Track Walk: Road America 2026

The tenth round of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season sees the summer half of the calendar begin from Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Nine races remain in the championship and all nine races will occur over a 77-day period. A maximum of 486 points could be scored over the second half of the season, meaning everyone is still alive, but we will soon be eliminating drivers from the championship. This will be the 37th race held on the 4.048-mile road course.

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday June 22 with green flag scheduled for 2:27 p.m. ET.
Channel: Fox
Announcers: Will Buxton, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Georgia Henneberry and Jack Harvey will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Friday:

First Practice: 4:00 p.m. ET (75 minutes)

Saturday:

Second Practice: 11:00 a.m. ET (75 minutes)
Qualifying: 2:00 p.m. ET 
Sunday:
Warm-up: 11:00 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 2:27 p.m. ET (55 laps)

Will it be Palou or Penske?

There has been a pattern at Road America since 2021. The winners in the last five years have been Álex Palou, a Team Penske driver, Álex Palou, a Team Penske driver, Álex Palou. 

This is good news for Team Penske, as it should be its year. It should also be good news for David Malukas and Scott McLaughlin because each time Team Penske has won during this stretch it has been with a different driver.

David Malukas remains third in the championship after his seventh-place finish in Gateway, and he has finished in the top five in the only two other natural-terrain road course races this season. Prior to 2026, Malukas had never finish in the top five on a road or street circuit. Last year, he scored his best Road America result as he was seventh driving for A.J. Foyt Racing. Prior to that he had finishes of 16th and 27th in his first two visits to the circuit. 

Road America has been a pleasant place for Malukas throughout his career, especially in the junior categories. His first career U.S. F2000 pole position came here in 2017, his second race weekend in the series, and he finished second in that race behind Rinus VeeKay. His first Pro Mazda victories came in 2018 when he swept the weekend. He also won at the circuit in Indy Lights in 2021.

Scott McLaughlin enters this weekend off a fifth-place finish at Gateway, his third top five finish of the season. McLaughlin has yet to have consecutive top five finishes this season. His only time finishing in the top ten in consecutive races was the first two races of the season when he was second at St. Petersburg and eighth at Phoenix. In the first two natural-terrain road course races, he was 16th in both events at Barber Motorsports Park and on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. 

Last year, McLaughlin was 12th at Road America. He has finished in the top ten in the previous three races at the venue, including a third in 2024. 

This could be the year where Josef Newgarden simultaneously breaks the trend and continues the pattern, becoming a repeat winner for Team Penske while also keeping Penske's even-numbered year Road America success going. In 2022, he won from second on the grid with 26 laps led. This came one year after gearbox issues on a restart with three laps to go cost Newgarden the lead and likely victory as he had led 32 of 53 laps up to that point. That hiccup allowed Álex Palou to streak through to victory, starting the current pattern we carry into 2026. 

Following his 2022 victory, Newgarden was runner-up in the next two Road America races before last year's event where a spin off the final corner put him into the barrier while in line for a top ten finish. He also won the 2018 Road America race, leading 53 of 55 laps from pole position. 

Fresh off his Gateway victory, Newgarden has not won consecutive races since he swept the Iowa doubleheader in 2023. He has not won consecutive races at different circuits since he won Texas and Long beach in 2022.

Then there is Álex Palou. The Catalan driver is on a bit of a slump with only one victory in the last four races. Road America has been a wonderful place for Palou. Along with three victories, he has five top five finishes in seven starts. Each of his three victories have come from a different grid position, but they have improved each time he has won. He first won from fifth in 2021 before winning from third in 2023, and last year he won from second on the grid. 

A fourth victory would break a four-way time for Palou as the all-time leader in Road America victories. He is currently level with Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi and Michael Andretti.

Is it Palou or a First-Timer?

Palou enters Road America with four consecutive pole positions, and his fastest qualifying lap at Gateway Motorsports Park made him the first driver to win four consecutive pole positions since Will Power in the 2011 season. 

It is the 17th time a driver has won four consecutive pole positions. One more pole positions and it would be the sixth time a driver has won at least five consecutive pole positions. 

The last driver to do it was Alex Zanardi, who won six consecutive pole positions over the 1996 and 1997 CART seasons. Zanardi ended 1996 with four consecutive pole positions at Mid-Ohio, Road America, Vancouver and Laguna Seca before opening the 1997 season with pole positions in Homestead and Surfers Paradise.

Prior to Zanardi, Danny Sullivan had five consecutive pole positions end his championship season in 1988. Sullivan started first at Mid-Ohio, Road America, Nazareth, Laguna Seca and Tamiami Park.

Mario Andretti is the only driver to have won at least five consecutive pole positions on multiple occasions. Andretti won the pole position for the 1965 season finale at Phoenix and then won six consecutive pole positions to open the 1966 season at Phoenix, Trenton, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Langhorne and Atlanta. Eighteen years later, Andretti had a five-race pole position streak covering Portland, the Meadowlands, Cleveland, Michigan and Road America. 

The record for most consecutive pole positions in IndyCar history belongs to Bobby Unser, who won eight consecutive pole positions between the 1971 and 1972 seasons. Unser's streak began in the final two races of 1971 at Trenton and Phoenix. He opened 1972 with pole positions at Phoenix, Trenton, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Michigan and Pocono. 

While Palou could make history, eight drivers could continue a streak. In the last two Road America visits, IndyCar has seen a first time pole winner. Two years ago, Linus Lundqvist won pole position in a qualifying session that saw changing track conditions from wet to dry. Last year, Louis Foster won pole position. 

Marcus Armstrong is the top driver in the championship without a pole position in his career. Armstrong has never started better than third in career, which is where he started at Road America two years ago. He started third later in the 2024 season at Milwaukee, and he started third at Toronto last season. 

The next best driver without a pole position is Kyffin Simpson, whose best starting position was third at Mid-Ohio last year. Dennis Hauger started third on his IndyCar debut at St. Petersburg in March. Hauger has not started in the top ten since. Nolan Siegel's best starting position was fourth at Mid-Ohio last year. Christian Rasmussen's best starting position was eighth at Mid-Ohio in 2024. It was Rasmussen's ninth career start. This week will be his 41st career start.

Caio Collet has yet to start in the top ten in his IndyCar career. Collet's best qualifying effort was 12th for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Sting Ray Robb's career best starting position is also 12th, and it also came earlier this season. It was at Phoenix. Mick Schumacher's only time starting better than 15th this season was at Phoenix, where Schumacher started fourth. 

Swinging this back to Álex Palou, a pole position at Road America would also be a first for him as well. While Palou has never started first at Elkhart Lake, he has started in the top five for five of his seven Road America starts. His average grid position here is 5.285.

The Top Five Battle

The IndyCar championship is starting to break off into chunks as half the championship is complete before the first day of summer. 

The top three are starting to break away. Álex Palou is on top with 342 points, and Kyle Kirkwood closed to within 49 points of Palou at Gateway. Then there is another 19 points between Kirkwood in second and David Malukas in third. The gap starts to build from Malukas to the rest of the final, and there are a few tight parts of the champion. 

In five different circumstances are at least three drivers within ten points of one another in the championship, and those battles are evenly spaced out.

Take the battle around fifth in the championship.

Christian Lundgaard is in fourth on 246 points, but eight points cover Lundgaard in fourth, Patricio O'Ward in fifth and Josef Newgarden in sixth.

Lundgaard is coming off salvaging a top ten result at Gateway, his first top ten finish of the season on an oval. On road and street courses, the Dane's form has been much better. He won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and he has four top five finishes in the six road/street course events in 2026. 

O'Ward remains in an odd place. Nine races, six top five finishes and yet he has not been on the podium. Dating back to last season, it has been 13 consecutive races without a podium result for O'Ward, the longest podium drought of his IndyCar career.

Newgarden may have two victories, but his only other top five finish was fourth in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. He has finished outside the top ten in three races this season, and he has not had a podium finish on a road or street course since he was third in the 2025 St. Petersburg season opener. 

In his first two visits to Road America, Lundgaard was in the top ten in each race. In his last two visits to Road America, Lundgaard has been unable to crack the top ten, and he lost a promising result after he spun in Canada Corner, dropping him to 12th in the final results. In his four trips to Road America, Lundgaard has started 13th, seventh, 13th and fifth. 

Road America is the location of O'Ward's first career pole position and first career podium finish, but in his five starts since, he has only one other top five finish at the circuit. In two of the last four years he has finished outside the top fifteen. The only time O'Ward has led at Road America was from pole position in the second race of the 2020 doubleheader. He led 43 of the first 53 laps before Felix Rosenqvist passed O'Ward as Rosenqvist had the preferred tire compound. 

Lundgaard has been ranked in the championship top five for the lsat six races, and he has been in the top five for seven of nine races. He dropped to seventh in the second round and remained seventh after the third round as well. 

O'Ward has been ranked in the championship top five after all nine races this season and in 23 consecutive races dating back to last season. The last time O'Ward was not in the championship top five was after Long Beach in 2025. He was sixth in the championship after that race. 

Newgarden led the championship after his Phoenix victory, and he was in the top five until Long Beach when he dropped to sixth. He was lifted back to fifth after the IMS road course race, but fell to eighth after his accident in the Indianapolis 500. 

Hanging Around the Top Ten

Four points separate ninth to 12th in the championship. Marcus Ericsson and Marcus Armstrong are tied on 196 points. Ericsson holds the tiebreaker thanks to his second-place in the most recent race at Gateway. Armstrong's best finish this season is fifth, which came at Phoenix and the Indianapolis 500. Ericsson's runner-up result actually lifted him up three spots in the championship after he had ranked in 12th for four consecutive races.

Three points behind the Marcuses is Graham Rahal, who has three third-place finishes this season. One point behind Rahal is Scott Dixon, who has one third-place finish this season, and that remains Dixon's best finish of the season. 

Ericsson has experienced a revival this season. Through nine races, he has five top ten finishes. He had two top ten finishes through the entire 2025 season. He has two top five finishes after having only one top five finish in 2025. In his first two seasons with Andretti Global, he ranked 12th and 21st in the championship after the first nine races. 

Armstrong has ranked between eighth and 12th in the championship after every race this season. He has been ranked in the top 12 of the championship for 20 consecutive races, last ranking worse than 12th after last year's Indianapolis 500 when he was 15th. Armstrong's championship position could be a tad better. He has finished 11th in two of the last four races, and he was 0.0155 seconds from finishing third instead of fifth in the Indianapolis 500.

Rahal is one of five drivers with at least three podium finishes this season. The only driver with more podium finishes than Rahal is Álex Palou on five. Rahal is level on three with Kyle Kirkwood, David Malukas, Christian Lundgaard and Patricio O'Ward. Every driver in the top five of the championship has at least three podium finishes, and so does Graham Rahal. Rahal has ranked in the top ten of the championship after three races this season. He was tenth in the championship after Long Beach. It was his first time in the top ten of the championship since he was sixth after the 2023 St. Petersburg season opener. 

Twelfth is a strange place for Dixon this late in the championship. He is also in a strange place as he has failed to finish in the top ten in three consecutive races, a first for Dixon since 2014. He has not failed to pick up a top ten finish in four consecutive races since his infamous 2005 season when he had a four-race slump over Milwaukee, Mchigan, Kentucky and Pikes Peak, the final time IndyCar raced at Pikes Peak. 

Ericsson had six consecutive top ten finishes at Road America before finishing 21st last year. Armstrong was fifth last year in this race after finishing 24th and 26th in his first two visits. After having six top ten finishes in his first six Road America races with an average finish of 5.1667, Rahal has two top ten finishes in his last six Road America starts with an average finish of 13.833. In the last five Road America races, Dixon has finished fourth in two of them and ninth in two of them. Dixon has not been on the podium at Road America since he won the first race of the 2020 doubleheader. 

Hoping For More Than 15th

Fifteenth is not great in IndyCar. It isn't terrible, but everyone knows it can be better. With the depth of the grid, somebody must be 15th, but none of these drivers want to be in that battle. 

Currently, seven points cover 14th to 17th in the championship.

Alexander Rossi is 14th on 152 points. Rossi has a five-point buffer to Kyffin Simpson in 15th. A point behind Simpson is Santino Ferrucci. Will Power takes 17th on 145 points. 

Of these four drivers, only Power has finished in the top five this season, and that was third at Arlington. Power only picked up his second top ten finish of the season at Gateway when he was fifth. 

Rossi has not finish in the top ten in the last four races, and none of those results have been in the top fifteen. This is the first time Rossi has gone four consecutive races without a top fifteen result. Last season, he had a seven-race slump without a top ten finish. That included a 13th-place finish at Road America. While Rossi has three podium finishes at this track, he has finished outside the top ten six times in 11 staets. He has finished off the lead lap in three of the last four races after having nine consecutive lead lap finishes dating back to last season. 

Simpson has not finished better than ninth this season, but Gateway was the first time this season he was outside the top twenty, finishing 21st. He was one of four drivers to have completed every lap through the first eight races of the season. All these results have come despite Simpson having started no better than seventh this season, but only once has he started outside the top twenty. That was 22nd on the IMS road course. 

Ferrucci's best finish this season is eighth, and it occurred at Barber and the Indianapolis 500. Outside of St. Petersburg, where he was caught in an opening lap accident, and Detroit, where he suffered a suspension failure, Ferrucci has completed every lap in the other seven races. He is returning to Elkhart Lake after finishing third in last year's race, only the third podium finish of his career. Ferrucci does have three top ten finishes at the circuit despite only starting once in the top ten in six appearances. 

Power may only have two top ten finishes this season, but he is also one of three drivers entered that have multiple Road America victories. Power won in 2016, IndyCar's return after a nine-year absence, and he won in 2024. However, Power's 2024 victory is surrounded by three results outside the top ten. Since IndyCar's return to Road America in 2016, Power has led the second-most laps at the circuit with 76. Only Josef Newgarden has led more, having led 159 laps. 

Fourteenth in the championship would be a one-spot improvement from Rossi from last year. Simpson would see a two-spot jump to 15th from 17th last year. Ferrucci is in 16th, and he was 16th in the championship last season. Power is down from ninth in the championship driving for Team Penske last season.

The Bottom and the Leader Circle

Two groups are forming at the bottom of the championship. One is battling for 20th. The other is about to starting battling amongst themselves for pride outside the Leader Circle positions. 

Romain Grosjean is 20th in the championship on 117 points, one point ahead of Nolan Siegel and five points ahead of Christian Rasmussen. 

Grosjean's second voyage into IndyCar waters is not matching how that first went. He is back at Dale Coyne Racing, but Grosjean's best finish remains the opening round of the season, eighth at St. Petersburg. His only other top ten finish was ninth in the Indianapolis 500. He has finished outside the top fifteen in five of nine races.  

Road America has been very good to Grosjean. In four starts, he has two top five finishes and three top ten finishes. The only time he has finished worse than his starting position at this circuit was 2023 when he dropped from 19th to 25th in the final result. This season, Grosjean has started 20th or worse in five race. 

Siegel had been on a good run of form prior to his accident after contact with Álex Palou at Gateway. Siegel had three consecutive top fifteen finishes entering the Gateway weekend, and he had completed every lap in five consecutive races. It was the first time he had three consecutive top fifteen finishes. 

A third-place result at Gateway lifted Rasmussen into the final Leader Circle spot, as the #21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet now ranks 22nd in the championship. That third-place finish also bought Rasmussen some insurance. He might be in the last Leader Circle spot, but he is 13 points ahead of the next closest competitor. Six times this season has Rasmussen started outside the top ten. He has also finished outside the top 20 on the last four occasions. 

The next closest competitor, like all three cars outside the top 22 in the championship and a Leader Circle position for 2027, have yet to finish in the top ten of a race this season. These remain the final three drivers without a top ten finish this season. 

It looked promising for Caio Collet at Gateway before his engine expired. Instead of possibly finishing in the top five, Collet was classified in 22nd. This has the Brazilian 23rd in the championship on 99 points. Collet has some breathing room to the other drivers outside the Leader Circle spots, but it is not much. It is ten points from Collet to Sting Ray Robb and Mick Schumacher. 

Robb and Schumacher are tied on 89 points. Robb holds the tiebreaker with his best finish being 14th. Schumacher has yet to finish in the top fifteen in a race this season. Robb has not started in the top twenty in seven consecutive races. Schumacher has finished on the lead lap in three of the first nine races. 

Robb's #77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet and Schumacher's #47 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda were two of the three charter entries to finish outside the Leader Circle spots after last season. The one that has escaped is the #19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda for Dennis Hauger. 

Road to Indy

All three Road to Indy series are competing this weekend at Road America, and all three series will be contesting multiple races with one triple-header on the schedule this weekend. 

With a seventh-place finish at Gateway, Nikita Johnson retook the Indy Lights championship lead as Enzo Fittipaldi suffered mechanical issues prior to the start of the race and had to start at the back of the grid. Fittipaldi could only climb to 13th. This pair of results led to Johnson leaving the first oval race of the season with a two-point championship lead.

Tymek Kucharczyk had his worst finish of the season at Gateway, finishing ninth, but he is still five points behind Johnson in the championship. Max Taylor scored his fifth top five finish this season as Taylor was fifth at Gateway. This has Taylor 27 points off the championship lead.

The man of the moment at Gateway was Myles Rowe, driving from 24th on the grid to win the race with the most laps led, 29 of the 75-lap affair. Rowe had run the fastest qualifying lap but was relegated to last on the grid after he ran an extra lap after taking the checkered flag. With finishes of second and first in consecutive races, Rowe is now fifth in the championship on 212 points. 

Alessandro de Tullio was second at Gateway and de Tullio is on 211 points, five points ahead of Lochie Hughes, who took sixth in Gateway. Juan Manuel Correa is on 172 points in eighth with Seb Murray on 166 points. Jordan Missig hangs on to tenth in the championship with 160 points, but Missig is only one point ahead of Josh Pierson, who is coming off his best finish of the season with third at Gateway. Max Garcia has a pair of top ten finishes in the last two races and this has Garcia on 150 points.

The best finishers from last year's Road America race are Hughes, Pierson and Rowe, who finished third, fourth and fifth respectively. Garcia and Taylor split the USF Pro 2000 races last year at Road America, with Garcia winning two of the three legs of that triple-header. 

The first Indy Lights race will be at 12:36 p.m. ET on Saturday June 20 with the second race Sunday at 12:06 p.m. ET.  The Saturday race is scheduled for 20 laps and a 55-minute limit. The Sunday race will be 18 laps or 50 minutes.

USF Pro 2000 is only running two races this year at Road America. Jack Jeffers remained the championship lead after finishing sixth at Indianapolis Raceway Park on the Thursday night prior to the Indianapolis 500. However, IRP winner Michael Costello leaped up to second. Jeffers has 110 points and a seven-point championship lead over Costello. Leonardo Escorpioni was second to Costello at IRP, and Escorpioni is 13 points off the championship lead.

An accident after two laps of action dropped Frankie Mossman to fourth in the championship, 21 points behind the championship lead. Brady Golan rounds out the top five on 80 points, but Golan is not entered for the Road America round. G3 Argyros is sixth on 72 points. Jacob Douglas and Thomas Schrage are tied on 70 points. Andrés Cardenas and Mac Clark round out the top ten on 64 points and 61 points respectively, but Clark is not entered for this weekend. Teddy Musella and Christian Cameron are tied on 60 points.

Douglas was on the podium in the first two races of last year's triple-header. Schrage and Musella split the victories in U.S. F2000 races last year. 

USF Pro 2000 will race at 3:50 p.m. ET on Saturday June 20 and 9:55 a.m. ET on Sunday June 21. Both races will be 15 laps or 45 minutes

It is a triple-header weekend for U.S. F2000, and Sebastián Garzón's championship lead is up to 54 points as he was third at IRP last month, his sixth consecutive podium finish to open the season. Garzón has 174 points while Brad Majman has scored 120 points with five top five finishes this season, but Garzón has won three times while Majman's only victory was the final race of the IMS road course triple-header.

Evan Cooley scored his first victory in his U.S. F2000 career at IRP. This has Cooley on 114 points in third. After being caught in two opening lap accidents at St. Petersburg, Cooley has four consecutive top five finishes, three of which have been podium results. 

Eddie Beswick is on 97 points in fourth with João Vergara in fifth on 88 points. Liam Loiacono was fourth at IRP, and Loiacono has 85 points, one more than Gabriel Cahan, who was second at IRP. Ayrton Cahan is seven points off his brother in eighth while Wian Boshoff has scored 66 points. 

Ryan Giannetta and Wesley Gundler are tied for tenth on 64 points. Giannetta holds the tiebreaker with a best finish of seventh to Gundler's best finish of eighth. Despite missing St. Petersburg, Oliver Wheldon is 12th in the championship on 63 points. Wheldon was on pole position for all three IMS road course races and finished 20th, third and second in those races. At IRP, he started and finished 13th.

Cooley is the top returning driver from last year's Road America U.S. F2000 round. He was seventh and second in last year's doubleheader. Jeffers started on pole position in both races, but he had an accident in the first race and dropped to seventh in the second race. Loiacono swept last year's USF Juniors triple-header at Road America.

The first two U.S. F2000 races will be run on Saturday June 20 at 9:00 a.m. ET and 5:50 p.m. ET. The third race will be held at 9:00 a.m. ET on Sunday June 21. All three races are scheduled for 12 laps or 40 minutes.

This is not the final time USF Pro 2000 and U.S. F2000 will compete at Road America this season. The two series will conclude their championships in Elkhart Lake on over the weekend of September 24-26. Both those rounds will run be triple-header weekends.

Fast Facts

This will be the eighth IndyCar race to take place on June 21, and the first since Dario Franchitti won at Iowa in 2009.

This year's Road America race falls on the 45th anniversary of A.J. Foyt's 67th and final IndyCar victory. It was the USAC Championship Car race held at Pocono Raceway. The race was shortened after 122 laps due to rain. Out of the 29 starters, eight cars were modified USAC Silver Crown cars to fill the field.

Sunday will be the first day of summer with the solstice falling at 4:24 a.m. Eastern Time on Sunday. 

Álex Palou has won the first race of summer the last three seasons, and Palou has won the first race of summer in four of the last five years. 

In five of the last six seasons, the first winner of summer has won the championship. The exception is Scott McLaughlin in 2022 winning at Mid-Ohio.

A.J. Foyt has won the first race of summer seven times, the most since 1946. Mario Andretti won the first race of summer five times. Palou and Al Unser are tied, each having won the first race of summer four times.

The average starting position for a Road America winner is 3.75 with a median of third.

Thirty of 36 Road America races have been won from a top five starting position including in five consecutive races. 

The pole-sitter has not won in the last eight Road America races. The most recent Road America winner from pole position was Josef Newgarden in 2018.

The average finish of the Road America pole-sitter in the last eight races is 9.5 with four top ten finishes and four finishes outside the top ten. 

Only one Road America race has been won from outside the top ten. Alex Tagliani won from 13th in 2004. 

Last year, Felix Rosenqvist and Santino Ferrucci each finished on the podium despite those drivers starting 12th and 18th respectively. Prior to last year's race, the only time a podium finisher started outside the top ten at Road America since the track returned to the schedule in 2016 was Álex Palou improving from 14th to third in the first race of the 2020 doubleheader.

Last year, Álex Palou became the tenth Road America winner to win the championship in the same season. 

Twice has the Road America winner led only the final lap (Héctor Rebaque 1982, Michael Andretti 1996).

The average number of lead changes in a Road America race is 4.942 with a median of four.

Last year's race had a record 13 lead changes. It was the sixth Road America race to have at least ten lead changes, and the third time in the last four Road America races to feature at least ten lead changes.

Six consecutive Road America races have had eight lead changes or greater. None of the previous 11 Road America races had more than six lead changes.

The average number of cautions in a Road America race is 2.371 with a median of two. The average number of caution laps is 6.857 with a median of six.

Six of the last seven Road America races have had at least three cautions. The previous four Road America races had two cautions or fewer.

Last year's Road America race had 12 caution laps, the most since the track returned to the schedule in 2016.

Predictions

Álex Palou, but if it isn't Álex Palou, it will be Álex Palou. However, it will not be from pole position, but it will be a race where Palou leads the most laps, though none in the opening stint. There will be a clean opening lap. Christian Lundgaard does not have any spins. Marcus Ericsson ends up as the worst Andretti Global finisher. Every pit stop is clean for Alexander Rossi. Louis Foster spends at least 42 laps in the top ten, and Foster finishes in the top ten. Felix Rosenqvist makes two notable passes in Canada Corner. Josef Newgarden remains pointed in the same the direction for the entire race. Sleeper: Graham Rahal.

Musings From the Weekend: When to Chase Momentum and When to Take a Break

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

The World Cup has begun. Lewis Hamilton scored his first Ferrari victory after a well executed tire strategy combined with a timely virtual safety car, and for the first time since the 1983 San Marino Grand Prix, one country swept the podium, as George Russell and Lando Norris made it three Union Jacks hanging over the rostrum. Pierre Gasly scored a podium and a seventh this week. Colton Herta ran a first practice. Meanwhile, it was a rather compelling 24 Hours of Le Mans, though Ferrari traded French glory for conquering Catalunya. Records are falling in World Superbike. NASCAR moved up a start time, and everyone was happy. Unfortunately, we end with a sad note. Dennis Reinbold passed away Saturday, aged 65. The long-time owner of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing had been competing in IndyCar since 2000. Condolences go out to the Reinbold family.

When to Chase Momentum and When to Take a Break

IndyCar finally got a weekend off. It kind of had a week off except for the five teams and 13 entries that tested at Road America on Tuesday. Either way, it was a Saturday and Sunday at home, which had not been the case over the previous month-plus. 

It really began with the Indianapolis 500 open test over Tuesday April 28 and April 29. At that point, it had been the quietest part of the IndyCar schedule. After running four of five weekends in March, IndyCar had the first two weekends of April off before the Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 19. A week-and-a-half later was the test. 

There was an off weekend to start the month of May, but then the teams were at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for three consecutive weekends, starting with the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and then continuing through a week full of practice sessions before Indianapolis 500 qualifying and another Monday practice session. Indianapolis 500 race weekend followed. Once that race was over, it was off to Detroit before finishing this period with a Sunday night race from Gateway.

A busy period around the month of May is nothing new. For over the last decade, the usual schedule has been the three weeks at IMS between the road course race and the "500" before a race weekend immediately following. Many years that was a doubleheader in Detroit. A few times this period has had another race attached on. Last year, Barber Motorsports Park was the weekend prior to the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and that was just a little over a week after the Indianapolis open test, essentially six consecutive weeks on on-track action. 

This period is always coming. Every year it comes there is plenty of vocalization calling for a break and this many consecutive weeks on track are unnecessary. That is the case anytime IndyCar does three or four consecutive weekends. These teams are not behemoths with bodies just hanging around. Most of them are small crews with team members handling multiple roles. It starts with the drive to and from events, flipping race cars from a road/street course setup to an oval setup and then all the other tasks in-between for a functional race team. The work is non-stop to get to each race. It is exhausting, and it might not be the worst stretch of this season. 

The 2026 season ends with six races over the final five weekends, and it is cross-continental travel, beginning in Portland on August 9 before the first trip to Markham, Ontario, Canada on August 16. The Washington, D.C. race will be on August 23 before the Milwaukee doubleheader over August 29-30 with Laguna Seca closing the season on September 6. It should be acknowledged Washington, D.C. was added to the schedule in January. It originally wasn't supposed to be that busy at the end of the season. 

Either way, the period that gets the most attention is the May-into-June portion of the calendar, and each year there is a rumble from many involved that there should be a break. After all the work that is done after the Indianapolis 500, everyone would like a breather. However, IndyCar and Chevrolet enjoy the Detroit Grand Prix immediately following IndyCar's biggest race, and there is some belief IndyCar must continue to race to ride the wave off of momentum and attention from the "500." 

A few things can be true. 

For starters, it usually isn't five weeks. It has mostly been four, the three in Indianapolis and the one in Detroit. A few scheduling quirks has seen it increase to five. Last year, it was Easter and Barber avoiding the NASCAR race from Talladega. This year, Gateway was moved a week earlier because this was the opening weekend for the FIFA World Cup, and Fox did not have the real estate for an IndyCar race on June 13 or June 14. There is a good chance races will spread out in 2027. The calendar naturally creates time off as May 2027 will have five race weekends with the Indianapolis 500 falling on its latest possible date of May 30. 

Second, it is understandable to race the week after the Indianapolis 500. IndyCar doesn't want to be out-of-sight, out-of-mind. It keeps the party going for one more race. We are not left waiting for the next race when the Indianapolis 500 is over. We know we get to see IndyCar again in seven day's time.

However, there is enough evidence to suggest there is no momentum after the Indianapolis 500. Outside of 2021 when the pandemic altered the schedule slightly and saw a week-off between Indianapolis and Detroit, there has been a race following the Indianapolis 500 consistently since 2006. Besides 2021, the only other year in that span that had a week off after the Indianapolis 500 was 2011. The viewership is never a monstrously greater than average.

Since 2012, the average viewership for the IndyCar races the weekend after the Indianapolis 500 is 901,182 viewers. If you remove the 2020 Gateway doubleheader, which saw both races on NBCSN, and the two races shown on USA (2022 and 2024), that average only improves to 989,444 viewers. If you just look at the Sunday races and ignore the Saturday races from when Belle Isle hosted a doubleheader, the average is 1,070,800 viewers. 

In case you are wondering, in 2021, the year there was a week-off after the "500," the Belle Isle races drew 842,000 viewers and 1.383 million viewers respectively. 

All those numbers are around IndyCar's average, and that has been IndyCar's average for practically that entire period. 

There is no momentum from the Indianapolis 500. The same people who will watch IndyCar at St. Petersburg and Gateway and Mid-Ohio tune in for Detroit. There is nothing to suggest the people who only tune in for the Indianapolis 500 are sticking around for the following weekend. They aren't! The numbers tell us that! If Detroit had 2.5 million viewers and was notably well above average, then we would have a different conversation. That isn't the case. 

So should IndyCar keep up the charade of momentum? 

I am actually going to argue it is better to race the week after the Indianapolis 500 than not even if all evidence points to there being no difference in interest. If more people aren't watching when there is a race seven days later than more people aren't going to be watching if the next race is 14 days later. What is the difference? You mind as well race anyway. A week without a race isn't going to mean it will somehow be better the next time IndyCar is on track.

It doesn't matter when IndyCar races, and there is no level of promotional tour that would have dragged Felix Rosenqvist from coast-to-coast that would have led to a leap in viewership. The entire notion that IndyCar needs time to promote the Indianapolis 500 winner to generate interest and viewership is foolish, especially in the year 2026. Your message gets around the world in 15 seconds as are 25 billion other messages. Good luck being heard!

And in case you are thinking Detroit is the issue and it is holding that weekend back, it doesn't matter what race was after the Indianapolis 500. Gateway isn't going to draw three million viewers if it was the weekend after the Indianapolis 500. Gateway couldn't draw a million viewers this year on its own. The 6.6 million viewers for the Indianapolis 500 aren't dying for oval racing. They just want to see the Indianapolis 500. They will be back next May. 

We know where IndyCar stands. We know what size IndyCar is and there is no surprise about it. It has practically been the same since reunification. That is fine. Instead of acting like the weekend after the Indianapolis 500 is valuable, let's look at it as another race weekend because that is what it is in comparison to all the others. It isn't special. The numbers back that. 

As another race weekend, I still think there should be a race after the Indianapolis 500. There is no greater gain from not racing. Let's keep going whether that race is in Detroit, Gateway or perhaps somewhere else around the globe. Most years, the schedule will not be this cluttered and see two consecutive race weekends after the Indianapolis 500. This year was kind of a fluke in that regard, but it is a busy time for IndyCar and the teams, and something should be done to get them rest. 

I am going to ask why were teams testing at Road America on Tuesday after having three consecutive race weekends and five consecutive weekends at a racetrack? There was no reason for a Road America test the Tuesday after Gateway, where the teams have to flip the cars over from oval setup to a road course setup. I would argue there is no reason to test at Road America period in the current state of IndyCar. Nothing drastically changed to warrant a need to test at Road America. 

In this case, it is on the teams. The teams are making it tough on themselves. Ultimately, if the teams want a break, they can collective agree to that. The charter system is a collective effort, and the teams can make sure they all do what is best for them. If the general sense after the Indianapolis 500 and Detroit is everyone needs time off, then take time off. It isn't going to move races around, but it can at least turn the lights off at the shop when there is no on-track action scheduled. 

The teams could collectively agree to a mandatory off period. No working on the cars. No one working at the shops. No testing. Nothing can be done, especially this time of year. It was Formula One does each August. 

We can establish some sort of Indianapolis period that also encompasses other race weekends. After the final race of that "Indianapolis period" all teams return their cars to their shops and then all shops are closed for a full week. 

In this case, after the Gateway race, once the teams get back their respective shops, all doors are locked and everyone is on break starting that Monday at 6:00 p.m. and no one can resume work until 8:00 a.m. the following Monday. That is basically seven full days off. If everyone is off, no one is getting an advantage. 

We can also pause testing. Unless there is some drastic change to tire compounds or a repaved surface, there is almost no reason to test during the season in IndyCar. There was no need to test at Road America this past Tuesday. There is no need for 14 drivers from six teams to test at Mid-Ohio on June 23, two days after Road America. There is no need for nine teams and 23 drivers to test at Milwaukee on July 8, three days after the Mid-Ohio race. Both of these are actual tests that will happen. 

Again, these are teams deciding to do more work during their off periods. If these teams want extra track time, have an extra practice session on the Friday of the race weekend. At least those are weekends when there are spectators at the racetrack and the series can at least get something out of that track time. 

Also, why aren't the teams smarter when scheduling tests? Why test at Milwaukee on July 8 and have to flip the cars from Mid-Ohio configuration when the Milwaukee test could happen after Nashville when the cars are already in an oval configuration? I am sure there is a reason, but this feels like an obvious way for the teams to look out for themselves. Work smarter, not harder folks!

There is a proper balance between racing and rest. IndyCar can improve. Prior to this season, this was a series that made it habit of running its first race of the season, its first race in six months and then taking three weeks off. This year saw IndyCar's busiest March arguably ever.

There is this five-week slog that takes up most of May and part of June, and then there is a breather. There are only three race weekends in an eight-week period from June 14 through August 2. Then IndyCar ends with five consecutive race weekends. 

Tweaks can be made that can allow for those busier periods when it feels right to be racing and staying on track but also allow for those breathers to be actual time off, and better balance for those competing. More can be done to make sure teams are taking off when there is time off. If testing is necessary, it can be properly allocated within the calendar, and it can better planned. 

There is something beautiful with IndyCar. It can have these intense periods when there are races after races and it gives you something to look forward to, but then there are pauses and you come to appreciate the races you saw while building anticipation for the next one to come. There is a way IndyCar can have both without over-working everyone involved.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Lewis Hamilton, but did you know...

The #7 Toyota of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries won the 94th 24 Hours of Le Mans. The #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca of Tom Dillmann, Nick Yelloly and Jakub Śmiechowski won in LMP2, their second consecutive Le Mans class victory. The #33 TF Sport Corvette of Jonny Edgar, Nicky Catsburg and Ben Keating won in LMGT3.

Kush Maini (sprint) and Rafael Câmara (feature) split the Formula Two races from Barcelona. James Wharton (sprint) and Théophile Naël (feature) split the Formula Three races.

Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup race from Pocono, his third consecutive victory, all from pole position, and it was Hamlin's fourth victory of the season. Justin Allgaier won the Grand National Series race, his fifth victory of the season.

The #27 JMW Motorsports Mercedes-AMG of Jason Daskalos and Philip Ellis won the GT World Challenge America race from Road Atlanta. The #33 Blackdog Racing McLaren of Tony Gaples and Michael Cooper and the #028 RS1 Porsche of Spencer Pumpelly and Luca Mars split the GT4 America races. Memo Gidley swept the GT America races.

Nicolò Bulega swept the World Superbike races from Misano, and Bulega is 21-for-21 this season with 25 consecutive victories dating back to last season. Valentin Debise and Albert Arenas split the World Supersport races.

Coming Up This Weekend

IndyCar is back in Road America.

MotoGP has a round in Brno. 

NASCAR makes it trip to San Diego and Coronado Air Base

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters return to the Laustizring. 

Supercars take a trip to Hidden Valley Raceway.

Formula E returns to Sanya, China for the first time since 2019.

2026 24 Hours of Le Mans Preview

The opening practice sessions and first round of qualifying has already taken place from Circuit de la Sarthe, and next up will be the Hyperpole session to set the starting grid for the 94th 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

There has already been some surprises, and the defending race winner will have some work to do on race day. Sixty-two cars are entered across the three class, 17 of which are in the top class, Hypercar. LMP2 is home to 19 entries while LMGT3 is the largest class with 25 cars. 

With so little time until race day, we will look at each of the three classes and ask four questions.

Hypercar

Are we in for a surprise?

In qualifying, Alpine was fastest with the #35 Alpine A424 of António Félix da Costa, Charles Milesi and Ferdinand Habsburg topping the charts at 3:23.135 with the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota Cadillac of Louis Delétraz, Will Stevens and Norman Nato was second, 0.013 seconds slower. Wayne Taylor Racing took third with Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque in the #101 Cadillac, 0.188 seconds off the top time.

BMW picked up its first FIA World Endurance Championship overall victory in the last race at Spa-Francorchamps, and the Spa winning #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 oF Robin Frijns, René Rast and Sheldon van der Linde took fourth, 0.309 seconds off the top. Cadillac had all three of its cars in the top five with the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota entry of Sébastien Bourdais, Earl Bamber and Jack Aitken in fifth with the #15 BMW of Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor rousing out the top six.

Alpine has only won once in WEC with the A424. Milesi and Habsburg won at Fuji last year with Paul-Loup Chatin. Cadillac's only victory was last year at São Palou with Stevens and Nato winning with Alex Lynn in the #12 V-Series.R. The #12 Cadillac was on pole position last year for Le Mans and finished fourth. Cadillac's best Le Mans finish since its return remains third in 2023.

BMW had a double retirement in 2024 and last year its two cars were 16th and 17th. Alpine also double retired in 2024 and was only tenth and 11th last year. 

Where is Ferrari? 

The very back of Hypercar. Three of the 18 entries would fail to advance to the Hyperpole session set for Ferrari, and the defending race-winning #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye did not advance along with the two Peugeot 9X8s. The other two factory Ferraris were 14th and 15th in qualifying.

The #50 Ferrari led the way with Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina ahead of the #51 Ferrari of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guid and Antonio Giovinazzi. The good news is these two entries will have a chance to improve in the Hyperpole session and could be starting much better for race day.

Ferrari has won the last three years overall at Le Mans, and it is attempting to win the famed race in four consecutive years. It would be the ninth time a manufacturer has won Le Mans in four consecutive years. The Ferrari 499P is undefeated at Le Mans and in each of the last two years Ferrari has gone first and third. However, Ferrari has not won in the FIA World Endurance Championship since last year's 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Is there a dark horse?

Aston Martin was fastest on the test day and it showed respectable speed in qualifying. The #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie of Alex Riberas, Marco Sørensen and Roman De Angelis was seventh in qualifying while the #007 Valkyrie of Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble and Ross Gunn was ninth. The #007 Valkyrie was fastest on the test day. 

For all the hype around the Aston Martin program, results have been hard to come by. However, the team has finished in the points in four consecutive races dating back to last season. The #007 Aston Martin was fourth at Spa-Francorchamps last month.

What stories should we keep in mind?

Toyota driver Sébastien Buemi is a victory away from becoming the sixth driver to win five times at Le Mans. Buemi's most recent victory was in 2022. He won that race with Brandon Hartley, who has three Le Mans victories of his own, and Ryō Hirakawa, who fills out the #8 Toyota with Buemi and Hartley. This is the fifth consecutive year these three drivers are together. 

Genesis will become the first Korean manufacturer to start the 24 Hours of Le Mans. André Lotterer leads the outfit as a three-time Le Mans winner, but his most recent overall podium was third in 2015 with Audi. Pipo Derani is with his third manufacturer in Hypercar. Derani ran with Glickenhaus in 2021 and 2022 before two years with Cadillac in 2023 and 2024.

No French driver has won overall since Romain Dumas in 2016. Seven of the 18 Hypercar entries have at least one French driver. The #36 Alpine is an all-French lineup with Jules Gounon, Frédéric Makowiecki and Victor Martins. 

The last time a Le Mans winner had all its drivers from the same country was in 1980 when Jean Rondeau and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud won in the Rondeau M379B. Along with the #36 Alpine, the other Hypercar entry with all its drivers from the same country is the all-British #007 Aston Martin of Gamble, Gunn and Tincknell.

LMP2

Could the best story be in LMP2?

The #30 Duqueine Team Oreca-Gibson led qualifying with Doriane Pin, Julien Andlauer and Richard Verschoor. The #30 Oreca leads the European Le Mans Series championship after a pair of third-place finishes, and this team was fastest in qualifying for LMP2 with a top lap at 3:34.662.

Pin enters Le Mans doubling as a Mercedes-AMG F1 development driver, and she won the F1 Academy championship last season. This will be her Le Mans return as she did run in LMP2 in 2023 with Prema alongside co-drivers Mirko Bortolotti and Daniil Kvyat.

Ten women have won a class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but not since 1978 when Anny-Charlotte Verney won the GT 3.0 class with Xavier Lapeyre and Fraçois Servanin has her co-drivers.

This is also Verschoor's Le Mans debut having spent the last five years in Formula Two, and he finished third in last year's Formula Two championship. Andlauer opened this year with victories in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring with Porsche Penske Motorsport. His only Le Mans class victory was on debut in 2018 in GTE Am with Dempsey-Proton Racing.

Is there a clear team to beat?

In recent years in LMP2, it has been Inter Europol Competition. The Polish team has won the class in two of the last three years, and Jakub Śmiechowski was one of the drivers in both winning teams. Last year’s winning team remains intact with Śmiechowski, Tom Dillmann and Nick Yelloly in the #43 Oreca. They were sixth in qualifying. 

The sister car was quicker. The #343 Oreca of Reshad de Gerius, Bijoy Garg and Nico Müller was third. Garg won on his Le Mans debut in 2024 with United Autosports in LMP2. Müller returns to Le Mans after a year on the sidelines. The Swiss driver ran for Peugeot in Hypercar in 2023 and 2024. This will be de Gerus’ fifth Le Mans start. He was third in LMP2 two years ago with IDEC Sport. 

Who is looking for redemption?

A cycling injury kept Ben Barnicoat from competing in last year's Le Mans where he was supposed to run in LMGT3 with Akkodis ASP Team. The good news is Barnicoat is with a familiar outfit.

Driving for AF Corse, this will be his third start with the team after having drove for them in 2023 and 2024. Barnicoat is back with François Perrodo, who was his co-driver in both those years, and they were the top LMP2 Pro-Am entry in 2024 with Nicolás Varrone. This Le Mans all have Matthieu Vaxivière as their third river. Vaxivière and Perrodo have previously been co-drivers four times at Le Mans, 2017 to 2019 and last year.

Since his injury, Barnicoat has only won one race across all competitions. On May 25, Barnicoat won the second race of the British GT Championship Oulton Park round with Morgan Tillbrook in the #88 Optimum Motorsport McLaren.

Is seasoned veteran returning from an absence?

Yes! 

For the first time since 2023, Romain Dumas is competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The two-time overall winner last competed in 2023 with Glickenhaus, ending a 23-year streak of starts.

In this year's race, Dumas is competing for RD Limited in the #48 Oreca-Gibson. His co-drivers are Tristan Vautier, who is making his fourth Le Mans start in five years, and Fred Poordad, who has competed in the Asian Le Mans Series the last two years.

For Dumas, this is only his third time running in the LMP2 class. He was tenth overall in 2017 driving for Signatech Alpine. In 2019, Dumas returned to LMP2 and was 12th overall.

LMGT3

Are there any notable second generation drivers competing?

A few, and they were toward the top of the speed chart.

The #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang was fastest with Eric Powell, Ben Tuck and Sebastian Priaulx with a lap at 3:55.951 seconds.

For Priaulx, this will be his first Le Mans experience since 2022 when he ran a Porsche for this organization. His father Andy never won at Le Mans, not even a class over six starts. Andy Priaulx was second in GTE Pro in 2017 driving a Ford GT for Chip Ganassi Racing. 

Heart of Racing team was 0.024 seconds off the top spot in LMGT3, which could have meant Eduardo Barrichello leading the car along since co-drivers Jonny Adams and Gray Newell. Barrichello leads IMSA's GT Daytona class championship as he has three podium finishes this season. We are nearly nine years removed from Rubens Barrichello's lone Le Mans start. It was in LMP2 with Racing Team Nederland. Jan Lammers and Frits van Eerd were Barrichello's co-drivers and they were 11th in class, 13th overall.

The #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari was fifth in qualifying, and it has Lorenzo Patrese sharing the seat with Dustin Blattner and Dennis Marschall. Patrese's father Riccardo made three Le Mans starts, two with Martini Racing and a Lancia in 1981 and 1982. The final start was with Nissan in 1997. Ricardo Patrese had three retirements in three Le Mans starts.

Giuliano Alesi will make his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut sharing the #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG with Abdulla Al-Khelaifi and Julian Hanses. Alesi competes full-time in Super GT in Japan, and this is his fifth season in the GT500 class. Jean Alessi made two Le Mans starts 22 years apart. In 1989, he drove a Porsche 962C for Team Schuppan with Dominic Dobson and Will Hoy as his co-drivers. In 2010, Alesi returned to Le Mans to race alongside Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander in GT2. They were fourth in class, 16th overall.

Who could be the breakout performer?

Ayhancan Güven will make his Le Mans debut this weekend, and he has been off to a slow start in LMGT3. Joining Manthey DK Engineering this offseason, 

However, Güven stands out after his pass on the final lap of the Deutsche Tournwagen Masters season to take the championship. The Turkish driver is already a winner of the Bathurst 12 Hour, and he has been runner-up for the 24 Hour Nurburgring in 2024 and 2025.

Güven has Time Boguslavskiy and James Cottingham sharing the #91 Porsche. They were third in qualifying. 

Manthey has won the last two years in LMGT3, the only team to win in the class so far at Le Mans. Richard Lietz has been apart of both winning teams, and Lietz has a class victory in three of his last four Le Mans starts with six total class victories in his Le Mans career. Lietz is back in the #92 Porsche with Riccardo Pera, who he won last year with, and Yasser Shahin, who he won with in 2024. The #92 Porsche snuck through to Hyperpole as it was 14th in qualifying.

Who are some of the fun debutants?

Parker Thompson had never made a WEC start prior to the Imola season opener in April. Thompson start with a bang as the #69 Team WRT BMW took victory with Thompson joined in the car with Dan Harper and Anthony McIntosh.

Thirteen years ago, Peter Dempsey took victory in one of the most memorable finishes, a four-way photo for first in the Freedom 100. Since 2013, Dempsey has mostly not been competing, but working as a driver's coach in the American ladder system. He has dabbled in some Formula Ford competitions. This year, Dempsey returned to full-time competition at the bronze driver in the Racing Team Turkey Corvette. 

After stepping away from motorsports early in 2025 when lined up to possibly be a member of the Genesis program, Logan Sargeant is back for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Now a Ford factory driver, Sargeant is running the #88 Proton Competition Ford. While Sargeant was eighth at Imola, the team was 12th at Spa-Francorchamps.

Which manufacturer is facing an uphill battle?

The answer is Corvette. While TF Sport was not entirely on the bottom, all four Corvettes entered were in the bottom eight during qualifying, and none will run for Hyperpole.

The fastest Corvette was the #34 Racing Team Turkey Corvette, but the #34 Corvette was disqualified from qualifying after Peter Dempsey ran the fastest lap in the session at 3:55.744 seconds. The time was disallowed after excessive diffuser strake wear was found. 

The #33 TF Sport Corvette was 17th in class during qualifying, but that was not enough to advance to the Hyperpole session. While the #33 Corvette won last year in the Qatar season opener, its only other podium finish since then was second at Imola in April as Nicky Catsburg and Jonny Edgar were in that lineup with Ben Keating parachuting in for Le Mans as usual third driver Blake McDonald will not compete at Le Mans. 

From there, Corvette took the slowest two times on the speed cart. The #2 TF Sport Corvette of Ben Green, Lorcan Hanafin and Prince Jefri Ibrahim were ahead of the #13 13 Autosport Corvette of Grey Fidani, Matt Bell and Lars Kern. 

Thursday's on-track action will begin with a three-hour practice starting at 8:45 a.m. ET. The Hyperpole session will be held at 2:00 p.m. ET, first with the LMP2 and LMGT3 cars running simultaneously. Hypercar will close out the Hyperpole session at 3:05 p.m. ET. A one-hour night practice session will conclude Thursday at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Saturday's warm-up session will be at 6:00 a.m. ET. The 94th 24 Hours of Le Mans will begin at 10:00 a.m. ET on Saturday June 13.

Second Impressions: Gateway 2026

1. With a little time to breathe after IndyCar's Bommarito Automotive Group 500 from Gateway Motorsports Park, let's revisit some items that were a little hard to see when it is after midnight and everyone is exhausted.

Josef Newgarden was at a level at Gateway where he knew when to go and he knew he would have the speed to win the race. There is no reason to try and lead 175 laps. Newgarden has done it and won, but if the field is level or there are a few challengers, it is wise to wait until the final stint before showing your hand. That is what Gateway felt like. Newgarden knew he had a level that could beat Marcus Ericsson even if Ericsson had led majority of the race. 

I don't know how many current drivers have that ability. They can fit on one hand, you might not need every finger, and it is what separates Newgarden from most. And everyone who thinks Newgarden is done just has to look at the scoreboard. He has two victories. His teammates have a combined zero. How many victories do we think David Malukas and Scott McLaughlin will win in the final nine races? If Newgarden is going to be Penske's most frequent race winner, he isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

2. Newgarden said after the race he thought Christian Rasmussen was a lap down and Newgarden let Rasmussen through not realizing it was for the lead. Once told Rasmussen was on the lead lap, Newgarden picked up the pace and re-took the lead. 

This isn't the first time this has happened. Newgarden arguably lost the 2018 Iowa race because he thought James Hinchcliffe was a lap down and that race swung in that moment and Newgarden never quite had the power to get back to the front and win a race it seemed he was on to dominate in historic fashion.

I don't buy how no one would have said to Newgarden over the radio on the late restart that he was the leader and that Rasmussen was second but with a car between them. Either he is lying or Team Penske's timing stands are not as thorough thinkers as they once were. I would bet if Tim Cindric was up there, he would have mentioned the restart order and noted who and where second place was in that lineup.  

The team must being saying who is running where. How would Newgarden know how hard to push on the restart without knowing where the closest competitor was lined up and what was between him as the leader and the his closest challenger? It seems crazy the team would not have given Newgarden the running order prior to the restart.

3. Let's turn to the championship because Álex Palou's lead is down to 49 points after Palou's fueling issue in Gateway. Kyle Kirkwood is second.

Didn't we learn last year just because Palou has lost some ground doesn't mean it is a competition? Last year, everyone was saying it wasn't over after Patricio O'Ward won at Toronto and got within 99 points with four races to go only because Palou's team had an off day on strategy. How did Palou respond? He won the next race and he was third at Portland in the race after that to clinch the title. So much for it not being over!

Everyone needs to continually outscore Palou to make this a battle. He lost a chunk at Gateway, but he doesn't lose chunks that often, and what he loses is never greater than the chunks he gains on a more regular basis. Over the final nine races, a driver averaging six points more per race than Palou could be champion. So far, no one has consistently outscored Palou at that rate. Before getting exciting that a title fight is on, we must see a driver regularly take points off Palou. Otherwise, Gateway is just one race where Palou lost a chunk and then he will gain it all back and then some over the next five races. 

Palou has won four of the first nine races. The only other driver with multiple victories is Josef Newgarden, a driver who the loudest believe is terrible and Team Penske should have already fired him. This was just one race where Palou ran out of fuel entering the pit lane. Another lap of fuel and he would have been finishing in the top five again. If anyone is going to beat Palou, they are going to have to at least match his output. 

Is anyone going to win four of the final nine races? Well, probably Álex Palou, but can anyone else?

4. The first place it was mentioned that there were slight tweaks to the downforce levels and the tires for Gateway was on Off Track with Hinch and Rossi, and Alexander Rossi was rather optimistic about the changes. Many who were not driving in the Gateway race disagreed with Rossi's assessment.  

I don't think this Gateway race was much different from last year's Gateway race, and I must admit it was probably better when no fan knew a thing about racing and just wanted to go to the racetrack to watch fast cars go around in circles.

There is an abundance of information out there and 600,000 experts. Over half of IndyCar viewers know everything, even more than the drivers! 

It is good to have some working knowledge of why a race turned out the way it did and understanding downforce and grip and how the conditions can play a role. Motorsports, and IndyCar in particular, has transformed from being about who could produce the fastest car to who can produce the best race car because majority of the variables are controlled. They weren't talking about maximum wing angles and mandatory Gurney flaps and tire compounds 40 years ago. The regulations were different and how teams competed were different. 

If a team ran a Gurney flap, it was hoping to be faster. If a team ran a certain tire manufacturer, which brought a specific tire compound to the racetrack, it was hoping to be faster. If it worked, great, but it could be a disappointing combination and a team would be forced to try again or stuck with what they got and finishing 14th or maybe creeping into the top ten if many cars failed during the race.

Everyone has the same parts now. The engines are different but not that different. The tires are carefully crafted under Firestone's watch. The goal is still to go faster than the next guy, but within the sandbox everyone is playing. That means there is a limit and even if you are the fastest, you are not going to be that much faster or considerably out of reach to the next closest competitor. 

Scott Dixon nearly won at Gateway and probably had the ninth-best car in the race because he could go 55 laps on a stint. 

There are obviously some technical changes that could hurt a race. I don't think that means every change. There are also outside factors that determine how a race plays out. This year's Indianapolis 500 would not have been the same had it been 30º F warmer. There is an effort to make a race at least compelling, but there are factors no one can control that can negate all the work that is done. 

My point is don't get so upset, and if you are still upset with how Sunday night's race turned out, it had 475 passes and 268 of those were for position. From 2017 through 2021, the six Gateway races during that span never saw a race with 400 or more total passes and never saw a race with 175 or more passes for position. Since 2022, the average number of total passes at Gateway is 544 and the average number of passes for position is 236.2. 

Sunday night's race saw the most passes for position in a Gateway race since it returned to the schedule, and dare I mention the three races with the most passes and passes for position at Gateway have all occurred since the introduction of the hybrid! Oh the humanity!

Some people are unable to experience happiness.

5. Sidebar, one day we need to talk about the passing numbers IndyCar reports on its event summaries. It isn't a matter of it they are bad or good or accurate, but what should we make of them and how much should we use those as a measuring stick over what we see with our own eyes.

6. In the lead up to Gateway, there were conversations about the start time for the race, which was after 9:20 p.m. ET. The race start was moved up as rain was in the area. 

Some made it very public that they were going to watch and that it was a great thing IndyCar had a race on broadcast television in primetime, and they would watch no matter what hour the race would be held and they love IndyCar more than you. 

Others said this race was not feasible within their schedule and could not watch the race and mentioned Sunday night is not the best time for a race to be held. 

Multiple things can be true. 

A night race can be good. A night race on broadcast television can be good. 

A post-9:00 p.m. Eastern start on a Sunday is not ideal.

IndyCar does not exist in a vacuum. With the current broadcast partner in Fox, it worked to have this race as a primetime race. It worked last year to find a window to show the Gateway race in primetime six weeks before it was supposed to take place and after it was originally scheduled for an afternoon start. IndyCar isn't the only sporting entity out there. The United Football League, an entity Fox Sports has invested in, just like IndyCar, had a playoff game on Sunday that started at 6:00 p.m. ET. 

If you want to be on broadcast television, you are going to need to play ball with the broadcaster and understand you are one part of a larger web of properties. IndyCar isn't big enough to call the shots and demand its own start times. If you think the race should have been Saturday night, Fox had the Boston Red Sox vs. the New York Yankees scheduled. IndyCar isn't going to move that game.

Gateway could have started at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on FS1 or Fox's streaming service Fox One, but people would have been upset about that. 

There is a limit to a 9:00 p.m. Eastern start, and it is not the greatest for broad viewership. Then again, no IndyCar race has broad viewership outside of one race a year. You are likely not catching anyone's attention with a race ending beyond midnight on a non-holiday weekend Sunday. Starting an hour earlier is the sweet spot. Start at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and it is over by 10:30 p.m. It could be over by 10:00 p.m. if the race moves fast enough. 

This can be worked on and tweaked for the future. The start time did not appear to hurt the crowd at Gateway, which is a good thing and speaks volume to the audience that track can attract.

Also, you don't love IndyCar more than somebody if you are willing to stay up beyond midnight to watch a race. Watching any sporting league or racing series should not require unquestioned devotion. There has been a cultish undertone to some IndyCar support for a while now. It is getting a little louder. That isn't a good thing. Don't think that isn't a barrier to entry for some people. Not everyone wants to be in a cult. 

7. Sidebar, one day we need to talk about IndyCar fan behavior and how it can come off as rather unwelcoming to others, especially those who have started watching motorsports through a different series and are willing to try and watch other forms only to be told what they are watching is bad and they should be watching something else instead, IndyCar specifically, because it is better and they are not watching for the right reasons and they are not real race fans and they are actually not welcomed unless they completely denounce what they previously were watching and declare IndyCar the best. 

It really is a group that tries too hard but also doesn't know how to ingratiate themselves to others. 

They shout, "Love me, stupid" and miss the irony of their statement.

Mugsins From the Weekend: I am Tired of Stupidity and Anger

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

While you were sleeping, Josef Newgarden scored his 20th oval victory with a fantastic performance at Gateway Motorsports Park. While you were awake, there were track issues in Monaco, Aprilia played bowling in Hungary, it didn't rain in Michigan, and someone went from last-to-first and made history in the process. There was also an explosive technical revelation in Moto3 that saw Adrián Fernández, but not that Adrián Fernández, disqualified from the first six races of the season as two of his engines were found to be tampered with. Le Mans test day has occurred and that endurance race is approaching quick. I feel better as I write this opening stanza. A peak behind the curtain will reveal I save this for last, but the previous week was not as positive of an experience.

I am Tired of Stupidity and Anger

It has been an exhausting period, and I am not talking about all the on-track action for the NTT IndyCar Series. Sunday night's Gateway race concluded five consecutive weekends of on-track competition and it was really more than that as there was a full week for Indianapolis 500 practice. However, this has nothing to do with what happened on-track. It is the auxiliary conversation around IndyCar.

"Everything is wrong."

If you listen to the buzz that is what you can take away. IndyCar needs to do this. IndyCar needs to do that. Every decision is wrong and it should be the complete opposite. IndyCar is not perfect, and the series has made its errors. We saw it during this period with race control and throwing cautions. That wasn't great and it is an area of improvement. Even I suggested solutions to ensure bumping in the future and better distribution of the prize money for the Indianapolis 500. When there are tweaks that can be made, let's discuss those and work through what can be done. However, there are certain topics are just beating a dead horse. 

I am tired of everyone shouting for more oval races. I want more oval races. IndyCar could stand to add another two or three oval races. I am in agreement that it is a shame that we see high speed superspeedway racing, the thing that makes IndyCar stand out from all the other motorsports series in the world, only once a year. This is what IndyCar is selling when it prints t-shirts that say, "Speed Limit 241 MPH", and you can only see it every Memorial Day weekend. 

That is an identity crisis IndyCar should probably address, but I am realistic and I know as loud as the crowd is the demand isn't there. 

There is plenty of history that shows I am not one of those who sees an oval race struggle and immediately turns it on the fanbase for not showing up. It isn't about an inability to draw the fanbase that currently exists, but an inability to make an event and reach people beyond the those who are already apart of the congregation. We know, IndyCar's brass included, the demand is not there for some of these dream races. 

IndyCar isn't going to Michigan International Speedway because IndyCar doesn't care about oval racing. It isn't going because it does not see a reasonable business plan for a successful race, and Michigan International Speedway agrees. If Michigan believed the demand was there for a profitable IndyCar event, it would be on the phone with the series trying to make it happen. That is the truth with a number of venues. I would love to see it. I can see how it would be beneficial for the series, but are 45,000 people going to show up? I don't see a reason to believe otherwise. I don't like to admit that, but let's be honest with ourselves. Sometimes you must roll the dice and take a chance, but you can do that for maybe one or two races. 

It is staggering that after every IndyCar oval race we hear the same noise about all the oval races IndyCar needs and the only thing holding IndyCar back is the lack of oval races. We all know that is not true because the Indy Racing League happened, a series dedicated to only oval races, and that went so well that it started adding road and street courses, and within five years of its first road course event the series was practically 50/50 between ovals and road and street courses. 

If all it took was adding eight or nine oval races to improve IndyCar's popularity, the IRL would have never added road courses and street courses. It is foolish to think all IndyCar needs is Michigan, Kansas, Pocono, Richmond, Loudon, Texas, Iowa, Kentucky, Homestead and Chicagoland. We literally had that and look at where it got us! 

Also, let's not ignore that Long Beach, St. Petersburg, Road America, Barber Motorsports Park and Mid-Ohio are successful events with respectable crowds. Even Arlington did very well in year one and Detroit is respectable. It isn't a case IndyCar is holding 17 race weekends at 17 empty venues. The road and street course weekends are doing fine.

Should IndyCar try and branch out and build events at ovals? I would love to see it. I am just tired of how stupid some people are. These aren't good faith proposals. These are "You're stupid. I'm right. Listen to me!" arguments. I enjoyed Michigan as much as anyone, but let's not ignore what the grandstands looked like. That is what needs to be solved and if simply going was all it took IndyCar would not have struggled in the first place.

The same is true for Texas Motor Speedway. Everyone gets angry IndyCar left Texas, but if you were watching closely, you would have seen the crowd dwindling on a yearly basis even prior to 2020. IndyCar didn't stop going because things were going so well or because the series is really against oval racing even when its only nationally recognized event is an oval race. It stopped going because it couldn't even draw 10,000 spectators. If in 2023 Texas still had 50,000 people showing up even for an IndyCar race that began at 11:30 a.m. local time, IndyCar would likely still be going to Texas Motor Speedway. 

And if you are thinking, "Well, IndyCar shouldn't have been racing at Texas Motor Speedway at 11:30 a.m. and taken into consideration that the local residents would not go that early to a race" then you cannot get upset over scheduling justifications as to why Detroit is the weekend after the Indianapolis 500, which was the latest quibbling point this week. 

This week James Hinchcliffe said on the latest episode of On-Track with Alexander Rossi that one of the reasons Detroit is held this weekend is because school lets out the week after the race and once school is out people go on vacation and leave the city of Detroit. This was also something Nathan Brown of the Indianapolis Star pointed out he reported on three years ago. 

Whether we agree that should be a deciding factor over why a race is held on a certain weekend or not, it is still a case of taking in the local habits of the residents and trying to maximize the appeal of the event. 

We could also be honest and just say that is when Roger Penske and Chevrolet wants the Detroit race to be held. Not everyone is leaving Detroit for the summer, but those executives that sign the checks and approve the funding for the event would like to spend from the middle of June through the start of August upstate and not in the city. The rich get their cake and eat it too. And that is why Detroit is the weekend after the Indianapolis 500. 

And for those who said, "Well, NASCAR is racing at Michigan the weekend after Detroit when school is out. Why can NASCAR do it?" Because those are two entirely different promoters! NASCAR has decided to hold its Michigan event in the middle of June, a time of year where it has historically always held a race at Michigan. Chevrolet wants IndyCar to race a week earlier. Detroit could be held on a different weekend, but those in charge don't want it to be a different weekend. They have the money. They make the decision. There is your answer. 

I am just tired of it. I am tired of so many people having their heads in the sand. We saw this weekend. Everyone was losing their mind that IndyCar made some aerodynamic changes ahead of Gateway. I will admit, sometimes it feels like IndyCar does tinkering too much, but in this case, it didn't really change anything. Even before the race, people were upset it started on FS1 because the United Football League playoff game was running long. That happens! When you are following a live sports event, they will let that event finish and then you get on. The Gateway race also started 20 minutes early as there was a concern with weather. That wasn't how it was planned, but it worked out that way. And even if the broadcast began on FS1, the race was on Fox within 20 minutes of the green flag waving, and the broadcast continued well beyond midnight after the multiple red flags for weather. 

There is no point in being difficult just to be difficult. 

Everything might not be perfect but not everything is a disaster. We can also be realistic about expectations. I would love Michigan to return. As someone who went to every Pocono race after it returned to the schedule in 2013, I would love if Pocono was back. It isn't happening tomorrow though. And it is ok it isn't happening tomorrow. There are other events out there that are doing well. 

Gateway has been around for a decade now, and it has had its ups and downs, but it has good footing as an IndyCar event. Gateway's last decade and Milwaukee's last two years should give us some hope that in a few years maybe Pocono could return and be better than after or maybe Richmond could be added after nearly returning six years ago or maybe it is Loudon or somewhere else. It is going to be incremental steps, not a giant revolution of venue changes.

Things are not as bad as some make it out to be. We all want things to be better and a few tweaks here and there, another oval race or two, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking there is some horrific failure in front of us. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Josef Newgarden, but did you know...

Andrea Kimi Antonelli won the Monaco Grand Prix, his fifth consecutive victory.

Marc Márquez won MotoGP's Hungarian Grand Prix and the sprint race. Manuel González won in Moto2, his third consecutive victory and fourth victory of the season. Máximo Quiles won in Moto3, his fifth victory of the season.

Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup race from Michigan, his second consecutive victory and his third of the season. Corey Heim won the Truck race, his third victory of the season.

Noel León (sprint) and Nikola Tsolov (feature) split the Formula Two races from Monaco. Gerrard Xie (sprint) and Brando Badoer (feature) split the Formula Three races. Xie inherited the sprint race victory after Hiyu Yamakoshi was disqualified for improperly mounted front push rods on the car.

Myles Rowe won the Indy Lights race from Gateway after starting 24th in the 24-car field.

Coming Up This Weekend

94th 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Formula One has its first ever Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix though it isn't Barcelona's first race.

NASCAR takes a trip to the Poconos. 

GT World Challenge America will be in Road America.

World Superbike takes a run around Misano.

First Impressions: Gateway 2026

1. It is after midnight, this race went about an hour longer than I wished, we are going to make this quick for everybody, we might come back with second impressions tomorrow, which is now today because it is Monday or actually tomorrow because they will come Tuesday. 

Josef Newgarden looked comfortable the entire night, and that is why he won for the sixth time at Gateway Motorsports Park. Newgarden had a good car and he knew it. He was willing to run second and let the race evolve. Newgarden has been here long enough that he didn't need to lead lap 123. He had to lead lap 260. The car was in a spot where he could contend. In the final battle with Christian Rasmussen and Marcus Ericsson, Newgarden could counterpunch and take the lead even after Rasmussen went to the front. 

It timed out that when Newgarden took the lead it was the crossover point where the tires were not there to continue the back-and-forth battle we had been seeing. On the final restart, Newgarden had the advantage as the tires were not there for Rasmussen or Ericsson to get back ahead of Newgarden. With clean air ahead, Newgarden had enough to hold them off. 

What we saw tonight was 15 years of IndyCar experience and oval racing expertise pull out a victory. Newgarden might not have had the best car, but he was comfortable with a good car and that was enough to finish first.

2. I think this was the best race Marcus Ericsson had in IndyCar. I am pretty sure Ericsson had never led the most laps in a race prior to tonight. He has a few victories, but there has never been a race he won where he definitively had the best car. Tonight, he did, and it was only good enough for second. Ericsson got shuffled back to third at the worst time. He could get back to second, and he kept Newgarden honest, but Ericsson fell a little short of making it a perfect night.

3. This was another impressive short oval race for Christian Rasmussen. He drove into the top ten and soon the top five, Rasmussen hung in there. I didn't think he was better than Newgarden and Ericsson. The late charge was stellar, and there was a brief second where shades of Milwaukee 2025 were breaking through. Perhaps Newgarden and Ericsson were always going to get back ahead. Either way, Rasmussen needed a great night. He had not finished in the top ten yet this season. He got third. He looked pleased with it.

4. A handful of drivers deserve their flowers for this night, and Rinus VeeKay is one of them. VeeKay had a top five car. He never quite got in the battle for the podium or the victory, but he was wonderful tonight. At no point did he look out of control. He never overdrove the car. VeeKay is impressing us again with another back-marker team. Our top four finishers drove for Team Penske, Andretti Global, Ed Carpenter Racing and Juncos Hollinger Racing, and they were all legitimately there on pace. 

5. Scott McLaughlin took tires under the final caution after Caio Collet blew an engine. McLaughlin restarted ninth and he worked his way to fifth. That is likely better than where he would have finished if he had not stopped. It never felt like tires were that much of a deciding factor. It helped on the restart, but there were only 30 laps left when McLaughlin and other stopped, and the leaders were only on 27 laps older tires. It got McLaughlin a few more positions, but I didn't think it would turn into a winning strategy. Top five is still excellent for a night that didn't feel much better than seventh.

6. Kyle Kirkwood was the sixth-best car tonight. Maybe Kirkwood should have been fifth. He was in the background but never showed up as a contender. That is fine. The good news is Kirkwood gained ground in the championship tonight. He did toss away a good opportunity. That is most important.

7. David Malukas felt good but not great tonight. Malukas started second, but he never showed a fire to get to the lead. He settled just outside the top five. For a brief moment it looked like the race was going to cycle against Malukas and he was going to finish 12th or 13th. That wasn't the case. He will be the third of the three Penske cars with a finish of seventh, but this is an adequate night for Malukas. His season is still spectacular. Now he has nine races to close it out.

8. Will Power had a wild night. Power was making up positions early. Then he got caught out topping off for fuel and lost a lap. Then he got back on the lead lap and was in the top five because that topping off on fuel allowed him to run long, get back on the lead lap and stay out prior to a caution coming out. Then Power got cycled back again, stopped late like McLaughlin, and drove into the top ten. You took eighth place anyway you can get it. 

9. Marcus Armstrong had a good night. Armstrong took tires late and that likely got him ninth. I felt like I would look up and Armstrong was somewhere in the top ten. Nothing flashy but still good. That is kind of the name Armstrong is making for himself. You can count on him running seventh or eighth.

10. Christian Lundgaard did not look brilliant in this race, but Lundgaard passed Arrow McLaren teammate Patricio O'Ward late to steal tenth. Lundgaard was firmly in the middle of the field for this entire race. He doesn't quite have that punch on ovals to be a contender. For Lundgaard, it is a real tussle to break into the top ten. He can still work on it and improve. We are not yet at a point of admitting this is the best it will be for him on ovals.

11. Patricio O'Ward took tires late, he had spent a fair amount of this race in the top ten, and he ended up finishing 11th. O'Ward wasn't a contender in this race, but he was running well. In the later stages, it was clear he wasn't going to finish in the top five. The team took a gamble to get more and it didn't pan out. O'Ward was the best McLaren car for essentially 259 of 260 laps and he will wind up second best and outside the top ten overall. This result doesn't tell the full story.

12. Scott Dixon took a gamble, stretched his fuel, caught the cautions in his favor, and ultimately was a lap short and needed emergency service. I don't think Dixon had a good car tonight. I think Dixon had a car where he could stretch fuel into his favor, and it nearly worked out. Dixon lost spots early. He still hung in the top ten, but he wasn't knocking down the door to fight for a top five or podium finish. I think we saw the car he had when he was shuffled to the back, took tires on the final caution and ended up 12th, the worst of the cars to stop under that final caution. He was better than 12th but this 12th-place finish tells the story of where his car was compared to the rest of the field.

13. Santino Ferrucci was in the middle of the pack all race and was 13th. It isn't clear what happened to Felix Rosenqvist. Rosenqvist may have been trapped a lap down after a caution following a pit stop. He did not do anything notable as he finished 14th. Romain Grosjean was the first car a lap down in 15th. Mick Schumacher was 16th. Not bad days for either driver. Schumacher got to run 259 of 260 laps. That is beneficial to him.

14. Álex Palou stretched his fuel like his teammate Scott Dixon, and it appeared Palou had done enough to make it without emergency service. Then Palou ran out of fuel as he entered pit lane for his final stop. The car coasted to his box and at that point the damage was done. He lost a lap coasting and then another lap getting the car re-fired. Instead of possibly pulling out a victory, but probably at worst a top five result, Palou was 17th. 

Palou lost some ground in the championship. He had a good night. I don't think his car was set up for traffic well because once he lost the lead he never put up a good counterattack. Stretching their fuel was worth the risk for Dixon and Palou, and it nearly paid off. 

15. I have no clue what Alexander Rossi did all night, but it wasn't good and he was 18th. Sting Ray Robb was out there and finished 19th. Louis Foster was slow and he finished 20th.

16. Caio Collet had a great race. Collet made up spots early. He probably benefitted from a caution or two, but when Collet was in the top five, he held his own. And then the engine failed him. Many people were thrilled with his Indianapolis 500 performance. I still don't think it was that exceptional. This was a great drive from him. Now, he has got to do it again. 

17. Graham Rahal spun in turn four while on worn tires and with faster cars that had just made pit stops around him. Rahal said he went low and caught the marble build up on the inside. Rahal said the car was getting better and he had settled around 15th. Perhaps he could have picked up another two or three spots if he went the distance. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing did not start this race well. All three cars dropped from the opening lap. RLLR still has work to do on its oval program. 

18. Nolan Siegel was knocked out after contact with Álex Palou entering turn one. I saw it as a racing incident. Palou had fresh tires and he was quicker going into the corner. Palou was ahead. Siegel was turning in and they collided. If that is a penalty than we are going to have 100 penalties a race. 

What is a racing incident if it is not this? 

Palou didn't bowl into Siegel. Palou was making a pass. Siegel thought he could turn in when he did. Palou was there. Contact was made. Siegel got the worst of it. It is unfortunate. Not every contact should be a penalty. In this case, the contact is made with Siegel turning into Palou's rear tire. It is hard to pin that on Siegel.

19. Dennis Hauger was unable to start the race as the car suffered a fuel leak on the grid. Maybe I missed it, but I don't think that was mentioned during the broadcast. Either way, it is the second time in two short oval races a Dale Coyne Racing car has had an issue on the grid prevent a car from starting a race. It is a shame Hauger did not get a chance to compete. 

20. It is 12:59 a.m. Eastern as I type this sentence. This was a fun race. Gateway had a phenomenal crowd. It is reasonable to want a night race but not a race that starts after 9:00 p.m. Eastern on a Sunday night that is not a holiday weekend. There is a happy medium there. Perhaps we discuss some of this during a second impressions. 

21. Let's go to bed. At least it is two weeks until Road America.