, Team Penske was ruling the Queen City. Penske had won three of four Toronto races with three different drivers. Penske had a driver on the podium in eight consecutive Toronto races.

In the three Toronto races since its return to the calendar in 2022, Team Penske's best finish is fifth. Last year, Penske failed to have one top ten finisher at Toronto. 

Power has won three times at Toronto, but he has finished outside the top ten in six consecutive races at Exhibition Place. His average finish over those six starts is 16.333. Since winning in 2016, he has led only one lap at Toronto. 

Newgarden is a two-time Toronto winner and prior to finishing 11th last year, he had six consecutive top ten finishes North of the Border. However, he has not led in the last four Toronto races after leading 25 laps from pole position in 2018. 

Last year was McLaughlin's worst Toronto finish after he and Power came together in turn five, putting McLaughlin into the barrier. This left the New Zealander with a 16th-place finish. Prior to that, he finished ninth and sixth in his first two visits. In 2023, he led 28 laps after starting second. McLaughlin has started in the top six in all three of his Toronto starts.

Team Penske has only five Toronto victories. Prior to its three-in-four-year run at the end of the 2010s, Penske won in 1993 with Paul Tracy and Power won there in 2010. 

Engine Picture

As we are nearing the end of the season, engine usage will play a bigger role in starting grid as some teams will exceed the four-engine limit and will start incurring grid penalties. An unapproved engine change and exceeding the four-engine limit leads to a six-spot penalty on a road or street course, and a nine-spot penalty on an oval. 

We have already had a few penalties this season for engine changes. The earliest was at Detroit where Scott Dixon and Graham Rahal each had to serve six-spot grid penalties. Dixon took on his fifth engine at Detroit. Rahal had taken on an unapproved engine change during the Indianapolis 500 festivities, which had to be observed in the Motor City.

The only other grid penalty this season was Christian Rasmussen at Mid-Ohio. Rasmussen had an unapproved engine change after he lost an engine during the Iowa test prior to the Mid-Ohio weekend, which meant the Dane took on his fifth engine of the season. 

Engine count does play a pivotal role in paying out points for the manufacturers' championship. Any team that has exceeded the four-engine limit is ineligible to earn manufacturer points. The top two finishers from each manufacturer score points toward the manufacturers' championship. 

Entering the Iowa weekend, Santino Ferrucci and his #14 A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet was the only other Chevrolet on his fourth engine of the season. Every other Chevrolet team was on its third engine. During the Iowa weekend, four more Chevrolet teams took on their fourth engine of the season, the #2 Team Penske of Josef Newgarden, the #6 Arrow McLaren of Nolan Siegel, the #20 Ed Carpenter Racing of Alexander Rossi and the #76 Juncos Hollinger Racing of Conor Daly.

Will Power did lose an engine in the second Iowa race, meaning Power will likely be on his fourth engine starting this weekend at Toronto. 

In the Honda camp, Kyffin Simpson was the only other Honda besides Dixon to be on his fourth engine of the season. Every other Honda team was on its third engine. During the Iowa weekend, Graham Rahal in the #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda became the third Honda team to take on a fourth engine of the season.

Approved engine changes occur once an engine reaches 2,000 miles. The remaining five races alone have a scheduled 1,138.64 miles remaining before we get to practice and qualifying where mileage will vary.

Over the last five race weekends, starting in Detroit, Dixon has completed 2,066.32 miles through all the races, qualifying sessions and practice sessions. Though Dixon is no longer eligible for manufacturer championship points, and he will have to take a grid penalty regardless, he will be due for taking on his sixth engine in 2025.

Engine count was pivotal in the 2023 manufacturers' championship because though Honda won 12 of 17 races, Chevrolet earned the manufacturers' championship as Scott Dixon and Álex Palou were each ineligible to earn manufacturer championship points in the final three races despite the two Chip Ganassi Racing drivers combining to win the final three races. Chevrolet ended up winning the manufacturers' championship by 12 points that year.

Through 12 races in 2025, Honda has 1,147 points, a 208-point advantage over Chevrolet with five races remaining. Chevrolet has won the last three manufacturers' championships. Prior to that, Honda has won four consecutive years from 2018 to 2021. The average points total for the last four manufacturers' champions is 1,455.75. 

While Honda has won the last three Toronto races, since engine competition returned to IndyCar in 2012, Chevrolet holds the edge at Toronto having won seven of 13 races.

Road to Indy

The bottom two rungs of the Road to Indy join IndyCar on its trip across the border, and we could see a championship claimed this weekend. 

In USF Pro 2000, Max Garcia enters with 384 points as he has won four of the last five races, and through 14 races Garcia has yet to finish worse than fourth. With his run of form this season, Garcia is 97 points clear of Ariel Elkin with 132 points left on the table. Garcia just needs to leave Toronto with a 67-point lead to clinch the championship. He could even clinch the championship halfway through this weekend. 

If after the first Toronto race, Garcia has at least a 100-point lead, meaning he just needs to score at least three points more than Elkin in the opening race, he will clinch the championship. 

There are two other drivers still mathematically alive for the USF Pro 2000 championship. Canadian Mac Clark is on 279 points while Alessandro de Tullio is on 267 points.

Clark has yet to win in his USF Pro 2000 career, and in 2025 he has nine podium finishes but has yet to stand on the top step. De Tullio won three of the first four races, but he has only finish on the podium twice in the last ten races, and he has not been on the podium in the last five races. 

Nineteen cars are entered this weekend, and there is a surprise entry. Liam McNeilly, who won the first five U.S. F2000 races before visa issues prevented him from re-entering the United States after he traveled back to his native United Kingdom in May, is entered in the #6 Jay Howard Driver Development entry for Toronto. Despite having not raced since April, McNeilly is still seventh in the U.S. F2000 championship standings. 

USF Pro 2000 will race at 4:20 p.m. ET on Saturday July 19, and at 10:20 a.m. ET on Sunday July 20. Both races are scheduled for 25 laps or 45 minutes.

It is honors even in U.S. F2000 as Toronto marks the penultimate round of the season before the Portland triple-header to cap off the championship. No matter what, U.S. F2000 will head to Portland with the title undecided.

Jack Jeffers and Thomas Schrage are tied on 288 points after 13 races. Jeffers has won three times while Schrage has won twice. Jeffers has eight podium finishes while Schrage has nine. 

Teddy Musella has one victory this season, and Musella is 32 points off the tie at the top of the championship. G3 Argyros is on 219 points in fourth while Caleb Gafrarar has 212 points in fifth, and Gafrarar scored his first victory of the season when he won the first Mid-Ohio race. Evan Cooley rounds out the top six on 190 points.

Then you have McNeilly on 163 points in seventh before reaching Indianapolis Raceway Park winner Anthony Martella in eighth on 156 points. Lucas Fecury and Sebastián Garzón round out the top ten on 148 points and 147 points respectively.

The first U.S. F2000 race will be on Saturday July 19 at 1:30 p.m. ET. Race two will be at 9:25 a.m. ET on Sunday July 20. Both races are scheduled for 20 laps or 40 minutes.

Fast Facts

This will be the tenth IndyCar race to take place on July 20 and the first since Josef Newgarden won at Iowa in 2019. 

This will be the fifth Toronto race run on July 20. Bobby Rahal won on this date at Toronto in 1996. Mark Blundell did it 1997. Both races of the 2014 Toronto doubleheader were held on July 20 after the Saturday race was rained out. Sébastien Bourdais won the first race, and Mike Conway won the second race.

Since reunification, the Toronto winner has gone on to win the championship six times in 14 seasons. Four of those championships went to Chip Ganassi Racing drivers (Dario Franchitti in 2009 and 2011, Scott Dixon in 2013 and 2018). 

As there have been four different drivers to win the last four Toronto races, there have also been four different teams to win the last four Toronto races.

The last time there were at least five consecutive Toronto races with a different team winning was 2004 through 2010. In the final four Champ Car years, Newman/Haas Racing, RuSport, Forsythe Racing and Walker Racing won while Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske won the first two years post-reunification.

The last time we had five consecutive different drivers win was from 2013 through 2016. Scott Dixon won the second race of the 2013 doubleheader, Sébastien Bourdais and Mike Conway split the 2014 doubleheader, Josef Newgarden won in 2015 and Will Power won in 2016.

The average starting position for a Toronto winner is 3.6315 with a median of third. 

Five consecutive Toronto races have been won from the front row. Twenty total Toronto races have been won from the front row.

It has been 37 races since there has been a winner from the fourth starting position. The most recent was Álex Palou at Mid-Ohio in 2023. 

Only once has a Toronto winner started fourth. That was Will Power in 2016.

Nine times has a Toronto winner started outside the top five, most recently was in 2017 when Josef Newgarden won from seventh. 

Three times has a Toronto winner started outside the top ten (Michael Andretti from 13th in 2001, Mike Conway from 11th in the second race in 2014, Josef Newgarden from 11th in 2015).

Only once in the last 29 races has a winner started outside the top ten. Will Power won from 22nd in the second Iowa race last year. In the 29 races prior to that, seven times did the winner start outside the top ten. 

The average number of lead changes in a Toronto race is 4.324 with a median of four.

Six of the last eight Toronto races have had at least five lead changes.

The average number of cautions for a Toronto race is 3.324 with a median of three. The average number of caution laps is 13.594 with a median of 12. 

Thirty consecutive Toronto races have had multiple cautions, and there has never been a caution-free Toronto race.

Predictions

Honda completes the sweep and Colton Herta makes it four street course victories from four street course races in 2025. Álex Palou finishes on the podium while Kyle Kirkwood must settle for a top five result and lose more points to the championship leader. At least four top ten finishes make at least three pit stops, but all of the podium finishers make it on a two-stop strategy. Christian Lundgaard is back as the top Ed Carpenter Racing finisher. Team Penske does not have any cars finish outside the top twenty, and no Penske car makes contact with another. Louis Foster gets his first top ten finish. Sleeper: Marcus Armstrong.

First Impressions: Toronto 2024

1. It wasn’t the prettiest race in the world, but for Colton Herta, it was finally a result that reflected the speed he and the Andretti Global organization has shown this season. With the cautions early, it protected Herta and those running long on the opening stint on the two-stop strategy. Combined with the circuit, as long as Herta and company were faultless, this was their race to lose. It would require someone beating him, and nobody could on this day. 

Andretti Global should have scored a victory by now. Herta likely should have won Detroit. One slightly slow pit stop cost him at Iowa. An argument could be made he could have won Long Beach as well. Considering Herta had finished outside the top ten in his last three starts from pole position, he was more than due for a good result let alone a victory. He ended up on top, and the outside chance of a championship remains alive.

2. Colton Herta won and Kyle Kirkwood made it an Andretti Global 1-2 finish. These two led the field the entire race. If qualifying had green slightly different, it could have been Kirkwood leading 81 of 85 laps and taking the victory. This has been quietly a good season for Kirkwood. He hasn’t made a mistake. His worst finish was because he spun to avoid Alexander Rossi spinning and Sting Ray Robb flying through the air. Kirkwood could have arguably won at Detroit as well. This has been a much better season for Andretti Global, and though it only has one victory, it is likely the third-best team this year, though still significantly behind the top two.

3. Speaking of the top two, Chip Ganassi Racing had one of its worst qualifying performances in recent memory this weekend. Scott Dixon turned that around from 15th starting position, the first time Dixon failed to start in the top ten at Toronto in 18 appearances, and he finished third in a race where it felt natural to see him make up 12 positions. 

This has been a good season for Dixon, but he has had a few too many bad results. There is work to do to win the championship. It isn’t inconceivable for Dixon to go on a run, he won three of the final four races last year, but he will likely need to be better than that to even have a prayer at the 2024 title.

4. Scott Dixon’s problem, and really the problem for the entire field, is Álex Palou ended finishing fourth as a dozen cars did not see the checkered flag today, and another two cars threw away positions late when they were ahead of Palou. With how this race was going, Palou was going to finish in the top ten, the damage would not have been bad. He would not have finished fourth though, and today went from slowing the bleeding to extending his advantage. That is becoming Palou’s signature move and the field does not know how to counter it. 

5. Marcus Armstrong made it three Chip Ganassi Racing cars in the top five. Again, a little more survival than anything else. He made up four spots in the final 13 laps alone, of which only one was a legitimate pass on track and not because a Team Penske car was put in the wall by another Team Penske car, which than have to serve a penalty while another Team Penske blew a turn on worn tires. Good day for Armstrong. Not a good day for Team Penske. More on them later. Armstrong might have finished in the top ten without all the chaos. He wouldn’t have finished fifth though. 

6. David Malukas got sixth but he was struggling over the middle of this race. For a good while this looked like another good starting position bound for a 13th-place finish. However, Malukas missed the mayhem and he got sixth, exactly where he started, but this day was nowhere as near boring as the box score will suggest. 

7. It wasn’t a race victory for Christian Lundgaard, but Lundgaard made it seven Hondas in the top seven positions. This finish was going to be just on the outside of the top ten if it wasn’t for the accidents late. It must be a bittersweet feeling to go from dominating this race last year for your first career victory to not being a factor today. What looked to be a launching pad for more with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is a distant memory. Lundgaard will be with Arrow McLaren next year, exhausted after expelling so much effort at RLLR.

8. Rinus VeeKay’s top ten streak remains alive as he ended up eighth. Not much to promote for VeeKay. He missed the chaos and was eighth, which is funny because of the two drivers that finished behind him. If you keep your nose clean on days like these, a good result will come your way. It doesn’t make up for running 15th most of the race, but there is nothing wrong with robbery in this case. 

9. In ninth was Romain Grosjean. This was a little bit of a missed opportunity after Grosjean started fifth. The expectations cannot be more than a top ten finish for the likes of Grosjean and Juncos Hollinger Racing. It doesn’t have the resources to expect to go from fifth to first. He lost three spots on the first pit cycle. When you are running sixth, that is pushing into the clutches of a disappointing day. This group got a break, though it is hard to celebrate merely surviving.

10. Graham Rahal caught a break to finish in the top ten today as all three Team Penske cars tripped over one another or themselves in the closing laps. Rahal had nothing to lose taking tires late as only 12 cars were running on the lead lap. The tires didn’t get him the top ten finish, but he will take it however it comes. 

It should be noted VeeKay, Grosjean and Rahal entered this weekend tied on 177 points and these three occupied eighth, ninth and tenth last week in the second Iowa race. They took eighth, ninth and tenth again this week. 

11. Team Penske had two cars in the top five and three cars in the top seven with ten laps to go. Team Penske ended with zero cars in the top ten. The early issue was Josef Newgarden was setback with a botched final pit stop. Newgarden lost a lot of time and was stuck on used primary tires for that stint. He was skating in those closing laps and was vulnerable with those late restarts. Then he put on used alternate tires. 

Will Power punched Scott McLaughlin into the turn five wall with nine laps to go. McLaughlin was done and Power was penalized. Newgarden blew a corner making an ambitious attempt at a pass late to get something more out of this race. That didn’t work out. Newgarden took 11th, Power was 12th and McLaughlin got 16th. For a team that has arguably been the best this season, it has more unforced errors than most teams on the grid. 

This has surely been an unforgettable season for all the wrong reasons at Team Penske. 

12. We should honor the other three drivers that finished this race because only 15 guys saw the checkered flag. Linus Lundqvist and Théo Pourchaire had a moment together in turn three that cost each other time and trapped them a lap down. This was a better day than either actually ran. Pourchaire was behind as a late substitute for Alexander Rossi. It could have been worse. 

Toby Sowery had a nice save in turn eight that he can put on the highlight reel. He also caught a piece in the lap 73 accident that brought out a red flag. We will touch upon that in a moment. Sowery wasn’t going to finish in the top 20 without all the issues ahead of him. He gets a 15th-place finish to brag about. 

16. The pivotal accident was on lap 73. Patricio O’Ward spun in turn one, hoping to hold off Álex Palou. O’Ward’s car left no room for Marcus Ericsson, who parked into the side of O’Ward. Both were fine but in a precarious position. Sadly, the field didn’t get the memo of stopped cars in turn one. Pietro Fittipaldi clipped O’Ward’s front wing then Santino Ferrucci came flying in and launched over O’Ward’s car. Ferrucci flipped, grazing into the catchfence before landing on his side. Nolan Siegel had nowhere to go but be collected in the accident. Sowery had Siegel slide into his path. 

Fortunately, all drivers walked away. Sowery was able to continue. 

O’Ward spun late in the race on old tires. It happens. Ericsson was caught in a bad spot. The disappointing thing is the next three cars all had time to slow and none of them did. Things happen quick, but they had a moment to lift. I know there are the lights on the steering wheel for full-course cautions, but if IndyCar is going to hold cautions because the cars can restart on their own with the hybrid system, then there might need to be a local yellow light, something to alert a driver to slow down. 

With an incident like we saw with O’Ward, there should be a way a driver is alerted and must lay off the throttle. Just have them roll through the trouble area. O’Ward was parked at a point where drivers are returning to the throttle on corner exit. That is a point where a car rolling through the corner off the throttle would be more likely to avoid the stationary car.

If IndyCar wants to hold cautions, introduce a Virtual Safety Car system. O’Ward could spin and then a Virtual Safety Car could be called. Everyone would lift and slow down. If O’Ward were to restart his car and continue then there could be a countdown and the race could resume at full throttle after a 30-second pause. No need for a safety car. No need for bunching the field. If he couldn’t restart, then it becomes a full-course yellow. This is something IndyCar must investigate. It is already about six years behind on VSC. The technology is there. It is time to adopt it. 

Another concerns is the lack of marshals as flagman at these races. Compare Formula One to IndyCar. There are plenty of flagmen at every Formula One race. IndyCar lacks in some areas. It is better than NASCAR on a road course, but on a street course like this, with the number of blind corners, you cannot skimp on flagmen. I don’t know how you get more. These are volunteers. Unless the series is paying, it is hard to find people willing to sacrifice their weekends. 

It is just another area where IndyCar can improve. Will it be willing to pay for such improvements?

17. This lap 73 restart was set up when Kyffin Simpson hit the wall in turn eight only four laps prior. Tough track, first time on the circuit for Simpson, many drivers get into that wall. It happens, rookie.

18. Felix Rosenqvist has an hybrid issue end his race. Rosenqvist had already lost many positions after a long second pit stop and then going off into the turn three runoff after a battle with Marcus Ericsson. Too many times does Rosenqvist have a top five starting spot end in a race where he wasn’t close to a top five finish. The hybrid issue isn’t on him, but the dominos had already fallen against him and he was going to be clinging to a top ten result. Meyer Shank Racing is much more competitive this season. That is for certain, but it must start scoring results that match the qualifying pace. 

19. Hunter McElrea, Sting Ray Robb, Agustín Canapino and Christian Rasmussen were early retirements. Canapino lost out running side-by-side with Scott Dixon into turn four. Canapino was in a lose-lose position and backing out would have been wise. Rasmussen was caught on the outside of turn one on the opening lap and was checked into the barrier. 

Outside of the first five laps and the final 15 laps, it was actually a pretty clean race. 

20. At least this wasn’t boring. After the last three races where the big complaint was the lack of anything interesting happening, we almost made up for it today. These type of street races happen. I would say we had two of them this season. Last year, St. Petersburg was messy. Toronto is an old street course. It is tight and rough. There is no margin for error. It is bound to happen once in a while. 

21. Toronto needs a double-sided pit lane like Detroit. This pit lane had been an abomination for closing in on a decade. This should never have been the permanent solution. Move the double-sided pit lane next to BMO Field, on the inside of the track. There is a parking lot there that could work. Move that grandstand to the other side and move the suites to along side the stadium. Move the paddock back out into the parking lot and out of the convention center. It would make the track better. It would open up the final corner and allow more speed into turn one, increasing the likelihood of passing. 

These are changes that are easy on paper and should be easy in practice. IndyCar is outgrowing Toronto. A minor change like this one would be beneficial for a race that could soon been squeezed out of the city. 

22. And now break! Go enjoy the Olympics. We all need some time off until Gateway. 

Morning Warm-Up: Toronto 2024

Colton Herta took his third pole position of the 2024 NTT IndyCar season with a lap of 59.5431 seconds in the final round of qualifying in Toronto, leading a promising qualifying session for the Honda teams. It is the seventh consecutive race Herta will be starting on one of the first two rows. He only has one podium finish during this streak. It has been 40 races since Herta’s most recent victory. His average finishing position when starting on pole position is 8.135, and he has finished outside the top ten his last three times starting on pole position. Herta has finished in the top ten in all three of his Toronto starts, and he has finished on the podium the last two years.

Kyle Kirkwood made it an Andretti Global sweep of the front row, as Kirkwood was 0.1304 seconds off his teammate Herta. This is Andretti’s first front row sweep since the 2023 St. Petersburg season opener. Kirkwood has an average finish of seventh in the three street course races this season. His career average finish on street courses is 11.384 and he has finished 22nd and 15th in his first two Toronto starts.

Felix Rosenqvist makes it three Hondas in the top three positions. Rosenqvist was 0.2821 seconds slower than Herta. This is Rosenqvist’s sixth top five starting position this season. He had started outside the top ten in four of the last six races. Rosenqvist has finished in the top ten in all three of his Toronto starts. The Swede has finished worse than his starting position in four of his five top five starts in 2024. 

Scott McLaughlin is the best Chevrolet starter in fourth. After being disqualified from St. Petersburg, which left McLaughlin with zero points, he has scored only 15 points in street races this season, ranking him 27th out of 32 drivers that have participated in street races. 

Romain Grosjean makes it two Chevrolets in the top five. This matches Grosjean’s best starting position of the season. Grosjean has finished outside the top twenty in four of the last six street races, which includes a 22nd-place finish at Toronto last year.

David Malukas survived causing a local yellow flag in the second round of qualifying to advance to the Fast Six, and Malukas will take sixth starting spot. He has yet to finish in the top ten through four races with Meyer Shank Racing. His only top ten finish in ten street course starts was tenth at St. Petersburg in 2023. Malukas' average finish in street races is 19.1.

Josef Newgarden was 0.019 seconds off making the final round of qualifying and starts seventh. Newgarden is tied for 15th in street course points this season. He has scored only 40 points in the first three street races, 33 of those points came for finishing fourth at Long Beach. Newgarden is tied with Christian Lundgaard and Pietro Fittipaldi. Newgarden has five consecutive top ten finishes at Toronto.

For the second consecutive race, Graham Rahal starts eighth. Rahal was eighth in the second Iowa race last Sunday. He has four top ten finishes in the last five Toronto races. His finishes during this stretch have been ninth, 21st, ninth, fourth and ninth.

Will Power takes ninth on the grid. After his victory last Sunday in Iowa, Power has a shot for consecutive for the first time since 2018 when he won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis 500. However, Power has only eight top ten finishes in 17 Toronto starts.

Agustín Canapino benefited from a penalty on Álex Palou in the second qualifying group, allowing Canapino to advance to round two. The Argentine matches his career-best start in tenth. He started tenth in the most recent race from Iowa. Canapino has finished outside the top twenty in three consecutive races. the only time he has finished outside the top twenty in four consecutive races was from Long Beach through the Indianapolis 500 last year.

Marcus Ericsson finds himself 11th on the grid. Ericsson has finished in the top ten in five of the last seven street course races. This was only the fourth time Ericsson had made it out of the first round of qualifying this season. This is his seventh time starting outside the top ten in 2024. 

Christian Rasmussen starts 12th. Rasmussen returns for his penultimate start of the 2024 season. His final scheduled start is Portland as Ed Carpenter will run the oval races in the #20 Chevrolet. Rasmussen is currently the third-best rookie on points with 104. He is 52 points behind Linus Lundqvist and 21 points behind Kyffin Simpson. Rasmussen is 25 points ahead of Nolan Siegel in the rookie championship. 

Marcus Armstrong was 0.0258 seconds short of advancing out of group one, and Armstrong will start 13th. He was the top Chip Ganassi Racing qualifier. Armstrong scored his first career podium finish in the most recent street course race when he was third in Detroit. He started 19th in that race. 

Patricio O'Ward ended up 0.1242 seconds off making it out of group two, and the Mexican will start 14th. O’Ward had started in the top ten for four consecutive races and in eight of the first 11 races. O'Ward enters Toronto with seven consecutive top ten finishes. He has 18 top ten finishes in the lsat 21 races.

For the first time in his career, Scott Dixon starts outside the top ten at Toronto. Dixon will start 15th. He had started in the top ten in all 17 visits to Exhibition Place prior to this weekend. Dixon has 11 consecutive top ten finishes at Toronto, and he has finished in the top five in the last four Toronto races.

Defending Toronto winner Christian Lundgaard has more work to do this year, as the Dane occupies 16th on the grid. Lundgaard could become the first driver to win consecutive Toronto races since Scott Dixon swept the 2013 doubleheader weekend. Lundgaard could become the first driver to win at Toronto in consecutive years since Michael Andretti in 2000-01. Michael Andretti is responsible for three of the four times a driver has won consecutive Iowa races. Andretti won at Toronto in 1991-92 and 1994-95.

Santino Ferrucci is in 17th, his fifth time starting outside the top fifteen in the last six races. Ferrucci has finished in the top ten in two of three street course races this season. A.J. Foyt Racing has failed to have a car finish better than 17th in the last three Toronto weekends with an average finish of 21st for a Foyt entry.

After losing his fastest two laps in the first round of qualifying for blocking, Álex Palou will start 18th, his worst starting position of the season and his worst start since 22nd at Toronto in 2022. Prior to finishing 16th at Detroit in June, Palou had six consecutive top five finishes in street races, and 15 consecutive top ten finishes in street races.

Nolan Siegel makes his first Toronto start in 19th. Siegel had improved on his starting position over the previous three races. Two of Siegel's three victories in Indy Lights were on street courses. He won at Detroit in 2023 and at St. Petersburg this year.

Kyffin Simpson makes it an all-rookie row ten in 20th. This is only Simpson’s three start inside the top twenty this season. He started 23rd or worse in his first three street course races this season. Simpson never competed at Toronto in Road to Indy competition.

Toby Sowery makes it three consecutive rookies on the grid with the Dale Coyne Racing driver in 21st. Sowery is back for his second career start after finishing 13th on debut at Mid-Ohio two weeks ago. Sowery has also been confirmed for the Portland race next month in this entry. He was fifth and second in the 2019 Indy Lights race at Exhibition Place. Aaron Telitz and Oliver Askew split the victories that weekend.

Rinus VeeKay has his worst starting position since Barber Motorsports Park, as the Dutchman is in 22nd. VeeKay is coming off consecutive top ten finishes after finishing fifth and ninth at Iowa. It is his first time with consecutive top ten finishes since the opening two races of the 2022 season.

Pietro Fittipaldi is down in 23rd. This is the seventh time this season Fittipaldi is starting outside the top twenty. His best start on a street course this season was 15th at Detroit. Fittipaldi has finished 13th in two of the first three street races this season, at St. Petersburg and Detroit. Thirteenth is his best finish of the season.

Linus Lundqvist is down in 24th, his worst starting position in the last six races. Lundqvist is coming off his second-best finish of the season after he was 12th in the second Iowa race. His best finish on a street course was 13th at Long Beach. He has finished worse than his starting position on the prior two occasions he has started outside the top twenty. 

Hunter McElrea brought out a red flag on his first lap of qualifying, meaning McElrea will start 25th. McElrea makes his IndyCar debut in the #18 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing. The New Zealander becomes the ninth driver to race for Dale Coyne Racing this season, and the sixth debutant to drive for DCR in 2024. He is the 92nd driver in DCR history. McElrea has not raced at Toronto since the 2019 U.S. F2000 weekend when he finished third and 13th.

A broken right thumb took Alexander Rossi out of the #7 Chevrolet after Friday practice and Théo Pourchaire returns to Arrow McLaren. Due to the late call-up, and Pourchaire being in France on Friday evening, his only laps in the car were in qualifying, and he will start 26th. Rossi misses a race for the first time in his IndyCar career. The American had made 142 consecutive starts. 

After getting his best career start at Iowa, Sting Ray Robb will start in 27th, dead last for Toronto. Prior to his accident on the final lap of the Sunday race from Iowa, Robb had four consecutive top twenty finishes, the longest top twenty finish streak of his career.

Peacock's coverage of the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto begins at 1:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 85 laps.

Track Walk: Toronto 2024

The 12th round of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season is the regular trip North of the Border to Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario. This will be the 38th Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. Only Long Beach is a longer running street race in IndyCar history. This will be the fifth race in a 15-day span for IndyCar. A 26-day break begins once this weekend is over with the next race weekend taking place at Gateway Motorsports Park on August 16-17. With only six races remaining, there are 324 points available from now until the end of the season. After the Iowa weekend, only 26 drivers are mathematically alive for the championship.

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday July 21 with green flag scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET.
Channel: Peacock
Announcers: Kevin Lee, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Dillon Welch and Charlie Kimball will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Friday:

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

Saturday:

Second Practice: 10:30 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 2:45 p.m. ET 
Sunday:
Warm-up: 10:00 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 1:30 p.m. ET (85 laps)

* - All sessions will be available live on Peacock

Final Street Race

It might be the middle of July, but we are already at the final street course race of the season. After Toronto, five races will remain in the 2024 IndyCar season, four on ovals and the road course in Portland. This will be the last chance for a number of drivers to take advantage of their street skills and hopefully improve their position in the championship before the final quarter of the season begins. 

Through the first three street course races, Scott Dixon has been the clear leader on the road. With two victories, Dixon has scored 132 points over St. Petersburg, Long Beach and Detroit. He is the only driver to score more than 100 points over the first three street races. Dixon has won at least two street races in two of the last three seasons. He will have a shot to win three street course races in a single season for the first time since 2013 when he swept the Toronto doubleheader and then won the first race at Houston. That is the only time Dixon has won three street races in a season.

Patricio O'Ward and Colton Herta are tied on 90 street pints this season. O'Ward holds the advantage with the credit of victory at St. Petersburg though he finished second on the road. Herta is classified with podium finishes in the first two street course races, but his best street race was Detroit. He started on pole position and led the first 33 laps, but he was shuffled back after a number of cautions forced him to make a pit stop under caution when many had already stopped. Herta added insult to injury when went into the tires attempting to pass Álex Palou and Tristan Vautier. This left the American to finish one-lap down. 

Will Power has been no worse than sixth in all three street races this season, and this gives Power 87 points from the street races. Power is a three-time winner at Toronto tied for the third-most victories in the history of the race. However, he has failed to finish in the top ten in the last five Toronto races, and Power has an average finish of 17.2 over that span.

Álex Palou holds the championship lead and he can thank 82 points from the first three street races for helping him hold the top spot in points with six races remaining. In the most recent street race in Detroit, Palou had his top ten streak end at 23 races when he finished 16th. He was classified in the top five of the first two street races this year. 

Kyle Kirkwood sits on 80 street points this year as Kirkwood has finished tenth, seventh and fourth in the first three street races. He won two street races last year with victories at Long Beach and Nashville. In four Road to Indy starts at Toronto, he won three times.

Mathematically, Alexander Rossi and Felix Rosenqvist each have a chance of finishing level with Scott Dixon for most street course points, but that would require Dixon not starting this race with either Rossi or Rosenqvist winning Toronto with the maximum 54 points. The Amercian and Swede each have scored 78 points in the street races. Rossi has not won a street race since Long Beach 2019. Rosenqvist's best street course result is third, which came at Toronto in 2022 and at Detroit in 2023.

There is an interesting drop-off in street course points. Marcus Ericsson has scored the ninth-most points in street races this season with 77, but there is a 29-point drop off to Marcus Armstrong in tenth. Ericsson was second in Detroit and fifth at Long Beach. Armstrong was third in Detroit and finished outside the top ten in the other two street races. 

If Dixon starts the Toronto race, only the top four drivers could end the season with the most street course points. 

Who Will Be The First To Three Victories?

IndyCar enters Toronto with an interesting distribution of the race victories. Five drivers have won exactly two races through the first 11 events. There is a chance IndyCar could head into its Olympic break with six drivers each having two victories. 

Championship leader Álex Palou has won twice, at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May and at Laguna Seca in June. Palou also won the exhibition race held at The Thermal Club in Southern California in March. The Catalan driver has been the first to three victories in two of the last three seasons. In each of those seasons, Palou went on to win the championship. His third victory came in race #14 in 2021 and in race #8 in 2023. 

Will Power is fresh off his second victory of the season in the second Iowa race. this has Power up to second in the championship, but he is 35 points behind Palou. Both of Power's victories have come in the last five races. He won at Road America in June. Power has not won three races in a season since 2018, the year Power won the Indianapolis 500. The Australian has been the first to three victories in a season three times, but he has not done it since 2012.

Patricio O'Ward scored his second victory of the season at Mid-Ohio, though it was his first on the road after he was awarded the St. Petersburg over a month after the race took place only Josef Newgarden was disqualified. O'Ward has never had three victories in a season. If he wins at Toronto, it would be the first time he has won multiple street races in a season. 

Scott Dixon was the first to two victories this season after he won at Long Beach and Detroit. Despite this, Dixon is fourth in the championship, only five points behind O'Ward in third, but 57 points off his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Palou in first. Despite Dixon's record, he has only won three races or more in four of the last ten seasons. Last year, all three of his victories came in the final four races. Five times has Dixon been the first to three victories in a season. He won the championship in four of those five seasons.

Scott McLaughlin won at Iowa last week, taking the first race of the doubleheader. McLaughlin had previously won at Barber Motorsports Park in April. McLaughlin won three races in the 2022 season. If he were to win this weekend, McLaughlin will have won on all three track disciplines this season, having won on a road course, oval and street course. Power is the only other driver that could match that accomplishment this weekend. 

While these five go for three, Josef Newgarden looks to make it a sextet on two victories before the break. Newgarden has technically taken the checkered flag first in two races this season, but with the St. Petersburg victory struck from the record book after Team Penske's push-to-pass violation, his only official victory this season was the Indianapolis 500 in May. Newgarden has not won on a street course since Long Beach in April 2022. That is also his most recent podium finish on a street course. 

The first to three victories has won the IndyCar championship in four of the last five seasons, and in seven of the last nine seasons.

For 21 other drivers, they hope to get on the scoreboard before the break and pick up their first victory this season. In the last two seasons, the driver that won Toronto was picking up his first victory of the season. Prior to that, only twice in the previous 16 Toronto races had the race winner been picking up a first victory that season.

Featuring the Frenchmen

Toronto marks the final race before IndyCar takes its Olympics break. This summer's Olympics are being held in Paris, France, the third time the capital city has hosted the Summer Olympics, and the first time in 100 years. Paris joins London as the only cities to host three Summer Olympic Games. 

IndyCar has a history with Frenchmen in the series, and there is only one entered this weekend. Romain Grosjean is the lone Frenchman competing, but there have been two other French competitors this season. Théo Pourchaire made five starts with Arrow McLaren with his best finish being tenth at Detroit. Tristan Vautier made his first IndyCar appearance since 2017 when Vautier drove for Dale Coyne Racing at Detroit. Vautier was 18th in the Motor City. 

Grosjean sits 14th in the championship through the first 11 races with one top five finish and four top ten finishes, three of which have come in the last five races. In 58 career starts, Grosjean has yet to win an IndyCar race, but he has six podium finishes, five of which have been runner-up results. Eighteen drivers have taken 59 starts or more to get their first career victory in IndyCar. The last most recent driver to have their first career victory come in his 59th start or later was Ed Carpenter at Kentucky in 2011. It was Carpenter's 126th start, the second-most before a first career victory behind only Michel Jourdain, Jr.'s 129 starts.

Grosjean has made only two Toronto starts. He was 16th in 2022 and retired from last year's race after hitting the barrier, leaving him classified in 22nd. Grosjean has finished outside the top twenty in two of three street course races this season. He had a gearbox problem at St. Petersburg and he was spun at Detroit, dragging a damaged car to the finish three laps did. He did finish eighth at Long Beach in April.

If Grosjean were to win, he would become the seventh French winner in IndyCar history, and it would be the 60th French victory. Sébastien Bourdais is responsible for over half of those victories. Bourdais won 37 times, placing him seventh all-time in victories. Simon Pagenaud has 15 career victories, tied for 30th all-time with Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya. 

Three of the remaining four French winners all won over a century ago, and those three were all Indianapolis 500 winners. Gaston Chevrolet won four times in his career, including the 1920 Indianapolis 500. Jules Goux and René Thomas won the 1913 and 1914 Indianapolis 500s respectively, and those were the only IndyCar victories for each of those drivers. The remaining past French winner was Nelson Philippe, whose only victory was the 2006 Surfers Paradise race. 

Toronto has been a place for French success. Bourdais won twice at Exhibition Place in 2004 and 2014. Pagenaud won the 2019 race. The only countries with more Toronto IndyCar victories are the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. France is tied with Australia with three Toronto victories. Ten different nationalities have won at Toronto in its first 37 editions.

Overlooked Facts

We have completed 11 races this season, and there are a few facts that have gotten overlooked this season that should be properly acknowledged before we get into the Toronto weekend. 

For starters, Álex Palou has nine top five finishes this season. The only other driver that has finished in the top five in at least half the races is Scott Dixon, who has six top five finishes. 

While Palou is alone and has some daylight between him and second in top five finishes, Palou has company when it comes to top ten finishes. Palou is tied for most top ten finishes with Kyle Kirkwood. Each driver has nine top ten finishes. Entering this season, Kirkwood had eight career top ten finishes. 

Despite Kirkwood's top ten finish record, he has only been the best finishing Andretti Global driver in three races. Colton Herta has led the way seven times for the Andretti Global organization. Herta has also been the top Andretti starter seven times while Kirkwood has been the top qualifier four times. Marcus Ericsson has yet to be the top Andretti starter.

Scott Dixon might have two victories and sit fourth in the championship, but he is also tied for the seventh-best average starting position with a 9.5454. Dixon is level with Alexander Rossi. Rossi has been the best Arrow McLaren starter in five of 11 races. Dixon has been the best Chip Ganassi Racing starter in zero races this season. However, Marcus Armstrong has been the best Ganassi starter in two races and Linus Lundqvist has been the best Ganassi starter once, his pole position at Road America. 

Santino Ferrucci enters Toronto tenth in the championship. Ferrucci has seven top ten finishes through 11 races. That is more top ten finishes than Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, Marcus Ericsson, Christian Lundgaard and Graham Rahal. Ferrucci's average finish this season is 12th, the ninth-best in IndyCar, better than Newgarden and Lundgaard, who are tied on 13.273, and Ericsson at 13.909. 

Ferrucci could become the first A.J. Foyt Racing driver to have eight top ten finishes in a single-season since Kenny Bräck in 1998. 

Another thing that should be noted is Ferrucci has been carrying A.J. Foyt Racing this season. He has been the best Foyt finisher in nine races and he has been the best Foyt starter in all 11 races.

It has been a quirky season for Josef Newgarden. Newgarden won the Indianapolis 500, but he has finished outside the top fifteen in six of 11 races this season. However, Newgarden is tied for the sixth-most top five finishes this season with four. He is one of seven drivers with at least three podium finishes this season. He is also entering Toronto with the most fastest laps this season, as he has scored fastest lap in three consecutive races. It is the first time a driver has scored three consecutive fastest laps since 2007 when Sébastien Bourdais had a run of six consecutive races with fastest lap. 

Through 11 races, there have been enough races to separate the field. As long as Álex Palou shows up this weekend and starts the Toronto race, he can head into the Olympic break no worse than second in the championship. There are 26 points between Colton Herta in sixth and Kyle Kirkwood in seventh. There are a further 27 points between Kirkwood in seventh and Newgarden in ninth with Alexander Rossi sandwiched between them, nine points below Kirkwood and 18 points above Newgarden.

However, there is one tight part of the championship. Romain Grosjean, Rinus VeeKay and Graham Rahal are 14th, 15th and 16th in the championship respectively. All three drivers have 177 points. Even better is these drivers finished the second Iowa race in tenth, ninth and eighth respectively. 

Something else you likely have not noticed but would likely not be surprised to find out is through 11 races, only once has there been consecutive races where all the same drivers started. That would be Barber Motorsports Park and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. All 27 drivers from Barber were at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Luca Ghiotto started both races in the #51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda, and Théo Pourchaire was in the #6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet for both races. After the other nine races, there has been at least one change. 

From St. Petersburg to Long Beach, Nolan Siegel and Pourchaire joined the grid replacing Colin Braun and Callum Ilott respectively. 

Luca Ghiotto made his IndyCar debut at Barber in place of Siegel. 

At the Indianapolis 500, you had a number of one-off entries, but you also had Ilott returning and tagging out Pourchaire, and Katherine Legge running the #51 Honda.

Then Pourchaire was back in Detroit, and he wasn't the only new Frenchman as Tristan Vautier returned to IndyCar for the first time since 2017 to drive for Dale Coyne Racing. There was also Hélio Castroneves taking over for Tom Blomqvist at Meyer Shank Racing 

Then Vautier was out, Ghiotto was back in for Road America, while Agustín Canapino was taken out of the #78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet for Siegel. 

Canapino would be back for Laguna Seca with David Malukas joining Meyer Shank Racing and taking over for Castroneves. 

Ghiotto stepped out of the #51 Honda for Toby Sowery at Mid-Ohio.

Sowery was out for Legge returning at Iowa.

But Jack Harvey had back and neck issues that forced him out mid-weekend and allowed Conor Daly to slide into the #18 Dale Coyne Racing entry for the second Iowa.

This weekend, Daly is out of the #18 Honda, and Hunter McElrea will make his IndyCar debut. McElrea will become the sixth driver to make their IndyCar debut with Dale Coyne Racing this weekend. Sowery will be back in the #51 Honda in place of Legge. 

Road to Indy

The lower two rungs of the Road to Indy are joining IndyCar at Exhibition Place, and it is a pivotal weekend for both USF Pro 2000 and U.S. F2000 as this is each series' penultimate weekend before each concludes in Portland next month. 

In USF Pro 2000, there are seven drivers alive for the championship entering this weekend's doubleheader. 

Lochie Hughes holds a 26-point lead over Nikita Johnson after Johnson swept the Mid-Ohio races two weeks ago. Hughes has won three races while Johnson has six victories. Jace Denmark was second in both Mid-Ohio races and Denmark is 32 points off Hughes. Denmark remains looking for his first victory of the season, but he has seven podium finishes from 14 races. 

Christian Brooks is 62 points off Hughes for the championship lead, but with Brooks now racing the #39 HMD Motorsports entry in Indy Lights in place of Nolan Siegel, Brooks has ended his USF Pro 2000 season. Glenn van Berlo takes over Brooks' #19 Pabst Racing entry at Toronto. 

Any driver hoping to have a shot at the title in Portland will need to be within 66 points after Toronto. Liam Sceats is on 211 points, 93 points behind Hughes. Danny Dyszelski is 115 points back and Simon Sikes is 124 back. 

The first USF Pro 2000 race is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday July 20. The second race will be Sunday July 21 at 8:55 a.m. ET. Each race is scheduled for 25 laps.

There are five races left in U.S. F2000 as after the Toronto doubleheader will be a triple-header in Portland. With 165 points left on the table, ten drivers are still mathematically alive for the championship. 

Max Garcia holds a 42-point lead over Max Taylor. Taylor has won three of the last four races. Garcia has not won in the last six races and he has only one podium finish in that stretch. Sam Corry is 45 points back in third. Evagoras Papasavvas picked up his first victory of the season at Mid-Ohio, but Papasavvas remains 56 points off the championship lead in fourth. 

Joey Brienza is fifth, 100 points off the championship lead. To remain championship-eligible heading into Portland, a driver will need to be within 99 points of the championship lead. Elliot Cox is 115 points back in sixth. Nicolas Giafonne and Hudson Schwartz are tied on 164 points, 140 points behind Garcia. Michael Costello has two runner-up finishes in the last four events, and Costello is 158 points back. Ayrton Houk is the final driver mathematically alive, 160 points behind Garcia, but Houk is not entered this weekend.

U.S. F2000's first 20-lap race will be at 12:40 p.m. ET on Saturday July 20, and the second will be at 8:00 a.m. ET on Sunday July 21.

Fast Facts

This will be the sixth IndyCar race to take place on July 21 and the first since 2001 when Buddy Lazier won at Nashville. That was the inaugural race held at Nashville Superspeedway.

There has been one previous Toronto race held on July 21. That was in 1991, which Michael Andretti won. Andretti went on to win the championship that year. 

The other three races held on July 21 were won by Unsers. Al Unser swept the Indy 200 doubleheader held on the Indianapolis Raceway Park road course in 1968. Bobby Unser won the Michigan 200 on this day in 1974.

Chevrolet has the most Toronto victories with 13, but Honda has won the last two years. Honda has not won three consecutive Toronto races since engine competition returned in 2012. Honda has 12 Toronto victories.

Chip Ganassi Racing has the most Toronto victories with eight. Newman-Haas Racing is second with seven victories. Team Penske has five Toronto victories.

Last year, Christian Lundgaard became the third driver to pick up a first career victory at Toronto. Adrián Fernández and Justin Wilson were the first two drivers to do it.

No rookie has ever won at Toronto.

The average starting position for a Toronto winner is 3.7027 with a median of third.

Eighteen Toronto races have been won from the front row, including four consecutive Toronto races. Twenty-eight Toronto races have been won from inside the top five. 

Three Toronto races have been won from outside the top ten (Michael Andretti from 13th in 2001, Mike Conway from 11th in 2014 race two and Josef Newgarden from 11th in 2015). 

The average number of lead changes in a Toronto race is 4.305 with a median of four. 

Last year's race had seven lead changes. It was the ninth time a Toronto race had at least seven lead changes. Four of the last six Toronto races have had at least seven lead changes.

Five times has a Toronto winner led every lap (Michael Andretti 1991-92, Dario Franchitti 1999, Cristiano da Matta 2002 and Paul Tracy 2003).

The average number of cautions in a Toronto race is 3.5277 with a median of three. The average number of caution laps is 14.277 with a median of 12.5.

There has never been a caution-free race at Toronto.

The last Toronto race to have only one caution was in 1992.

Only one of the last 11 Toronto races has had more than four caution periods. That one race was the second race of the 2014 doubleheader, a race that was shortened due to the Saturday race being postponed to Sunday, and then ended early due to a time limit due to the race taking place in wet conditions. 

Predictions

Kyle Kirkwood heads into the Olympics break as the most recent IndyCar winner, as he takes victory in Toronto. Álex Palou's championship lead will be a little greater than it was prior to the trip to Canada. There will be at least one caution for an incident in the final set of corners. Josef Newgarden has a good day but not a great day. At least one comment will be made on the broadcast about this weekend being a 180º change from last year for Christian Lundgaard. Alexander Rossi will not run out of gas. Sting Ray Robb will not fly through the air. Someone will be complaining about the total passing figures when this race is over. Sleeper: Felix Rosenqvist.