Who has Led the IndyCar Championship the Most?

This exercise took much longer than I expected. 

Ahead of the IndyCar weekend from Barber Motorsports Park, when wondering how often the championship lead had changed after each of the first four races with four different drivers, I started wondering more about championship leaders, and who has led the championship the most. Álex Palou also had something to do with that. For a driver who has led the championship for HALF OF HIS CAREER BEFORE REACHING 100 STARTS... Palou must be in a special spot in IndyCar history already. 

One problem with IndyCar is despite its long history and all the data we have is, there are some glaring unanswered questions or unknown facts that should not be that hard to know. 

When doing the research ahead of Barber Motorsports Park, the post-race standings are readily available on Racing-Reference through the 1974 USAC Championship Car season. That is a fair amount of information, but there are nearly 30 seasons post-World War II where the race-by-race championship standings are not tracked. We know the results, we know the points awarded for those races, it is now just a matter of compiling the information. 

That was the long part. Combined with other things going on in life, it took a little longer than I thought going through all those years, entering the information and then breaking it down race-by-race. 

For this exercise, I drew the line at 1946. It is a year already used as a cutoff for a number of statistical categories in IndyCar. Pre-World War II is a little messy as there were seasons where no championship was actually tracked but then standings were retroactively applied. Perhaps someday, I will expanded back to the first recognized IndyCar season in 1909. For this case, we are only looking at 1946 onward. Thanks to Racing-Reference, ChampCarStats and The Third Turn, these three databases were used to gather the results and cross-reference in case there were any discrepancies in the records. 

You are probably thinking you already know the answer or have an idea what the answer is, and you are probably right. It is going to be no surprise the best drivers and drivers that have been the most successful are going to be toward the top among drivers who led the championship the most. That is natural. It is good to put it into context and give it a hard number. 

There is also so much more there because I think leading the championship is a minor thing that gets overlooked. It is hard for anyone to lead the championship. Few get lucky in leading the championship. If a driver won the first race of the season and took the championship lead by default that driver still had to win a race to get the championship lead. After a few races, it requires consistent success to be the leader, and I think it is a shame the number of times leading the championship is not tracked. 

Doing this research, it was enlightening to find a few forgotten championship leaders, and it might have been only for a race or two, but it is a highlight for that driver and team. It is a brief moment in the sun. 

While using the last two weeks to find an answer, over the next upcoming extended IndyCar break, the plan is to go over some notable things from past championship leaders and answer questions you likely have and answer questions you likely didn't even think about. 

On this occasion, let's start with the basics, who has led the IndyCar championship the most? 

Since 1946, in around 1,400 races, a total of 107 drivers have led the championship at some point. 

1. A.J. Foyt - 81 Races

2. Mario Andretti - 71

3. Scott Dixon - 63

4. Will Power - 57

5. Álex Palou - 55

That is the top five, and there are no surprises there. The top four drivers in victories are the top four in times leading the championship, though not in the same order. Are we surprised A.J. Foyt is first? No. I wouldn't even say it is that surprising that Andretti is still ahead of Dixon. Consider that the 1969 season was 24 races long and Andretti led the championship for the final 21 races. Dixon has never even competed in a season that was 21 races in length!

Ok, maybe there is one surprise in Álex Palou. If we need any greater indication of how dominant Palou has been in his first six-plus IndyCar seasons, he is fifth all-time in times leading the championship. He isn't getting lucky with these championship. 

6. Sébastien Bourdais - 50

7. Al Unser - 49

8. Bobby Rahal - 43

9. Hélio Castroneves - 41

10. Bobby Unser - 39

Four of these five drivers are ranked in the top 11 all-time in victories, and then there is Bobby Rahal, one of 13 drivers all-time to win at least three championship. 

As you can guess, Castroneves led the championship the most without winning a championship... and it is a while until you get to the next closest driver without a championship. 

T-11. Rick Mears - 35

T-11. Al Unser, Jr. - 35

13. Rodger Ward - 34

14. Dario Franchitti - 32

15. Paul Tracy - 31

16. Juan Pablo Montoya - 30

This is it among the drivers who led the championship at least 30 times. Quick reminder that Montoya didn't even make 100 starts in his career, and he led the championship after 30 races. 

T-17. Johnny Rutherford - 28

T-17. Tom Sneva - 28

19. Sam Hornish, Jr. - 27

20. Josef Newgarden - 26

T-21. Michael Andretti - 23

T-21. Tony Kanaan - 23

23. Dan Wheldon - 22

T-24. Alex Zanardi - 20

T-24. Cristiana da Matta - 20

And these are the remaining drivers who led the championship at least 20 times in their careers. We start to see some of the effects from the spit here. Hornish, Jr. only ever raced in the Indy Racing League. Zanardi and da Matta only ever raced in Champ Car. None raced in a unified IndyCar. 

26. Simon Pagenaud - 19

T-27. Johnnie Parsons - 17

T-27. Jimmy Bryan - 17

T-29. Tony Bettenhausen - 15

T-29. Jimmy Vasser - 15

This is where we see the limit of the AAA and USAC eras of IndyCar. The likes of Parsons, Bryan and Bettenhausen all ran at a time when the championship was about a dozen races in length. There weren't many opportunities to lead the championship, and at a time when the Indianapolis 500 winner got 1,000 points while most of the schedule only paid 200 points, it was tougher to get to the championship lead. 

This is a quick detour, but take the 1953 season. Bill Vukovich won the Indianapolis 500, the first race of the season, and he did not race again that season. Vukovich led the championship for the first five races, and he finished this in the championship with only one race started. 

T-31. Nigel Mansell - 14

T-31. Emerson Fittipaldi - 14

T-31. Kenny Bräck - 14

34. Roger McCluskey - 13

T-35. Ted Horn - 12

T-35. Jacques Villeneuve - 12

T-35. Gil de Ferran - 12

Mansell led after 14 of 16 races in his 1993 championship season. That was it. Fittipaldi led the championship 11 times during his 1989 championship season. He only led the championship after three more races for the remainder of his career. 

Eleven of the times Bräck led the championship were in the 2001 CART season, a year he famously lost the title late in the season to de Ferran. De Ferran only led five races in each of his two championship seasons. He led after the final five races in 2000 and five of the final seven races in 2001.

McCluskey only led the championship during his 1973 championship season. He took the lead with a runner-up finish at Milwaukee in June, his points total already boosted due to a third-place finish in the Indianapolis 500, earning him 700 points. McCluskey's championship efforts were fortified with great finishes in the 500-mile races, a second at Pocono (800 points) and a fourth at Ontario (600 points). Despite winning only one race, McCluskey clinched the title with three races to spare.

Horn won the first three championship after World War II. He took the 1946 championship in the final race of the season from the deceased George Robson, who lost his life in the third race of the season at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta. However, Robson's Indianapolis 500 victory kept him in the championship lead entering the final race. Horn was 20 points behind Robson going to the finale in Goshen, New York. A second-place result earned Horn 160 points. Horn won win the 1947 championship having led after only the final two races, but in 1948, he took the title having led after nine of the 12 races, including after the final eight races.

Villeneuve was only in IndyCar for two seasons. In 1995, he led the championship after 12 of 17 races.

T-38. Troy Ruttman - 11

T-38. Bob Sweikert - 11

T-38. Gordon Johncock - 11

T-41. Sam Hanks - 10

T-41. Joe Leonard - 10

Ruttman won the 1952 Indianapolis 500, the season opener, and 1,000 points gave him the championship lead. He did run the following week at Milwaukee, but he won the third race, a 200-miler, in Raleigh, North Carolina, increasing his points total to 1,400. An engine vibration caused him to finish 12th at Springfield, netting him ten more points, but that was his final start of the season. A sprint car crash in August ended his season. 

Ruttman held the championship lead into the final race of the season in Phoenix. He was up 40 points on Chuck Stevenson. All Ruttman needed was Stevenson to finish tenth or worse to win the title. Stevenson finished sixth and won the title by 30 points. Ruttman never led the championship again and never won a championship. 

Besides Hélio Castroneves, the only other driver to lead the championship after at least ten races in a career and never win a championship is Troy Ruttman.

Sweikert led after all 11 races in the 1955 season, thanks to this Indianapolis 500 victory in the opener. Sweikert did run ten of 11 races, skipping on the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, as was normal for championship regulars to do. 

Johncock led the championship after 11 races in his career, but he led the championship in eight different seasons spread from 1966 to 1983. He never led after more than three races in a single-season, and the year he led after three races was his 1976 championship season, a title he won overcoming a 220-point deficit to Johnny Rutherford in the Phoenix finale. Rutherford retired after 111 laps. Johncock had to finish second or better to win the title. He was second and won the title by 20 points.

Hanks led the championship for the final four races in 1953, his championship season, and for the first six races in 1957. However, Hanks was retired for five of those six races as after he won the Indianapolis 500, he retired in victory lane. 

Leonard led the championship in the final three races of 1971 and after seven of ten races of 1972, including leading after the final six races.

Only 42 drivers have led the IndyCar championship after at least ten races in their careers.

And I am going to stop there. That will be a tease for the rest to come because you are probably thinking about the names you have not seen and you might be thinking of questions you do not have the answer to, and possibly those will come. Let's take a pause and we can continue tracking in the near future.

Musings From the Weekend: Let's Talk About Bumping

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

Quick housekeeping: Things will likely be delayed next week post-Long Beach in terms of First Impressions and Musings. For the first time since 2002, a driver scored their first NASCAR Cup Series victory at Bristol, as Ty Gibbs was first. Someone had a vacation in Brazil. A half-million dollars was not awarded. A pair of sports car series got underway. The Supercross championship opened up a little bit in Nashville. Toyota won its first Supercars race. Formula Two confirmed it will be racing in Miami and Montreal, which had ripple effects into the Indianapolis 500, and Colton Herta will not be able to compete. In turn, Andretti Global will not run a fourth entry. At most, we are going to see 33 entries. This has left many upset with the prospect of no bumping.

Let's Talk About Bumping

In a quick about-face, a conflict formed when Formula Two confirmed it would go to Miami and Montreal at the end of last week, and Colton Herta's May went from 16th & Georgetown to a few trips to Miami Gardens and Île Notre-Dame. With Herta out, Andretti Global did not feel compelled to enter the planned fourth entry for the Indianapolis 500. The team cited focusing on "value-added programs," and to translate, there was not another driver out there they felt qualified enough to run its fourth car. 

Bumping is off the table in all likelihood, and now the stretch is to get a 33rd. For all those concerned, there will be a 33rd entry even if it is not clear where it will come from. There is always a 33rd entry. DragonSpeed came back for one year with Ben Hanley to get 33 cars on the grid. It is going to happen. 

Plenty expressed displeasure at this development. The Andretti program had entered an additional Indianapolis 500 entry for 16 consecutive years. In recent years, it has become a greater challenge to get beyond 34 entries. The one-off programs in recent years have been confirmed early in the offseason. We know Indianapolis one-offs before Christmas and New Years'. We have known the 31st entry (Takuma Sato) since St. Patrick's Day. It was once the case the final few entries were not set until early May or even after the first few practice days. Teams no longer operate that way. 

This year will be the 110th Indianapolis 500, and the event has evolved greatly over that time. In its current form, the prospects of failing to qualify and the cost that goes into it makes entering less desirable once the entry list is at 33. The reward of making the race does not offset what goes into forming a program. This has been the truth for over 20 years. 

Finger-pointing was rampant the last few days as to why it will be a struggle to get 33 entries. Charters and the engine manufacturers received a lot of the blame. It comes down to teams spending $1 million for one race, and they aren't even going to break even if they make the race. They aren't even going to break even if they finish in the top three of the race. All the rules in the world could be formed to force 36 or 37 entries, but that is not how it works. It sucks to hear it, but there is a business component, and not many people are comfortable setting $1 million on fire. Not many have $1 million to burn.

It is a shame because, as has been the case for most of the last two decades, there has been plenty of interest in running the Indianapolis 500. Drivers still want to be at the Indianapolis 500, but there has not been enough available entries for all of them. There might be 40 drivers interested, but at least six are going to be on the sideline and never get a chance to get behind the wheel, and this is causing another problem as drivers do not get Indianapolis 500 experience. 

We don't have that many respectable Indianapolis 500 one-offs left. Plenty of past winners have retired in recent years, and the few that remain are claimed early. Beyond those drivers, we don't have an Indianapolis 500 veteran pool teams feel comfortable drawing from. I would argue the pool is deep though.

The likes of J.R. Hildebrand, Charlie Kimball, Sage Karam, Zach Veach, James Davison, Pippa Mann, Oriol Servià and Spencer Pigot are gone. You could even add Carlos Muñoz, Gabby Chaves and Ed Jones to this group. Ryan Briscoe is young enough to still be driving, and Sébastien Bourdais is still competing, but he does not return to Indianapolis unless it is in a sports car. 

Think of all the IndyCar reserve drivers that now exist and none of them have Indianapolis 500 entries. What is the point of being a reserve driver in IndyCar if you are not at least getting the Indianapolis 500 or driving in Indy Lights for the team? What is in for Ed Carpenter Racing's Hunter McElrea, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Jüri Vips and A.J. Foyt Racing's Toby Sowery? Congratulations! You get to use the simulator, every child's dream!

That is 16 drivers listed above, and I didn't even mention that Stefan Wilson is still hanging around. The drivers are out there, even if they are not looking. Deep down, most would love to do it again. Most are still at a reasonable age to attempt the Indianapolis 500, but their time was up. After years of struggling to form programs, the value of running has not match the cost and effort to put together one race a year where it was an uphill battle just to make it. Another generation of drivers who were fine working on a program for each May has not formed, and what makes it more difficult is the teams do not allow that group to form. 

Any team entering an extra entry for the Indianapolis 500 should not be expecting to get another potential race winner. The options are the journeymen, the drivers who know how to run the race and have some good pace, or a young talent hoping to turn some heads. Maybe everything clicks for a top ten finish, but victory is a stretch for most of the full-time competitors let alone the one-offs. These lofty expectations caused Andretti Global to pass upon viable options, and another entry is lost. This mindset will keep the pool at 33 cars with a chance of 34. The belief isn't there in the drivers for the teams to take the chance, but also it cost too much for any of those drivers to convince a team otherwise. 

Everyone has a price, but how much would it cost J.R. Hildebrand to get Andretti Global to change its mind? I am sure a stupid check of $3 million would have any team field him, but no one is stupid enough to spend that much on one race.

Motorsports in 2026 is not a free-for-all. It is not a place for dreams where a group of a half-dozen people can throw together a program, afford to spend most of May working on a car either to make the race without much hope of doing well or miss the race and not be that hurt by it. The only Indianapolis 500-only team we have had for the last decade is Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Everything is done with the budget in mind.

There is no magical fix. Even a third or fourth manufacturer joining IndyCar would not change much. Instead of two manufacturers deciding whether to support 17 or 18 programs, they would be deciding to support 10-12 programs or 8-9 programs. It is not set up for teams to come out of the woodwork nor are there any teams looking to enter out of the blue. 

I wish it was different. I wish it was feasible for the Indy Lights teams to each field an entry. Abel Motorsports will likely do it with Jacob Abel this year and help get the field to 33, but I wish all Indy Lights team could do it.

May is a little open for the Indy Lights teams. On paper, it would be nice if they could use this time at the end of May to try and put a car in the field, and the cost were reasonable for the attempt while not hurting their full-time programs. It would be nice if HMD Motorsports, Cape Motorsports and Cusick Morgan Motorsports each could use that idle time to field an entry each and use it to gain knowledge, whether that be with a veteran showing those programs the ropes or a young driver getting an opportunity. It sounds great on paper. Everything is more practical on paper. 

In the past 23 Indianapolis 500s, 15 have had 33 or 34 entries. The only years during this time that saw an excessive number of entries was 2008 to 2011 when the only option was the Dallara-Honda, a time everyone hated because of spec chassis and engines and a lack of competition. The event has evolved. It is normal to only get 33 or 34 entries and they go to the drivers who can secure the funding the fastest. Let's not act like this is a new thing.

The Indianapolis 500 is going to be fine. For all the hand-wringing over the lack of bumping, the race still attracts 300,000 people. There wasn't bumping for the 100th edition, and that race was the first sell out that lifted the blackout restrictions. Last year's race had one car go home for the third consecutive year, and the race still sold enough tickets to lift the blackout again. 

The series would love to have 36 or 38 cars entered every year, but there is no way to force it. You cannot snap your fingers and make it affordable. Things should not drastically change because of the lack of bumping either. Qualifying proceedings should not be completely revamped because of the lack of bumping. IndyCar already did that for over decade and it didn't make anything better.

Perhaps one day it will change and it will be practical for such a number of entries to enter and bumping to be plentiful. Let's calm down over what has been the course of business for over 20 years. It isn't a tragedy.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Ty Gibbs, but did you know...

Connor Zilisch won the NASCAR Grand National Series race from Bristol. Christopher Bell won the Truck race.

The #36 TGR Team au TOM'S Toyota of Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita won the Super GT race from Okayama. The #777 D'station Racing Aston Martin of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg won in  GT300.

The #29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca-Gibson of Oliver Gray, Esteban Masson and Louis Rousset won the 4 Hours of Barcelona. The #5 Rinaldi Racing Ligier-Toyota of José Cautela, Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen and Alvise Rodella won in LMP3. The #75 Proton Competition Porsche of Richard Lietz, Tom Sargent and Matt Kurzejewski won in LMGT3.

The #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin of Mattia Drudi, Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim won the 6 Hours of Circuit Paul Ricard.

Brodie Kostecki and Ryan Wood split the Supercars races from Taupō.

Hunter Lawrence won the Supercross race from Nashville, his fourth victory of the season. Cole Davies won the 250cc race, his fourth victory of the season.

Takamoto Katsuta won Rally Croatia, his second consecutive victory.

Coming Up This Weekend

IndyCar is back for the Grand Prix of Long beach and IMSA will be there.

NASCAR is in Kansas.

The FIA World Endurance Championship finally has its season opener, this one from Imola.

World Superbike visits Assen.

Supercars makes it first visit to Ruapuna Park.

Supercross is in Cleveland for the first time in 31 years.

Musings From the Weekend: Let's Talk Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year

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

It was Easter weekend and there was not much going on. Corey Heim won at Rockingham, his 25th NASCAR Truck Series victory, moving him into fifth all-time and Heim is now the championship leader despite having missed two of five races run this season. Super Formula began its season in a deluge. Supercross remains a tight championship. Ben Keating is going to miss the first rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship season due to an elbow injury. With not much going on during a holiday weekend, it is a good time to look ahead.

Let's Talk Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year

There is no great time to talk about important issues surrounding the Indianapolis 500.

If you wait until May, it is too late. Any other time of the year feels out of place. There are pockets over winter, but even then the event is far off. The start of April is a good time. It isn't too early. It is early, but it is not excessively early, and there used to be a day when entries were getting finalized the entry list was being announced. Besides, IndyCar just had an off weekend, there are two more weeks until the next race, and then there are two weekends off after that. It feels like a good opening. 

Last year, many were upset with how the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year was decided, and that has been a common feeling recently post-Indianapolis 500. 

In case you forgot, Robert Shwartzman won Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year, thanks to his pole position but negating his pit lane accident that ended his race after 87 laps and placed the Israeli driver in 26th. This was despite Louis Foster finishing 15th, the best rookie on the road and completing all 500 miles, and Foster would later elevate to 12th after three post-race penalties were applied to the results.

It was the third time in four years the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year was not the top finishing rookie. In 2022, Jimmie Johnson took the honors but was 28th while David Malukas was 16th. In 2024, Kyle Larson did run all 500 mile and finished 18th, earning him Rookie of the Year, but Christian Rasmussen was the top finishing rookie in 12th.  

The most recent Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year to be the best finishing rookie was Benjamin Pedersen in 2023, a year when none of the rookies finished and Pedersen was 21st. It was also a year when an argument could have been made the best rookie was not the best finishing rookie. Agustín Canapino had a good case.

For two of those years, there was an us-versus-them element to it. The drivers with NASCAR backgrounds won even if less recognizable names did better. Last year's angst was over a driver who made it 500 miles and a driver who hit crew members in the pit lane got the honor. 

Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year was only first honored in 1952. In the 74 races it has been awarded, it has gone to 79 drivers thanks to a few ties. In 74 years, only 13 times did the top rookie finisher not at least get a share of Rookie of the Year. 

The award doesn't go to the best finisher, and there is actual criteria. It is not as simple as giving it to the best rookie finisher, and it is a good thing it isn't that black-and-white, but could more be done? 

An argument can be made the best rookie finisher should at least get time in the post-race press conference. Select media members decide who wins Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year. If that is the voting bloc, present them with who was the best finisher at least. If there is a worry about a driver being overlooked, give that driver a platform to share the story of his or her day and make the voters aware of that performance. 

The votes could also be made public. Some of those people do not cover IndyCar beyond the Indianapolis 500. Some cover NASCAR 51 weeks of the year, and one week IndyCar gets the most focus. It shouldn't be a purity test, but Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year is inconsequential in day-to-day life. If the votes are public, we at least know how everyone votes and we can at least get explanations for decision-making. 

I wish more data was made available through IndyCar's live timing and scoring. There is a lap chart that is presented at the end of each race that shows where each car was running at the end of each lap. All the data is there to calculate average running position and number of laps spent in the top five and top ten. That information could go a long way. Would people have voted differently if they knew Jimmie Johnson's average running position in 2022 was 21.326, and that Johnson spent 111 laps running outside the top twenty while David Malukas only spent four laps outside the top twenty and had an average running position of 14.43? I don't think it is a bad thing to paint a full picture. 

It is good that we are at least aware before this year's race because it might not be as clear as the top finisher getting the award, and that is fine. There are going to be years when the best rookie wasn't the best finisher, and one team stretched fuel and finished ten spots better than where it spent most of the race. That doesn't mean that driver who stretched fuel should get the award. The finish was better but there is more to it than that. Just because a driver finished ninth doesn't mean he or she was clearly better than the driver in tenth. It is ok for this to be subjective. 

For 2026, we are not expecting an outsider with a great following beyond IndyCar to come in and have an unintentional bias. It looks like the rookies will be the same as the rookies we have full-time, Caio Collet, Dennis Hauger and Mick Schumacher. It is possible Jacob Abel will be back as a one-off and will be eligible for Rookie of the Year as Abel did not qualify for last year's race. If anyone has more attention, it is Mick Schumacher. The last name carries a lot of weight. I don't know if it pushes the scales in his favor before he ever gets on track, but it is one of the most notable names in motorsports. If he running decent, it will attract more eyes than Collet, Haguer or Abel.

It has been knee-jerk to suggest an overhaul of the decision procession for Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year, and to entirely make it cut-and-dry based on finishing position does take away some of the lure and the pageantry we get every year in the month of May. It is harmless if it is a vote. Adjustments can still be made to help the voters and help the competitors. I don't think IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway should be afraid to do more when it comes to Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year. Compared to the race winner, it is lower on the totem pole, but it is ok to embrace what it is and strengthen its place among the post-race festivities. 

Champion From the Weekend

Haiden Deegan clinched the Supercross 250cc West championship with his victory in the East-West Showdown at St. Louis. It is Deegan's second consecutive title, and St. Louis was his sixth victory of the season.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Corey Heim and Haidan Deegan, but did you know...

William Sawalich won the NASCAR Grand National Series race from Rockingham, his first career victory.

Kakunoshin Ohta swept the Super Formula races from Motegi. 

Ken Roczen won the Supercross race from St. Louis, his third victory of the season.

Coming Up This Weekend

NASCAR will be at Bristol.

There are three season openers, starting with Super GT at Okayama. 

Euroepean Le Mans Series will be at Barcelona. 

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup race at Circuit Paul Ricard. 

Supercars are at Taupō.

Supercross has a day event in Nashville.

The World Rally Championship will be in Croatia. 

Best of the Month: March 2026

We are a quarter of the way through 2026. It will be 2027 before we know it. Before we get there, many great races are still to take place. This last month saw a few more series begin their 2026 seasons, and we are in full swing. It is constant action from now through the end of November even if Formula One will have two fewer races in April. It is not a bad place to be.

Notes From Research

March is always a month where I am knocking off the rust. It takes a second to get back in the rhythm of preparing for a race weekend, thinking of topics, noticing trends and then deep-diving into the numbers to answer questions in my mind. 

The biggest issue is getting to the point, and sometimes I find an answer to a question, but I also find a few different answers to questions I didn't even know I wanted answered. In some moments, it works to share it all at once. At other times, it is better to stick to the task and not create clutter.

With this being the end of the month, I figured I would share some notes from research that didn't make it any previous post this month. 

Not Completing the First Lap of the Season

This goes back to prior to the Phoenix weekend. In the Track Walk for that race, I looked over drivers who failed to complete the opening lap of the season, drivers who started the race but didn't get around to finish a lap. For two drivers, that happened in 2026 with Santino Ferrucci and Mick Schumacher each getting caught in an accident when Sting Ray Robb locked up his tires entering turn four. Robb was able to continue. Ferrucci and Schumacher hit the showers early.

Looking over box scores to see how many drivers failed to finish an opening lap of a season, I found a few notes. 

In 1957, the first lap of the season was at the Indianapolis 500, and technically neither Elmer George nor Eddie Russo got that far as they had an accident on the pace lap. We covered that George would win later that season, but for Russo he would not start another race until the 1960 Indianapolis 500. He made it 84 laps in that race.

For Tom Frantz, he started the 1981 CART season opener from Phoenix, his first start since the September 15, 1979 Michigan race, but Frantz didn't make it a lap before the turbocharger broke. That was Frantz's only appearance of the season. He failed to qualify for four races in 1982, but he did make the Michigan race that July and last 20 laps before losing an engine. 

Some notable names have failed to complete an opening lap of a season. It happened to Chip Ganassi on debut in 1982. It happened to Teo Fabi and the Porsche program in 1990. It happened to Bobby Rahal and Raul Boesel in 1994.

In 1998, Robbie Goff qualified 16th for the Indy Racing League season opener at Walt Disney World Speedway. Groff would have an accident before the first lap was completed. It ended up being the final start of Groff's IndyCar career. He failed to qualify two month later at Phoenix and that was it for his career.

Maybe the worst opening lap incident was the 1999 CART season opener at Homestead. It was a three-car accident. Naoki Hattori and Al Unser, Jr. got together in turns one and two and Raul Boesel was collected in the accident. None of those three drivers were at the next race at Motegi.

For Hattori, he suffered a double compound fracture in his left leg in accident, and it should be noted Homestead was his debut. What a start to a career! Unser, Jr. also broke his legs in the accident. Hattori would not return until Belle Isle in August. Unser, Jr. only missed two races and was back for Nazareth in May. 

For Boesel's sake, his Motegi absence was the plan. Boesel was only at Homestead because Paul Tracy was suspended for the season opener due to a number of incidents in the 1998 season, and Boesel filled the #26 Team Green entry. Boesel did race seven days after Homestead in the IRL race at Phoenix where he completed 147 laps before oil pressure issues ended his race.

Multiple Drivers Leading the Most Laps

This hasn't come up in a post, but in the aftermath of the Arlington race, what stood out the most in the box score was Kyle Kirkwood, Álex Palou and Will Power all finished tied for the most laps led. All three drivers led 16 laps. I could not think of the last time that had happened. I knew there were races that had two drivers tied for the most laps led. I could not think of one where three drivers were tied. 

In the immediate aftermath of the Arlington race, I got to digging, and I found it had happened once before. 

September 21, 1975: Gordon Johncock, A.J. Foyt and Johnny Rutherford all led 33 laps at Trenton and they finished 1-2-3 in that order. It was a 100-lap race. New Jersey's own Wally Dallenbach led lap 25 of the race. 

I was surprised how few races had multiple drivers lead the most laps. 

It has only happened 12 times in IndyCar history. It should be noted a great number of races, especially pre-World War II are lacking information on total laps led for each driver. It is possible it has happened more but we do not have it recorded. Coincidentally enough, the first known occasion of it happening was pre-World War II and it was in the Indianapolis 500. In 1938, Floyd Roberts and Jimmy Snyder each led 92 laps. Rex May was the only other driver to lead that day. Roberts won, Snyder was 15th after a supercharger failure.

Here are the other nine times in IndyCar history where multiple drivers were tied for the most laps led:

August 16, 1958: Springfield

Don Branson led the first 36 laps. Jud Larson led the next 36 laps. Johnny Thomson led the final 28 laps and won the race.

September 19, 1982: Road America

Bobby Rahal and Mario Andretti each led 20 laps in the inaugural Road America race, but it was Héctor Rebaque who won the race leading only the final lap after Al Unser ran out of fuel.

July 23, 1989: Toronto

Danny Sullivan and Al Unser, Jr. each led 35 laps. Michael Andretti won the race with 24 laps led.

September 8, 1996: Laguna Seca

Yes! That famous Laguna Seca race with Alex Zanardi's famed pass in the corkscrew on Bryan Herta saw both drivers each lead 41 laps. It was an 83 lap race. Jimmy Vasser led the other (lap 29).

June 16, 2002: Portland

Two drivers led the 2002 Grand Prix of Portland. Cristiano da Matta and Kenny Bräck. They each led 55 laps. Da Matta took the victory. Bräck lost a wheel on lap 60 after having led 55 of the first 59 laps, and that incident ended his race.

June 22, 2003: Portland

It happened in consecutive years at Portland! Paul Tracy and Michel Jourdain, Jr. each led 42 laps in this race. The winner? That would be Adrián Fernández, who led the final 15 laps. 

August 8, 2004: Road America

It happened in three consecutive CART/Champ Car seasons! This race was slowed due to rain and ultimately raced to a time limit. Paul Tacy and Alex Tagliani each led 16 laps. Tagliani took his first and only IndyCar victory. 

October 22, 2006: Surfers Paradise

Champ Car took a year off in 2005, but in 2006, Will Power led the first 13 laps at Surfers Paradise, before it went sideways as it always did for Power at Surfers Paradise. This race saw eight lead changes among seven drivers. Nelson Philippe won the race with 13 laps led. It was Philippe's one and only victory in IndyCar. Charles Zwolsman, Jr. led the third-most laps in this race with ten! 

June 14, 2015: Toronto

Will Power led the first 30 laps, but was then caught out when a caution came out just as the first pit cycle was opening. This opened the door for Josef Newgarden to swoop into the lead. Newgarden ended up leading 30 laps as he won the race, his second career victory. This was the most recent occasion prior to Arlington. 

A couple things you may have noticed...

Three of the last four times drivers finished tied for the most laps led, the laps led total was 16... 

Will Power has be involved in the last three occasions where drivers have finished tied for the most laps led... they have occurred in three different decades... and Power won none of those three races...

It hasn't happened on an oval since that 1975 Trenton race where Johncock, Foyt and Rutherford all finished tied.

I guess it should not be surprising it is more likely to happen on a road or street course. Think about it. It is more likely two drivers finish with the same number of laps led in a 60-lap race or 75-lap race versus a 200-lap race. Two drivers could each lead 25 laps and that be enough for the most laps led. 

On an oval, are we really going to see two drivers each lead 80 laps or 90 laps in a 200-lap race? It is more unlikely two drivers will have equally as high control of a race on an oval. If you are lead 40% or 45% of the laps, it is unlikely another driver is going to match that total. 

The State Trifecta

Twitter is good for almost nothing these days (You once could have fun there and people were engaging and interesting. That is gone), but occasionally it has something good, and credit goes to Jess Peters for asking this question...

How many states have hosted #IndyCar on a street course, oval, and road course?

California, Florida, Texas… any I’m not thinking of?

— Jess Peters (@_Jess_Peters_) March 13, 2026

After seeing this, the first state that came to my mind was Colorado! 

Yes, IndyCar's hot bed Colorado. 

Of all the state to do it, Colorado is one of them. There were two variations of the Denver street course CART/Champ Car ran. The Indy Racing League raced at Pikes Peak. There was also the Pikes Peak Internaional Hill Climb, which I believe qualifies as a street course as well. Most don't know Continental Divide Raceways ever existed as a 2.66-mile road course let alone hosted three IndyCar races from 1968 to 1970. Boom! There is your answer. 

But how many other states complete the "state trifecta" of having hosted an oval race, road course race and street course for IndyCar? 

We know Colorado. The second that came to mind was Nevada because Las Vegas alone has hosted all three. Again, most people don't know Stardust International Raceway once existed, but the three-mile road course hosted one IndyCar race in 1968. Bobby Unser won it, but that wasn't even IndyCar's first trip to Nevada! The 1954 season ended with a 100-mile race on the one-mile Las Vegas Park. Jimmy Bryan won. Later would come the races around the Caesar's Palace parking lot after Formula One left, and then there was Champ Car's street race in 2007. Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosted seven races between the IRL and Champ Car. 

Then it hit me Washington has hosted all three. Though the state has not hosted an IndyCar race since 1969, Washington has hosted an oval race, a street course race and a road course race. First, there were races held on the streets of Tacoma in 1912 and 1913. Then a two-mile oval followed in Tacoma, first made of dirt and then a board oval and that lasted from 1915 to 1922. In 1969, USAC raced a doubleheader at the 2.2-mile Seattle International Raceway, now known as Pacific Raceways, and that was the last time IndyCar raced in Washington.  

California used to host all three in a single season, most recently in 2015 with Long Beach, Sonoma and Fontana. Laguna Seca is the road course of choice currently on the schedule. Thermal Club was on the schedule last season. There was Ontario Motor Speedway and Riverside. Hanford hosted a handful of races on its 1.5-mile oval. If we go way back there used to be street races in Santa Monica in the dawn of what is now IndyCar racing and are recognized in the record book. They raced around San Francisco during the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. There was also the Los Angeles Motor Speedway board oval. We could do a deep dive on California races alone. 

There was obviously Texas, and Texas checked off this box back in 2019 when Austin made its one and only appearance on an IndyCar schedule. That was the first road course race in Texas in IndyCar history. It had run at Texas World Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. Arlington Downs hosted races in the late 1940s as a dirt oval. IndyCar had run on the streets of Houston and Reliant Park in Houston and on Denver Beach in Galveston. Arlington was just gravy. 

Outside of California and Texas, most of these were not obvious. 

Did you know Wisconsin has hosted all three? You know about Road America and Milwaukee because both are currently on the schedule, but in 1912 there were three street races held in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin on a 7.88-mile course. 

Did you know it Ohio has hosted all three as well? Mid-Ohio is there. It is hard to classify Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport as a street course, even though that is how IndyCar has classified such courses. It is not streets but it is not permanent. It is temporary. Even if you take Cleveland out, Cincinnati hosted a pair of street races in 1911 on a 7.9-mile course. Cincinnati even had a two-mile board oval, which hosted three races. There was even Bainbridge Fairgrounds, which hosted championship races in the late 1940s.

New York has hosted all three disciplines. You know about Watkins Glen. Syracuse's one-mile dirt oval at the state fairgrounds was a regular event from the 1920s through the early 1960s. There was also Good Time Park in Goshen, New York, and the one-mile oval held a trio of races. Sheepshead Bay had a two-mile board oval. As for street races, Riverhead, New York held an event in 1909 on a 22.75-mile course. That is not a typo. There was also the 12.64-mile Long Island Motor Parkway.

The ninth and final state to do it, and this may surprise you, is Indiana! You are wondering when has Indiana ever hosted a street race? Let's cover the obvious. There is Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which hosts an oval race and road course race on the current schedule. Even if you throw out the IMS road course, Indianapolis Raceway Park hosted a handful of races on its road course. When was the street race?Crown Point, Indiana hosted two races on a 23.27-mile course on June 18-19, 1909. These are the fourth and fifth races recognized in IndyCar's record book. The first three were in Portland, Oregon a week prior. That means Indiana host an IndyCar street course race prior to hosting an oval race. Just think about that next time you talk about tradition.

One last one, because it isn't a state, and it is kind of a technicality. Quebec has hosted races at Mont-Tremblant, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal and Sanair Super Speedway, a 0.826-mile oval. Circuit Gilles Villeneuve exists in this middle ground between a street course and a road course. It is not a permanent circuit, but they really aren't streets either. It is basically one large path around Île Notre-Dame that people use for running and cycling and cars can go on, but they aren't really streets. It kind of counts.

Let's call it nine states and one Canadian province.

You may be noticing a notable omission, and Jess Peters mentioned it as well. 

Florida! Florida has never hosted an IndyCar road course race. It hosted oval races at Homestead, Walt Disney World and even Daytona, but it has never run at a permanent road course. For all the testing at Sebring, the track has never hosted a race. Miami has hosted three different street course configurations. It even hosted one board oval race. Then there is St. Petersburg and the only other Florida track to host a race was a five-mile course on Pablo Beach in Jacksonville, Florida. 

Maybe some other day we will go over all the states that have hosted two of three and are waiting on one more. 

April Preview

Three series are starting in April that are worthy of some attention.  In chronological order, Super Formula is first, beginning this weekend with a doubleheader at Motegi. Last season, Ayumu Iwasa took the championship by 5.5 points over Sho Tsuboi, seven points ahead of Kakunoshin Ohta and 11 points clear of Tadasuke Makino.

There are a number of of fun rookies this season. Luke Browning is joining with Kondo Racing and Charlie Wurz will be coming on with Team Goh. Roman Stanek is running a third car with Kondo. The grid is growing to 24 cars with Delightworks Racing entering and it is bringing in Nobuharu Matsushita, who last raced in Super Formula in 2024. Yuto Nomura will make his debut with B-Max after dominating the Super Formula Lights championship.

Sadly, Kalle Rovanperä will not be competing this season after being diagnosed with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Seita Nonaka will take over the vacant spot at KCMG.

On April 19, the FIA World Endurance Championship has a delayed start to its season after the Qatar round was postponed to October 24 due to the Middle East conflict. Imola becomes the opening round. 

We will see the Genesis debut and the South Korean manufacturer will feature Pipo Derani, Mathys Jaubert and André Lotterer in its #17 GMR-001 with Paul-Loup Chatin, Mathieu Jaminet and Daniel Juncadella in its #19 GMR-001. 

Alpine has drafted in António Felix da Costa and Victor Martins to fill out its driver lineup with the departure of Chatin to Genesis and Mick Schumacher to IndyCar. 

Peugoet has Stoffel Vandoorne and Nick Cassidy entering the program with Mikkel Jensen leaving for the future McLaren program and Jean-Éric Vergne taking a year off from WEC. Théo Pourchaire will be full-time.

One change occurs at Cadillac. Jack Aitken steps up after Jenson Button's retirement. 

In LMGT3, Garage 59 takes over the McLaren program with United Autosports focused on the McLaren Hypercar program. Manthey Racing will run two Porsches after the Iron Dames program shuttered. TF Sport will run a Corvette for Peter Dempsey, Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluç. Logan Sargeant will run in the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang with Stafano Gattuso and Giammarco Levorato.

At the end of the month, Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters will begin its eight-round, 16-race season with 21 GT3 cars representing eight manufacturers at Hockenheim. The champion is not defending. 

Ayhancan Güven turns his focus to his LMGT3 responsibilities in the WEC and will not compete in DTM this year. Ricardo Feller will join the Manthey Racing organization as one of the three Porsches on the grid alongside Thomas Preining and Bastian Buus in a Land-Motorsport Porsche. 

Lucas Auer fell four points shy of the championship and Auer is back with Mercedes-AMG at Team Landgraf, teamed with Tom Kalendar. Jules Gounon and Maro Engel will run in the two Winward Racing Mercedes-AMGs.

Lamborghini will have four Temerario GT3s on the grid and Marco Mapelli will be joining the series in one of the Abt Sportline entries as teammate to Luca Engstler. Grasser Racing Team will field Maximilian Paul and Mirko Bortolotti.

Nicki Thiim returns to an Aston Martin after driving a Abt Lamborghini. Thiim will team with Nicolas Baert for Comtoyou Racing. BMW is running back Kelvin van der Linde and Marco Wittmann. Ferrari will have Matteo Cairoli join the series alongside Thierry Vermeulen. McLaren is fielding Timo Glock and Ben Dörr. There is one rookie on the grid, Finn Wiebelhuas, who will race for HRT Ford Racing alongside Arjun Maini.

Other events of note in April:

The European Le Mans Series also opens its 2026 season, April 12 at Barcelona.

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup opens the same weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard.

Supercars has a New Zealand swing with races at Taupō and Ruapuna.

Super GT opens at Okayama.

IndyCar has one race at Long Beach. It is also IMSA's only round. 

The Middle East conflict has also cleared MotoGP's schedule to one round in Jerez.

The World Rally Championship continues its global tour with races in Croatia and the Canary Islands.

Musings From the Weekend: Adjusting to Apple

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

New weekend, same result as Álex Palou won the earliest IndyCar race ever held at Barber Motorsports Park. Unnoticed until Sunday morning, MotoGP re-introduced the United States Grand Prix moniker for the Austin race, replacing the Grand Prix of the Americas that had been used since 2013 when MotoGP had three races in the United States. Supercross has a new championship leader. NASCAR was in Martinsville. A safety car flipped the Mercedes in Japan. Max Verstappen may quit. Dramatics aside, the first month of this Formula One season has been different in the United States, brought to the viewer in a new way.

Adjusting to Apple

It has only been three races, but we have had a decent sample size of Formula One's time on AppleTV in the United States. It has been a month and we will have a month until the next time we get to use the streaming service, as Formula One has an unexpected month off due to the current Middle East conflict preventing the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia rounds from taking place.

How has it been? 

It is a different experience, but once you get to watching a session, it is the same as if you were watching on Speed, NBCSN or ESPN. There is actually more at your disposal, and the biggest shakeup is the process and the build up to a broadcast.

For the first round of the season in Australia, despite knowing it was race weekend and the anticipation to the first practice, it came out of nowhere on that Thursday night. For most of the day, Formula One was out of sight and out of mind. Unlike the previous experiences on a cable channel, Formula One was not being promoted within other programming. It wasn't like Speed where you would hear about Formula One practice or qualifying during NASCAR coverage. It wasn't getting promos during NHL games like it was on NBCSN and ESPN. When you go about your day, those little reminders, as much as people say they hate commercials, are beneficial. Otherwise, it is lost. 

AppleTV is its own little island. It is not a channel in the traditional sense. You might tune in for a show or a film, but how many people have it on non-stop for three hours after getting home from work? It isn't on in the background. It also isn't a sports hub, which is where Formula One has been for the better part of the 21st century in the United States. Whether it was NBCSN, ESPN or even Speed though that was motorsports-focused, Formula One was a column a part of a larger structure. It was around other properties that had their own viewers. It was a guest at a party. Some people you knew, others you didn't, but you were all in the same place. AppleTV does not fit that model, and it likely will not anytime soon.

We are not going to see a 24/7 sports channel from AppleTV where its goal is to draw viewers all day, starting with the slop of debate shows and simulcasted podcasts from about 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. when live events take place. It is meant to be a hub. You come to watch the property when it is taking place. That is what it has done with Major League Soccer. That is what its Friday Major League Baseball games are like. Outside of when the games take place, there is no other reason to be on AppleTV if you are just looking to watch MLS, MLB or now Formula One. 

The best hope of promotion for Formula One is alert that AppleTV gives for upcoming or in progress events, but through three races, it has not felt like those have been numerous. I have watched MLS and subscribed once when Lionel Messi first joined Inter Miami. I still get alerts about matches happening. "Close game in Seattle. Can the Sounders hold off Toronto FC." I even get such alerts for NHL games for some reason, and Apple doesn't even have NHL rights. I have yet to get one for a Formula One session. "Practice is underway from Suzuka. Who will top the charts?" Nothing. That could just be me and my notifications, but those alerts, whether desired or not, is Formula One's best promotional tool on Apple, and it is limited because if you don't have an Apple device, you aren't getting those. 

That is kind of the problem and the concern with this contract. Can Formula One really reach out and grow viewership in the United States when it is secluded to solely a streaming platform? Plenty of people only stream their television, but in the increasingly segmented viewership world, people tend not to flock to one platform for one thing. There are shows people love, but the property needs some variety. Formula One has a built-in fanbase, but paying the monthly subscription for AppleTV when it will only be used for practice, qualifying and races, at most three days a week for a combined seven to eight hours depending on how much pre-race and post-race a person consumes could be the bridge too far. 

When it was readily available, Formula One was worth the time and effort. When a barrier was erected, the effort was no longer worth it. 

In all likelihood, there are plenty of people who have no idea we are three races into the Formula One season who would have at least been aware a year ago because it was on ESPN and it could be easily bumped into. Has there been one second of highlights aired on SportsCenter? I know last year a race highlight would make SportsCenter. ESPN provided some presence at the United States races, not much but there were boots on the ground and it let its viewers be known it was at the grand prix. Miami drew big viewership on network ABC. That isn't going to be there this year, and while Apple claimed big viewership without releasing any numbers after Australia, it is difficult to imagine the race will attract the same amount of attention as in recent years. 

The home races are where we will truly know how viewership has been. Every Formula One race is drawing a crowd, and there are enough people who are buying tickets without being diehard viewers. The change might not be seen in year one, but in a few years, when the wave of the first half of the 2020s dies down, the picture will be much more clear about how this broadcast deal is helping or hurting with interest in the United States. 

That is all tangential to the actual viewing experience. When it comes to turning on practice, qualifying or the race, there is no difference. What is different is the number of options, and it gives the viewer plenty of tools to make the broadcast what you wish it to be. 

Want the F1TV commentators? Done. Want Sky Sports? That is also an option. 

A viewer gets onboard cameras for every car. There is the telemetry feed. You can even make customizable multi-boxes. You could have a four-box with the race broadcast and your three favorite drivers. You could have just an onboard of George Russell and the map showing where the cars are on track. That was not available in previous Formula One broadcast agreements. 

It is difficult to complain when you can make the race viewing experience whatever you wish. It isn't a case of being stuck with whatever broadcast you are given. No one should ever think "too many options" is a negative experience. If you want just Sky Sports that is available, but if you want more and you want to experiment, you are free to do so, and that was never possible previously regardless of what channel held the rights.

Let's see how things change after May. The start of the Formula One season is not the best for the East Coast of the United States. Part of the absenteeism could have been sessions were starting at 10:00 p.m. or later and I wasn't 100% invested in watching or I was already planning on watching it once I woke up in the morning. That was how it was with previous broadcasters, but instead of setting a DVR, I just have to open AppleTV and select the session broadcast and I can choose to start from the beginning. 

That is an advantageous change. I no longer must worry about setting a recording before going to bed or worry about a broadcast being bumped to a different channel because of another live taking place before hand. AppleTV will have the session ready to go, whether I want to start from the beginning or join in progress. 

Three races is barely any time and the next two rounds are North American-based. This will be a big chance for Apple to draw in viewers. The next two races in Miami and Montreal are on at favorable hours. If people want to watch them, they could not be any more accommodating to the viewer. No staying up late. No getting up early. But is AppleTV too steep of a climb for those hoping to watch? 

Maybe someday we will get a clear picture of how it is going.

Winners From the Weekend

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

Marco Bezzecchi won MotoGP's United States Grand Prix, his fifth consecutive victory dating back to last season. Jorge Martín won the sprint race. Senna Agius won in Moto2. Guidi Pino won in Moto3, his first career victory.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli won the Japanese Grand Prix, his second consecutive victory.

Chase Elliott won the NASCAR Cup race from Martinsville. Justin Allgaier won the Grand National Series race, his third victory of the season. 

Nikita Johnson and Alessandro de Tullio split the Indy Lights races from Barber.

The #34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG of Michai Stephens and Mikaël Grenier won the GT World Challenge America race from Sonoma. The #68 RAFA Racing Team Toyota of Westin Workman and Tyler Gonzalez swept the GT4 America races. Memo Gidley swept the GT America races.

Nicolò Bulega swept the World Superbike races from Portimão. Valentin Debise swept the World Supersport races.

Ken Roczen won the Supercross race from Detroit, his second victory of the season. Cole Davies won the 250cc race, his third victory of the season.

Coming Up This Weekend

Easter weekend see Supercross at St. Louis.

Super Formula opens its season with a doubleheader at Motegi.

NASCAR's lower two divisions will race on Friday and Saturday at Rockingham.

First Impressions: Barber 2026

1. Is it wrong to think this was the worst victory of Álex Palou's career? Seventy-nine laps led with a 13.2775-second margin of victory at Barber Motorsports Park? It wasn't very good. It isn't so much Palou's performance but more that in now 21 career victories, there aren't many where it feels like Palou took one that didn't feel like it was going his way. 

In the final round of pit stops, Palou was on the cusp of the wrong side of the pit time delta to Christian Lundgaard, who was going four laps longer on the penultimate stint. It was at least going to be close between the two after Lundgaard emerged from the pit lane. However, a bobble on the right rear tire cost Lundgaard everything. What could have been a side-by-side battle on an out lap and a 20-lap battle for the victory turned into a clear victory for Palou. 

Palou didn't put a wheel wrong in this race. There is a good chance he was going to be ahead of Lundgaard after the final pit stop anyway, and he might have had a fight on his hands, but Palou would have still been in prime position to win the race. Instead, this turned into a cakewalk. 

That is no surprise. Everyone expected Palou to win from pole position with 79 laps led before today started. It was up to the competition to defeat him, and they had a real good shot in Lundgaard, but one mistake ended any hope of Palou being defeated, and not just defeated, but beaten in a race he controlled. Palou was the clear #1 driver until the final round of pit stops approached, and with Lundgaard going long, it looked like the Dane was going to swing the race into his favor.

Palou was good and lucky. He likely was always going to win, but in the one race where it appeared someone was going to get the best of him, an unforced error allowed Palou to take a comfortable victory.

2. This is going to sting for Christian Lundgaard and Arrow McLaren. Did this group 100% deserve victory? I don't think anything was stolen with a second place finish, but Lundgaard drove a flawless race and looked set to at least challenge for victory after starting tenth. He was one of the quickest cars on the day, and he was able to make passes and move forward. Even if he did not emerge from the pit lane in the lead after the final pit stop, Lundgaard was going to have Palou in view and slightly fresher tires to make a push toward the checkered flag. 

One bad pit stop erased that. There was no overcoming that deficit, and Lundgaard had to work just to get back to second. He definitely deserved second today, but he wasn't over 13 seconds behind Palou. The speed is there, but every aspect of the team must be on point, and when the pit crew was needed most, it had its worst stop of the season. 

3. Graham Rahal was the third-best driver today, and Rahal held his ground well in this race. It was a real challenge to stay on the podium. The tires were gone in the final stint and he lost second late to Lundgaard, but Rahal was able to fend off David Malukas. It is another case of Rahal having a standout race somewhat out of nowhere, and we cannot believe if it is a change or a one-off. 

Barber has never been a good track for  Rahal, and this isn't the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course where he and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has a magic touch and automatically run at the front. At times, RLLR has good speed on road courses and at other times it doesn't. Rahal drove well all weekend and it would have been a shame if he did not finish on the podium. It was a strong drive.

4. "If only there was another lap" Well, there wasn't, and in a 90-lap affair at Barber, David Malukas was fourth. Malukas struggled on the alternate tire in the first stint and stopped early, but other teams did better on the alternate tire, especially those who put those on after the opening stint. It cost Malukas some time, but it was not devastating. He practically ran third or fourth the entire race. The pace wasn't there to keep up with Palou. It was there to push for the podium though. That is progress, and this is Malukas' first top five finish on a road or street course. 

Though he is driving for Team Penske, there are many milestones Malukas still has to reach. After not finishing in a top five on a road or street course in his first three-and-a-half seasons in IndyCar, no one should have expected Malukas to be winning immediately on this discipline just because he joined Team Penske. He needed to make this step first and just spend an entire race in the top five. Check off that box.

5. Kyle Kirkwood basically spent this entire race staring at David Malukas' gearbox, and despite stopping a lap earlier for his first stop and then going two laps longer before his final stop, Kirkwood could not leapfrog ahead. Hey, it is still a top five finish, and it is enough for Kirkwood to hold onto the championship lead with a two-point edge over Palou, but Kirkwood had fourth within his grasp this entire race and he just couldn't quite grab it. 

6. Talk about another nondescript top ten finish for Marcus Armstrong. Armstrong started fourth, dropped a few spots early, and then basically ran sixth the entire race. At no point was he a threat for something better. At no point was he in danger of finishing worse. For all his consistency, we have yet to see him be a challenger, and one of these days it must happen. 

I don't know if it is the driver or if it is the team. Is this the best Armstrong can do or is the Meyer Shank Racing car good enough to be on the edge of the top five but not manufacture a podium finish or push for victory? It feels a little more like the team is against the ceiling, and it is better than it was a few years ago, but it just isn't enough for victory. 

7. And in a new trend of the season, Scott Dixon started outside the top ten, made up a few spots early, and then ran well enough to make up a few more and finish seventh. Is this the best Dixon can do at age 45 and staring down 46? We have covered his qualifying woes. The pace is not there. He has not been a threat for a while now. Maybe this is the cliff. This is the point where Dixon is still a top ten driver, but victories are becoming too hard to obtain. 

Dating back to last season, it has been seven races since Dixon has finished in the top five. The last time it was this bad he was driving a Panoz-Toyota, and both of those parts were the problem, not the driver back then. The trend has developed. How long will it go?

8. Santino Ferrucci had a good day and finished eighth. Nothing flashy occurred. Starting the race on the primary tire might have helped him because it felt like everyone who started on the alternate tire lost ground, but those who used the alternate tire during the middle of the race held ground. That kept Ferrucci in the top ten discussion and then he finished eighth. 

9. I guess ninth is good for Marcus Ericsson. Ericsson didn't do anything notable. Most drivers did nothing today. Ericsson stopped early to get off the primary tire, but having saved alternate tires for the race didn't really pave dividends. He lost a position from where he started the race. It wasn't the best strategy but it wasn't the worst. It is still a good result and three top ten finishes from four races is more top ten finishes than he had over the entirety of last season. 

10. There was an expectation this would be an alternate tire race and having an extra set would be beneficial. Josef Newgarden had three fresh sets of alternate tires and they made no positive difference as Newgarden ended up losing a spot from where he started and he was tenth at the finish. It was a strategy, but for how bold it was it neither produced a seismically good result or was an utter disaster. Not often do you find a middle ground on such a roll of the dice. 

There was one competitive Team Penske driver today, and outside of Phoenix, Team Penske does not look much better than it was last year. At least its drivers have not been caught in accidents that were not of its making nor seeming to have every mechanical issue imaginable. 

11. Alexander Rossi started 11th and finished 11th. Did anyone notice anything worth mentioning from Rossi?

12. Will Power did drive from 23rd to 12th after his qualifying accident forced Power to start at the rear of the field. It was a good drive, and Power did end the race using three sets of alternate tires. It probably helped, but the tire advantage was not great enough that three stints on new alternate tires was going to be turn the car into a rocket ship through the field. It was the best strategy to choose, and Power made the most of it.

13. There are a number of drivers we can brush through. 

Felix Rosenqvist did move forward from 18th on the grid, but 13th is a bad ceiling to hit. When you see Armstrong's speed, you would have thought Rosenqvist could have been competing for a top ten finish, and he should have been better across the board this weekend. 

Rinus VeeKay did have a spin and still recovered to finish 14th in a caution-free race! It never looked like VeeKay was going to crack the top ten, but to recovered after a lazy turn five spin while battling Alexander Rossi and finish 14th is a good rebound. 

Romain Grosjean dropped from sixth to 15th in this race. Grosjean went the wrong way on every stint, and hopes were high because Dale Coyne Racing started in the top five last year and pushed for the podium at Barber. It felt like Grosjean was in the right spot at the start, but every stint got worse. This one got away. 

14. Who had Scott McLaughlin finishing 16th and Patricio O'Ward finishing 17th? McLaughlin never had the pace today. He was worse than Newgarden and Newgarden wasn't that good. I don't recall anything going wrong. I just don't recall anything going right for McLaughlin. He did 17 laps on his first stint on alternate tires and then decided to run 25 laps on his next stint on alternate tire. That feels like a team grasping for straws and it didn't work. 

O'Ward had a bad day. He lost spots at the very start and was fighting from behind. Right when he made some of those up, he lost ground again. This must be the first time O'Ward was this irrelevant in a race since Barber two years ago when all three Arrow McLaren cars finished outside the top twenty. At least that was a team effort. We know McLaren had some pace today as Christian Lundgaard was in the discussion for victory.

15. Is anyone behind 17th worth mentioning? 

Nolan Siegel was 18th. Fine. At least he didn't hit anything.

Christian Rasmussen was 19th. Rasmussen is such an odd driver. Qualifying is basically always horrible. Sometimes, he has a much better race car and can gain ground and every few ovals he is somehow the driver to beat, but then he will struggle to crack the top fifteen in the next handful of races. There are a few interesting basket cases on the grid at the moment. 

Kyffin Simpson did nothing and finished 20th. That is how it works every now and then for Simpson. 

16. No rookie finished in the top twenty today. Caio Collet was 21st. Dennis Hauger was 23rd and Mick Schumacher was 24th. Outside of Hauger at St. Petersburg, and I guess Collet at Arlington, the rookies have genuinely been uncompetitive, and it is not much different from last year. This could just be a minor thing and a coincidence it has happened two consecutive years, but it is odd that rookie have struggled this much. We are not expecting top five finishes, but just being more competitive for the top ten and running 12th or 13th. How many laps this season have seen multiple rookies running in the top 15? We can dive into that during this extended Easter break. It cannot be many. 

There is a lot of time left in 2026, but this rookie class is shadowing 2025 very closely. That might be a larger IndyCar problem than a talent issue.

17. Sting Ray Robb was 22nd. Eh. 

18. We are likely due a Louis Foster conversation because this was his 21st start, and Foster looked lost today. He was the slowest car on track. He was in the way. He had to make a fourth pit stop. There could have been a problem bigger than Foster, but it is odd his results have been this poor for this long. 

RLLR had a car on the podium and then the worst two finishers. What is the problem at this team? Is it the engineering? Is it the drivers? I don't know if you can just hire Linus Lundqvist and if he is going to be better than Schumacher and Foster. He cannot be any worse but I don't think he is the difference between running 18th and cracking the top ten.

For Foster, we saw him last year constantly qualify best of the RLLR trio and make the second round of qualifying and even make the final round of qualifying. He even won a pole position. The race pace wasn't there, but some of that was also strategy not going in his favor. A few tweaks and he was going to start scoring respectable results. Things have gone the wrong direction through the first four races in 2026. I don't know what to make of it. Foster isn't a bad driver, but it is pretty inexplicable how poor things have turned.

This is our fifth season with three RLLR cars, and in none of those seasons has it gotten it to click for all three cars. It might be time to consider downsizing this group and focusing on two cars. From 2018 through 2021, when Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato were RLLR's two drivers, neither finished worse than 12th in the championship and in two of those seasons did both drivers finish in the championship top ten. 

I think it is time to consider that discussion, and that means we get to see what an IndyCar charter can do on the open market! All buyers welcome!

19. This is another race where we can have a discussion about the alternate and primary tire compounds because it was again a race where the tires did not matter. It feels like Firestone made a big market correction from last year where we had plenty of races where everyone wanted to get off the alternate tire in two or three laps because it wore out rapidly, but now the difference is minuscule and there is no point in having two tire compounds if the difference is negligible. 

IndyCar and Firestone should not be afraid to have an alternate tire that it knows is not going to last a fuel stint. That is kind of the point of having an alternate tire compound. We know IndyCar and Firestone can hit that happy medium, but it constantly feels like it loses that happy medium. It will have it for a year or two at a track and then we return and there is no difference in the tires. That is frustrating. You had it. How did you lose it? 

Obviously, these conversations have been held because we see the experimentation on street courses with teams mandated to use two alternate tires in those races, but I think it must go further. There must be a goal of having an alternate tire that is not going to last a full fuel stint and also changing the regulation so the minimum lap total on a compound should be higher. There is no reason for the minimum to be two laps. Raise it to ten laps. Make it carry some weight and actually have to be strategized around. 

Firestone has been involved for too long for it to be such a guessing game and having it end up with both compounds end up identical. 

20. This was a typical Barber race. It gets a little spread out. There are periods of action but it is not overwhelming. It was fine. Even with the pit issue for Lundgaard, we still had great battles for the podium positions. This is still a great track to race at. It was tough returning after the passing of track founder George Barber. When you consider this relationship between the track and IndyCar dates back to 2010, this has been a major success. IndyCar found a home in Alabama, a sentence no one could have imagined being possible at the turn of the 21st century. It is a great spring event, and one that is anticipated each year. Let's hope and pray it continues for many more years after the passing of George Barber. 

21. Now the first extended break in the IndyCar season. We get Easter off and then an extra week off for fun. Then we are off to Long Beach. At least we are entering April with four races in the bag instead of only one or two. Folks, it is getting late early.

Morning Warm-Up: Barber 2026

Álex Palou turned the fastest lap in the final round of qualifying yesterday from Barber Motorsports Park at 66.2341 seconds, and that means Palou will start the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix from pole position. It is his 13th career pole position, and his first of the season. Palou could become the fifth driver to win consecutive Barber races. He won last year from pole position and led 81 of 90 laps in the process before taking the checkered flag 16.0035 seconds ahead of the competition. Palou has won from pole position nine times in his career. His victory last year was the fastest Barber race at 116.562 mph. The last five Barber races have averaged over 110 mph after only two of the first ten Barber races averaged at least 110 mph.

David Malukas was 0.1137 seconds behind Palou in qualifying, and this will place Malukas on the front row, his second front row start of the season. He started on pole position and finished third at Phoenix. His only other front row start on a road or street course was last year at Detroit where Malukas started second but finished 14th. Malukas is looking for his third consecutive top ten finish, which would be a first in his IndyCar career. His best Barber finish was 16th. His previous best Barber start was 17th in 2023. This is Malukas' 65th career start. No driver has ever had their first career victory come in their 65th start.

Graham Rahal took a surprise third place in qualifying, matching his best start of the season. Rahal was 0.2840 seconds behind Palou. This is Rahal's best starting position at Barber since he qualifying on the front row for the 2019 race. Rahal has finished outside the top ten in three consecutive Barber races. He has finished outside the top ten in nine of 15 Barber starts. It has been 144 starts since Rahal's most recent victory, the second Belle Isle race in 2017. Rahal currently holds the record for most starts between victory at 124.

Marcus Armstrong joins Rahal on the outside of row two, Armstrong's best starting position of the season, and his best starting position at Barber. His previous best was sixth in 2024. Armstrong led the second-most laps in last year's Barber race, six laps while Álex Palou led 81 of 90 laps, but Armstrong finished 17th after an issue on his final stop refueling the car cost him time, positions and ultimately forced him the New Zealander to save fuel to make it to the finish. This will be Armstrong's 50th career start. The only driver to have their first career victory come in their 50th start was Danica Patrick at Motegi in 2008.

Championship leader Kyle Kirkwood starts fifth, his best start at Barber and the best start of the season. This is Kirkwood's first top five start since he was third at Road America last June. Kirkwood's previous best grid spot here was ninth in 2024. The American was 0.5985 seconds off pole position. Kirkwood has three consecutive top five finishes. He has never had four consecutive top five finishes in his IndyCar career. His best Barber finish is tenth, which came in 2024.

Romain Grosjean rounds out the top six in what was his second Fast Six appearance of the season. Grosjean started sixth at St. Petersburg before finishing eighth. This is his fourth time starting in the top ten in five Barber appearances. His worst start here was 11th in 2024. This will be the 67th start of Grosjean's career. The only driver to have their first career victory come in their 67th start was Maurício Gugelmín at Vancouver in 1997.

Santino Ferrucci snapped a streak of eight consecutive starts outside the top ten, as Ferrucci qualified sevent. He was 0.0117 seconds off advancing to the final round of qualifying. Ferrucci's best Barber finish was seventh in 2024 after starting 17th. In two of the last three seasons, Ferrucci has opened with at least five finishes outside the top ten. 

Marcus Ericsson has his third top ten start in four races as Ericsson takes eighth on the grid. The Swede was 0.0248 seconds from making it to the final round of qualifying. Ericsson's best Barber finish was his first start at the track in 2019, seventh and that was also his first top ten finish in IndyCar. He has finished outside the top ten in three of the last four races here.

Josef Newgarden starts ninth, his second consecutive year starting ninth at Barber. From 2012 through 2019, Newgarden had three Barber victories, four podium finishes, five top five finishes and seven top ten finishes with an average finish of 5.5 in eight starts. In the last five Barber races, his best finish is tenth, which came last year, and his average finish of 15.6.

Christian Lundgaard rounds out the top ten on the grid, his best start of the season. Last year, Lundgaard drove from seventh to second in this race. He has finished better than his grid position in every race this season. Lundgaard has finished on the lead lap in 21 consecutive road/street course races, and only twice in 48 road/street course races has he not finish on the lead lap. Both were at Long Beach in 2022 and in 2024. 

Alexander Rossi qualified 11th after starting in the top ten of the last two races. Rossi has alternated eighth-place finishes in two of the last three Barber races. He was ninth in the 2021 and 2022 Barber races. He has finished on the lead lap in seven consecutive races. Rossi has not had eight consecutive lead lap finishes since 2019 starting at Indianapolis 500 and running through Mid-Ohio. The only time Rossi has won from outside the top ten was the 100th Indianapolis 500, which he won from 11th.

Patricio O'Ward has his worst start of the season in 12th. O'Ward had ten consecutive top ten starts prior to this weekend. O'Ward could become the first Arrow McLaren driver to open a season with four consecutive top five finishes since the organization's return to IndyCar in 2020. Even dating back to the 1970s and McLaren's first foray into IndyCar with Johnny Rutherford as its driver, Rutherford never opened a season with four consecutive top five finishes. Rutherford had three consecutive to start in 1979.

Scott Dixon was 0.0628 seconds off advancing from the first qualifying group in round one, and this places Dixon 13th on the grid. It is his best starting position of the season. It is also his third time starting 13th in the last five Barber races. Dixon has competed in all three previous IndyCar races held on March 29. He won the first in 2008 at Homestead, but he was 18th at St. Petersburg on this day in 2010, and he was 15th at St. Petersburg on this day in 2015.

Despite an accident in second practice, which saw Scott McLaughlin go through the barrier on the exit of turn one, McLaughlin's team repaired the car and he qualified 14th. He was 0.0142 seconds off advancing from the second group in round one. It is his worst Barber start. McLaughlin had made it out of the first round of qualifying in all five of his previous visits. McLaughlin has three consecutive podium finishes here and he has four consecutive top ten results.

Nolan Siegel will start 15th as the McLaren driver was 0.1242 seconds from advancing to round two. Siegel is still looking for his first lead lap finish of the 2026 season. He has not finished in the top ten in his last ten starts, and he has failed to finish on the lead lap in his last five starts. Siegel was ninth last year at Barber but he did start sixth.

Rinus VeeKay will start on the outside of row eight. In five Barber races, VeeKay has three finishes of sixth or better and two finishes outside the top fifteen. The last 14 times the Dutchman has started outside the top fifteen he has finished better than his starting position. He has also finished better than his starting position in three of five Barber starts.

Christian Rasmussen has his second-worst grid spot of the season in 17th. Last year, Rasmussen started 17th at Barber and finished 15th. The year prior to that he started 14th but he finished 24th after spinning and losing a lap. The Dane has never had a top ten finish in one of the first five races in an IndyCar season. At 19.333, Rasmussen has the fourth-worse average finish this season through the first three races.

Felix Rosenqvist takes 18th on the grid, Rosenqvist's worst starting position at Barber since 22nd in 2021, his first race with Arrow McLaren. After a mid-week penalty, Rosenqvist was moved up to 19th in the Arlington results. Twice previously has Rosenqvist started a season with at least four consecutive finishes outside the top ten. Those seasons were 2021 and 2022.

Kyffin Simpson starts 19th at Barber. Simpson dropped from 19th to 20th in the Arlington race after a penalty was issued during the week for avoidable contact that caused the accident between Nolan Siegel and Romain Grosjean on the final restart. Last season, Simpson picked up two top ten finishes on permanent road courses. He was sixth at Road America after starting 23rd, and tenth at Mid-Ohio, falling from third at the start.

Mick Schumacher was the top rookie qualifier in 20th. Schumacher was ranked 23rd and 19th after the two practice sessions prior to qualifying. Schumacher has finished worse than his starting position in all three races this season. In his three starts, he has lost four spots, 14 spots and five spots respectively. 

Caio Collet is the next best rookie starter in 21st. Collet is coming off his best finish in IndyCar, a 12th at Arlington in his third career start. In each of his first three starts, Collet has respectively gained seven spots, four spots and four spots from his starting position to the race finish. 

Louis Foster joins Collet on row 11. This is Foster's worst starting position of the season. He started three races outside the top twenty last season, but all of those were oval events. His worst road/street course start prior to this was 16th at St. Petersburg last season. Foster enters his 21st start looking for his first top ten finish in IndyCar. Alex Barron took 21 races to get his first top ten finish. Only six drivers took more than 21 starts for their first top ten.

Will Power had a brake failure in the first round of qualifying cause an accident in turn five, and the red flag cost Power his fastest two laps. This dropped the Australian to 23rd on the grid. Power has five consecutive top five finishes at Barber Motorsports Park, including a drive from 19th to fourth in 2022, Power's previous worst starting position at this circuit. This is his second start outside the top twenty in four races this season. Power had three starts outside the top twenty all last season.

Dennis Hauger ended up 24th on the grid, his worst starting position in his brief IndyCar career. Hauger did gain seven spots at Phoenix from 22nd to 15th, and he picked up three spots at Arlington to finish 16th from 19th. Hauger had a grand slam last year in the Indy Lights race at Barber, leading all 35 laps from pole position and taking fastest lap as well.

An interference penalty in the second qualifying group relegated Sting Ray Robb to 25th and last on the grid. Robb has opened the 2026 season with three consecutive finishes of 21st. He has not had four consecutive finishes outside the top twenty in his IndyCar career since a six-race run from Barber through Mid-Ohio in 2023.

Fox's coverage of the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix from Barber Motorsports Park begins at 1:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 1:17 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 90 laps.