Track Walk: Gateway 2026

The ninth round of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season brings to a close the first half of the championship, and we turn the page to the second half in style, with a night race at Gateway Motorsports Park. This will be the 19th IndyCar race held at Gateway, and it is the tenth consecutive season the 1.25-mile oval has been on the schedule. Only three times in its history has the Gateway winner gone on to win the championship, and there is one name clearly standing above the rest who could become the fourth driver to simultaneously hold both honors. Gateway has also never produced a first-time winner. There are 13 drivers entered this weekend hoping to make that bit of history.

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 9:00 p.m. ET on Sunday June 7 with green flag scheduled for 9:25 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

Saturday:

First Practice: 12:30 p.m. ET (60 minutes)

Qualifying: 3:35 p.m. ET 

High Line Practice: 8:05 p.m. ET (45 minutes)

Final Practice: 9:00 p.m. ET (60 minutes)
Sunday:
Race: 9:25 p.m. ET (260 laps)

Team Penske's Shot at Redemption

Last year's Gateway race was an utter disappointment for the Team Penske outfit. The three-car team had finishers in 24th, 25th and 27th despite all three cars starting and running most of the race in the top five. 

Will Power was the first to fall by the wayside for Team Penske last year. While running second, Power suffered a tire puncture and had an accident. He was the first car out of the race after completing 47 laps. Josef Newgarden shot into the lead on lap 105, and Newgarden started to take firm grasp of the race until Louis Foster spun into his path on lap 130, collecting Newgarden in an accident that flipped the American. Scott McLaughlin had a good night going, he led 51 laps in the race, the second-most, but McLaughlin had dropped down to sixth and his race ended after 216 laps with a mechanical issue less than 50 laps from the finish. 

Prior to that, the only Gateway race since its return to the schedule not to have a Team Penske car in the top five was the first race of the 2020 doubleheader, and Newgarden was the best finisher in that race in 12th. 

Not only is Team Penske returning to Gateway after its worst Gateway race the year before, it is heading to Gateway off its worst race of the 2026 season. 

At Detroit, Newgarden was the best Penske finisher in tenth. Prior to Detroit, Penske had at least one finisher in the top six in each of the first seven races of the season. Penske had taken the runner-up spot in the previous two races, and it had two of the top three at the Indianapolis 500. 

Newgarden leads all-time with five Gateway victories. The only other driver with multiple Gateway victories all-time is Scott Dixon with two. However, Newgarden has had accidents in two of his last three Gateway trips with a victory sandwiched in-between. Newgarden is also coming off one of the most physically demanding races he has faced in a long time. 

Battling a lower leg injury from his Indianapolis 500 accident, Newgarden could not crack the top twenty in either of the first two practice sessions in Detroit, and he started 21st. He spent much of the race at the tail of the field before going off strategy, and cautions lifted him into a competitive position. Newgarden held on for a tenth-place finish, but expressed exhaustion and frustration with his performance in his post-race interview. 

The last three times he has seen the checkered flag at Gateway, Newgarden has won the race. He has led at least one lap in eight of ten Gateway starts. He has led at least 50 laps in five of those races. His average starting position at the circuit is 2.9, and he has never started worse than sixth at Gateway with nine starts in the top five. 

While Newgarden has the longevity of success at Gateway, David Malukas has been knocking on the door for a breakthrough in his home state of Illinois. 

In Malukas' first two visits to the track, he was second in 2022 and third in 2023, the first two podium finishes of his IndyCar career. In 2024, he started second and spent a fair amount of the race in the top five before coming together with Will Power in turn two. Last year, Malukas led the most laps of the race from fourth on the grid, however, he lost spots consistently during pit cycles, and he brushed the wall after attempting a pass on the outside of Kyle Kirkwood. This dropped Malukas to 12th at the checkered flag. 

Malukas is coming off his worst race of the season. In Detroit, Malukas had to start last after an accident in the first round of qualifying. The race was not going much better until a caution after Malukas had made a pit stop lifted him into a top five spot. Unfortunately, track position was lost when Malukas and Mick Schumacher had slight contact in turn five. Malukas would finish four laps down in 18th.

Prior to Detroit, Malukas had six consecutive top ten finishes, the longest such streak of his career. He was runner-up in the previous two races, falling agonizingly close to victory in the Indianapolis 500. Through two oval races, Malukas has finishes of third and second, and he started on pole position in Phoenix while also leading a race-high 73 laps. 

Scott McLaughlin's winless streak is now up to 26 races. Contact with Will Power in Detroit took McLaughlin out of contention for possibly a top five finish if not a podium finish, and he was classified in 19th. Through eight races, McLaughlin has finished outside the top ten in half of them. Three of those results have been outside the top fifteen. He has only led 39 laps this season, 34 of those came at St. Petersburg and the other five were at the Indianapolis 500.

Prior to last year's Gateway race, McLaughlin had been four-for-four in top five finishes, and he had taken each of the four spots in the top five that were not first place. He has led in three of his five Gateway starts. Coincidentally, in each those three races he has started on one of the first two rows. In the other two races, he has started 11th and tenth. 

Team Penske has only won three of the last 11 oval races after it had won 11 of the 14 oval races prior to that.

O'Ward on the Fence

Three drivers have finished in the top five in at least six races. Two of those drivers are the top two in the championship. Four of Álex Palou's six top five finishes have been victories. Kyle Kirkwood opened the season with five consecutive top five finishes, and Kirkwood picked up his sixth in Detroit as he was runner-up to Palou. 

The other driver with six top five finishes so far this season isn't third in the championship. He isn't even fourth. Fifth is not a bad spot to be through eight races, nor is six top five finishes something to hang your head over, but for Patricio O'Ward there must be some frustration in running this well and still being unable to snag a victory nor being all that close.

Forget a victory for a moment, O'Ward doesn't even have a podium finish and he has only led 19 laps this season, ten of which came at Phoenix and the other nine were at the Indianapolis 500! Since reunification, this is the most top five finishes a driver has had through the first eight races to not have a podium finish. Dating back to last season, O'Ward does not have a podium finish over his last 12 starts, the longest drought of his IndyCar career. His previous longest podium drought was the first 11 races of his career.

However, during this podium drought, he has eight top five finishes. The only driver with more top five finishes over the last 12 races is Álex Palou, who has ten. 

O'Ward's most recent podium finish was his most recent victory at Toronto last year. The Mexican has won at least one oval race in each of the last two seasons, and he has won an oval race in four of the last five seasons. None of those victories have come at Gateway. 

Last year, O'Ward ended up finish second at Gateway in a race that saw him stop four laps after Kyle Kirkwood for his final pit stop but Kirkwood still remained ahead of O'Ward. The two drivers each only led eight laps in the race.

For O'Ward, it was his fifth podium finish in seven Gateway starts, and he has yet to win at the circuit. Amazingly, O'Ward is tied as all-time leader in podium finishes at Gateway with Josef Newgarden, who has won five times at the circuit and never finished in any other podium spot but first at the track. While O'Ward was 26th in 2024 after his car broke down 42 laps into the race, his next worst finish was fourth in 2022. He has never started worse than eighth at Gateway.

Among circuits where O'Ward has made at least three starts, only at Iowa does he have a better average finish than Gateway. He had an average finish of 4.6 in ten Iowa starts, which included two victories. At Gateway, his average finish is 5.857. In terms of average starting position, Gateway is O'Ward's best circuit at 4.571.

The only driver with a better average finish at Gateway than O'Ward, who made at least three starts, is Sam Hornish, Jr. In three starts from 2001 to 2003, Hornish, Jr. had an average finish of 4.667, and like O'Ward, Hornish, Jr. never won at Gateway. His finishes were third, fifth and sixth respectively over those three years.

Those Looking For a Pick-Me-Up

A few notable drivers are in unusual places as we are nearing the halfway point of the season. These are drivers we are accustomed to seeing toward the top of the championship and being greater factors within races. Gateway provides an opportunity for a pick-me-up before IndyCar's first week off in over a month.

Scott Dixon is outside the top ten in the championship. Eight races into the season and Dixon ranks 11th in the championship. He is only one point outside the championship top ten, but Dixon is normally not this far down the championship this deep into a season.

This is only the second time in his 26-year career Dixon has been ranked outside the top ten in the championship after the first eight races. The other time was his infamous 2005 season, where he was 16th following the eighth race of the season. 

It has not been a disastrous season for Dixon, but it has been tougher than most. He did not have a top five finish through the first four races for the first time since 2005. He does have five top ten finishes this season, and his best result was third at Long Beach. The last two results have been outside the top ten, but he was a contender for a top five in the Indianapolis 500 before the pit strategy broke down over the final two stints and he was shuffled back to 15th. A hybrid failure took him out of Detroit when he was on pace for another top five result. 

Gateway has been respectable for Dixon. While he has won twice, he also has six top five finishes in the last ten Gateway races. He has finished outside the top ten in four of the last ten Gateway races as well.

Alexander Rossi enters Gateway on the back of three consecutive finishes outside the top fifteen. Mechanical problems ended both his races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Rossi took a pair of penalties in Detroit, one of which was for avoidable contact when he spun Romain Grosjean after losing his car under braking. 

Prior to this slump, Rossi was 11th in the championship and he had three top ten finishes in the previous four races with his worst result being 11th. Rossi has never had four consecutive results outside the top fifteen. The bad news is Gateway is one of Rossi's worst circuits. 

In ten starts, Rossi's average finish at Gateway is 13.3. The only tracks in his career where he has a worst average finish are the Nashville street circuit (13.333) and Texas Motor Speedway (14.444). Rossi has only three top ten finishes at Gateway while also having four finishes outside the top fifteen. He has only led ten laps at the circuit. 

Will Power has arguably never been worse through eight races. Power is 18th in the championship, tied with Louis Foster on 121 points, but Power holds the tiebreaker. 

The only time Power has been worse in the championship through eight races was when he was 19th through eight races in 2009, but Power had only started three of the first eight races that season as he was brought into Team Penske to substitute for Hélio Castroneves while Castroneves was on trial for tax evasion. When Castroneves returned at Long Beach, Power became a part-time driver and completed the Long Beach round while also competing at the Indianapolis 500. Power had scored 99 points in those three starts, an average of 33 points per start. This season, Power is averaging 15.125 points per start through the first eight races.

Power was at least third in Arlington. Outside of Arlington, he has yet to crack the top ten again this season. Meanwhile, Foster, who Power is level with on points, has finished seventh in two of the last three races. Power has finished outside the top fifteen in five of eight races. His five consecutive races without a top ten result is his longest slump since a five race stretch in 2021. Power has never gone six consecutive races without a top ten finish in his IndyCar career. 

Power has been streaky at Gateway. He won the 2018 races and he has five top ten finishes at the circuit. The problem is when he doesn't finish in the top ten, he finishes poorly. He has five finishes of 17th or worse at Gateway, and he has retired due to an accident four times, including the last two years. His starting positions have been impeccable. Only once has he started outside one of the first two rows, and that was eighth in the 2023 race.

Christian Rasmussen was arguably the best car at Phoenix and was on his way to a victory before contact with Will Power. Nearly three months removed from that race and Rasmussen is second-to-the-bottom in the championship. The Dane is 24th on 76 points, only one point ahead of Mick Schumacher, who is last among full-time drivers. 

Rasmussen has yet to finish in the top ten this season. His 14th at Phoenix remains his best finish of the season. He has failed to finish the last three races. Mechanical issues took him out of both Indianapolis races, and his Detroit race ended after nine laps when he bounced off the barrier. 

Last season, Rasmussen overcame a pit error failing to fill the car with fuel and a penalty for emergency service in the pit lane to finish third at Gateway, and that was despite him starting 25th. It was the first podium finish of his IndyCar career. While the first two oval races in 2026 did not go in Rasmussen's favor, it should be remembered he had five top ten finishes in six oval races last season, including a victory at Milwaukee from ninth on the grid. Across his five top ten finishes on ovals last season, Rasmussen made up on average 12.8 positions from his starting place.

Intra-Team Battles

As we near the end of the first half of the IndyCar season, a few teams have a clear leader while others are rather balanced.

It should be no surprise Álex Palou has been the best Chip Ganassi Racing driver this season. Not only is Palou the only Ganassi driver in the top ten of the championship, but he has also been the top Ganassi finisher in seven of eight races, the exception being Phoenix where his race ended after 21 laps. Phoenix is one of two races where Ganassi did not have a top five finisher. The coincidental thing is the other race is the only other oval we have had this season, Indianapolis, and in both cases the best Ganassi finisher was in seventh.

While Palou has six top five finishes through eight races, Scott Dixon and Kyffin Simpson have a combined one top five finish, Dixon's third at Long Beach. 

Palou has been the best Ganassi starter in all eight races. Dixon's fourth-place starting spot in Detroit was the first time either he or Simpson cracked a top five grid position this season. While Palou has started in the top ten in all eight races, his two Ganassi teammates have a combined six top ten starts.

David Malukas has been the team leader at Team Penske. Malukas is the best Penske driver in the championship, but he has also been the top Penske finisher in four of eight races. Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden have each been the top finisher twice. The only race this season where all three Penske cars finished in the top ten was Phoenix. 

In terms of qualifying, Malukas has been the best Penske starter in six of eight races while McLaughlin has been the best Penske starter twice. McLaughlin has also been the worst Penske starter in four races while Newgarden has been the worst three times. Detroit was the first time Malukas has been the worst Penske starter. The only race this season where all three Penske cars started in the top ten was Phoenix, where they all actually started in the top five.

Kyle Kirkwood has been the top Andretti Global finisher in seven of eight races, and the only time he wasn't was the one race where none of the three Andretti cars finished in the top ten. Marcus Ericsson was 13th in the Indianapolis 500 while Kirkwood was 16th.

It has been pretty even in terms of qualifying at Andretti Global. Kirkwood has led the team four times on the starting grid, but Ericsson has been the best Andretti starter on three occasions. That includes the Indianapolis 500 where Ericsson was the best Andretti car in 17th. Andretti had not had a car start in the top ten in either oval race. Kirkwood was the best Andretti start at Phoenix in 11th. 

Detroit was the first time this season Will Power was the best Andretti qualifier, and Detroit was also the second time this season all three Andretti cars started in the top ten. The other was Long Beach.

At Arrow McLaren, Patricio O'Ward has a slight advantage in qualifying and the race. O'Ward has been the best starter and the best finisher for the team on five occasions. Christian Lundgaard has been the best in both categories on three occasions. McLaren has had multiple top ten finishers in four races this season, but they have only had multiple top ten starters in three races. Nolan Siegel has been McLaren's worst starter in seven races and the worst finisher in five races. 

It is more even at Meyer Shank Racing. While Felix Rosenqvist won the Indianapolis 500, Marcus Armstrong has been MSR's best finisher in five races. The two drivers are level with each being the best MSR starter four times this season. Rosenqvist had been the best starter in three consecutive races prior to Detroit. The only time both MSR cars have started in the top ten this season was Arlington.

Graham Rahal has been the top Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing performer in five races. That is easy when you have three podium finishes, one of four drivers with three podium finishes this season. Rahal has more podium finishes this season than Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, Kyle Kirkwood and Patricio O'Ward. Louis Foster has been the top RLLR finisher twice, but it both cases neither of his teammates finished better than 18th. Takuma Sato was the best RLLR car at the Indianapolis 500 in tenth. 

In qualifying, Foster has been the best starter four times, and in two of those races, none of the RLLR cars cracked the top ten. Rahal has been the best starter in three races, and in each of those Rahal has started in the top ten. Sato was the best qualifier at Indianapolis in 12th. Mick Schumacher has been the worst RLLR finisher and the worst RLLR qualifier in five races.

At Ed Carpenter Racing, Alexander Rossi has been the better driver in terms of race finishes. Rossi has been the best finisher six times for the team. Each time Christian Rasmussen has been the best finisher it has been when every ECR car retired from the race. First was at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, where Rasmussen retired but he returned to the track to complete a few laps after Rossi had retired and actually over took his teammate. The other time was the Indianapolis 500.

Rossi and Rasmussen are tied at four in the qualifying battle. In both races where Rasmussen has started in the top ten he has beat Rossi in qualifying. Arlington is the only race where both drivers have started in the top ten. 

Santino Ferrucci leads Caio Collet 5-3 in both qualifying performances and race performances. Collet has been the best A.J. Foyt Racing starter in three of the last four races. Ferrucci was the best Foyt finisher in both oval races.

Dennis Hauger has the advantage in race finishes over his Dale Coyne Racing teammate Romain Grosjean at 5-3. Every time Hauger has been the best DCR finisher, he has been at least seven positions ahead of Grosjean. However, it is flipped in qualifying with Grosjean holding the 5-3 advantage. The DCR drivers have started within five positions of one another in six of eight races. At Barber Motorsports Park, Grosjean started 18 spots better than Hauger, and Grosjean had a 13-spot advantage on the grid for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.

Juncos Hollinger Racing has been all Rinus VeeKay. VeeKay has been the best JHR finisher in seven of eight races. The only race Sting Ray Robb was ahead of VeeKay was Phoenix, where VeeKay was caught in an accident with Álex Palou on lap 21. Even after the repair, VeeKay still completed 245 laps and was 22nd, only one spot and one laps behind Robb. In qualifying, VeeKay is up 8-0 with the Dutchman starting on average eight spots better than his American teammate. 

Indy Lights

Gateway marks the first of three oval races on the 2026 Indy Lights schedule, and this is race eight of 17 in the championship. 

At Detroit, Enzo Fittipaldi took the championship lead with his second victory of the season. Fittipaldi took advantage of an opening as Myles Rowe and Time Kucharczyk battled for the lead. Fittipaldi slipped ahead going to turn four and the Brazilian held onto the top spot from that point.

After finishing 17th in the first race of the season, Fittipaldi has six consecutive top five finishes, and it has him in first on 266 points. Nikita Johnson dropped from first to second in the championship, seven points behind Fittipaldi. Johnson has yet to finish worse than sixth this year, but he has finished sixth in the last two races. 

Kucharczyk has yet to finish worse than fifth this season, and he has been on the podium five times, but the Polish driver is eight points behind Fittipaldi in third. Max Taylor had an accident at Detroit and for the second time this season Taylor finished outside the top fifteen. Taylor is now fourth in the championship but 38 points off Fittipaldi. Taylor's Andretti Global teammate Lochie Hughes rounds out the top five, but Hughes also had an accident in Detroit, and he is 90 points off the championship lead.

Alessandro de Tullio has won five pole positions this season. Unfortunately, de Tullio has finished outside the top ten in three of those races, and contact at the start in Detroit meant he was classified in 22nd. De Tullio won the second Barber Motorsports Park race, but he is 94 points behind Fittipaldi in the championship.

Detroit was Myles Rowe's best race of the season, and he show legitimate pace to win the race. The runner-up result lifted Rowe to seventh in the championship on 159 points, three points ahead of Juan Manuel Correa. Seb Murray scored his second top five finish of the season in Detroit, as Murray was fifth, and this has Murray on 148 points in ninth. Despite failing to finish in the top ten for a third consecutive race, Jordan Missig holds onto tenth with 140 points, 14 points clear of Max Garcia, who matched his best finish of the season in the Motor City in fourth. 

There will be one change to the Indy Lights grid for Gateway. Yuven Sundaramoorthy will replace Nicolas Stati in the #15 Cusick Morgan Motorsports entry. Stati did score his best finish of the season at Detroit in seventh, but he is 17th in the championship on 109 points. Sundaramoorthy competed in the 2024 Indy Lights championship and he was eighth that season. The Wisconsinite was third at Gateway that season, and his best finish was second at Nashville.

Lochie Hughes enters as the defending Gateway race winner. Hughes led the final 14 laps as he slipped ahead of Caio Collet, who dropped to third with Myles Rowe taking second. Salvador de Alba was fourth with Dennis Hauger rounding out the top five.

The 77-lap Indy Lights race will take place at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday June 7.

Fast Facts

This will be the 12th IndyCar race to take place on June 7 and the first since Ed Carpenter won at Texas in 2014. This is Carpenter's most recent race victory. 

This year's Gateway race also falls on the 23rd anniversary of Al Unser, Jr.'s final career victory, which also occurred at Texas.

This year's Gateway race also falls on the 45th anniversary of Mike Mosley winning from 25th starting position at Milwaukee. Mosley was added to the grid as a promoter's option, he led a race high 45 laps and won by a lap over the competition. It is one of eight races in IndyCar history to be won from 25th starting position or worse. It is also the final for an Eagle chassis in IndyCar.

Of the 23 drivers to have their first career victory come since reunification, only six had that victory come on an oval.

The most recent driver not named Josef Newgarden to win consecutive oval races was Ryan Hunter-Reay at Iowa and Pocono in 2015. Hunter-Reay also won consecutive oval races in 2012 at Milwaukee and Iowa.

Newgarden has won consecutive oval races on four occasions since Hunter-Reay's streak, including a five-race streak starting at Gateway in 2022 and ending with the second Iowa race in 2023.

The most recent international driver to win consecutive oval races was Hélio Castroneves at Kentucky and Motegi in 2010.  

Three drivers have won the Indianapolis 500 and Gateway in the same season, Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000, Will Power in 2018 and Josef Newgarden in 2024.

The average starting position for a Gateway winner is 5.058 with a median of third.

The third-place starter has won four of the last seven Gateway races.

Since returning to the calendar in 2017, the pole position has yet to win at Gateway.

Thirty-one consecutive IndyCar races have been won from a top ten starting position including 12 oval races during that time period.

The average number of lead changes in a Gateway race is 10.529 with a median of ten. 

The last two Gateway race featured a record 21 lead changes and the second-most 20 lead changes. Prior to that, the most lead changes in a Gateway race was 13.

The average number of cautions in a Gateway race is 4.176 with a median of four. The average number of caution laps is 38.294 with a median of 35.

Five of the ten Gateway races since 2017 have featured exactly two caution periods. Two of those en races have had five caution periods, two have had six caution periods and last year's race featured four caution periods.

No Gateway race has ever had exactly three caution periods.

Predictions

Álex Palou, but if it isn't Palou, Patricio O'Ward final gets a victory at Gateway and he does it ahead of Josef Newgarden and David Malukas. Felix Rosenqvist is not the best finishing Meyer Shank Racing entry. No cars get airborne. No Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver spins exiting turn four. Alexander Rossi does not catch on fire. Ed Carpenter Racing has a driver finish the race and finish on the lead lap at that. No qualifying times are disallowed either. At least one driver picks up their first top ten finish of the season. Sleeper: Rinus VeeKay.

Musings From the Weekend: Bumping and Business

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

Andrea Kimi Antonelli waved a flag. Monza had some accidents. The Isle of Man TT began. NASCAR hasn't had a qualifying session in a few weeks. Corey Heim has locked up a full-time Cup ride for next season. Detroit proved to be a physical weekend for everybody. Toyota had a good weekend at home. History continued in Aragón. Italians will outfit Alpine next year. Álex Palou won again. It is June 1st, but before we move completely away from the month of May, let's tackle one overarching topic from this month and its most famous event.

Bumping and Business

Even before we got to May 2026 the lack of bumping for this year's Indianapolis 500 drew considerable attention. Once Formula Two announced it was adding races to the Miami and Canadian Grand Prix weekends to make up for the lost Bahrain and Saudi Arabia fixtures, it put an Indianapolis 500 entry in question. Once Colton Herta could no longer run the Indianapolis 500, Andretti Global decided not to enter an extra car at all. This left IndyCar with only 33 entries this May. 

For four of the previous five years, more than 33 cars had entered the Indianapolis 500, and we had some memorable qualifying moments to see who would make the race. Dating back to 2018, bumping has provided excellent drama on a consistent basis. The lack of it is not a shock, as it has been intermittent for the entirety of the 21st century, but this year's dearth of entries raised extra concerns, especially when paired with IndyCar's still relatively new charter system and the announcement that starting next season non-chartered entries will not be eligible for entry to races outside the Indianapolis 500. 

For the full-time teams, there is a lot to lose with bumping in place. However, for Indianapolis Motor Speedway and even IndyCar, bumping does provide to the qualifying weekend. The absence of bumping this year meant the qualifying format on Sunday had to change and IndyCar was going to add three more cars to the pole position fight with an additional round, the "Final 15" with six cars competing, three advancing to complete the Fast 12 and the remaining three set to fill row five. 

Weather prevented us from seeing the "Final 15" session, but it hardly drew any excitement when it was announced. It felt rather redundant and unnecessary. May we never have to consider the "Final 15" again. However, we need to consider something if we are not going to continue to bastardize pole position qualifying, and that is where we return to bumping. 

One more car on the entry list and we are not having this conversation. As IndyCar president Doug Boles pointed out in the lead up to qualifying, all the consternation over the entry list was nearly avoided. If the Formula Two schedule had not changed and Prema had not undergone significant business issues, we could have seen 36 cars, though it is unlikely the HMD Motorsports with A.J. Foyt Racing entry for Katherine Legge materializes with such circumstances, but we would have had bumping. 

Bumping is living on the knife's edge at the moment. We were so close to a full Last Chance Qualifing session to determine who would start on the final row and possibly had multiple cars fail to make the race, and yet we fell on the side of just getting 33 cars.

However, the future over bumping and the Indianapolis 500 entry list is now within the general interest of all the teams involved. 

For as much pushback the charter system has created in IndyCar, it is a collective effort focused on the health of the series, and it can be a tool to facilitate growth. IndyCar can set a standard for what it will take to earn a charter entry. If you want a charter, there are terms that must be agreed upon. One of those can be Indianapolis 500 entries. 

The simple solution that IndyCar can set is if you are a team that receives a charter, you must enter a car for the Indianapolis 500. That can be a basic tenant for charter approval. That stipulation would save bumping once and for all. With each manufacturer about to receive a charter entry for the 2028 season, we are about to have 27 full-time cars. There are ten teams in IndyCar. If in two years each had to run an additional car for the Indianapolis 500 we would have 37 entries before even considering teams like Dreyer & Reinbold Racing entering. We would then need to have a discussion over if the one-hour Last Chance Qualifying session would be enough time to determine who makes the race if we had 38 or 39 entries.

Everything is easier said than done, but such a stipulation would solve the issue. If we consider that five teams contributed to Indianapolis 500 one-off entries and Andretti Global was 9/10ths of the way there, most teams are already showing a willingness to contribute to the Indianapolis 500 entry list beyond their full-time entries. They see a value in a full field and they also see a value of running an extra car even if it puts their full-time entries in doubt of making the race. It is getting the likes of Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dale Coyne Racing and Juncos Hollinger Racing involved. Two of those teams would have no issue fielding one more car.

There are good reasons as to why teams do not want to field an extra car. You could argue it would be level for everyone if everyone had to run an extra car, but as much as we want more cars at Indianapolis, the reveal of the Indianapolis 500 purse and the share non-Leader Circle entries received explicitly shouts as to why teams don't want to enter an extra car. 

While this year's Indianapolis 500 purse was a record $30,906,400, that money was largely for the Leader Circle teams. All 22 cars that finished in a Leader Circle spot at the end of the 2025 season were credited with earning more than $1,000,000 in winnings. Meanwhile, tenth-place finisher Takuma Sato, driving a one-off entry for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, went home with $137,000. While Sato and 12th-place finisher Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's Conor Daly earned $138,000, the other six Indianapolis 500 one-offs made between $102,000 and $105,500 in winnings.

The three chartered entries that did not finish in the Leader Circle spots last season (the #47 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, the #19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda, and the #77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet) received a little bit more than the true one-offs. Those three entries each earned between $155,000 and $159,800. Mick Schumacher picked up an extra $50,000 for Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year and an extra $10,000 for being fastest rookie qualifier. That put Schumacher up to $218,800 in winnings.

That is appalling wealth distribution even by United States standards, and it speaks volumes to how much IndyCar values one-off entries. Doug Boles cannot say he loves bumping and is focused on bringing back bumping drama and then, in the year with the largest Indianapolis 500 purse ever, a more than 50% increase from the year before, be paying barely more than $100,000 to the lowest earning entries. 

Teams are spending close to $1 million, or possibly even more, to run one race. Even the teams doing it on a budget are spending north of $500,000. Their only hope of breaking even cannot be winning the race. That is not a sign of a healthy race nor one that wants outsiders to enter. 

If that purse increase is just applying the increase in Leader Circle money than perhaps the conversation should be whether or not the funding should be distributed better. The full-time teams deserve their fair share, but if we are trying to incentivize Indianapolis 500 one-offs, some of that money should be saved and allocated to the teams that fill the 33 entries. 

Looking at the money on the table, there is enough to take care of the full-time teams and the one-off entries.

A simple way would be to take the bottom five Leader Circle finishers and take away $250,000 from each and then take the next six Leader Circle finishers and take away $150,000 from each. 

That is $2,150,000 that can be spread to the other 11 entries. If shared equally, that is still only about $195,454 per entries. It is more than what the teams are currently getting, but some teams would still being getting less than $300,000. 

A real bump would be getting another $5 million for the purse. Again, easier said than done but we just found $11 million for the purse. I am sure Roger Penske can find $5 million more. That injection could be distributed equally to the one-off entries. That would be about another $454,545 per one-off teams, and now every teams would leave with more than $750,000 just for starting the Indianapolis 500. 

That would be significant and it would certainly increase interest in one-off programs for the Indianapolis 500. It would make everyone stronger. Imagine if every team knew it could break even just from starting the Indianapolis 500 and could hire a driver instead of needing a funded driver. Even for the funded drivers, imagine if a driver knew all he or she needed to bring in funding was about $200,000 instead of needing to find $600,000 to finalize a program and being entirely priced out from a seat. That would make Indianapolis more accessible to a number of talent drivers, especially veterans who lost interest in attempting the Indianapolis 500 because how much money they had to raise for one race.

The Indianapolis 500 is IndyCar's prize cow, but all financial benefit should not be reserved exclusively for the full-time teams. They should get a bulk of the money, but they should not be the only ones seeing the rising tide. 

The distribution of this purse increase is insulting, especially if IndyCar leadership is saying it wants to preserve bumping for the future. If you want to preserve bumping, an Indianapolis 500 one-off cannot be a money pit. There must be some hope that a team can at least break even or at least isn't turned off from ever entering again. The money is clearly there to spread it around so everyone can feel better. 

One of the attractions to the Indianapolis 500 back in the "golden era" of motorsports was how much money it paid just to start. In Art Garner's Black Noon, which tells the story of the 1964 race, Garner notes last place in the Indianapolis 500 paid more than winning the Monaco Grand Prix. It isn't going to be like that now, but the Indianapolis 500 should at least take care of all those who make the race. Abel Motorsports should at least have most of its bills covered and feel good that it can try again next year. 

The money is there to make it work, and if IndyCar wants bumping, it must acknowledge and properly compensate those who allow the field of 33 to be the field of 33.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Álex Palou, but did you know...

Marco Bezzecchi won MotoGP's Italian Grand Prix, his fourth victory of the season. Raúl Fernández won the sprint race. Manuel González won in Moto2, his third victory of the season. Brian Uriarte won in Moto3, his first career grand prix victory.

Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup race from Nashville, his second victory of the season. Justin Allgaier won the Grand National Series race, his fourth victory of the season. Layne Riggs won the Truck race, his third victory of the season.

The #31 Whelen Racing Cadillac of Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber won the IMSA race from Detroit. The #3 Corvette of Antonio García and Alexander Sims won in GTD Pro.

Enzo Fittipaldi won the Indy Lights race from Detroit, his second victory of the season.

The #66 Tresor Attepto Racing Audi of Ariel Levi, Rocco Mazzola and Sebastian Øgaard won the 3 Hours of Monza.

Nicolò Bulega swept the World Superbike races from Aragón, and Bulega has won all 18 races this season. Alessandro Zaccone and Jaume Masià split the World Supersport races.

Elfyn Evans won Rally Japan, his second victory of the season.

Coming Up This Weekend

IndyCar has a Sunday night race from Gateway. 

The Monaco Grand Prix occurs on its latest date ever.

MotoGP has its earliest trip to Hungary ever. 

NASCAR keeps Michigan busy with its only race at Michigan International Speedway.

First Impressions: Detroit 2026

1. Not all victories from pole position are a straight walkover, and Álex Palou's win today in Detroit was a little bit of a test of survival. Untimely cautions didn't quite set Palou back, but it did put him in a box. A physical race in Detroit meant no driver was safe, and Palou was able to avoid the trouble, and the best driver in IndyCar didn't need such a break. 

Palou had a few challenges from Kyle Kirkwood, but Palou had enough tires in the final stint that he could hold off the American, and the championship lead grew a little more for Palou.

The second stint was the biggest question, as Palou ran his first two stints on the alternate tire, and he was struggling with time. It felt like the pit cycle was going against Palou and it was lining up for Kirkwood. Then a caution came out for a spin between Rinus VeeKay and Santino Ferrucci before Kirkwood and company could make their pit stops.

Kirkwood still drove up and pressured Palou, but now Palou had the primary tires and Kirkwood was attempting to win on the alternates. Kirkwood made a push but he did not have the speed at the end of the stint.

Palou may have caught a break he did not need, but he was great today, and it is frustrating for the field.

2. Kyle Kirkwood gave it his all and he overcame being caught out when the caution came out in the middle of the pit cycle. The alternate tire choice to end the race was going to be a struggle to win the race. It felt like the race was flipping to his favor in the middle stint, but the caution allowed Palou to maintain control.

Kirkwood didn't really do anything wrong, and he drove a strong race. It was just unfortunate Palou ended up unscathed even with the number of cautions and how this race was shaken up. Kirkwood needs to beat Palou, but he also can afford to have a few races go in his favor and a few things break against Palou. That didn't happen today, we actually saw the opposite. Everything went Palou's way today. Kirkwood lost as little ground as he could, but that is still too much if he wants to be a championship challenger.

3. To give you an idea how messy this race was, Graham Rahal was spun on lap 39 in the hairpin, and through everything that happened Rahal still wound up third. Rahal made his final pit stop on the right side of the caution for contact between Rinus VeeKay and Santino Ferrucci. The caution taketh and the caution giveth.

Rahal went from zero to hero, and he now has three podium finishes this year. It wasn't his best race, but this wasn't a race where you had to be clean. You could get a good finish just avoiding trouble or at least have trouble fall in your favor at the right time. Rahal probably wasn't expecting a top ten halfway through this race, but stopping at the right time lifted him to a podium spot, and he had the speed to hold on for some silverware.

4. McLaren had a good day with Patricio O'Ward and Christian Lundgaard rounding out the top five. Neither driver felt spectacular today, but they didn't spin anyone nor were spun. For O'Ward, it was another clean day. He has been pretty darn good. Palou and Kirkwood have been a tad better though.

5. The same goes for Lundgaard. He has a few more bad days this season compared to O'Ward. Two of the last three races were not particularly great for Lundgaard. Today, he got a top five finish but never felt like a contender. It was a good day, but it feels like the championship is starting to break into a two class race. A championship fight between Palou and Kirkwood and then everyone else. If anyone else wants to get into the battle, they must start picking up victories especially with how Palou is running.

6. A sixth from 16th is a great day for Felix Rosenqvist. Rosenqvist looked good today. He had a better car than his starting position showed. He made a lot of passes. This was a great follow up to the Indianapolis 500.

7. Louis Foster got another top ten! Foster caught some breaks in this race, but he did not make any unforced errors, and as a rookie he was prone to those. He just needs to keep scoring decent results.

8. Marcus Ericsson looked racy today, and he had to settle for an eighth-place finish. That is likely fair for his form. He was definitely looking to move forward and looked comfortable with his car. It is a top ten finish. It could be worse.

9. Kyffin Simpson spun Graham Rahal, was penalized, and Simpson still recovered to finish ninth. A number of other drivers having accidents and mechanical issues allowed Simpson to finish in the top ten. Sometimes you are good, sometimes you are lucky. Simpson was in the latter category today.

10. Josef Newgarden was not in great condition this weekend with his leg injury suffered during the Indianapolis 500. To leave with a tenth-place finish is a form of a victory. Newgarden is banged up and I bet he wishes he had off next week instead of racing at Gateway. The team went off strategy and stopped on the right side of the VeeKay/Ferrucci caution. Even after that, Newgarden was still hanging on to the checkered flag. He never looked competitive and was just trying to survive. He was able to pull through and he likely was not expecting to be close to a top ten result today.

11. Marcus Armstrong was caught entering pit lane when Simpson spun Rahal. Armstrong did not get into the pit lane before the caution, and he took a penalty for emergency service in a closed pit lane, which makes 11th look a hell of a lot better. That was tough and IndyCar is now quick on the trigger for cautions, and maybe too quick today. A few extra seconds and Armstrong could have been in the fight for a victory or at least a top five result.

12. Let's run through the rest of the field.

Rinus VeeKay overcame the spin with Santino Ferrucci to finish 12th. That is about where VeeKay had been running at the time of the incident. This result doesn't feel so bad.

Dennis Hauger had a few close calls and he finished 13th. This is a good result for Hauger. It could have been better but it was not the worst result. It is Dale Coyne Racing's best finish on this circuit. He has that to hang his hat on.

Sting Ray Robb avoided trouble and finished 14th. That is it. That is the story of his day.

I am not sure Nolan Siegel or Caio Collet did anything noteworthy other than not be involved in any incidents. They were 15th and 16th respectively. It is hard to feel that positive about either of these results. Siegel lost ground from 13th on the grid. Collet moved up three spots.

13. Alexander Rossi took two penalties today. The first was for service in a closed pit lane. The second was for locking up and spinning Romain Grosjean into the barrier entering the hairpin. For a moment, it felt like Rossi was going to be in a fight for a top ten finish. Instead, he will be classified in 17th, and he will want this day back.

14. There were a number of incidents in this race.

The cautions fell in the favor of Mick Schumacher and David Malukas, and both were suddenly in the fight for the podum when they were previously fighting to crack the top twenty. Then they got together entering turn five. Both days were ruined. Malukas scored 19th and Schumacher took 21st.

Will Power had his best race of the season and he was in the fight for a podium, but contact with Scott McLaughin ended that promising run, and it hurt both drivers' day. Both should have been in the top five. McLaughlin tried to limp a wounded car home and fell short. Instead of top fives, it was 19th for McLaughlin and 22nd for Power.

Romain Grosjean was done rotten. Rossi got the braking point wrong and Grosjean could have done nothing different. This wasn't the case of Grosjean losing a top ten, but 20th is not accurate for how he raced.

15. There were a few mechanical issues. Santino Ferrucci broke down well after the contact with VeeKay. Scott Dixon suffered a hybrid failure when he looked competitive and could have been a top five finisher.

Christian Rasmussen slapped the wall early exiting turn one after nine laps. Rasmussen's track record on street courses is concerning. Incidents like this aren't because of the cars.

16. This was the first road/steet course race after the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the long delay for a full course caution when Alexander Rossi's car stopped on track.

Race control was quick to the trigger today for cautions, and it did affect the race. For a moment, Mick Schumacher and David Malukas became podium contenders and I am not sure either driver had spent a lap in the top fifteen. Holding the caution can be seen as manipulating the race, but if the pit lane is not going to remain open, the top drivers will be held at a disadvantage for having something to lose versus those who have nothing to lose.

These were not incidents that required a caution. Graham Rahal spun but he restarted quickly. Rinus VeeKay and Santino Ferrucci came together, but both cleared themselves without any damage or debris on the circuit.

This comes back to IndyCar officiating and a lack of proper local yellow rules and also a lack of Virtual Safety Car. Rahal's spin only really required a local yellow. He was pointed back in the right direction almost immediately. VeeKay and Ferrucci likely needed a VSC because it was on exit of turn five and that is a narrow part of the circuit.

Both incidents required the field to slow but did not require pace car intervention to bunch up the field. This is where IndyCar must work on how it wants to handle these minor incidents. You can be safe and keep the race moving. We don't need the pace car to come out for minor spins. There is a happy medium, but after the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, there has been a swing to just go to caution immediately and not risk anything. Admirable but too much of an overcorrection in some circumstances.

A discussion can continue, and hopefully it will after this week. We can find middle ground.

17. This Detroit circuit is conflicting because for as rough and frustrating as it can be, it allows for action and some good racing. We have plenty of passing and cars going back and forth, but then we have sloppy driving and incidents that look amateur and cars slapping the barrier almost every ten laps.

It is fun but there is something unsatisfying about it. It was the same with the IMSA race yesterday. There are great moments, but the low moments are pretty poor.

There are no signs of anything changing with this circuit. We know what it is after four years of competition, warts and all.

18. IndyCar's busy spring concludes next Sunday with a night race at Gateway. Once we conclude Gateway the season is halfway. It is not getting late early. It is already late.

Morning Warm-Up: Detroit 2026

For the third consecutive race, Álex Palou is starting on pole position. Palou ran the fastest lap in the final round of qualifying for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix with a lap at 61.9017 seconds. It is Palou's 16th career pole position, and he has already won from pole position nine times in his career, including in this race three years ago. After winning the inaugural race on this Detroit track configuration in 2023, he has finished 16th and 25th in the last two visits to the Motor City. His 25th-place finish was the third-worst result of his IndyCar career. Palou entered this weekend with a 37-point lead in the championship. He has led the championship after 58 races in his IndyCar career, the fourth-most all-time. 

Will Power was 0.2232 seconds slower than Palou in the final round of qualifying, but it did earn Power second on the grid, his best starting position of the season. Power is hoping to avoid five consecutive finishes outside the top ten for the first time since 2021. That streak encompassed the Texas doubleheader, the May races from Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the first race of the Belle Isle doubleheader. Power has not won a street race since the final race on Belle Isle in 2022.

Scott McLaughlin was 0.5542 seconds off Palou in third. This is McLaughlin's best start since he was on pole position for the St. Petersburg season opener. With a third-place finish in the Indianapolis 500, it was the fifth podium finish for McLaughlin since his most recent victory in the second Milwaukee race in 2024. It has been 25 starts since McLaughlin won that race. His best finish on the Detroit configuration is seventh.

Scott Dixon makes it an all-New Zealander row two, as Dixon was 0.7068 seconds behind his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate. However, this is Dixon's best starting position of the season, and it is his best start since he started fourth for last year's Indianapolis 500. Dixon has finished in the top ten in the eighth race of the season for ten consecutive years. This streak includes victories at Detroit in the eighth race of 2019 and at Gateway in the eighth race of 2020.

Christian Lundgaard starts fifth after being 0.8853 seconds from the top spot. After opening the season with three top ten finishes from the first four races, Lundgaard has finished outside the top fifteen in two of the last three races. He also won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis during that span. Lundgaard has not had consecutive finishes outside the top fifteen since 2023 when he was 19th in the Indianapolis 500 and 16th at Detroit. 

Kyle Kirkwood had a lock up and ran wide in the hairpin to ruin his lap in the final round of qualifying, leaving Kirkwood sixth on the grid. Kirkwood has finished in the top ten in all three races on this Detroit configuration, and his average finish is 3.667 across those three races. Five of Kirkwood's six career victories have come on street courses. While he has won twice from pole position, he won from seventh at Arlington in March and from eighth in Nashville in 2023. However, all three races held on this Detroit configuration have been won from the top five.

Patricio O'Ward missed out the on the Fast Six by 0.0480 seconds, and O'Ward will start seventh. O'Ward has 11 top ten finishes in his last 16 starts. He has finished 17th or worse in those other five races. He has not finished between sixth and tenth since he was seventh at Detroit last year. The only time O'Ward has won from seventh in his career was the second race of the 2022 Iowa doubleheader.

Marcus Armstrong fell 0.1487 seconds shy of advancing to the final round, and Armstrong takes eighth on the grid. Armstrong is coming off his second top five finish of the season as he was fifth in Indianapolis. He was also fifth at Phoenix. He has never had consecutive top five finishes in his IndyCar career. The most recent race won from eighth starting spot was Álex Palou at St. Petersburg in 2025.

For only the fifth time in his IndyCar career, Christian Rasmussen will start in the top ten. Rasmussen ran the ninth-best time in the second round of qualifying. This will be his 39th career start. Rasmussen's career average finish in 11 street course start is 20.909. His 15th at Long Beach was only the third time he has finished in the top fifteen on a street course in his IndyCar career.

Marcus Ericsson rounds out the top ten on the grid. This ends a streak of three consecutive races starting outside the top ten for Ericsson. The Swede has finished outside the top ten in three consecutive races. Since joining Andretti Global in 2024, Ericsson's average finish on street courses is 10.818 with four top five finishes and six top ten finishes in 11 street races.

Louis Foster leads an all-Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing row six, as Foster wound up 11th in qualifying. This was the third time Foster made it out of the first round of qualifying this season. He had started in the top ten at St. Petersburg and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Foster started and finished 21st in the Indianapolis 500.

One week after finishing a spot ahead of Foster in the Indianapolis 500, Graham Rahal starts a position behind Foster as Rahal occupies 12th on the grid. Rahal has made it to the second round of qualifying in four consecutive road/street course races. Rahal has finished 15th or worse in his last four trips to Detroit. His most recent top five finish on a street course was fourth at Toronto in 2022.

Nolan Siegel was 0.0370 seconds off advancing to the second round of qualifying, but he does have his best starting position of the season on a road or street course in 13th. With finishes of 12th, tenth and 11th in the last three races, it is only the second time Siegel has had three consecutive top fifteen finishes in his carer. The other time was last season with finishes of ninth, 13th and 13th over Barber Motorsports Park and the two Indianapolis races.

Alexander Rossi was 0.2601 seconds off advancing from group two in the first round, and Rossi will start 14th. Through seven races, Rossi has yet to finish in the top five. The only other season where he went more than seven races before his first top five finish was 2021, where his first top five result came in the tenth race at Mid-Ohio. It was a fifth-place finish.

Dennis Hauger fell 0.0963 seconds shy of advancing to the second round, placing him 15th on the grid. Since moving to the downtown Detroit circuit in 2023, Dale Coyne Racing has not had an entry finish better than 17th. The team's most recent top ten fins in the city of Detroit was Ed Jones finishing ninth in the first race of the 2021 doubleheader. Hauger has finished tenth, 16th and 11th in the three street races this season.

Indianapolis 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist will start 16th. Rosenqvist had started in the top five in three consecutive races and in four of the last five. He started 14th last year at Detroit but ended up caught in an accident and finishing 21st. Since 2001, the average finish for the Indianapolis 500 winner in the following race is 10.1304. In the last three years, the Indianapolis 500 winner has finished tenth, 26th and 25th, all of which were at Detroit.

Kyffin Simpson has the inside of row nine covered. Last year, Simpson picked up his first career top five finish when he was fifth at Detroit, and he started 19th in that race. He was tenth in the most recent street race at Long Beach. Simpson is one of six drivers to complete every lap this season. Of those six drivers, Simpson is the only one without a top five finish.

Rinus VeeKay has the outside of row nine covered. VeeKay is coming off his best finish of the season as he was sixth in the Indianapolis 500. In six Detroit starts between Belle Isle and the downtown course, VeeKay has an average finish of 15.833. He was second in his first Belle Isle race. Since then, his best finish was 14th.

Caio Collet will make his first Detroit Grand Prix start in 19th. This is the seventh time in eight races this season Collet is starting outside the top fifteen. He has finished better than his starting position in four of seven races this season. His accident in the Indianapolis 500 was Collet's first retirement of the season. Collet was runner-up in both of his Indy Lights starts at Detroit.

Romain Grosjean will take 20th on the grid. In two starts on this Detroit circuit, Grosjean has finishes of 24th and 23rd. Expanding to include his three Belle Isle starts, Grosjean's best finish in the Motor City is 17th, and his average finish in five races is 22.2. In each of his IndyCar seasons, Grosjean has had consecutive top ten finishes on at least one occasion. Grosjean was ninth last week in the Indianapolis 500.

Josef Newgarden finds himself starting 21st as this has been a difficult weekend for the two-time champion. Newgarden has been on crutches due the injury he sustained in his accident at the Indianapolis 500. He has not been ranked in the top twenty in any sessions. While he has two top ten finishes on this circuit, his best finish here is ninth, which occurred last year.

Santino Ferrucci matches his worst starting position of the season in 22nd. Last year, Ferrucci scored his career-best finish in this race when he was second, and he started 21st in that race. However, the team was docked 26 points due to incorrect driver equivalency weight on the car. Ferrucci matched his best finish of the season at the Indianapolis 500 when he was eighth. He was eighth in the most recent street race at Long Beach.

Mick Schumacher lost his fastest two laps after he hit the wall in turn seven and brought out a red flag in the first round of qualifying. This relegates Schumacher to 23rd on the grid. At the Indianapolis 500, Schumacher was the top finishing rookie for the first time this season in 18th. His best finish this season was in the most recent street race, 17th at Long Beach.

Sting Ray Robb will start 24th, his fourth time starting on row 12 this season. Since finishing ninth at Long Beach last year, Robb's average finish in the last five street races is 19.4. He has not finished on the lead lap in five of seven races this season. The exceptions are Long Beach ad the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.

David Malukas hit the barrier entering turn seven and it ricocheted Malukas into the outside barrier as he was about to complete his final lap during the group two session. This accident knocked Malukas down to 25th on the grid, and he was in position to possibly advance to round two. Malukas has finished second in the last two races. Since 1946, there have been 13th instances of drivers having three consecutive runner-up finishes. The most recent was in 2008 when Hélio Castroneves was second at Mid-Ohio, Edmonton and Kentucky.

Fox's coverage of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix begins at 12:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 12:52 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 100 laps.

Best of the Month: May 2026

Cross off another month. May is the fastest month we have even if it is one with 31 days. It begins chilly, not quite cold, but not entirely spring, or perhaps that is what spring is supposed to be. When it is over, it is glorious. It feels like this should have been this way for quite some time. Soon, it will be a little warmer than we would have liked, and these days will feel too few in our consciousness. 

Cleaning Up The "500"

We end May with what has a stranglehold over the entire month. Another Indianapolis 500 has been completed, and we have touched upon it, but let's try to put to bed what we have seen from the 110th edition of this race. 

General Moments of Wow!

This year's Indianapolis 500 had 70 lead changes, a new record, and the margin of victory was 0.0233 seconds. Yeah! That is nuts. 

Oh, and this year's race occurred on the 34th anniversary of the previous closest finish with Al Unser, Jr. defeating Scott Goodyear by 0.043 seconds.

We had 14 different leaders, but only four drivers led more than ten laps.

We had three different leaders in the final three laps of the race. Marcus Armstrong led lap 198, David Malukas is credited with leading lap 199 as he passed Armstrong before the start-finish line. Rosenqvist led lap 200.

That had never happened before in Indianapolis 500 history! We had only four other races where a pass for the lead had occurred on the final lap. In 2006, Marco Andretti led laps 198 and 199 before Sam Hornish, Jr. led lap 200. The same thing happened in 2011. J.R. Hildebrand led laps 198 and 199, but Dan Wheldon led lap 200. Two years ago, Marcus Ericsson had led laps 196 through 199, but Josef Newgarden took the lead on lap 200. In 2024, Newgarden led laps 196 through 198, Patricio O'Ward led lap 199 before Newgarden retook the lead on lap 200.

Swedish Hat Trick

With Rosenqvist's victory, we now have three Swedish drivers to have won the Indianapolis 500.

Kenny Bräck was the first in 1999. Marcus Ericsson won in 2022. Now, we add Rosenqvist. 

Five countries have produced at least three Indianapolis 500 winners. The United States leads the way with 55. The United Kingdom has five (Dario Resta, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Dan Wheldon and Dario Franchitti). Brazil has four winners (Emerson Fittipaldi, Hélio Castroneves, Gil de Ferran and Tony Kanaan). France has four winners (Jules Goux, René Thomas, Gaston Chevrolet and Simon Pagenaud). 

Who had Sweden having three Indianapolis 500 winners? Meanwhile, Canada is still on one. Italy's only winner was 111 years ago. New Zealand is responsible for one of the greatest IndyCar drivers ever and has only won once. Australia has only one. We just ended a century-plus long streak between having a German driver start the race, and we are somewhat far off a German winning one. Mexico hasn't produced a winner yet. Did you know Belgium has had the most drivers start the Indianapolis 500 to not have produced a winner with eight? 

There have been five Swedish drivers to start the Indianapolis 500. That is 60% of their drivers have won the Indianapolis 500! If you want to win the Indianapolis 500, get yourself a Swede!

Top Five Returnees

Looking over this year's top five finishers, three of them were in the top five last year. Felix Rosenqvist was fourth last year and was first this year. David Malukas was second for a second consecutive year. Patricio O'Ward dropped from third in 2025 to fourth in 2026. 

It had me wondering, when was the last time three drivers finished in the top five in consecutive Indianapolis 500s?

Well, it just happened in 2024. Josef Newgarden won for the second consecutive year, and Álex Palou and Alexander Rossi flipped finishing fourth and fifth. However, this year's race was just the 12th time at least three drivers finished in the top five in consecutive Indianapolis 500s.

There has never been a case where the same five drivers finished in the top five in consecutive years. There have been two occasions where four of the five top five finishers were the same.

The first was 1960. Jim Rathmann, Rodger Ward, Paul Goldsmith and Johnny Thomson all finished in the top five a year after they were all in the top five in 1959. The change was Tony Bettenhausen was fourth in 1959 and Don Branson cracked the top five in 1960. 

The other time was in 1983. Tom Sneva, Al Unser, Rick Mears and Kevin Cogan were all back in the top five. The 1982 winner Gordon Johncock was not in the top five. Geoff Brabham took that last spot. 

When was the last time there were no carry over top five finishers? 

It happened in 2021. We had a complete line change. 

Takuma Sato, Scott Dixon, Graham Rahal, Santino Ferrucci and Josef Newgarden were out. Hélio Castroneves, Álex Palou, Simon Pagenaud, Patricio O'Ward and Ed Carpenter were in. 

On 23 occasions has the top five in the Indianapolis 500 been entirely different from the year before.

There is some good news, or perhaps bad news for this year's top five finishers. 

The last three Indianapolis 500 winners all finished in the top five the year before. However, only once has four consecutive Indianapolis 500s seen the winner finish in the top five the year prior. That would be from 1975 to 1978.

So... You want to change the banquet?

It isn't really changing the banquet, but not announcing the purse earnings for each entry as the drivers are on stage for the banquet. This came up on Off Track with James Hinchcliffe and Alexander Rossi. This has been mentioned a number of times before. We will discuss the purse a little more in depth on Monday, but the drivers' biggest gripe is they are essentially presented with the earnings, but that isn't the driver's money. That goes to the team. The driver gets a cut of it... sometimes. 

Motorsports is the biggest misconception in all of sports. It is presented as an individual sport. One name gets all the glory and attention. In reality, it is a collective effort that determines who wins not just the performance of one man or woman. There is a figurehead that is attributed all the success if it goes right and all the blame if it goes wrong. 

The banquet has been held for I don't know how many years, but it has always honored the figurehead, the driver, and the driver gets all the glory. After all, it is the driver who puts himself or herself in danger out on the racetrack. Money comes with that glory, at least what the team gets, and what the drivers do not like is it is misconstrued as that is their cut. 

Felix Rosenqvist isn't $4.34 million richer. Meyer Shank Racing earned $4.34 million. There aren't 22 drivers that made over $1 million on Sunday. In all likelihood, Rosenqvist is the only driver who made over $1 million for one race's worth of work, but the purses announced tell us a different story.

There is a simple solution. Just have the car owner come up and get the money. Stop presenting it to the driver. Have Mike Shank and Jim Meyer come up and collect two checks. Have Roger Penske get up three times. Have Zak Brown waddle up their four times. Larry Foyt can collect it for A.J. Have Ed Carpenter... well, the Ed Carpenter Racing cars finished 27th, 30th and 31st, we could probably give him all his checks at once. 

That is the easiest way to do it. Hand the check to the team owner. Never mention the money to the driver. Always say it to the team owner while handing over the check. Make it clear whose money it is. 

The other choice is a driver collective to say on stage what exact percentage they will receive. In recent years, the drivers have made it clear it isn't 100% theirs, but the statement that would be clear if the driver spoke up and said, "Under my contract, I will earn whatever-amount-of-money for my finish in the Indianapolis 500." The drivers can make it clear, and if they are uniform about, essentially using the same canned answer and just changing the amount, that will get the message across.

That requires the drivers to be open and honest about money and their contracts, and that will not look good for some drivers. It will be telling, and we will find out who is getting a raw deal, who is truly making nothing and basically did the race for the love of it with hopes it leads to greater opportunities, and who should be thanking their manager every night before they go to bed. 

The comfort level might not be there for the drivers to commit to it, but the only way it changes, the only way people learn is if something is done different, whether that is presenting the money to the proper party who will handle distributing it throughout the team or the drivers being blatantly honest about what they are getting and fully peeling back the curtain to show how the sausage is made. 

What Else Happened?

Scott Dixon surpassed 700 laps led in his Indianapolis 500 career, as Dixon has reached 709 laps led. No other active driver has led even half of Dixon's total. Only one other driver has led more than 200 laps. Those drivers are Hélio Castroneves (326) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (219). The next closest who is full-time? Of course, it is Álex Palou (192).

This was the seventh consecutive Indianapolis 500 where the driver who led the most laps did not win the race. The only longer period without the driver leading the most laps winning is the eight-year stretch from 1990 to 1997.

This was the fifth consecutive Indianapolis 500 where at least one team had at least two top five finishers. Even better, this was the third time in five years there were two teams with multiple top five finishers.

2022: Chip Ganassi Racing (First and third), Arrow McLaren (second and fourth)

2023: Chip Ganassi Racing (Second and fourth)

2024: Arrow McLaren (Second and fourth), Chip Ganassi Racing (third and fifth)

2025: A.J. Foyt Racing (Second and fifth)

2026: Meyer Shank Racing (First and fifth), Team Penske (second and third)

Felix Rosenqvist became the second driver to win the Macau Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500. The first driver was Takuma Sato, who won at Macau in 2001 and won at Indianapolis in 2017 and 2020.

Rosenqvist is a two-time Macau winner. He won his first in 2014. Who was eighth in the 2014 Macau Grand Prix? Santino Ferrucci. Who was eighth in the 2026 Indianapolis 500? Santino Ferrucci. Who was seventh in the 2014 Macau Grand Prix? Max Verstappen! Who was 16th? Álex Palou!

Among the 269 drivers to start at least five Indianapolis 500s, Santino Ferrucci and Patricio O'Ward now rank fourth and fifth all-time in average finish at 6.375 and 6.4285 respectively. Álex Palou ranks ninth with an average finish of eighth.

Speaking of Ferrucci, he has eight top ten finishes in the Indianapolis 500, and he is one of 17 drivers with at least eight top ten finishes in this race. He has more top ten finishes than Arie Luyendyk, Josef Newgarden, Will Power, Bobby Rahal, Alexander Rossi and Rodger Ward. He has one fewer top ten finish than Rick Mears, Ted Horn and Michael Andretti. Horn and Andretti are the only drivers with more top ten finishes than Ferrucci who have not won the race. The only active drivers with more top tens in this race are Hélio Castroneves (17) and Scott Dixon (14). 

Among the 269 drivers to start at least five Indianapolis 500s, Katherine Legge ranks 269th. Legge join the list as this was her fifth start. With finishes of 22nd, 26th, 33rd, 29th and 33rd, her average finish is 28.6. The previous low-water mark for this group was Spike Gehlhausen, whose average finish in five starts is 26.4.

In case you are wondering, the middle of 269 drivers is somewhere between's Scott Goodyear's 16.72727 and Robbie Buhl's 16.75.

Where does Felix Rosenqvist rank? After eight starts, Rosenqvist ranks 121st with an average finish of 16.25, just between Felipe Giaffone (16.1667) and Tony Bettenhausen (16.2667).

Ken Roczen Appreciation

We cannot end May without recognizing Ken Roczen's AMA Supercross championship. 

At the end of April, Supercross was about to enter its final two races, and Roczen held a four-point lead in the championship over Hunter Lawrence. 

Lawrence cut the championship gap to one point with a victory in the penultimate round from Denver with Roczen finishing second. It essentially came down to who would finish better in Salt Lake City. Roczen got off to a great start while Lawrence was trailing. Lawrence then had an off-track excursion quickly followed with a fall and it sealed the championship for Roczen, who would hold on to finish fifth while Lawrence could only recover to finish seventh. 

Prior to Denver, it felt unlikely both riders would have two clean races to close the season and who did not make the mistake in the final events would be champion. It could have come down to who could make the fewest mistakes. Both riders were flawless in Denver. At Salt Lake City, Lawrence cracked, and it allowed Roczen to ride easy.

When previewing the final two races, I said it felt like this was the greatest chance for each rider to win the Supercross championship. Lawrence has time for another chance at it. It really comes down to whether or not his brother Jett remains healthy. This was it for Roczen. He turned 32 years old just prior to Denver, but he is an old 32. His body beat up seven ways to Sunday, there is no guarantee he will be this fit and quick for an entire season again. This was Roczen's moment to grab. 

There was something cathartic in seeing Roczen win this championship and the jubilation in the crowd over his accomplishment. We knew it was deserved. We knew Roczen was more than qualified to be champion. He was already great. The championship is extra recognition, written down in a record book for generations to see. It leaves no doubt about someone's legacy. Roczen was always fit to receive such an honor. His name will not be lost to history.

June Preview

June has two problems. It has a handful of notable events, and simultaneously doesn't have one stand out event.

I know what you are thinking, but we are going to preview the 24 Hours of Le Mans properly in about two weeks, but even then, it doesn't feel much different from the last few Le Mans. 

There is a general sourness over convergence and the actual competitiveness of the Hypercar class. Porsche is gone. Alpine is heading for the door. Genesis isn't going to win it in year one. Aston Martin isn't going to win it in year two. 

It is Le Mans, but we have seen the last few years and there is no reason to feel overly optimistic it will be much differnet. Who would have thought having 18 entries from eight manufacturers would be this anticlimactic? 

There is the 24 Hours of Spa two weeks after Le Mans, which also falls on the 6 Hours of the Glen weekend for IMSA. I think I am GT3-out. It is cool that it has 70 entries, but something is missing with the event. That is the case for almost every endurance race at the moment. It is going to end with a half-dozen cars or more on the lead lap after 23 hours. Endurance races do not feel as grueling or as spontaneous as they once were. 

The saving grace for the 24 Hours of Spa is there have been six different manufacturers to win in the last six years.

Porsche won in 2020 with Earl Bamber, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor. 

Ferrari took victory in 2021 with Côme Ledogar, Nicklas Nielsen and Alessandro Pier Guidi.

Mercedes-AMG won in 2022 with Jules Gounon, Daniel Juncadella and Raffaele Marciello.

In 2023, BMW won with Philipp Eng, Marco Wittman and Nick Yelloly. 

Two years ago, Aston Martin won the event for the first time since 1948 with Mattia Drudi, Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim. 

Last year, Lamborghini scored its first Spa victory with Mirko Bortolotti, Luca Engstler and Jordan Pepper.

What manufacturers could extend this streak? 

Corvette, though unlikely as its two entries are in the Silver Cup and Bronze Cup classes.

McLaren has eight entires, but only one, the #59 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO of Joseph Loake, Dean MacDonald and Marvin Kirchhöfer, is entered in the top class.

Ford has two Mustangs entered with HRT Racing. The #64 Ford is in the top class with Arjun Maini, Fabio Scherer and Thomas Drouet. The #65 Ford is a Silver Cup entry with Finn Wiebelhaus, Maxime Oosten, Eduardo Coseteng and Max Reis.

There are six Audis in this race. Only one is in the top class. The #84 Eastalent Racing Audi has Christopher Haase, Simon Reicher and Markus Winkelhock entered. Audi last won this race in 2017. Haase and Winkelhock were two of the winning drivers that year. Winkelhock also won in 2014.

Other events of note in June:

NASCAR's final two road course races of the season happen in June. The first is on a temporary circuit around the Coronado Navel Base outside San Diego. The other is Sonoma, which doubles as the opening round for the in-season tournament. 

MotoGP has an Eastern European swing to Hungary and the Czech Republic, before the Dutch TT. 

We will have the Monaco Grand Prix before the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix and then Austria.

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters have one round at the Lausitzring.

IndyCar will be at Gateway and Road America.

The World Rally Championship will contest the Acropolis Rally.

Track Walk: Detroit 2026

The eighth round of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season officially closes the month of May, but it is not in Speedway, Indiana, rather it is on the streets of Detroit for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. The midway point of the season is approaching quickly and we have had five winners already this season. Ten drivers have stood on the podium and 13 drivers have finished in the top five. Twenty-two drivers have scored a top ten finish already. This will be the fourth year back on the downtown Detroit course. There has yet to be a repeat winner. Dating back to the final races on Belle Isle, there have been six different winners in the last six Detroit races.

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 12:30 p.m. ET on Sunday May 31 with green flag scheduled for 12:52 p.m. ET.
Channel: Fox
Announcers: Will Buxton, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Georgia Henneberry and Jack Harvey will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Friday:

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

Saturday:

Second Practice: 9:00 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 1:00 p.m. ET 
Sunday:
Warm-up: 9:35 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 12:52 p.m. ET (100 laps)

Where Do We Stand?

Through seven rounds, Álex Palou continues to lead the championship but with fewer points than expected after the Indianapolis 500. In post-race inspection, it was found Palou's front wing height was not within regulation in terms of minimum and maximum heights. IndyCar officials determined the result of this violation was due to assembly errors and not an intentional modification. Instead of disqualification, Palou and the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing team each lost five points in the drivers' and entrants' championships, and the team was fine $10,000. 

The points penalty does not hurt Palou that much as he was seventh in the race with 12 points for pole position plus an additional three points for leading the most laps in the Indianapolis 500. Instead of leaving with 41 points, Palou scored 36 points in the "500," the fifth-most points scored in the race. Without the penalty, Palou would have scored the third-most points in the race, behind only Felix Rosenqvist and David Malukas, the top two finishers in the race.

Palou sits on 273 points, and he has a 37-point lead over Malukas. With his worst two finishes in the last two races, Kyle Kirkwood has dropped to third in the championship. Kirkwood's top ten finish streak ended at seven consecutive races, dating back to last season's Nashville finale, as he was 16th in the Indianapolis 500. He trails Palou by 49 points. 

Arrow McLaren rounds out the top five in the championship. Despite an anonymous Indianapolis 500, Christian Lundgaard is fourth in the championship 78 points back. Patricio O'Ward is fifth in the championship, 85 points behind Palou. Scott McLaughlin's surge to third in the Indianapolis 500 has him 92 points off the championship lead in sixth.

An Indianapolis 500 victory lifts Felix Rosenqvist from 11th to seventh in the championship and he is 97 points behind Palou. There is a tie for eighth between Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon, two drivers who likely know they could have finished better at Indianapolis than where they wound up in the final result. Newgarden owns the tiebreaker thanks to his Phoenix victory, but both drivers are 106 points for the top of the championship. Marcus Armstrong remained tenth in the championship after his fifth-place finish. Armstrong is 119 points from the top spot. 

Graham Rahal dropped to 11th in the championship on 151 points, but there is some breathing room to Marcus Ericsson in 12th, who has 129 points. Seven points cover Ericsson in 12th to 15th and 18 points covers 12th to 18th. 

Alexander Rossi is on 127 points, two more than Rinus VeeKay while Santino Ferrucci is 15th on 122 points. Kyffin Simpson sits on 116 points, four more than Will Power. Dennis Hauger is the top rookie in 18th on 111 points.

From Hauger, there is another 16 points back to Louis Foster and Nolan Siegel, who are tied for 19th. Foster owns the tiebreaker as his best finish is seventh to Siegel's tenth. Despite finishing ninth at Indianapolis, Romain Grosjean is still 21st in the championship on 92 points. 

Another 16-point gulf opens to the bottom four drivers in the championship. Caio Collet has 76 points while Christian Rasmussen is on 71 points. Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Mick Schumacher is off the very bottom of the championship, but he is still only on 66 points. Sting Ray Robb rounds out the top 25 on 62 points.

Turning a New Leaf

Felix Rosenqvist heads to Detroit with the wind beneath his wings. Rosenqvist's 98-race winless streak is over. It is the second-most starts between victories in IndyCar history. At five years, ten months and 13 days between victories, it is the 17th-longest stretch between victories in IndyCar history. With 120 starts under his belt and coming off the greatest triumph of his career, Rosenqvist can look forward to rising to another level. 

Prior to Indianapolis, this had not been the greatest start to the season. Rosenqvist had not finished in the top ten in the first four races. He lost a potential top ten at Arlington for passing early on the final restart and was relegated to 19th. He did win pole position in Long Beach and led the most laps before finishing second to Álex Palou. However, in next race at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Rosenqvist's day was derailed from the opening corner when he earned an avoidable contact penalty for contact in turn one with Patricio O'Ward. Contact in the penultimate corner later in the race with Kyffin Simpson ended Rosenqvist's day and placed him 23rd. 

This was the third time in his eight IndyCar seasons Rosenqvist failed to score a top ten finish in the first four races of the season. However, things have been turning around. The Swede has started in the top five in four of the last five races. At Long Beach, he and Meyer Shank Racing were plain beat but made no mistakes. Palou was just better.

At Meyer Shank Racing, Rosenqvist has found good form. While in his first season he was 12th in the championship, level to where he was in his final season with Arrow McLaren, Rosenqvist improved to sixth in the championship last year. His four top five finishes were his most since he had six in his rookie season in 2019. His ten top ten finishes in 2025 matched his best in a single season. 

This Detroit circuit has been a reasonably good place for Rosenqvist, but it has provided some difficult moments. While he started ninth and finished third in 2023, he had to start 22nd in 2024 and he suffered a tire puncture on the opening lap. However, the cautions kept him in the fight and he was able to secure an eighth-place finish. Last year, he had an early spin but had no damage. He climbed his way back into position for a top ten finish until Louis Foster had a suspension failure directly behind Rosenqvist entering the hairpin and collided with the back of the Swede. This left Rosenqvist 21st in the final results.

Rosenqvist has scored at least one podium finish in seven of his eight IndyCar seasons. The 2021 season is the one outlier. However, Rosenqvist has never had consecutive podium finishes in his career. This is only the third season in which he has had multiple podium results. He had two in his rookie season in 2019 and he had two in 2023, his final year with McLaren. 

The last driver to win the Indianapolis 500 and the following race was Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000. Since 2001, only four times has the Indianapolis 500 winner finished on the podium in the next race, and all four of those drivers finished second. Dario Franchitti was second to Tony Kanaan at Milwaukee in 2007. Scott Dixon was second to Ryan Briscoe at Milwaukee in 2008. In 2012, Franchitti was second at Belle Isle to Dixon. Takuma Sato was runner-up to Dixon at Gateway in 2020. 

Only twice in Rosenqvist's career has he had consecutive top five finishes. He ended his rookie season in 2019 with finishes of second and fifth at Portland and Laguna Seca respectively. Last season, he was fifth at Thermal Club and then fourth at Long Beach.

Malukas' Close Calls

As much as we basked in Felix Rosenqvist's celebration, the anguish in David Malukas' face when he finally stepped out of his car after the Indianapolis 500 left an indelible mark on how we will remember the 110th Indianapolis 500. 

Malukas was second after starting second. He led 30 laps, the third-most in the race behind only Álex Palou's 59 and Scott Dixon's 32. Malukas had made a pass for the lead at the start of the final lap on Marcus Armstrong, only to be 0.0233 seconds short of victory when it came time to take the checkered flag, the closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history. It was the 17th-closest finish in IndyCar history. This was the second consecutive year Malukas finished second in the Indianapolis 500. He became the seventh driver to have consecutive runner-up finishes in the famed race.

For all the pain Malukas expressed, it should not cloud out what has been an excellent start to the 2026 season. In his first year with Team Penske, Malukas has been the best Team Penske finisher in four of seven races, and he has been the best Penske starter in six consecutive races. 

Entering this season, Malukas has three career podium finishes. He has had three podium finishes in the last six races. Malukas has six consecutive top ten finishes. His most top ten finishes in a single season was six in 2023. He has led 130 laps through the first seven races this season. He had led 128 laps in his first four seasons in IndyCar. 

Is victory coming for Malukas? 

The Indianapolis 500 runner-up has respectable results in the subsequent race in recent years. Over the previous five years, the runner-up has finished in the top ten three times and has finished no worse than 15th. However, the only top five finisher was Patricio O'Ward, who was fifth at Belle Isle after being second at Indianapolis in 2022. 

The most recent Indianapolis 500 runner-up to respond with a victory in the next race was Scott Dixon in 2020. He was second at Indianapolis and then he won at Gateway. Prior to that, the next most recent runner-up to win the next race was... Scott Dixon in 2012, who won at Belle Isle after finishing second to Dario Franchitti at Indianapolis. 

Since 1996, there have been two other occasions where the "500" runner-up responded with a victory. Paul Tracy did it in 2002, but his victory came in CART at Milwaukee. Tony Kanaan was second to Buddy Rice in the 2004 Indianapolis 500 and Kanaan followed it with a victory at Texas.

Generally, the Indianapolis 500 runner-up has done well in the next race. Since 1996, that driver has an average finish of 8.333 in the following race, and only twice has the Indianapolis 500 runner-up finished outside the top twenty in the following race during that span. Those drivers were Vitor Meira in 2008, who was 22nd at Milwaukee, and J.R. Hildebrand in 2011, who was 23rd in the first Texas race of a doubleheader weekend. 

This will be Malukas' 69th career start. The most recent driver to have a first career victory come after a second place finish was Robert Doornbos in 2007. Doornbos was second at Cleveland and then won at Mont-Tremblant the following weekend.

Starting Over

It is not quite the halfway point, but seven races is a healthy chunk of the season and results have become trends. The best teams are the best teams and the ones finishing at the back are no longer just having poor days. A few teams will be looking for a reset after Indianapolis, even the teams that have been doing somewhat adequate. 

Andretti Global is not entirely in the gutter, but it is hoping to turn things around after the two race weekend in Indianapolis, specifically Will Power.

Power has finished outside the top ten in six of seven races. A third in Arlington is his only saving grace this season. His race results are not being helped by his qualifying results either. Four times he has started 19th or worse this season. In those four races, his average finish is 17.5. This includes his 29th-place result in the Indianapolis 500 after suffering a gearbox failure. 

In the one race Power has started in the top five, he was on the podium. He has not started on the front row since he was on pole position for Gateway last June, a 16-race streak. 

Marcus Ericsson has been better than Power, but the last three races have been rather rough on the Swede. After opening the season with three top ten finishes in the first four races, including a fourth from his first career pole position in Arlington, he has finished outside the top ten in three consecutive races. Mechanical issues took him out at Long Beach and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Ericsson had a good drive in the Indianapolis 500, and could have finished in the top ten, but the pit strategy shuffled him back to 13th. 

Kyle Kirkwood is looking to stop the bleeding. A 16th in the "500" isn't the end of the world, but it stings when his two main championship rivals have both finished ahead of him in the last two races. Like Ericsson, Kirkwood had a good drive into the top ten during the "500" but the way pit strategy shook out, it left Kirkwood mired back in 16th when a top ten was achievable. 

The good news for Kirkwood is he has finished in the top five of all three street races this season, and he has 12 consecutive top ten finishes in street races dating back to his victory in Nashville in 2023.

Though he has a victory this season, Josef Newgarden is likely smarting after his accident while running in the top five of the Indianapolis 500. Newgarden's Team Penske teammates finishing second and third are not helping him either. It was the second consecutive year Newgarden has retired from the "500." While he is eighth in the championship, results have not exceptional. 

Newgarden won at Phoenix, but he has been the worst Penske finisher in three races. Phoenix is the only time he has been the top Penske driver. He has not had a top five finish on a street course since he was third at St. Petersburg in 2025. His most recent street course victory was over four years ago at Long Beach in 2022. He has not had consecutive top five finishes since he was third in the 2024 Nashville finale and then third in the 2025 St. Petersburg season opener. The last time Newgarden had consecutive top five results within the same season was first at Gateway and third at Portland in 2024. 

The Andretti drivers and Newgarden are four drivers who want to be better but haven't been bad, except for Power. A few teams really could use a great result. 

Christian Rasmussen is outside the Leader Circle spots through seven races. Though few drivers have been closer to victory this season than Rasmussen was at Phoenix, his multiple glances with the wall dropped him to 14th in the final result. It remains his best finish of the season. Mechanical issues took him out of both races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Mick Schumacher has still not finished better than 17th this season. While he ran ever lap at the Indianapolis 500, he is the worst rookie in the championship, and he is ten points outside a Leader Circle spot. Sting Ray Robb is the only one spot beneath Schumacher, and Robb has finished outside the top twenty in six of seven races. Schumacher's entry and Robb's entry are two of the three charter entries that finished outside the Leader Circle money in 2025, making it imperative they get back in the money this season. 

The Leader Circle scrap is quickly becoming a four-driver fight for those final three spots. For all the praise Caio Collet received for his Indianapolis performance prior to his accident, Collet has still finished outside the top fifteen in four consecutive races and in six of seven races this season. Three of his last four results have been finishes outside the top twenty. 

Collet is on the Leader Circle bubble, but he is 16 points from breathing room in 21st and only five points out of the cellar. 

Indy Lights

After two weeks off, Indy Lights is back in action for its seventh round of the season from the streets of Detroit. 

Finishes of third and sixth on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course was enough for Nikita Johnson to retain the championship lead. Johnson will have a busy weekend on his hands as he is also competing in the IMSA race driving the #59 McLaren for RLL Team McLaren. 

Johnson has 231 points and he is 11 points ahead of Tymek Kucharczyk, who has yet to finish worse than fifth this season and who scored his first victory in the second IMS road course race. Kucharczyk spent last weekend competing in the USF Pro 2000 race from Indianapolis Raceway Park to gain oval experience. He was third in that race.

Max Taylor dropped to third in the championship, but Taylor is only 14 points off the championship lead. He was fifth and second on the IMS road course. Enzo Fittipaldi won the first race of the IMS road course doubleheader, and he was third in the second race. Fittipaldi is 16 points behind Johnson. 

A gulf is opening between the top four in the championship and the rest of the field. Lochie Hughes is fifth  on 167 points. Hughes was second and fourth at IM. Alessandro de Tullio started on pole position for the fourth time this season in the first IMS race, but he was ninth in that race and fifth in the second. De Tullio is on 162 points. 

Neither Juan Manuel Correa nor Jordan Missig had a top ten finish at IMS, but they are still seventh and eighth in the championship. Correa has 134 points and Missig has 125 points. Myles Rowe was seventh in the first race, but brake issues ended his second IMS road course race and placed him last. Rowe is ninth in the championship on 119 points, one ahead of Sebastian Murray.

Indy Lights will race at 10:30 a.m. ET on Sunday May 31. The race is scheduled for 45 las or 55 minutes.

IMSA

As is tradition in Detroit, IMSA joins IndyCar in the Motor City and headlines the Saturday action with a 100-minute sprint race. The GTP and GTD Pro classes will be on track and feature 21 cars.

With three victories from the first four races, Laurin Heinrich leads the GTP championship on his own. After winning the first two races with Porsche Penske Motorsport, Heinrich and Tijmen van der Helm won at Laguna Seca with the #5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche. Heinrich has 1,396 points while van der Helm is sixth on 1,159 points. 

In second is Jack Aitken, who has four podium finishes from the first four races, including three runner-up results. Aitken is 21 points behind Heinrich in the #31 Whelen Racing Cadillac. Earl Bamber missed the Long Beach round due to FIA World Endurance Championship responsibilities, and he is 11th in the championship. 

After winning the first two races, the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche of Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer is 73 points behind their third driver. Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor are fourth on 1,250 points in the #6 Porsche. 

Meyer Shank Racing won in Detroit last year with the #93 Acura of Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly, and the #93 Acura is on 1,242 points in fifth thanks to victory in Long Beach. The #60 MSR Acura of Tom Blomqvist and Colin Bruan are on 1,126 points and has finished fourth in two races this season.

Each BMW has a third-place finish this season. The #24 BMW of Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor is on 1,139 points while the #25 BMW of Philipp Eng and Marco Wittmann has 1,035 points.

It has been a rough season for Wayne Taylor Racing. Its best finish this season was sixth with the #40 Cadillac of Louis Delétraz and Jordan Taylor. The #10 Cadillac of Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor has finished 11th in three of four races with its best result being tenth. 

The #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie of Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn is coming off its best finish of the season, eighth in Laguna Seca. 

Corvette enters as the GTD Pro championship leaders with Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner on 971 points. The #4 Corvette has not won yet this season, but it has finished fourth, third and second in the first three races. Daytona winners Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen are 51 points behind the Dutch-American duo in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW. AO Racing has the #77 Porsche in third with Harry King and Nick Tandy on 908 points after a pair of podium finishes in the last two races. 

Ford Racing is coming off a victory in Laguna Seca with the #65 Mustang of Christopher Mies and Frédéric Vervisch. Mies and Vervisch sit on 897 points, 70 points ahead of the #3 Corvette of Antonio García and Alexander Sims. Pfaff Motorsport is sixth on 785 points with Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell in the #9 Lamborghini. Max Esterson and Nikita Johnson have scored 734 points in the #59 RLL Team McLaren. Ben Barker and Dennis Olsen have scored 731 points in the #64 Ford. The #64 Ford won this race last year with Mike Rockenfeller and Sebastian Priaulx.

VasserSullivan Lexus is last in the championship with the #14 Lexus on 720 points, but Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth have starting on pole position in the last two races. VasserSullivan is entering an extra car for this round. Aaron Telitz and Chaz Mostert will share the #15 Lexus.

The 100-minute IMSA race will take place at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday May 30. 

Fast Facts

This will be the 14th IndyCar race to take place on May 31, and the first since Sébastien Bourdais won the second Belle Isle race in 2015.

The first seven races to take place on May 31 were Indianapolis 500s. 

This race falls on the 40th anniversary of Bobby Rahal's only Indianapolis 500 victory. 

This race alls on the 23rd anniversary of Michel Jourdain, Jr.'s first career victory at Milwaukee, setting the record for most starts before a first career victory in IndyCar history at 129 starts.

Santino Ferrucci will turn 28 years old on race day. 

There have been nine birthday winners in IndyCar history, most recently Dan Wheldon won on his 30th birthday at Iowa on June 22, 2008. 

In three races on this Detroit street course configuration, the average starting position for a winner is third. Álex Palou won from pole position in 2023, Scott Dixon won from fifth in 2024, and Kyle Kirkwood won from third last year.

Seventeen consecutive street races have been won from a top ten starting position. The most recent street course race won from outside the top ten was Nashville in 2022. Scott Dixon won from 14th.

Thirty consecutive IndyCar races have been won from a top ten starting position. The most recent race won from outside the top ten was the second Iowa race in 2024. Will Power won from 22nd.

In the last two Detroit races, at least one podium finisher started outside the top fifteen. Marcus Armstrong went from 19th to third in 2024. Santino Ferrucci went from 21st to second in 2025.

Last year, Kyle Kirkwood won after making three pit stops. The first two Detroit races were won with two-stop strategies. Last year, no driver made fewer than three pit stops. 

In 2023, the top five finishers and eight of the top ten finishers made it on two stops. 

In 2024, three of the top four finishers made it on two stops, but the rest of the top 13 finishers made at least four pit stops, and the only other of the 17 lead lap finisher to make only three pit stops was Rinus VeeKay in 14th.

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

Honda has won all three races on this Detroit configuration, and Honda has won all three street course races this season.

The average number of lead changes at Detroit is 8.667. There were ten lead changes in 2023, five lead changes in 2024 and 11 lead changes in 2025. 

The latest lead change that has occurred in the last three Detroit races was last year on lap 79 when Kyle Kirkwood took the lead from Santino Ferrucci

The average number of cautions at Detroit is 6.667. There were seven cautions in 2023, eight cautions in 2024 and five cautions in 2025. The average number of caution laps is 29.333. There were 32 caution laps in 2023, 47 caution laps in 2024 and 19 caution laps in 2025.

Last year was the first time IndyCar avoided an opening lap caution in three runs on this Detroit course. Last year, the first caution did not come out until lap 14.

The longest green flag run to complete a race was 27 laps in 2024.

Predictions

Álex Palou, but if it isn't Álex Palou, though it might really be Palou, Kyle Kirkwood will be tough to beat for his second consecutive Detroit race, and if it isn't Kirkwood, the only other driver to finish in the top five of all three street course races this season is Patricio O'Ward. Felix Rosenqvist will make the Fast Six, but he will only finish in the top ten. We will see the fewest caution laps on this Detroit course configuration for the second consecutive year. There will not be any pit lane shenanigans where someone makes up ten spots and suddenly is running much better when previously being unrecognized. Sleeper: Marcus Armstrong.