Let’s Look at the League - June 2026

Since 2019, we have broken IndyCar into a league format, meant for head-to-head matchups occurring during races with the best driver being declared the winner and each driver facing someone new each race. After a regular season, we have a playoff for the champion, while a few teams fight to remain in the top league while others go for promotion to the top tier. 

We set the table before the season started, and since we are already pass the halfway point of the season, we are nearing the end. We are closer to the end of the regular season than the start. The playoff picture and the relegation fight has already shaped up. We know who is in trouble, and we know who is sitting pretty.

League One

We are beyond the halfway point for League One, and for a few teams it is clear they will be fighting for a championship. A few others are hoping to stay alive for top flight competition in 2027. Some are already firmly against the wall. 

Just a reminder, the top four from each conference will advance to the playoffs, fifth from each conference will secure a spot in League One for 2027, sixth and seventh will participate in the relegation playoff, and eighth will automatically be relegated.

Results

	Conference #1	Conference #2
Week #1 (St.Petersburg)	#10 CGR def. #6 McLaren (1-20)	#5 McLaren def. #14 Foyt (5-24)
	#27 Andretti def. #21 ECR (4-19)	#18 Coyne def. #9 CGR (8-23)
	#7 McLaren def. #2 Penske (3-7)	#60 MSR def. #4 Foyt (12-17)
	#12 Penske def. #26 Andretti (13-22)	#3 Penske def. #66 MSR (2-11)
Week #2 (Phoenix)	#21 ECR def. #10 CGR (14-21)	#5 McLaren def. #18 Coyne (4-25)
	#27 Andretti def. #6 McLaren (2-20)	#9 CGR def. #14 Foyt (7-11)
	#12 Penske def. #7 McLaren (3-13)	#3 Penske def. #60 MSR (8-12)
	#2 Penske def. #26 Andretti (1-16)	#66 MSR def. #4 Foyt (5-19)
Week #3 (Arlington)	#10 CGR def. #2 Penske (2-15)	#5 McLaren def. #4 Foyt (5-12)
	#27 Andretti def. #12 Penske (1-6)	#9 CGR def. #3 Penske (8-11)
	#7 McLaren def. #6 McLaren (2-19)	#14 Foyt def. #60 MSR (17-19)
	#26 Andretti def. #21 ECR (3-25)	#66 MSR def. #18 Coyne (10-23)
Week #4 (Barber)	#10 CGR def. #12 Penske (1-4)	#3 Penske def. #5 McLaren (16-17)
	#27 Andretti def. #2 Penske (5-10)	#9 CGR def. #4 Foyt (7-21)
	#7 McLaren def. #21 ECR (2-19)	#60 MSR def. #18 Coyne (13-15)
	#26 Andretti def. #6 McLaren (12-18)	#66 MSR def. #14 Foyt (6-8)
Week #5  (Long Beach)	#10 CGR def. #26 Andretti (1-19)	#5 McLaren def. #66 MSR (5-24)
	#27 Andretti def. #7 McLaren (4-20)	#60 MSR def. #9 CGR (2-3)
	#12 Penske def. #6 McLaren (7-12)	#3 Penske def. #14 Foyt (6-18)
	#2 Penske def. #21 ECR (14-15)	#18 Coyne def. #4 Foyt (21-22)
Week #6 (Grand Prix of Indianapolis)	#7 McLaren def. #10 CGR (1-5)	#5 McLaren def. #60 MSR (18-23)
	#27 Andretti def. #26 Andretti (9-13)	#9 CGR def. #66 MSR (6-11)
	#12 Penske def. #21 ECR (2-24)	#3 Penske def. #18 Coyne (16-21)
	#2 Penske def. #6 McLaren (4-10)	#14 Foyt def. #4 Foyt (14-19)
Week #7 (Indianapolis 500)	#10 CGR def. #27 Andretti (7-16)	#5 McLaren def. #9 CGR (4-15)
	#7 McLaren def. #26 Andretti (17-29)	#60 MSR def. #66 MSR (1-5)
	#12 Penske def. #2 Penske (2-28)	#3 Penske def. #4 Foyt (3-26)
	#6 McLaren def. #21 ECR (11-27)	#14 Foyt def. #18 Coyne (8-9)
Week #8 (Detroit)	#10 CGR def. #6 McLaren (1-15)	#5 McLaren def. #14 Foyt (4-23)
	#27 Andretti def. #21 ECR (2-25)	#18 Coyne def. #9 CGR (20-24)
	#7 McLaren def. #2 Penske (5-10)	#60 MSR def. #4 Foyt (6-16)
	#12 Penske def. #26 Andretti (18-22)	#66 MSR def. #3 Penske (11-19)
Week #9 (Gateway)	#21 ECR def. #10 CGR (3-17)	#5 McLaren def. #18 Coyne (11-15)
	#27 Andretti def. #6 McLaren (6-24)	#9 CGR def. #14 Foyt (12-13)
	#12 Penske def. #7 McLaren (7-10)	#3 Penske def. #60 MSR (5-14)
	#2 Penske def. #26 Andretti (1-8)	#18 Coyne def. #66 MSR (15-24)
Week #10 (Road America)	#10 CGR def. #2 Penske (5-22)	#5 McLaren def. #4 Foyt (12-16)
	#12 Penske def. #27 Andretti (2-10)	#9 CGR def. #3 Penske (7-11)
	#7 McLaren def. #6 McLaren (1-21)	#60 MSR def. #14 Foyt (8-9)
	#26 Andretti def. #21 ECR (3-25)	#18 Coyne def. #66 MSR (15-24)

Conference One Standings

#12 Penske 8-2

#27 Andretti 8-2

#10 Ganassi 7-3

#7 McLaren 7-3

#2 Penske 4-6

#26 Andretti 3-7

#21 ECR 2-8

#6 McLaren 1-9

Conference One is starting to separate between the playoff teams and the non-playoff teams. Three games separate fourth and fifth with five weeks remaining. It is getting late early. The battle to focus on could be for the #1-seed as the four current playoff teams are all within a game of one another. 

We start with a bang at Mid-Ohio as the #12 Penske entry will face the #10 Ganassi entry. The #10 Ganassi entry won its first meeting at Barber, and another victory would give the #10 Ganassi entry the head-to-head tiebreaker. The #10 Ganassi entry will face the #7 McLaren at Portland and the #27 Andretti at Markham. The #7 McLaren and #27 Andretti will face at Nashville.

The #12 Penske has a favorable schedule after Mid-Ohio with its next three matchups against the #6 McLaren, #21 ECR and #2 Penske.

As for the relegation battle, the #21 ECR entry is up a game, but the #6 McLaren's only victory was at the Indianapolis 500 over the #21 ECR entry, and these two will meet again at Markham. 

Conference Two Standings

#5 McLaren 9-1

#3 Penske 8-2

#60 Meyer Shank 6-4

#9 Ganassi 5-5

#66 Meyer Shank 5-5

#18 Coyne 4-6

#14 Foyt 3-7

#4 Foyt 0-10

It is a little closer around the playoff spots in Conference Two. The #5 McLaren is on top and at Mid-Ohio, it will face the #3 Penske. At Barber Motorsports Park, the #3 Penske won the first meeting against the #5 McLaren, and it could claim the head-to-head tiebreaker at Mid-Ohio.

Anyone third through seventh could make it or fall short. The #9 Ganassi entry will face the #60 MSR entry at Nashville and the #66 MSR at Portland. The #18 Coyne has the #60 MSR at Mid-Ohio before facing the #4 Foyt, the #3 Penske and the #14 Foyt over the next three weeks. 

The #4 Foyt entry is against the wall. No victories this season and with five weekends left, it soon will be facing needing to win out with at least the #14 Foyt losing out. The two entries will face at Markham in week 14. 

League Two

The big difference between the two leagues is League Two is a double-round robin, and each teams faces the other twice. There are no playoffs, but 18 weeks and the top three from League Two will be promoted to League One for 2027. As there are an odd-number of teams in League Two with nine entries participating, each team has two bye weeks.

Results

Week #1 (St.Petersburg)	#19 Coyne def. #20 ECR (10-16)
	#8 Ganassi def. #47 RLLR (15-25)
	#76 JHR def. #77 JHR (9-21)
	#45 RLLR def. #15 RLLR (14-18)
Week #2 (Phoenix)	#20 ECR def. #47 RLLR (6-18)
	#8 Ganassi def. #28 Andretti (10-17)
	#19 Coyne def. #76 JHR (15-22)
	#77 JHR def. #45 RLLR (21-23)
Week #3 (Arlington)	#20 ECR def. #77 JHR (9-21)
	#45 RLLR def. #8 Ganassi (13-19)
	#28 Andretti def. #76 JHR (4-14)
	#15 RLLR def. #47 RLLR (18-22)
Week #4 (Barber)	#20 ECR def. #45 RLLR (11-25)
	#15 RLLR def. #76 JHR (3-14)
	#28 Andretti def. #19 Coyne (9-23)
	#77 JHR def. #47 RLLR (22-24)
Week #5  (Long Beach)	#20 ECR def. #28 Andretti (9-25)
	#8 Ganassi def. #77 JHR (10-23)
	#76 JHR def. #47 RLLR (13-17)
	#15 RLLR def. #19 Coyne (8-11)
Week #6 (Grand Prix of Indianapolis)	#15 RLLR def. #20 ECR (3-25)
	#19 Coyne def. #8 Ganassi (8-12)
	#77 JHR def. #28 Andretti (17-22)
	#45 RLLR def. #47 RLLR (7-20)
Week #7 (Indianapolis 500)	#76 JHR def. #20 ECR (6-30)
	#8 Ganassi def. #15 RLLR (14-20)
	#28 Andretti def. #45 RLLR (13-21)
	#47 RLLR def. #19 Coyne (18-19)
Week #8 (Detroit)	#8 Ganassi def. #20 ECR (9-17)
	#45 RLLR def. #76 JHR (7-12)
	#15 RLLR def. #28 Andretti (3-8)
	#19 Coyne def. #77 JHR (13-14)
Week #9 (Gateway)	#76 JHR def. #8 Ganassi (4-21)
	#77 JHR def. #15 RLLR (19-23)
	#28 Andretti def. #47 RLLR (2-16)
	#45 RLLR def. #19 Coyne (20-25)
Week #10 (Road America)	#20 ECR def. #19 Coyne (6-20)
	#8 Ganassi def. #47 RLLR (4-17)
	#76 JHR def. #77 JHR (18-19)
	#45 RLLR def. #15 RLLR (14-23)

League Two Standings

#45 RLLR 6-3

#8 Ganassi 6-3

#15 RLLR 5-4

#76 JHR 5-4

#20 ECR 5-4

#28 Andretti 4-4

#19 Coyne 4-5

#77 JHR 4-5

#47 RLLR 1-8

League Two has been stupid even. It is really up for anyone over the remaining weeks... except the #47 RLLR entry. I think it is safe to say it is an eight-horse race with eight weeks remaining.

At the top of the league, #45 RLLR defeated the #8 Ganassi at Arlington, and they will meet again in Nashville. 

In the three-way tiebreaker for third, the #15 RLLR holds the edge as its defeated the #76 JHR entry at Barber and the #20 ECR in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The #15 RLLR will face those two entries again at Portland and Washington, D.C. respectively. The #76 JHR got the better of the #20 ECR at the Indianapolis 500, and they will meet in the first Milwaukee race.

The #28 Andretti entry is the first to complete both its bye weeks. In its first three meetings with the three entries just ahead of it in the standings, the #28 Andretti went 1-2, losing to the #20 ECR entry at Long Beach and losing to the #15 RLLR entry at Detroit. The #28 Andretti defeated the #76 JHR entry at Arlington. 

We will be back in a few weeks once we are closer to deciding the playoff picture, and see who is a playoff contender, who will have work to do, and who will have their fate sealed, and not in a good way.

Musings From the Weekend: Chasing the Dream

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

Christian Lundgaard went from last-to-first to win at Road America. Many are talking about silly season. There was a disqualification in Indy Lights. There was pushing in Brno, and it earned Marco Bezzecchi a race ban. There was also a last lap pass from the Czech Republic. NASCAR needs to work on its temporary course construction, and probably reinforce some barriers. There were three stunning finishes in Souther California for all the faults with the event, and a first-time winner to boot. Formula E returned to Sanya, China. Sadly, some news from last week was still on my mind, and it led to some reflection. 

Chasing the Dream

The passing of Dennis Reinbold last week brought a cloud of melancholia over IndyCar. The long-time co-owner of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing had been a fixture on the grid and at the Indianapolis 500 since the team debut at the 2000 Indy Racing League season opener at Walt Disney World Speedway. Reinbold ended that day as a race winner with Robbie Buhl. After spending over a decade fielding full-time competition, pre- and post-reunification, the team evolved when faced with economic challenges and focused on the Indianapolis 500 since the 2014 season. 

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has established itself as the only regular Indianapolis-only entry, and it has rode the waves of struggle and success over the last decade, but it has always put together a respectable effort, and one rivals the full-time teams. Though only running one race, D&R organizes a pit crew better than most. In the last two years, it has shown a capability to compete at the very top and fighting for victory.

Discussing a race team feels rather pointless when speaking about the passing of an individual who was more than a car owner, but Dennis Reinbold loved the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar. Even into his final days, Reinbold was still working on returning his team to full-time competition. 

Race teams last as long as the owner wants them to go. When an owner is gone that usually does not bode well for business. 

This isn't another professional sports team with a family trust or perhaps a conglomerate that owns it and one person passing does not change the longevity of the team. Motorsports is different. Race teams are usually not money-making ventures. It is an expensive hobby. It is not an expensive hobby your loved ones may share. People die and teams go with them. 

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing does have other owners. Dennis Reinbold found the team along with businessman Eric DeBord, and the DeBord family remains involved with the team. D&R's chief commercial officer Brett De Bord stated the plan is to carry on Reinbold's legacy. That is hopeful, and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has the game plan mastered for an Indianapolis one-off program. It is possible this organization will keep going and not lose a beat, but it doesn't always work out.

Newman-Haas Racing continued for a brief period after the passing of Paul Newman and while Carl Haas was in declining health, but the team vanished. It wasn't taken over. Other investors did not step in and continue the program. It was gone. The seven championships and 100-plus victories could not prevent that inevitability. 

No one else is following the Dreyer & Reinbold blueprint. It is the last of its kind, and even D&R knew it was on its own, hence why it was looking to get back to full-time competition. No one else is looking to just show up and run the Indianapolis 500. If you are running the Indianapolis 500, you should look to compete full-time with that investment. However, the one-off nature of D&R has been beneficial to IndyCar and its most famous event. 

We got to 33 cars every year thanks in part to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing being around. D&R's one car or in many years two cars has allowed for bumping. It took a mighty risk committing the resources it did to a race it was never going to make its money back on. Missing the race could have been a crippling hit. Every time, it worked out for the organization and IndyCar as a whole. 

For as beloved as the Indianapolis 500 is, no one is opening their wallets like Dennis Reinbold did. This was a man who was living the dream. Every child who walks into Indianapolis Motor Speedway and gets to see that race has a dream of being there and competing in it, standing on the pit wall seeing every lap at 230 mph with the cars so close you could touch them. It is a racetrack but it is a playground to those with skin in the game. All the secret passageways are accessible. No fence can hold you back, and you are competing for arguably the most glorious prize in motorsports. Reinbold was living that dream and there wasn't a price that scared him away. 

No one is looking to fill D&R's shoes. The dream may be there, but a vast majority of people are a little too entrenched in reality, and the price is a little too high.

If D&R leaves, IndyCar will be down a car or two on its Indianapolis 500 entry list. IndyCar has proven time and time again that those competing will adjust and accommodate when necessary. There will be 33 entries even if it means another team or two taking on additional entries, but losing D&R makes bumping exponentially more unlikely. If it is just the existing teams committing the numbers, they collectively will not attempt to run more than 33 cars unless regulations change or the sponsorship dollars make it too difficult to pass up. The latter isn't going to happen, and I wouldn't hold my breath over the former either.

We do not know how long Dreyer & Reinbold Racing will hold on, but a key tenant of the Indianapolis 500 likely depends on whether or not this one-off organization can hold on and remain competing for the long-term. Only time will tell what will happen, and we are still essentially 11 months away until the next Indianapolis 500 festivities. It is presumptuous to assume doom, but we can acknowledge the reality of the situation and the possible outcomes. 

The loss of Dennis Reinbold inadvertently could lead to the next evolution at the Indianapolis 500. It sounds like a stretch today, but we could look back to this moment as a pivotal point in the history of the event. For that alone, we should be thankful Mr. Reinbold got to chase that dream so many of us share. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Christian Lundgaard, but did you know...

Marc Márquez won MotoGP's Czech Grand Prix, his second consecutive victory, and Márquez also won the sprint race. Iván Ortolá won the Moto2 race with a last corner pass on David Alonso, the first Moto2 victory for Ortolá. Hakim Danish won in Moto3, his first career victory. 

 

Corey Heim won the NASCAR Cup race from Coronado Naval Base, his first career victory. Austin Hill won the Grand National Series race, his second victory of the season. Layne Riggs won the Truck Series race, his fourth victory of the season.

Lochie Hughes and Matteo Nannini split the Indy Lights races from Road America. Nannini was awarded victory in the second race after Alessandro de Tullio was disqualified due to having the tires of his A.J. Foyt Racing teammate Nicholas Monteiro mounted on his car. G3 Argyros swept the USF Pro 2000 races. Eddie Beswick (race one), Anthony Mantella (race two) and Brad Majman (race three) split the U.S. F2000 races. 

Ben Dörr and Matteo Cairoli split the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters races from Lausitzring. 

Cam Waters (race one), Kai Allen (race two) and Anton de Pasquale (race three) split the Supercars races from Hidden Valley Raceway. 

Jake Dennis won the Sanya ePrix, his second victory of the season.

Coming Up This Weekend

MotoGP ends June with the Dutch TT.

Formula One is off to Austria.

NASCAR stays in California, and it has its final road course weekend of the season from Sonoma.

The 24 Hours of Spa will take place.

IMSA keeps it busy with endurance races as the 6 Hours of the Glen takes place. 

World Rally Championship is off in Greece for the Acropolis Rally.

First Impressions: Road America 2026

1. After one lap, Christian Lundgaard needed a miracle. Front wing damage after contact with Scott Dixon entering turn one forced Lundgaard into the pit lane and put him in last place. Everything from that point on went Lundgaard's way. Every caution. Every mechanical failure. Basically, every break Lundgaard could ask for, he received, and it placed him second in the closing laps with Marcus Armstrong leading. However, Armstrong's engine expired with four laps remaining, and Lundgaard swept into the lead.

There was a final restart with one lap to go, but Lundgaard felt no pressure, and took an unlikely victory, one that still feels absurd to achieve.

Even after the first caution for Romain Grosjean's loose tire, Lundgaard was only 18th. Even after Christian Rasmussen stopped on course and brought out a caution, Lundgaard was still 14th.

The race turned in the penultimate stint where Lundgaard was able to run hard and it put him in a position where he made his final stop and had a shorter stint than the leaders on the alternate tire. Lundgaard was over a second faster a lap than the rest of the field, and he made his final stop with ten laps remaining, setting up a game of cat and mouse.

Lundgaard was eating away time from Armstrong in the final stint, but it was going to be close in an on-track battle. Lundgaard then received a gift. Armstrong sputtered and Lundgaard swooped into the lead. All Lundgaard had to do was survive one restart, and with the better tires that was not going to be a problem.

This was still a staggeringly good drive from Lundgaard, and maybe Lundgaard was always going to win this race. Maybe the pace was always on his side and with two laps to go or on the final lap Lundgaard was going to take the lead, but he didn't have to do that extra work to do. He had done plenty to put him in that position.

Maybe it was a miracle it worked out this way. All the cautions. All the pit stops. All the strategy fell in place for Lundgaard to be on such a charge that he could be second and be the opportunistic driver to scoop up a victory when the leader broke down with fewer than five laps remaining.

It could have been a miracle, but Lundgaard worked for it. He had nothing to lose after the opening lap, and a flat-out strategy led to a victory seemingly out of nowhere. 

2. Second was probably a spot better than David Malukas deserved in this race, but he ran at the front again. This isn't a heart-breaking second like we saw in the Indianapolis 500. He is in the picture, but outside of Phoenix and Indianapolis, Malukas hasn't been the main artist. He is good on road and street courses, but he has yet to be a driver to beat.

Malukas was not close to Armstrong in the closing stages. Then Lundgaard emerged from the pit lane ahead of Malukas. Malukas got the spot back for a moment, but the tires were on Lundgaard's side and there was nothing Malukas could do to defend that position.

Piling up top five finishes are great. At some point, Malukas must find a way to be the man to beat in one of these races. There are far more road and street courses on the schedule than ovals.

3. Will Power got third even after contact with Graham Rahal on the final lap as Rahal spun himself drifting to the left and into Power. Power had nowhere to go. Race control ruled it a block from Rahal. It is a shame Rahal threw away a result like that.

As for Power, he stopped in front of the first two cautions, and stopping before Christian Rasmussen's car ground to a halt put Power in a battle for a podium position. He was pushing Rahal on the final restart. I don't see what Power could have done differently in that incident.

For Power, it is a positive result. The pit strategy played a large factor in it. There is still room for improvement.

4. Kyffin Simpson was one of many drivers to benefit significantly from Rasmussen's misfortune, and Simpson held on to get a fourth-place finish. Simpson can do things well. I am not saying he does it great, but if he is in a car running seventh, he can finish seventh. He is good. If every year Simpson is going to have one or two results are down to sheer good timing, more power to him, but let's not confuse this for remarkable pace.

5. A pit lane speeding penalty likely cost Alex Palou a victory, or at least a podium finish, but Palou shuffled quickly back into the top ten as Rasmussen stopped after Palou served his penalty and over half the grid still had to make a pit stop. Palou didn't lose that much ground after that happened. He had to make a few passes. The speeding penalty likely cost Palou some points today, but Palou's championship lead is now 11 points greater than it was prior to this weekend.

Nobody meaningful pounced. Malukas gained eight points on Palou. That isn't nothing, but Malukas is still 60 points back with eight races to go. Is Malukas going to score eight points or more than Palou in each of the final eight races? No.

Speeding happens, and even when it happens, Palou can still finish in the top five. Good luck to the competition.

6. Alexander Rossi's slump is over, though the cautions played a significant hand into this result. The Grosjean caution got Rossi out of the cellar and on the cusp of the top ten. The Christian Rasmussen caution put Rossi into a fight for the top five. It wasn't the greatest day from Rossi. It isn't like he passed 15 cars to get here. The cautions certainly helped. You take a good result anyway you can get them.

7. Scott McLaughlin showed good pace and made some good moves in the top ten. The cautions didn't ruin McLaughlins' race too much, but it did keep him in the middle of the top ten, and he could not be a podium contender.

8. Marcus Armstrong had the worst day of the Meyer Shank Racing drivers, but Felix Rosenqvist was hard done with the Rasmussen's caution. Rosenqvist was about five seconds from entering the pit lane. Maybe it was ten seconds. Give Rosenqvist ten more seconds and he gets the stop in before Rasmussen breaks down, Rosenqvist probably wins this race. The Swede looked exceptionally strong today. Unfortunately, the cautions shuffled him back to eighth.

9. Santino Ferrucci gets ninth. Ferrucci didn't do anything notable. He benefitted a little bit from the cautions and some of the late incidents to get a top ten. Take them however you can get them.

10. Kyle Kirkwood was probably a little fortunate to finish in tenth. Kirkwood made up a few spots early, but he never quite had the speed to be a factor. If it wasn't for the Graham Rahal accident on the final lap while battling for third, Kirkwood is likely 11th, which is about where he was all day. This wasn't a good day for Kirkwood. He was not a factor all weekend. He cannot have these weekends and be a championship contender, not against Alex Palou.

11. Scott Dixon was shuffled back and then served a drive-through penalty for making a pit stop after repositioning the cars under the first caution. That is not a penalty we see all that often. Either way, it was extra work for Dixon. He ended up getting back to 11th, but this is now four consecutive races without a top ten finish. Not good.

12. Patricio O'Ward and Marcus Ericsson both looked competitive and should have been finishing in the top five. Instead, O'Ward was 12th and Ericsson was 13th. O'Ward had to take emergency service and was moved to the rear. After the Rasmussen caution, Ericsson had a pair of off-track excursions.

13. We are going to breeze through the rest of the field because as you can tell by the time this was posted it is late.

Louis Foster wound up 14th. It is a nine-spot improvement. Foster did stop on the right side of the Rasmussen caution, but he was shuffled back. Consider this a missed opportunity.

Romain Grosjean overcame the loose wheel to finish 15th. Eh. Dale Coyne Racing does have an abundance of loose tires. This should be looked at.

Caio Collet started well and he looked good, but the Rasmussen caution shuffled him outside the top ten. Collet was better than 16th.

Mick Schumacher is just going to finish 17th every race. It isn't great. It isn't good. It is 17th.

If you have any clue what happened with Juncos Hollinger Racing, you are likely the only one because Rinus VeeKay was 18th and Sting Ray Robb was 19th, and I don't think either was mentioned.

Dennis Hauger had a tire puncture right after the first restart and he never recovered from that setback.

Nolan Siegel was in a position for top ten finish and then he was spun off the front wing of Josef Newgarden. Siegel dropped to 21st and lost a pretty good result. Newgarden was handed a 30-second penalty for the contact and it dropped him to 22nd. Newgarden had another tough day. A 12th-place finish would have been decent. An unforced error cost Newgarden mightily.

14. This one is painful for Marcus Armstrong. His first career victory was in his hand, and the engine let him down. It was going to be close on Lundgaard passing Armstrong before the checkered flag.  Lundgaard's pace had fallen off just enough where it felt like Armstrong was going to hold on.

For the last three years, Armstrong has been a solid driver, and this was the first time it felt like he was a true contender for a race victory. The talent has been there. With how Meyer Shank Racing has been running, victory felt possible. It felt like this was going to be Armstrong's day. It should have been. He made the stops at the right time, he had good pace and made no mistakes. The only real challenger he had was Lundgaard, and it felt like Armstrong had done enough to hold on.

This one stings. Hopefully, it doesn't break Armstrong down. MSR has good cars. They can recover from today. It will get a chance at home in the next race.

15. We get a break, a week off before Mid-Ohio. How will Mid-Ohio top what we just saw?

Morning Warm-Up: Road America 2026

For the fifth consecutive race, Álex Palou is starting on pole position. With a lap at 103.6615 seconds, Palou took pole position for the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America. It is Palou’s 17th career pole position,  but it is his first at Road America, the 11th different circuit where he has been the top qualifier. He is the first driver to win five consecutive pole positions since Alex Zanardi did it spanning the 1996 and 1997 CART seasons. It is the sixth time since 1946 a driver has won at least five consecutive pole positions. Ten times has Palou won from pole position, including at Barber Motorsports Park and Detroit earlier this season. Pit strategy backfiring on Palou at Gateway left him with a 17th-place finish. Palou has not had consecutive results outside the top ten since the final two races of the 2024 season at Milwaukee and Nashville.

For the second consecutive race, David Malukas is starting to Álex Palou’s outside. Malukas was 0.2927 seconds off Palou in the final round of qualifying. This is the eighth time this season Malukas is starting in the top five. It is his fifth front row start of 2026. This is the tenth race of the season. Malukas has never finished better than 12th in the tenth race of the season. He has seven top ten finishes from the first nine races of the season. Road America has produced eight first-time winners, most recent was Felix Rosenqvist in the second race of the 2020 doubleheader. 

Another driver looking for a first career victory is Marcus Armstrong in third. Armstrong matched his best Road America qualifying effort though the New Zealander was 0.3610 seconds slower than Palou in the final round of qualifying. When Armstrong started third two years ago, he hit pole-sitter Linus Lundqvist at the start and spun. Armstrong would later retire due to a mechanical problem. In six of nine races this season has Armstrong finished worse than his starting position. In the three races in which Armstrong has finished better than his grid spot, he has gained at least eight spots.

Felix Rosenqvist makes it an all-Meyer Shank Racing row two, as Rosenqvist was 0.027 seconds off his teammate Armstrong. This is the second consecutive race Rosenqvist is starting fourth and it is his sixth top five start of the season. Surprisingly, this is his best starting position ever at Road America. His previous best was seventh on two occasions. Last year, Rosenqvist was second at Road America. It was his first top five finish at the circuit since he won the second race of the 2020 doubleheader, where he started seventh. 

Marcus Ericsson starts in the top five for the first time since he was on pole position at Arlington in March, as the Swede rolls off from fifth. It is Ericsson’s second time starting in the top five at Road America. Ericsson's runner-up finish at Gateway was the sixth of his career. The only time he has had consecutive podium finishes was in 2021 when he was second at Mid-Ohio and then won on the streets of Nashville. The last time he had consecutive top five finishes was in 2022 with a fourth in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and first in the Indianapolis 500.

Scott McLaughlin rounds out the top six. It is the seventh time McLaughlin has started in the top ten this season. This is the fifth time McLaughlin has started sixth in his career. The only time he finished better than sixth from sixth was at Mid-Ohio in 2024 when he finished third. The most recent race won from the sixth grid spot was last year’s season finale with Josef Newgarden going sixth to first at Nashville. In five Road America starts, McLaughlin has completed every lap, all 275 laps.

Nolan Siegel will have the third-best starting position of his career as Siegel will roll off from seventh. He was 0.0997 seconds from making the Fast Six. The last time Siegel started this well was last year at Mid-Ohio, when he started a career-best fourth. While Siegel was 24th at Gateway, he has never had consecutive finishes outside the top twenty in his IndyCar career. 

Caio Collet has a career-best starting position of eighth. This was only the second time Collet made it out of the first round of qualifying on a street or road course. The other was the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May. Collet's streak of finishes outside the top fifteen is now up to six consecutive races after the Brazilian suffered an engine failure at Gateway. Collet won last year at Road America in Indy Lights.

Patricio O'Ward will start ninth. O’Ward has started no worse than 12th this season. O’Ward had started 11th in his last two visits to Elkhart Lake. After finishing 11th at Gateway, O'Ward is looking to avoid consecutive finishes outside the top ten for the first time since 2024 when he had a three-race slump over the Toronto, Gateway and Portland races.

Will Power takes the outside of row five. This is only the fourth time this season Power is starting inside the top ten. Power has not finished in the top ten in the tenth race of the season since he won the first race of the Mid-Ohio doubleheader in 2020. In three of the last four Road America races, and in four of the last six, Power has finished outside the top ten. 

Scott Dixon will start 11th and this will be the tenth consecutive Road America race Dixon is starting outside the top five. He has finished in the top five in five of the previous nine Road America races. In two of the last three years, Dixon started outside the top twenty and finished in the top ten. He led 27 laps last year despite starting 25th.

Christian Lundgaard missed out on making the second round of qualifying by a little over a tenth of a second, but a grid penalty lifts Lundgaard to 12th starting spot. This is the seventh time in ten races Lundgaard is starting outside the top ten. Having led a lap in five races this season, Lundgaard has led the second-most races, trailing only Álex Palou, who has led in eight of the first nine races.

Though falling 0.0241 seconds shy of making the Fast Six, a six-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change dropped Santino Ferrucci to 13th starting position. Last season, Ferrucci improved at least ten spots from his grid position in five of the first nine races. This season, he has improved at least ten spots from his starting spot only once, 21st to 11th at Phoenix, and the only other time he has improved by more than two spots was going from 22nd to 18th at Long Beach. 

Romain Grosjean fell 0.0060 seconds shy of making it out of the second qualifying group. Instead, Grosjean will start 14th. This is his best starting position since the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, as Grosjean started 20th or worse in the last three events. In four Road America starts, Grosjean has three top ten finishes with a pair of top five results. 

Josef Newgarden starts 15th as this will be the third consecutive race Newgarden is competing with a leg injury. Newgarden has a chance to pick up his third victory of the season. He has not won three races in a season since he won four times in 2023. Newgarden has not won on a permanent road course since his 2022 Road America victory.

Christian Rasmussen will occupy the outside of row eight but he was 0.0086 seconds from advancing to round two. This is the second time in three Road America visits Rasmussen will start 16th. This is the sixth time the Dane has started outside the top fifteen this season. Two weeks ago, at Gateway, he went from 19th to third. In his first two Road America starts, Rasmussen has finished 20th and 18th.

Dennis Hauger makes his Road America debut from 17th on the grid. This is the eighth time in ten races Hauger has qualified outside the top fifteen. In the first six road and street course races of the season, Hauger has finished in the top fifteen in four of them. He was eighth in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis last month. At Gateway, mechanical issues prevented Hauger from getting off the grid and he did not take the green flag. 

After making the Fast Six the previous three years at Road America, Kyle Kirkwood will start this year in 18th. This is Kirkwood’s worst starting position on a road or street course this season. He did start 25th at the Indianapolis 500 last month. Kirkwood enters Road America having finished in the top ten in three consecutive races at the circuit. His finishing position has improved every year he has raced at Road America, and he was fourth last year.

Kyffin Simpson takes the inside of row ten. This will be the third time Simpson will start 19th this season. He started in this grid spot at Phoenix and Barber Motorsports Park. He was tenth at Phoenix but 20th at Barber. Simpson went from 23rd to sixth in last year's Road America race. That 17-place improvement is the greatest in Simpson's career.

Graham Rahal is the top Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing starter in 20th. Gateway was the second time this season Rahal finished worse than his starting position this season, falling out of the race due to an accident after starting 11th. He dropped from third to ninth at Phoenix. At every road and street course race, Rahal has at least finished where he started or improved. 

Rinus VeeKay continues his streak of never starting in the top ten at Road America. This year, VeeKay will start 21st, a position better than last year in this race. It is the third time the Dutchman has started 21st this season. The other two were Arlington and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. After finishing fourth at Gateway, VeeKay is looking for consecutive top five finishes for the first time in his IndyCar career. Last year, he picked up his best Road America result with a finish of tenth.

Mick Schumacher is starting directly behind his RLLR teammate Rahal in 22nd. This is the ninth time in ten races Schumacher has qualified outside the top fifteen. After not improving from his grid position in the first four races of the season, Schumacher has finished better than his starting spot in four of the last five races. His most spots gained was nine at the Indianapolis 500 from 27th to 18th.

After starting on pole position last year at Road America, Louis Foster will start 23rd this year. This is Foster’s worst starting position of the season. His previous worst was 22nd at Barber. From first on the grid, Foster spent only 18 laps in the top ten in last year’s race before finishing 11th. He did lead three laps before dropping down the order. 

Sting Ray Robb starts outside the top twenty for the seventh time this season, however, 24th will be Robb’s best starting spot for a Road America race. Robb started 24th at Detroit two races ago and he wound up picking up his best finish of the season in 14th. Detroit was the third of three times Robb has finished on the lead lap this season. In three Road America starts, he has finishes of 22nd, 17th and 26th. Last year, his race lasted only nine laps before suffering an accident. 

An unapproved engine change will drop Alexander Rossi from 21st to last on the grid, giving him a little extra work to crack the top fifteen. Rossi's slump is up to four consecutive races without a top fifteen finish, the longest of his IndyCar career. This matches Rossi’s worst starting position of the season. He started 25th at St. Petersburg and he was 16th at the conclusion of that race. 

Fox's coverage of the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America begins at 2:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 2:17 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 55 laps.

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.