Musings From the Weekend: Wavin' Flag

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

After making his debut in 1997, Kasey Kahne scored his first World of Outlaws victory on Friday night in Williams Grove, Pennsylvania. Christian Lundgaard won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis with a sensational pass on David Malukas. Ken Roczen won the AMA Supercross championship after a fall took Hunter Lawrence out of contention. The FIA World Endurance Championship had an action-packed day from Spa-Francorchamps. The weather cooperated with NASCAR at Watkins Glen. It was a rough weekend for the Márquez brothers, but a great weekend for Aprilia. It is a busy time of the year. However, I have been thinking about identity, and how it pertains to competitors. 

Wavin' Flag

There is always some sort of history made at the Indianapolis 500. Sometimes it is astonishing. Other times it is rather simple, but fun to see nonetheless.

What is it this year?

Mick Schumacher is about to become the first German to run the Indianapolis 500 since 1923. That sounds hard to believe, but the last time any Germans were in the race was 103 years ago when Mercedes entered three cars with Max Sailer, Christian Werner and Christian Lautenschlager starting and Karl Sailer, Max's nephew, running as a relief driver. 

A lot has happened since 1923 for Schumacher to be the next German in the Indianapolis 500. There have been a lot of Germans since then! 

However, Schumacher is not German-born, and even if he was, he would not be the first German-born driver to compete at Indianapolis since 1923. Dominic Dobson made seven Indianapolis 500 starts. Dobson was born in Stuttgart, but he is American and was raised in Seattle, Washington, where he still calls home. 

Then there is Dennis Hauger. Hauger is going to be the second Norwegian-born driver. Whether or not you consider him the second Norwegian or the first Norwegian is a matter of debate. In the first Indianapolis 500, a driver born in Horten, Norway started the race. Gil Andersen was born there but he emigrated to the United States when he was a teenager. For the longest time, he was listed as a Norwegian, but he is listed as an American competitor from time-to-time. 

In the early 20th century, there were many people living in the United States who were new to the country, and how they identified was broad. They lived in the States but spoke the language of their ancestors, and they could all come together and have an international event though everyone called this place home. That is how it was for motorsports and those who competed during that time. Along with Andersen, Ralph DePalma was a child when he came from Italy. He had spent most of his life in the United States when he won the Indianapolis 500 in 1915, but he would not obtain citizenship for another five years. Arthur, Louis and Gaston Chevrolet all emigrated from France and Switzerland.

It isn't even an old phenomenon. Mario Andretti was born in Italy, but competed as an American. Matthew Brabham was born in Boca Raton, was a Team USA Scholarship winner, and then made his one Indianapolis 500 start under the Australian flag. Pietro Fittipaldi was born in Miami, but he competed as  Brazilian. It goes the reverse direction as well. Charlie Kimball was born in the United Kingdom, but always competed as an American. Eddie Cheever was born in Phoenix, Arizona, grew up in Italy and flaunted being Italian, but always competed as an American in Formula One and IndyCar. Identity can be complicated. Sometimes that is a choice.

This goes beyond Americans as well. Scott McLaughlin became a U.S. citizen last year, but he does not compete as an American. Romain Grosjean was born in Switzerland but has always competed under the French flag for his mother. Ed Jones was born in the United Arab Emirates and raced under that flag, but I don't think Jones is a name native to that land. Plus, Jones' accent gives him away. Kyffin Simpson was born in Barbados and he races under the flag of the Cayman Islands. His family's allegiance is to tax avoidance. Gil de Ferran was born in Paris and he spent his first few years in France before moving to Brazil, his parents’ home. 

How we view a grid and drivers that are competing has likely changed from 1911 and 1923. If you look through old box scores, nationality is not listed. Even the current box scores do not include nationality. It is irrelevant to the actual result. It does show where people came from and how one event can bring together people from different walks of life. There are many paths to the Indianapolis 500, but in terms of it meaning something, nationality can be misconstrued. 

In the last ten years, eight drivers have won the Indianapolis 500. Seven different nationalities have been represented. The only one that produced multiple winners is the United States. Does it mean anything? Does it mean superiority? (I acknowledge a dangerous question to ask during this time, especially considering some merchandising choices within IndyCar). The answer is no, and it doesn’t really mean anything. 

Anything that can be taken away from that fact is it is more likely a U.S.-based championship will have American winners, the same way the Bathurst 1000 is more likely going to have Australian winners or the British Superbike Championship is going to have a British champion. 

Some countries produce more drivers than others. In a larger quantity, there is a greater likelihood you will find someone of quality. In the ten years prior to these last ten, eight different drivers won the Indianapolis 500. Six different nationalities were represented. The United States and the United Kingdom each produced two. The United Kingdom produced a three-time winner in that span. There was once a time when there were nearly 40 years between British winners. Objectives were different. IndyCar was less international. Drivers didn't come from abroad to make a career. Teams also weren’t looking for international drivers. It wasn't a matter of talent or skill. It was more opportunity.

We chase firsts. There is this desire to see history and think we are observing what has never been done before. At times, we try and make a grey scenario black-and-white. We should embrace what has happened, and the messiness. 

Hauger will not be the first driver born in Norway to start the Indianapolis 500, but to determine whether or not he was the first "Norwegian" is somewhat unclear, mostly because the times have changed and how we interpret nationality and stress its importance as an identifier for the competitors is not the same as its was a century ago. Whether he is first or second, we should acknowledge what did happen. Gil Andersen was born in Norway but came to the United States with his family as a child. What do we gain if Hauger is first Norwegian or the first Norwegian to start the race in 108 years? What does it matter if it has been 103 years since a German competed in the Indianapolis 500? They are fun footnotes, but we should not try and use those to give one clear answer when it really does require a little explaining. 

We should not get too caught up in if we are seeing history but rather how the present relates to the past and tell a more complete story. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Kasey Kahne, Christian Lundgaard and Ken Roczen, but did you know...

Jorge Martín won MotoGP's French Grand Prix, and Martín won the sprint race. Izan Guevara won in Moto2. Máximo Quiles won in Moto3, his third victory of the season.

The #20 BMW Team WRT BMW of René Rast, Sheldon van der Linde and Robin Frijns won the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The #59 Garage 59 McLaren of Antares Au, Tom Fleming and Marvin Kirchhöfer won in LMGT3.

Enzo Fittipaldi and Tymek Kucharczyk split the Indy Lights races from the IMS road course. Jacob Douglas and Jack Jeffers split the USF Pro 2000 races. Anthony Martella, Sebastián Garzón and Brad Majman split the U.S. F2000 races.

Shane van Gisbergen won the NASCAR Cup race from Watkins Glen. Connor Zilisch won the Grand National Series race. Kaden Honeycutt won the Truck race, his first career victory. 

The #29 Turner Motorsport BMW of Justin Rothberg and Robby Foley won the GTWorld Challenge America race from Sebring. The #028 RS1 Porsche of Spencer Pumpelly and Luca Mars split the GT4 America races. Tony Davis and Memo Gidley split the GT America races.

Thierry Neuville won Rally de Portugal.

Chase Sexton won the Supercross race from Salt Lake City, his second victory of the season. Cole Davies won 250cc East-West Showdown.

Coming Up This Weekend

Indianapolis 500 qualifying. 

The 24 Hours Nürburgring will have a few extra viewers.

MotoGP drops into Barcelona.

NASCAR has its All-Star Race from Dover.

Formula E take to the streets of Monaco.

World Superbike is heading east to Most.

First Impressions: 13th Grand Prix of Indianapolis

1. This year's Grand Prix of Indianapolis was one of the more physical and chaotic races we have seen on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in recent years, possibly since IndyCar started running on the circuit in 2014. In this race, it took a brilliant move from Christian Lundgaard on the outside of David Malukas in turn four to take the lead and ultimately the victory in what was a thrilling race. 

After a caution shuffled Alex Palou and Kyle Kirkwood from the front before they could make their first pit stops, this became the David Malukas show, and it looked like Malukas was set to start his first month of May with Team Penske with a victory at the track Roger Penske owns. 

Lundgaard was the closest challenger, and it would come down to the final pit cycle. Malukas held the lead after emerging from pit lane, but Lundgaard had warmer tires, and he had more push-to-pass. Malukas got bogged down behind a backmarker and Lundgaard made the daring move to the outside of turn four. Going into the left-right switchback at turns five and six, Malukas lifted and Lundgaard flew into the lead. There was no looking back as Lundgaard won by 4.6713 seconds.

This has been a matter of time for Lundgaard, and it is fitting he wins on the IMS road course. The location of his IndyCar debut, Lundgaard has blossomed into a tremendous driver, and we have known that since he was at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. He was doing more with less equipment. A move to Arrow McLaren was destined to get the most out of Lundgaard. He probably should have won a race last year, and it just didn't work out. McLaren has a short leash. If you do not win, you are shown the door. Another year of a half-dozen podium finishes might not have been enough. Lundgaard needed this victory.

With the pedigree of driving Lundgaard has, it felt like he was going to find a way through when he was this close to Malukas. He took a massive chance with that pass, and against other drivers, I am not sure it works out. Malukas could have run Lundgaard wide, but he didn't, and it allowed Lundgaard to have the advantage into the switchback. 

Lundgaard saw an opportunity today and he took it. That is a big statement for a team that loves to make statements. It is a good way to head into the Indianapolis 500 as well.

2. I was skeptical of the decision to hire David Malukas. While he had the occasional good oval result, we never really saw him punching above his weight on road and street courses. Malukas has been excellent this season. He has been the best Team Penske driver in probably five of six races this season. He had a good chance of victory at Phoenix. He had a great chance of victory today. He caught a break when Palou and Kirkwood were shuffled back from the front, but Malukas didn't crumble. He could have fallen back and relinquished control of this race, but he didn't.

And then Lundgaard made a stunning move in turn four. Going into the final pit stops, it felt like Lundgaard had the confidence he could win the race, and Malukas was nervous. Even after Malukas emerged from the pit lane ahead of Lundgaard, it felt like the margin was too close for comfort and Malukas wasn't going to hold on. 

Malukas hasn't been in that position before. Many drivers, in their first strong case for a race victory, don't hold on. Many lose a race or two before they win one. Ask Bryan Herta.  

Malukas will learn from this. What it does not take away from Malukas is he has five consecutive top ten finishes, two of which are podium results. He has settled in at Team Penske. There is still room for growth, but he is not behind by any stretch of the imagination. 

3. Graham Rahal did almost nothing all race and finished third. Every time you looked up, Rahal was third. That was it. That was his day. And good for him! Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing produces competitive race cars on the IMS road course. It is one of the few places the team enters with confidence, and it got a result. That is all Rahal can ask for. 

I am sure he wishes he was competing for the victory. We know he can at this track, but he was solidly at the front all race. We are not used to seeing RLLR run this well, and Rahal has two podium finishes and four top five finishes in six races. That is a blistering start for this team. 

4. Josef Newgarden benefitted from others being caught out by cautions, and a lot of contact. It allowed Newgarden to finish fourth. He ran well all race and didn't get into trouble. Sometimes that is all you need to do to get a good result. Newgarden will take it. There are many races remaining. You build a championship through stacking up top five finishes. There is still work Newgarden must do. He isn't the driver we saw from 2017 through 2020. 

5. Despite being caught out when Alexander Rossi's car was parked on the front straightaway after a lengthy delay before a full course caution came out, Alex Palou drove to fifth. Once he was caught out, victory was out of the question barring a caution in Palou's favor. Even with that hurdle, Palou was passing cars and clawing his way forward. He drove into the top ten, and then drove into the top five. I am not sure anyone could have done better if put in the same situation.

We are going to cover the delayed caution in a little bit. That was unfortunate. If the caution comes out immediately, as we all thought it did, Palou likely remains in control of this race and could have possibly won. This does feel a little bit like this was stolen from Palou. He did nothing wrong and had to drive like hell just to get back to fifth. 

6. Scott Dixon was involved in the opening lap accident when Felix Rosenqvist made contact with Patricio O'Ward entering turn one and it left Dixon and Caio Collet with nowhere to go. Dixon went off strategy early to get something out of it, and it worked. Dixon ended up finishing sixth. 

That sounds about right for Dixon. Think about what happened in Portland back in 2018. We have seen this play before. I am sure Dixon is tired of digging himself out of these kinds of messes, but he is pretty good at it.

7. The drought is over! It only took 23 starts but Louis Foster finally has his first career top ten finish in IndyCar! Foster looked good all race. For a moment he looked like he was going to get a top five finish, but I am sure he was thrilled with seventh. Foster needed a good day. He has had good runs that have slipped from his grasp, some due to his own errors, others because of things out of his control. He just needed a clean day, and he got it.

8. Dennis Hauger kept his nose clean and he finished eighth! Hauger benefitted from other drivers stumbling and the cautions falling his way, but he gets credit for not making mistakes, not over-driving the car, and he had to make some passes to get up to eighth. For Dale Coyne Racing, especially when starting 24th, these are tremendous results.

9. Caught in the same boat as Alex Palou, Kyle Kirkwood was fighting to just be in the background of the fight for victory, and Kirkwood looked steady. He was ahead of Palou after both were shuffled back, and it looked like Kirkwood was going to drive back into the top five and finish ahead of Palou. 

The story of Kirkwood's race is that the team fumbled the second pit stop when the right front tire changer dropped the wheel nut. It was a 15-second stop and instead of being two spots ahead of Palou, he came out behind. Palou gained more ground and Kirkwood could not recover. 

Andretti Global got away with one with its pit stop issues at Arlington, mostly because Kirkwood could overcome those mistakes on track. There was no overcoming this today, and it is deflating. Without that mistake, I think Kirkwood is at least finishing where Palou finished. Kirkwood might have been a few seconds further up the road and taken fourth and put another car between him and Palou. 

This is a common theme for Andretti. It has been a common theme for years. It cost Colton Herta. It has cost Kirkwood. The team needs to spend money on pit crew members. 

10. Nolan Siegel was flawless and it got him a top ten finish. If we were to re-rack these cars and run another 85-lap race tomorrow, I am not sure Siegel finishes tenth. We can say the same about Foster, Hauger and Kirkwood with their finishing positions. Siegel avoided the trouble today. He got a top ten finish out of it. He needs these results. I don't know if they are going to hold up, but the last two races have been exceptional.

11. Marcus Armstrong did his best to make up for starting 20th and he was 11th. He drove well. He was competitive at the end of the race. Armstrong was fighting from behind today. There might not be a moral victory from this one, but there should be more positives drawn than negatives. There should only be positives from this race. 

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

Kyffin Simpson was involved in an accident that ended Felix Rosenqvist's day, and Simpson was still 12th. Other than that, nothing flashy from Simpson today. 

Will Power started last today. The team went off strategy with a lot of hope. Power had a drive-through penalty after he had a blend line violation exiting pit lane on his penultimate pit stop. Through all the highs and lows, it netted a 13th-place finish for Power. It could have been worse. It could have been better.

Santino Ferrucci was dumped while struggling on worn tires in the closing laps in turn nine when Mick Schumacher plowed into him. Ferrucci was running tenth, but he wasn't going to hold onto tenth. Ferrucci spun around and ended up 14th. He probably should have been 11th. 

Rinus VeeKay had a damaged front wing before the green flag was waved. The grid backed up on itself, and VeeKay lost out. We have covered IndyCar's start shenanigans for years and nothing has changed. If they haven't changed by now and no one has stood up to make sure it is done differently, it will never change. 

Scott McLaughlin had front wing damage early and he never bounced back. A caution never went his way. There were no breaks in this one. It was a rough day for McLaughlin.

Sting Ray Robb was losing the car when Simpson closed down on Rosenqvist in the penultimate corner, and there were almost two accidents happening simultaneously in the same corner. Either way, Robb was 17th. It was never going to be better than that today. 

Patricio O'Ward never came back from the opening corner spin. The team tried different strategies. It didn't work like it did for Scott Dixon. O'Ward's day was done immediately and he still had to run 85 laps just to finish 18th. Woof.

Caio Collet was caught in the opening corner accident, and he could not recover either. Collet was starting 12th, a career-best. It felt promising. The day was wasted immediately. 

13. This was by far Mick Schumacher's best race, he was set for a top ten finish, and then he jacked up the back of Ferrucci. Ferrucci was struggling mightily on his tires. Schumacher was hooked up in the closing laps. I don't think Schumacher was overly ambitious. I do think Ferrucci slowed more than Schumacher expected in that corner and Schumacher had nowhere to go, but you cannot ram someone clean from behind and get away with it. Schumacher served a drive-through penalty on the penultimate lap and he finished 20th. 

This was a great day for RLLR even with Schumaher's penalty. The problem is Schumacher needs to run like this everywhere else, not just the track RLLR has figured out. 

14. Romain Grosjean was upset about something. Some mechanical issue cost him time. He lost a lap and finished 21st. I am not sure Grosjean is having fun in his second stint in IndyCar. It would not surprise me if by Mid-Ohio Grosjean was au revoir. Dale Coyne will find a replacement. 

Marcus Ericsson also had a mechanical issue that ended his race 24 laps early and it was unclear what it was. It happened on what was his final pit stop. Ericsson entered the pits in ninth and that was it. His race was over without anyone noticing. That is a shame because he was in line for a top ten finish.

15. Felix Rosenqvist had a day. The opening corner contact happens. It wasn't the worst we have ever seen. Drivers are close together. Everyone is looking to make up spots. He caught O'Ward. It was always going to be a penalty. 

Simpson chopped Rosenqvist into the penultimate corner. Watch that again. Simpson turned in significantly earlier than likely at any other point in the race. Rosenqvist had nowhere to go at that point and he climbed over Simpsons' car. Some days you are the hammer, other days you are the nail. Rosenqvist was the nail today. 

16. This was a brutal day for Ed Carpenter Racing. Christian Rasmussen had an early on-track excursion and it caused mechanical issues. Alexander Rossi lost a hybrid and was done after 20 laps.

Failures happen. Sometimes they bite you, sometimes they don't. I understand Rossi's frustration, but he is not the first driver to suffer a mechanical failure. Get over it. We can talk about the hybrid and engine regulations on another day. 

17. What is not acceptable is the delay for Rossi's car stopped on track. I understand the officials waiting to let the pit strategy play out, but this was not one of those scenarios where you could wait.

It was the main straightaway. At Indianapolis, it is a canyon. There is no runover room on the main straightaway. Track limits are the barriers on the inside and the outside of the circuit. 

If the caution had been thrown immediately, 90% of the field would have had to stop under caution. Scott Dixon would have been fine as would have a few other drivers who stopped early, but most of the field would have had to stop and they would have had plenty of time to drive forward. 

There is a solution to this: Virtual Safety Car.

Virtual Safety Car has been around for over a decade in Formula One. Alexander Rossi raced with it in GP2! It famously cost him a victory at Monaco. It is not perfect, but if you do not want a caution shaking up a race too much when a pit cycle is underway and catching the leaders out on pit strategy, VSC is a tool that can allow pit stops to progress safely before the full course caution comes out. 

As we have seen, IndyCar struggles officiating IndyCar. The resources are not there to properly run a series in the 21st century. I don't want immediate cautions all the time. I don't want drivers winning races purely because they stopped on lap 22 before anyone else stopped and then a caution came out on lap 23. That is not good. VSC limits that possibility while still allowing the best cars to be the ones competing at the front. 

A VSC drops everyone down to say 80 mph. That is a much safer speed with Rossi stopped on track, pit stops can commence, and once everyone has stopped or at least had the chance to stop, then the full course caution can come out to claim Rossi's car. A full course caution was always going to come out in this scenario. Rossi wasn't going to clear himself. That was always going to require a tow truck and the field bunching up behind the pace car. 

It took a mistake with push-to-pass at Long Beach for those regulations to change. Is this the straw that breaks the camel's back and sees VSC adopted? 

No! Of course not! IndyCar isn't that capable, but my goodness in the year 2026 of our Lord it is about time IndyCar adopted it. 

18. And now we are onto Indianapolis 500 practice! Enjoy Mother's Day. Practice begins Tuesday!

Morning Warm-Up: 13th Grand Prix of Indianapolis

Heavy rainfall and puddling on track forced qualify for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course to be delayed until 10:30 a.m. ET this morning. With the delayed qualifying session, the morning warm-up session will not take place.

Through two practice sessions, Álex Palou was the fastest over the combined results with his best lap at 70.0904 seconds. Palou is attempting to win three consecutive races for the third time in his career. He would become the eighth driver in IndyCar history to have three separate streaks of at least three consecutive victories in a career. The Catalan driver is also going for his fourth consecutive victory in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and he has won the last two years from pole position. 

Graham Rahal started second last year along side Palou, and Rahal was second over the combined practice results, 0.1075 seconds off the top time. Rahal's winless streak is up to 145 races. After finishes of third and eighth, he could have three consecutive top ten finishes for the first time since summer 2021 when he was sixth at Mid-Ohio, fifth at Nashville and seventh on the IMS road course. This weekend will be Rahal's 315th start, tying him with Johnny Rutherford for tenth all-time.

Kyle Kirkwood was 0.1242 seconds off Palou in practice as Kirkwood enters 17 points back in the championship. Dating back to last season, Kirkwood has been the top Andretti Global finisher in six consecutive races. He has started in the top five in the last two races after failing to start in the top five in the previous 11 races. 

Felix Rosenqvist will be looking for his third pole position on the IMS road course, and Rosenqvist was 0.1257 seconds behind Palou. It has been 97 starts since Rosenqvist's only career victory at Road America in 2020. Since then, he has five podium finishes, three of which were runner-up finishes, including the last race at Long Beach.

David Malukas rounded out the top five and he was the top Chevrolet driver. In the last two races, Malukas has set personal-best finishes at those circuits, fourth at Barber Motorsports Park and seventh at Long Beach. Malukas has been the top Penske starter in four consecutive races. 

Kyffin Simpson was sixth in practice, 0.329 slower than his teammate at the top. Simpson is coming off his second top ten finish of the season. He was tenth at Long Beach for the second consecutive year. The only time he has had consecutive top ten finishes was last season when he was sixth at Road America and tenth at Mid-Ohio. Last year, Simpson unable to start this race due to a gearbox issue.

Marcus Armstrong was a fraction behind Simpson in seventh. In the last two Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Armstrong has finished in the top ten. He is coming off a 24th-place result at Long Beach, snapping a string of three consecutive top ten finishes. Armstrong has yet to start worse than 13th this season. 

Scott Dixon is eighth in the championships and he was eighth fastest in combined practice results. Dixon has three consecutive top five finishes on the IMS road course and six consecutive top ten finishes at this circuit. He has started outside the top ten in four of those six races, including three starts of 15th or worse. Dixon picked up his best qualifying run of the season at Long Beach where he started sixth. 

Alexander Rossi was ninth quickest in practice. Rossi's most recent IndyCar victory was on the IMS road course in July 2022. It has been 59 starts since that day. Rossi has started in the top ten in five consecutive races from the IMS road course, and he had four consecutive top ten finishes at this circuit before finishing 14th last year.  

Christian Lundgaard rounded out the top ten. Lundgaard is coming off his worst finish of the season in 20th at Long Beach, and he has yet to start better than tenth this season. The Dane has completed every lap through the first five races. Lundgaard will be making his 75th career start this weekend.

Marcus Ericsson was just on the outside the top ten in 11th from the two practice sessions. Over his last nine starts, Ericsson has three top ten finishes and five finishes outside the top fifteen. Ericsson's only top five finish on the IMS road course was fourth in May 2022, the race before he won the Indianapolis 500.

Louis Foster was the final driver within a half-second of Palou on top in 12th. Foster was 12th in this race last year after starting third. It remains his best finish in IndyCar. Foster had six starts in the top ten last season, but his only top ten start this season was ninth at St. Petersburg.

Christian Rasmussen was 13th based on Friday’s on-track activities. Thirteenth would be his best finish this season. Rasmussen has finished 19th or worse in three of five races this season. In his first two IMS road course starts, Rasmussen has finished 20th and 19th.

Will Power found himself 14th based on practice times. Power has made it out of the first round of qualifying in 16 of 17 events at this track. Through the first five races, this is the third-worst season for Power as he has an average finish of 14.4. Only 2013 (16.0) and 2008 (14.8) were worst starts to a season for Power. He has twice won the sixth race of the season, Belle Isle in 2014 and the 2018 Indianapolis 500.

Patricio O'Ward led a pair of Arrow McLaren cars in the middle of the field. For O’Ward, he was 15th. With four top five finishes through the first five races, this is the best start of a season for O'Ward since 2023 when he also opened with four top five finishes in five races. However, O'Ward did not win a race that season. 

Nolan Siegel was a little over two-hundredths of a second slower than O’ Ward in 16th. Siegel has started outside the top twenty in three of the first five races, and he started 18th in this race last year. While Siegel was 12th at Long Beach, he has not had a top ten finish in his last 12 starts.

Scott McLaughlin was only 17th in practice. At Long Beach, McLaughlin broke a trend of his finishing position regressing from each race as he was sixth. Last year, McLaughlin matched his career-best finish on the IMS road course when he finished fourth.

Dennis Hauger was the top rookie in 18th. Since starting third on debut in St. Petersburg, Hauger has not started better than 19th this season. Both his 19th starting positions have come on the street courses of Arlington and Long Beach. Hauger has been the top Dale Coyne Racing finisher in three of five races this season.

Caio Collett was less than five-hundredths of a second slower than Hauger in practice. After scoring his first top fifteen finish in Arlington in 12th, Collet has finished outside the top twenty in the last two races. In four Indy Lights starts on this track, he was on the podium twice. 

Mick Schumacher made it three rookies in a row on the time chart, and he closed out the top twenty drivers in practice. Schumacher's father Michael won five times on the IMS road course in the United States Grand Prix. Michael was the only driver to win multiple races on the IMS road course in Formula One.

Santino Ferrucci does not have a great track record on the IMS road course, and Friday did not start off on a positive note as he was 21st. Ferrucci has finished outside the top ten in his last six starts on the IMS road course. He has finished outside the top fifteen in every race on this circuit with A.J. Foyt Racing.

Romain Grosjean ended up 22nd in practice. Grosjean has made the Fast Six twice this season and has started 15th or worse in the other three races. Grosjean is one of three drivers with multiple runner-up finishes on the IMS road course to not win at the circuit. Graham Rahal has finished runner-up here three times while Patricio O'Ward has been second on this circuit twice. 

Josef Newgarden’s best practice time was 23rd on the day, 0.8846 seconds off Palou. Newgarden has started outside the top ten in three of four road/street course races this season with his best grid position being ninth. He has started in the top six in the last two visits to this circuit, but he has not finished in the top ten in his last three starts here. This weekend marks Newgarden's 238th start, which will put him level with Jimmy Vasser for 19th all-time.

Juncos Hollinger Racing had the slowest two drivers in practice, and neither driver ran a sub-71 second lap. Rinus VeeKay’s best lap was a 71.0636. With four consecutive results outside the top ten, VeeKay is looking to avoid his worst slump since 2023 when he had a nine-race run without a top ten finish. 

Sting. Ray Robb was slowest, 1.2591 seconds off Palou in first. Robb has yet to finish in the top twenty this season. His best finish in four starts on the IMS road course is 21st, which came in last year's race. Robb has started outside the top twenty in three consecutive races. 

Qualifying will begin at 10:30 a.m. ET on FS2 before FS1 picks up coverage at 11:00 a.m.  

Fox's coverage of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis begins at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday May 9 with green flag scheduled for 4:47 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 85 laps.

Track Walk: 13th Grand Prix of Indianapolis

The sixth round of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season is the 13th Grand Prix of Indianapolis 500. Since 2014, IndyCar has started its May festivities at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a race around the road course originally created to host Formula One. In its history, six different drivers have won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, and including IndyCar's other IMS road course races held in conjunction with NASCAR weekends and a Harvest Grand Prix doubleheader, eight drivers have won on the IMS road course. Honda enters having won six consecutive IMS road course races. This will be the first race with amended push-to-pass rules. The system will now be available at all times after the first lap of the race.

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday May 10 with green flag scheduled for 4:57 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: 9:30 a.m. ET (75 minutes)

Second Practice: 1:00 p.m. ET (75 minutes)
Qualifying: 5:30 p.m. ET 

Saturday:

Warm-up: 11:40 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 4:57 p.m. ET (85 laps)

Palou's Success Rate

After three races out of the championship lead, Álex Palou's victory at Long Beach put him back in the top spot, and Palou carries a 17-point lead into the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. This is the fourth consecutive season Palou has led the championship after the fifth race of the season. In two of those seasons, he never relinquished the lead. In 2024, he dropped to second, 18 points behind Scott Dixon after the sixth race at Detroit. Palou would retake the championship lead two races later with a victory at Laguna Seca and never looked back.

There are not many places more favorable for Palou than the IMS road course. He has won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis the last three years. In those races, he has led a combined 122 of 255 laps. He is one of three drivers to win at least three races on the IMS road course. Will Power has won five times while Simon Pagenaud has also won three times. Palou has started on pole position the last two years for this race. 

No matter what, Palou will not have as commanding lead after this year's Grand Prix of Indianapolis as he did after lat year's edition. He led the championship by 97 points after this race last year. At most, with everyone else starting this race, Palou could leave this weekend with a 66-point lead. It would be enough to ensure him the championship lead through the Indianapolis 500 regardless of the result.

Palou enters this weekend having won 11 of the his 22 starts. Prior to Palou, nine different drivers had won at least 11 races in a 22-start period in their careers.

Three different drivers had won at least 11 races out of 22 starts on at least 18 occasions. 

A.J. Foyt had won 11 of 22 starts from his 60th career start at Syracuse on September 8, 1962 to his 81st start at Langhorne on June 21, 1964. Over Foyt's next 18 starts, he had won at least 11 times in a 22-race period. The number got as high as 14 victories in 22 races on three different occasions during that span. 

Al Unser had a similar streak. From Unser's 86th start at Brainerd on September 14, 1969 to his 107th start on September 17, 1970 at Sedalia, he won 11 of 22 starts. Over his next 18 starts, Unser had won at least 11 times in a 22-race period. Twice had Unser won 14 times in 22 races during that stretch.

Sébastien Bourdais also had won at least 11 of 22 starts on 18 occasions, but his success was broken over multiple periods. From his 27th start at Denver on August 15, 2004 through his 48th start Houston on May 13, 2006, Bourdais had won 11 of 22 starts. He held onto that winning rate over a six-race stretch. He would return to win at least 11 of 22 in his 36th start at Milwaukee on June 4, 2005 through his 57th start on August 27, 2006 in Montreal. He held onto that winning rate over a ten-race stretch. Bourdais returned to winning 11th out of 22 from his 47th start at Long Beach on April 9, 2006 through his 68th start on July 22, 2007 in Edmonton, and Bourdais concluded his Champ Car career having won 11 of his final 22 starts from his 53rd career start on July 9, 2006 at Toronto through his 74th start on November 11, 2007 in Mexico City.

Jimmy Bryan had won at least 11 of 22 starts starting with his 13th start at Sacramento on October 25, 1953 through his 34th start on October 16, 1955 in Sacramento. Bryan held on for a four-race stretch. He returned to 11 victories in 22 starts from his 19th start on August 29, 1954 at Milwaukee through his 40th start on August 18, 1956 at Springfield. This lasted a seven-race stretch. Bryan then won 11 of 22 starts from his 28th start on June 19, 1955 at Langhorne through his 49th start on June 23, 1957 in Detroit. 

Mario Andretti won at least 11 of 22 starts on ten occasions in his career. Andretti had a nine-race stretch where he won at least 11 of 22 starts beginning with his 28th start in Trenton on April 24, 1966 through his 49th start on July 30, 1967 in Langhorne. He lost the streak and then proceeded to compile 11 victories over 22 starts from his 38th start at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on September 10, 1966 through his 59th start on November 19, 1967 at Phoenix.

The remaining four drivers won 11 of 22 starts once in their career.

The first to do it was Jimmy Murphy. The stretch began with his 30th start on April 27, 1922 in Fresno and ended with his 51st start on September 1, 1924 in Altoona. Two weeks later, in his 52nd start, Murphy lost his life in an accident in Syracuse.

Tony Bettenhausen won 11 of 22 starts from his 40th start on November 26, 1950 in Bay Meadows through his 61st start on November 11, 1953 at Phoenix.

Rick Mears won 11 of 22 starts starting with his 47th start in Mexico City on October 26, 1980 through his 68th start on August 29, 1982 at Riverside. 

Like father, like son, Michael Andretti also won at least 11 of 22 starts in his career. Andretti's streak began in his 117th start at Milwaukee on June 2, 1991, the famous race where his cousin John was second and his father Mario was third, and it went through Michael's 138th start on July 19, 1992 in Toronto. Mario was fourth and John was fifth that day. 

For Palou to continue with 11 victories over his last 22 starts, he must win this race, and if he wants to continue it beyond the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, he must win the Indianapolis 500 as well. With 22 career victories, Palou enters this weekend tied with Tony Bettenhausen and Emerson Fittipaldi for 21st all-time in victories.

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

Two of the top three in the championship are American drivers. Neither lead the championship, but both have had stellar starts to 2026. One is a championship contender, and the other has joined one of the best organizations and is leading the way. 

Kyle Kirkwood is the only driver to finish in the top ten of every race this season. Five races, five top ten finishes, and they are all actually top five finishes to boot. This is Kirkwood's best five-race stretch of his career, and it still has him 17 points behind Álex Palou in the championship. Kirkwood was driving from behind to start the season. He started outside the top ten in the first two races and he won from seventh at Arlington. In the last two races, he has started in the top five, and in each race he has finished where he has started. 

This is the first time an Andretti Global driver has had five consecutive top five finishes since Alexander Rossi had a six-race stretch over the 2019 season. Kirkwood has an uphill task on his hand to make it six consecutive races because he has never had a top five finish on the IMS road course. He has never finished better than eighth on this circuit. Only once has he made it out of the first round of qualifying here. His best finish was in last year's race when he was eighth, but he started 21st. In six starts, his average starting position is 16.1667 and his average finish is 15.1667. 

Andretti Global has not had a top five finisher in the last four IMS road course races. This is after the team swept the 2022 races with Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi each taking a victory. 

David Malukas' first five races at Team Penske have been quite strong. Malukas enters off the back of four consecutive top ten finishes. He has been the top Penske finisher in the last three races. This puts Malukas third in the championship on 142 points, though he is already 63 points behind Álex Palou. Malukas is 12 points ahead of his closest Penske teammate. That would be Josef Newgarden in sixth. Scott McLaughlin is just a further three points behind in seventh. 

Malukas will hope the improvement in road and street course results we have seen from the opening stanza of the season will continue on the IMS road course. His best finish on this circuit was 12th in his first race in 2022. He has started better than 20th only once, and he has failed to finish two of the last three IMS road course races. At Barber Motorsports Park, Malukas picked up his first career top five finish on a road course, and he had not finished better than 16th in his previous three visits to the Alabama road course. 

Team Penske leads all teams with eight victories on the IMS road course, but Josef Newgarden is the only of its current three drivers to have won on the circuit. Newgarden's lone victory was the first race of the Harvest Grand Prix doubleheader in October 2020.

McLaren Looking to Get on the Board

Five races into the season, and Arrow McLaren has yet to get a victory while the biggest three teams in IndyCar, Chip Ganassi Racing, Team Penske and Andretti Global, have each taken the top step of the podium. It is the second consecutive season in which Arrow McLaren has not won one of the first five races. Two years ago, it inherited a victory in the St. Petersburg season opener after Team Penske was disqualified. The last time the team won within the first five races was in 2022. 

Sixth time could be the charm, but it has not been a case of uncompetitiveness from the papaya posse.

Patricio O'Ward has four top five finishes from the first time races. Christian Lundgaard has stood on the podium twice. However, the team has led a combined 29 of 600 laps run in the 2026 season. 

O'Ward's form on the IMS road course has been improving over the last few years. After finishing outside the top ten in five of his first eight starts on the circuit, with three of those finishes being 19th or worse, he has three podium finishes in the last four IMS road course races. He has started inside the top five in six of the last seven visits to this track, including a pole position in 2021. The bad news for O'Ward is he has only led 21 laps in 993 laps completed on the IMS road course, and he has not led here since May 2022. 

It also does not help that O'Ward's worst finish this season came at the only other natural-terrain road course run. At Barber, he started 12th and fell to 17th. O'Ward most recent victory on a natural-terrain road course came at Mid-Ohio in July 2024, the first race of the hybrid system. 

Lundgaard was third at St. Petersburg and second at Barber for the second consecutive year. Any momentum was shattered at Long Beach. Lundgaard started 11th and dropped to 20th, snapping a streak of five consecutive top ten finishes on road or street courses. 

The good news for Lundgaard is he is one of the best all-time on the IMS road course. His average finish of 7.1428 is the third-best all-time among drivers with at least three starts behind only Will Power (6.1764) and Scott Dixon (6.8235). Lundgaard made his debut here in August 2021 and he qualified fourth, led two laps, but dropped to 12th. He had four consecutive top five finishes here before last year, and he led 35 laps in the 2024 race.

In the 2025 Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Lundgaard had a pair of worsts. He had his worst starting position at this circuit in 14th, and it led to his worst finishing position at this circuit in 16th.

Nolan Siegel will enter this weekend fresh off his best finish of the season. Siegel was 12th at Long Beach, snapping a streak of 11 consecutive finishes outside the top fifteen. He has still gone 12 consecutive starts without a top ten finish. Last year, Siegel was 13th in his first Grand Prix of Indianapolis start after starting 18th. 

Results have been kind of all over the place for Arrow McLaren on the IMS road course. While O'Ward was second last year, he was the only McLaren driver in the top ten. In 2024, the best McLaren finisher was Alexander Rossi in eighth, the team's only top ten finisher. In 2023, the team went 2-3-5, and that remains the only time the team has had three top five finishers in a race since it returned to IndyCar competition in 2020.

Who Could Be a Surprise?

In the last two races, a Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry stood on the podium at Barber Motorsports Park with Graham Rahal finishing third, and Meyer Shank Racing led the most laps and finished second with Felix Rosenqvist at Long Beach. MSR has not won since 2021, and RLLR's most recent victory was in 2023, but both were at the front. The Grand Prix of Indianapolis is not a place for surprises based on the past winners, but there is always a chance we could see something new this weekend. 

Rahal is having a terrific start to the start. Through five races, he has three top ten finishes. It took Rahal 15 races to reach three top ten finishes last season. He has not had four top ten finishes in the first six races since 2021, and he is one of the better drivers on the IMS road course. Among all drivers with at least three starts on the circuit, Rahal has the fourth-best average finish 7.588 at behind only Will Power, Scott Dixon and Christian Lundgaard. Rahal has four consecutive top ten finishes in IMS road course races, and his 15 top ten finishes are tied for the most at the circuit with Dixon. Rahal has started on the front row in two of the last three races on this track. 

For a driver who had his first career pole position come at this circuit in his fourth career start, Felix Rosenqvist's race results have been good but fall short of great. His best IMS road course finish is fifth. He has finished in the top ten in five of his last six starts here, and he has ade it out of the first round of qualifying in ten of 12 appearances. Four of those have seen him make the final round. He has led 30 in his 12 IMS road course starts. Half of those came in his race at the circuit in 2019. Despite Long Beach being his first top ten finish of the season, it did vault Rosenqvist to ninth in the championship on 109 points, three points ahead of Rahal.

Rinus VeeKay scored his first career victory in the 2021 Grand Prix of Indianapolis, and the IMS road course is also the location of VeeKay's first top five finish, first podium finish and first pole position in IndyCar. However, his results have dripped since 2021. In his last seven starts at the circuit, he has finished outside the top ten in five of them, and three of those were finishes of 23rd or worse. VeeKay did drive from 24th to ninth in last year's race. Juncos Hollinger Racing has only one top ten finish at the IMS road course. Callum Ilott was eighth in this race in 2022. VeeKay opened 2026 with a ninth at St. Petersburg, but he has not finished in the top ten since.

Second to VeeKay on that day in 2021 was Romain Grosjean, and that hasn't been Grosjean's only close call on the IMS road course.  The Frenchman was second in both IMS road course races in 2021. He started on pole position and led 44 of 85 laps in the first one. Since Grosjean's near-glorious start, he finished outside the top ten in five consecutive IMS road course races. In three of those, he failed to make it out of the first round of qualifying and started no better than 18th. Grosjean has been classified outside the top twenty in three of the last four races. His car failed on the grid at Phoenix due to a clutch issue.

Road to Indy

All three Road to Indy series will be together for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis weekend. Seven races will take place across the junior categories with each series running at least twice with one having a triple-header on the books. 

For Indy Lights, Nikita Johnson enters at the championship leader having won twice this season, including finishing first and third in the most recent round at Barber Motorsports Park. Max Taylor has three podium finishes from four races, but a 19th in the first Barber race is a big blemish this early in the season. Johnson has the championship lead on 168 points with Taylor 23 points behind him.

Tymek Kucharczyk's streak of third-place finishes ended at three races, but Kucharczyk has finished in the top five of all four races this season, and the Polish driver is ten points behind Taylor. Enzo Fittipaldi has three consecutive top five finishes and that places Fittipaldi fourth in the championship on 129 points. 

Alessandro de Tullio has won three pole positions this season, and in the second Barber race, de Tullio took victory after not finishing better than tenth in the first three races. The A.J. Foyt Racing driver sits on 108 points. 

Juan Manuel Correa has scored 97 points from the first four races. Lochie Hughes was fifth in the first two races, but he was 12th and 16th at Barber, and this has him on 92 points, tied with Jordan Missig, who has three consecutive top ten finishes. Myles Rowe is ninth on 87 points, one more than Seb Murray. 

Hughes won the first race of last year's doubleheader on the IMS road course, adding to his 2023 U.S. F2000 victory. Johnson won in USF Pro 2000 on this course in 2024 and Taylor won the same year in U.S. F2000.

The first Indy Lights race will be at 4:00 p.m. on Friday May 8 with the second race at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday May 9. The first race is scheduled for 35 laps but the second race is scheduled for 30 laps. 

USF Pro 2000's only round this season was a doubleheader on the streets of Arlington. 

Despite not winning either race, Frankie Mossman leads the championship on 47 points thanks to finishes of second and third. Leonardo Escorpioni and Jack Jeffers split the opening round of the season, but an accident put Jeffers 18th in race one and Escorpioni was eighth in race two. Escorpioni is second in the championship on 44 points with Jeffers in third on 38 points. 

Michael Costello took a podium in the first Arlington race finishing third. G3 Argyros was second in race two. Costello and Argyros round out the top five in the championship on 36 points and 35 points receptively. Brady Golan was sixth in both races and has 30 points. 

A few names will hope to bounce back this weekend. Jacob Douglas was 16th and 17th in the opening weekend. Douglas won the second race of last year's USF Pro 2000 triple-header on the IMS road course. Mac Clark is last in the championship after results of 17th and 19th at Arlington. Clark was second in the first two races of last year's triple-header. 

This year, USF Pro 2000 is only a doubleheader, and both races are scheduled for Saturday May 9. The first race will be at 8:55 a.m. ET with the second race at 1:20 p.m. ET. Each race will be 25 laps or 45 minutes.

U.S. F2000 returns for the first race weekend since it opened in St. Petersburg when February became March, and it is a triple-header for the entry level series. 

Sebastián Garzón swept the St. Petersburg races and he leads the championship on 63 points. Leonardo Escorpioni was third in both races from St. Petersburg, and he is on 45 points in the championship, but Escorpioni will turn his focus to USF Pro 2000 for the remaining of the season. João Vergara is third in the championship with 40 points. Brad Majman's pair of fourth-place results places him fourth in the championship on 39 points. Lucas Nanji rounds out the top five with 29 points. 

Ryan Giannetta is the top American in U.S. F2000 on 28 points. Giannetta was seventh in both St. Petersburg races. Eddie Beswick rebounded from a 20th in the first race with a runner-up result in race two. Beswick is seventh in the championship on 27 points. Wian Boshoff and Teddy Musella are tied on 22 points. Gabriel Cahan, Colin Aitken and Wesley Gundler are tied on 21 points. 

Scheduled to make his U.S. F2000 debut this weekend is Oliver Wheldon in the #98 Tatuus entry for VRD Racing. Wheldon competed in USF Juniors last season and he was fifth in the championship with seven podium finishes from 16 races. His father Dan was the 1999 U.S. F2000 champion with sixth victories.

All three U.S. F2000 races will be 15 laps or 40 minutes, and the first race will be on Friday May 8 at 2:45 p.m. ET. The final two races of the weekend will be Saturday May 9 at 8:00 a.m. ET and 12:30 p.m. ET.

Fast Facts

This will be the second IndyCar race to take place on May 9, and the first since Will Power won the 2015 Grand Prix of Indianapolis.

Four of the 25 starters from the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis are entered in this year's race (Will Power, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Graham Rahal).

Ten drivers have won on both the oval and road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They are Alex Lloyd, Jack Harvey, Dean Stoneman, Colton Herta, Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi and Álex Palou.

Last year, Álex Palou became the third driver to win the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis 500 in the same year (2018: Will Power, 2019: Simon Pagenaud)

Marcus Ericsson could become the 11th driver to win on both the oval and road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend.

Rinus VeeKay, Josef Newgarden and Colton Herta are the only drivers to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indy Lights and IndyCar. VeeKay and Herta are the only driver to win on the IMS road course in both Indy Lights and IndyCar. David Malukas, Louis Foster or Dennis Hauger could join VeeKay and Herta as drivers to win on the IMS road course in Indy Lights and IndyCar.

Rinus VeeKay is the only driver to have a first career IndyCar victory occur on the IMS road course. 

Patricio O'Ward, Sting Ray Robb, Christian Rasmussen or Louis Foster could become the first driver to win on the IMS road course in Indy Pro 2000/USF Pro 2000 and IndyCar. 

Kyle Kirkwood could become the first driver to win on the IMS road course in U.S. F2000 and IndyCar.

The average starting position for a winner on the IMS road course is 4.375 with a median of second. 

Scott Dixon's victory from 15th in the August 2023 race was the furthest back an IMS road course race winner has started. 

Ten of 17 IMS road course races have been won from the front row. Five IMS road course races have been won from seventh or worse. No IMS road course race has been won from row three.

Seven times has an IMS road course podium finisher started outside the top ten.

The average number of lead changes in an IMS road course race is 8.764 with a median of ten. 

Fourteen of 17 IMS road course raves have featured at least seven lead changes. 

Will Power's victory in the second Harvest Grand Prix race in October 2020 is the only time a driver has led every lap in an IMS road course race, and it is the most recent time a driver has led every lap in an IndyCar race. 

The average number of cautions in an IMS road course race is 1.8125 with a median of one. The average number of caution laps is 6.588 with a median of four 

Ten of 17 IMS road course races have featured one caution or fewer. The last four IMS road course races have featured exactly one caution.

The most cautions in an IMS road course race was eight in the 2022 Grand Prix of Indianapolis, which ran to a time limit due to rain.

Prediction

Álex Palou is always the prediction, but if it isn't Álex Palou, Christian Lundgaard rebounds from last year's race and scores McLaren's first victory of the season. The top five streak ends for Kyle Kirkwood. Graham Rahal will have a respectable day but lead far fewer laps than last year's race. Neither of the Marcuses finish in the bottom two. The other Christian scores his best finish of the season but still starts outside the top fifteen. Sting Ray Robb's finishing position does not decline from the last race. Scott McLaughlin wins the battle of the Scotts. Sleeper: Louis Foster.

Musings From the Weekend: The Future with Charters

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

Alex Zanardi left us, and Italians honored him with victories. Andrea Kimi Antonelli won the Miami Grand Prix, his third consecutive victory, all from pole position. Gabriele Mini won the Formula Two feature race. Nikola Tsolov won the sprint race and leads Formula Two championship by a point over Mini. Formula One avoided the rain moving the start time up three hours. One point separates the top two in Supercross with one race remaining. A winning streak continues in IMSA with another stellar race. There was a historic drive in Berlin. This May has begun with rancor around IndyCar and its future.

The Future with Charters

During this extended break for IndyCar, news trickled out when few were paying attention that starting in 2027 IndyCar would bar non-charter teams from competing in races outside the Indianapolis 500. This rule change has not been confirmed, but it is in the works and it has been accepted that it will be codified before next season. 

It is a big change considering IndyCar has been an open shop, like many motorsports series, for its entire existence. Purchase a car that complies with the rulebook and you are eligible to race, but as IndyCar and its teams work to make participation in the series valuable and net a greater return on the investment, the charter system has closed the door.

This news has not been met with any enthusiasm. It has been seen as an abandonment of an essential aspect of motorsports, an accessibility unlike most other sports. It is seen as closing off competition and shutting out prospective teams from entering IndyCar. 

Any participation in IndyCar will now require essentially a full-time commitment. It will not be as easy to compete in IndyCar, but there should also be a recognition that it is not the early days of the 20th century. IndyCar is not what it is was in the 1950s, 1960s or 1970s. It isn't what it was in the 1990s and maybe even the dawn of the 21st century. There is an urge to change, and that urge is for the series to provide some value competing. Teams have come and gone and owners have left with nothing to show for it. Equipment and assets have been sold off for pennies on the dollar because the demand was not there and the market dictated it. 

This new rule creates scarcity. Starting next year, only 25 cars will compete in every race besides the Indianapolis 500. That number will increase to 27 when Chevrolet and Honda each receive a charter entry. 

It is tough to see, but if we are honest with ourselves, IndyCar is not losing much with this limitation of entries. At worst, it is losing a hypothetical, something that doesn't exist. 

For all those upset that a team can no longer "dip their toe" into IndyCar, not many have been testing the waters lately. The last non-full-time team to run an IndyCar race outside of the Indianapolis 500 was Paretta Autosport in the 2022 Laguna Seca season finale. That is pushing four years ago! 

IndyCar has been in a place where it has been drawing at least two-dozen entries for over five seasons. The last race to feature fewer than 24 cars was the second race of the Mid-Ohio doubleheader in September 2020. Last season had at least 27 cars start every race. Full-time participation has never been better in IndyCar, and it changes how you look at participation. There is not a need for occasional one-off entries to add to the grid. 

For starters, the series has reached a natural limit. There is a reason why 33 cars don't try and attempt every race. The resources are at their limits. First, there is space. Pit space and paddock space is at its limit currently for a number of venues. There isn't room for another two or four or eight entires. Second, the natural flow of sponsors limits the grid. For IndyCar's size, the number of companies that see it as a worthy sponsorship avenue does not permit another five full-time entries. Companies are not dying to throw their money in IndyCar and make it easier for an organization on the outside to form a team and enter out of thin air.

If there is concern this restriction will hurt IndyCar in terms of team interest, the opposite could actually be true. As much as we think dipping the toe is the best introduction, this restriction basically forces anyone who wants to enter IndyCar to have all their ducks in a row. If you want to be in IndyCar, you must be ready for it. This isn't something you can half-heartedly jump into and bail out of after a few race weekends. 

That is actually better for the series. 

If a team wants to be in IndyCar, it will need to buy a charter and make a full-time commitment. That is a change, but it is a change that is better for the series. The proper financial arrangement must be set before getting started. People hate that there is a business side to motorsports, but that is what it takes to compete. It cost something to race. The charter is additional, but it is an investment that makes it more than a hobby. It makes it less likely to be a loss a wealthy individual can take on the chin and become a fun story ten years down the line at a party about how he lost $5 million trying to operate a race team. If you are involved, you are going to be looking for more out of it. 

Slowing acclimating to IndyCar has been how a few teams have entered the series. It is how Meyer Shank Racing got into the series, though that was an established race team, which had a strong relationship with Honda prior to joining. It dipped its toe, but it had a massive guiding force holding its hand and keeping it from drowning. 

For every Meyer Shank Racing, there is Harding Racing that bit off more than it could chew and thought it was easy because it finished in the top ten on debut in the Indianapolis 500. A few good races led to a dive into full-time competition, and within a year, Mike Harding was looking for someone to bail him out. Enter George Steinbrenner IV, but even then the team was absorbed into the existing Andretti Autosport program. 

Was Harding Racing ready for full-time competition? No. The team entered with a hope that results would lead to more funding. It was already a team that finished in the top ten of the Indianapolis 500, how hard could it be to attract a multi-mullion dollar sponsor? Obviously harder than Harding believed, and it required the established organizations to keep that entry on the grid. 

Even experienced organizations learned the hard way. 

DragonSpeed was intrigued with IndyCar and planned on running a few races in 2019. The successful sports car operation made the second round of qualifying on debut at St. Petersburg, but it was tougher to expand into the series, especially as the team tried to use a number of crew members based outside the United States and struggled with visa to enter the country. Other than the 2020 Indianapolis 500 and the 2022 Indianapolis 500 when a 33rd entry had to materialize, DragonSpeed never competed more in IndyCar than it did that first year when it ran three races.

There are more examples that slowly wading into the water does not produce more full-time and dedicated participants than diving in with a cannonball off the top platform.

Don't get me wrong, it is odd to consider we will not see any one-offs anymore outside of the Indianapolis 500, but they have not been that frequent to begin with. Do you remember the last non-Indianapolis 500 one-off entry from a full-time team? It was Jüri Vips running a fourth Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry at Portland in 2024. Prior to that it was Paretta Autosport entering Simona de Silvestro at Laguna Seca in 2022. 

It doesn't happen with any regularity to think IndyCar is losing something fundamental to its current identity. The fear is losing a hypothetical. It is losing the idea that a Jonny-Come-Lately could form a team off lottery winnings and turn into a contender. That never happens. 

There is room for melancholia with this decision. While we should not exaggerate the number of teams that slowly expanded their IndyCar participation, Christian Lundgaard did make his IndyCar debut as a one-off entry. There is some value in a younger driver getting to run a few races without having to take over a full-time entry. 

The current set up allowed Ed Carpenter to enter an extra car in every oval race for himself. It was cool that you could see Simona de Silvestro come back and run some races. It was cool when a team would enter the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis 500, and we got to see Juan Pablo Montoya for an additional race. The thought of Felipe Nasr or Ricky Taylor getting to run an IndyCar race as a one-off just because they can and a team could put together a seat is exciting, and now it will not be possible, and it does take away a fun element to motorsports. 

Some of the consternation is this will shrink IndyCar and it will keep teams from entering the Indianapolis 500 as one-offs. Maybe. The only Indianapolis 500 one-off team we have had for the last decade has been Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, and until last year, IndyCar didn't have a charter system. What was keeping all of those teams away from 2013 through 2024? 

The cost issues are already there for the Indianapolis 500. Teams aren't interested in the Indianapolis 500 because it costs about $1 million to form a program where the lowest payout is around $200,000. Unless you win the race, a team is looking at losing over three quarters of a million for one race. What is the point of that? 

That is a different problem to solve and is independent of charters existing for full-time competition.

We don't know what this rule will lead to, but for the first time in a long-time IndyCar has done something as an attempt to increase the value in running full-time in the series. The Indianapolis 500 has been fine. It is every other race and the series as a whole that needs help. If you want to be in IndyCar, it forces a team to be in IndyCar. This decision will turn off those who aren't sure if they can do it, but for those who want to be in IndyCar, it becomes clear what must be done. It will require gathering the funds for the charter and that is a greater investment. That isn't running at Long Beach and seeing how it goes before doing more. 

This is year two of IndyCar's charter system, and we don't know how much these are really worth. The market will decide that. If there is a buyer willing to spend $10 million per charter, well then congratulations to the existing car owners. If no one is buying for more than $1.5 million, it is more than they would have gotten before, but it shows how much demand there is in IndyCar. 

The real barometer for series health is not whether new teams want to slowly enter in IndyCar running three races but how easy charters are sold. The value is in the eye of the beholder. If the teams think they have a golden goose but every prospective buyer thinks it is more like a used 2005 Honda Civic, then the series will have a problem. There is no need to worry about car count and the series size until teams are trying to sell charters and no one is buying. That could have happened regardless if the series decided to bar non-charter one-off or not. 

Let's be patience with this decision because we don't know what it will lead to in five years or ten years. Let's also remember that while the rule is changing ahead of 2027, it can always change again. This isn't a decree from God about how things will always be moving forward. Worst case, this becomes another footnote in the history book like the 25/8-rule or double-file restarts. It happened, but it did not last.

For all the negativity around this decision, consider that this could actually work and increase the value for the teams and the value of the IndyCar Series. Something must be done to increase the value. Changing nothing wasn't going to be the answer. Stop for one moment and think this just might work. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about what happened in Miami, but did you know...

Chase Elliott won the NASCAR Cup race from Texas, his second victory of the season. Kyle Larson won the Grand National Series race, his second victory of the season. Carson Hocevar won the Truck race.

Nico Müller and Mitch Evans split the Berlin ePrix, and Evans won from 17th.

The #5 JDC-Miller MotorSport Porsche of Laurin Heinrich and Tijmen van der Helm won the IMSA race from Laguna Seca. The #65 Ford Racing Ford of Christopher Mies and Frédéric Vervisch won in GTD Pro. The #45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini of Trent Hindman and Danny Formal won in GTD.

The #50 AF Corse Ferrari of Arthur Leclerc and Thomas Neubauer and the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche of Bastian Buus and Ricardo Feller split the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup races from Brands Hatch.

The #22 United Autosports Oreca-Gibson of Ben Hanley, Griffin Peebles and Grégoire Saucy won the 4 Hours of Le Castellet. The #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier-Toyota of Alexander Bukhantsov, Chun-Ting Chou and Henry Cubides Olarte won in LMP3. The #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Mathys Jaubert, Takeshi Kimura and Daniel Serra won in the LMGT3.

Nicolò Bulega swept the World Superbike races from Balaton Park, and Bulega has now won all 12 races this season. Valentin Debise and Albert Arenas split the World Supersport races.

Hunter Lawrence won the Supercross race from Denver with Ken Roczen finishing second, meaning Roczen will have a one-point championship lead over Lawrence entering the Salt Lake City finale. Haiden Deegan won the 250cc race.

The #36 TGR Team au TOM's Toyota of Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita won the Super GT race from Fuji, its second consecutive victory. The #56 Kondo Racing Nissan of João Paulo de Oliveira and Iori Kimura won in GT300.

Coming Up This Weekend

The 13th Grand Prix of Indianapolis. 

Supercross concludes the season in Salt Lake City.

The FIA World Endurance Championship has its annual Saturday race at Spa-Francorchamps.

MotoGP ventures up to Le Mans.

NASCAR makes its earliest trip to Watkins Glen.

GT World Challenge America will be at Sebring.

The World Rally Championship is up to its sixth round of the season in Portugal.

Alex Zanardi: 1966-2026

Alex Zanardi passed away on Friday May 1, aged 59. 

A two-time IndyCar champion where his career will be remembered for his famous pass on Bryan Herta in the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca in 1996, Zanardi's career was altered after suffering an accident in 2001 at the Lausitzring in Germany. Losing both legs in an accident while leading with 13 laps to go, Zanardi proceeded to train and return to competition two years later in touring cars. While he returned to a race car, Zanardi also turned into a para-cyclist, where he became a four-time Paralympic gold medalists. In 2020, he sustained a severe cranial injury in a hand-cycling accident after a collision with a vehicle.

A remarkable man has left us. 

In more ways than most, Zanardi was an inspiring figure. 

In a race car, he was a menace, thrashing the competition with blinding speed and zero fear. His first foray in Formula One produced a single point, but coming to America blossomed a sensational career. He capped off his rookie yea with one of the most memorable passes ever seen, but Zanardi dazzled us for three seasons. He won the championship with ease in his second season. He caused another nightmare for Herta at Long Beach with a late pass for the win after Zanardi started outside the top ten. He was a part of a memorable 230mph ballet at Michigan with Greg Moore and Jimmy Vasser. Zanardi's second title might be more impressive than the first. He clinched it with four races remaining, one of only six times since 1946 an American open-wheel championship has been claimed with that many races remaining. No one has taken a title with that many races remaining since. 

The Lausitz accident nearly took his life. It is miraculous it didn't. For all he lost that day, Zanardi didn't stop him from greatness. 

Less than two years after his accident, Zanardi returned to the cockpit at the Lausitzring and completed the 13 laps he was unable to finish in that 2001 race. Later that year, he was back competing in touring car racing. On August 28, 2005, just under four years after his accident, he was a winner again, ironically enough, in Germany, taking a World Touring Car Championship race in Oschersleben. He also won the Italian touring car championship that year. The WTCC was a wonderful place for Zanardi to fill his competitive fire and show the talent remained.

Taking a pause from competing in a race car, Zanardi developed as a hand-cyclist, first competing in marathons before developing as a world-class talent and attempting the Paralympics. In 2012, he won two gold medals competing in the London Games. The hand-cycling events were fittingly held at Brands Hatch. Four years later, he won two more gold medals in Rio. 

While he was claiming gold, he could not stay out of a race car, and returned to competition in 2014. For the next five years Zanardi mainly competed in sports cars, taking a victory in the Italian GT Championship, but he notably made a start in the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona while also competed in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters.

Anytime you heard about what Zanardi was accomplishing, it was difficult not to be motivated. A man who by all means could have hidden from the world continued to live on the brightest stage. He did the unthinkable while a glowing smile on his face, and he only made you think anything was possible.

His hand-cycling accident in 2020 was devastating to hear, and it stole a beacon of hope from this world. Zanardi had already lost one career. Then he lost a second. After being such a public figure, Zanardi's final years remained private. 

It has been difficult to think about the last few years and what Zanardi would have achieved had the 2020 accident had never happened. There was going to be another Paralympics in 2021. He was still thrilled driving a race car and embracing challenges. Where would he have gone? Le Mans? Indianapolis? He wasn't done. 

What we did not get to see does not take away the wonderful moments we had, and few in motorsports have lived as fulfilling of a life. For everything Zanardi faced, it never stopped him from chasing glory. He looked to be better after each day. 

Motorsports aside, not many people have been a better role model. For all the adversity one can face, Zanardi is the reminder it can be overcome. It does not matter how tough it can be. It does not have to stop you. It is not the end. It might not be easy, but it is possible to get up each day and still strive for whatever you wish to accomplish. With dedication, our dreams are obtainable.

Alex Zanardi's life gave you a reason to get out of bed every morning. May his memory continue to drive you.

110th Indianapolis 500 Testing Recap

We wrapped up two days of testing from Indianapolis Motor Speedway without much drama. Damp conditions delayed a day. There was a fox on the track. Christian Rasmussen stopped as a precaution. Jack Harvey lost an engine that set his car on fire. Other than those incidents, there was no accidents, no torn up race cars, and everyone can feel a little bit better entering the month of May, which is today!

However, while we saw cars on track, it does feel rather empty after these two days.

Is There Anything We Can Take Away From This Test?

More teams bring unrelated cars to the open test and it makes the results feel somewhat meaningless. 

What can we take away from Álex Palou when he is using his Long Beach car in this test? That was the case for the entire Chip Ganassi Racing team. 

So does anything we see matter? 

Obviously, Ganassi and all the teams not running their Indianapolis 500 car are getting something out of this test. They would not have bothered to show up if there was nothing to gain from these two days, but what they got we will not see in the time chart. We already knew Ganassi was better than most, so seeing Palou fourth-fastest overall in what is no better than his backup car for the Indianapolis 500 is not a surprise. Is the thought Palou's main car must be a smidge quicker? Is his best lap at 39.9517 seconds really about two or three-tenths slower than what the car sitting in the shop will do? 

We don't know... yet. 

We say we shouldn't draw much from these tests, but then we see each year someone who was in the top five or top ten be one of the best cars in the race, and it suggests we cannot entirely rule out these results. If there has been a driver that was 25th after the opening test and then went on to win the race or play a significant role, it has been a long time since that has happened.

Everyone is trying different things. Some teams probably didn't even bother to go 100% at any point during this test. These two days appeared to allow for more race simulations. Teams can worry about speed in practice week, but this test created scenarios, and it was a chance for teams to try something in the faintest chance it should come up during the race.

These two days weren't about what we can take away from it, but rather what the teams could gather and us never knowing if that information will be useful in a month's time.

Who is Probably Serious?

As mentioned above, Palou is probably serious in fourth, and that would also apply to Scott Dixon in eighth. Chip Ganassi Racing might not sweep the front row, but it will have two cars in the picture. 

Team Penske is probably good. Josef Newgarden was second-fastest over two day. He is likely comfortable, and Penske will look to pick up from where it left off prior to the attenuator penalties in qualifying last year. David Malukas was ninth. Scott McLaughlin is 15th. Penske is likely fine.

Can we take Caio Collet seriously? 

At 39.7560 seconds (226.381 mph), Collet ran the fastest lap over the two days, and nobody probably thought a rookie would leave as the fastest driver. It is a test. Is this Collet's true speed, or did A.J. Foyt Racing decide to give Collet a jolt on Wednesday morning and it paid off with the fastest lap, aided with a draft? 

Foyt has shown good speed in recent years at Indianapolis. It is not crazy to think Collet could make the Fast 12. Benjamin Pedersen made the Fast 12! But Robert Shwartzman was never considered a factor after the open test last year and Shwartzman and Prema ended up winning pole position. Jacob Abel was 13th in this test. Do we really think Jacob Abel is going to be pushing for the Fast 12? You cannot look at these results as hard and fast of what is to come in a few weeks.

Collet got to have a good day and gets this feather in his cap. It doesn't mean anything is guaranteed tomorrow. 

Conor Daly was third-overall and Jack Harvey ran the fastest no-tow time. That is a good test for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. The last two years, D&R has shown promise. In 2024, it was in qualifying. In 2025, it was in the race. It is also a team that has had its struggles at Indianapolis. Last year, D&R didn't look great in qualifying, and then Ryan Hunter-Reay stretched fuel and had cautions fall his way in the race. Harvey's record at Indianapolis is rather poor. Daly's record is good recently. 

D&R is probably better than it was last year. That doesn't mean it will be in the Fast 12.

We are also at the point where Takuma Sato's speed is always pure. Sato has made the Fast 12 in the last two years and started second last year for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. If Sato is doing that with RLLR, his seventh in this test is indicative of where his car is at. He is probably solid, going to be a contender for the Fast 12 and maybe push for the Fast Six again.

Hélio Castroneves is also probably fine. Castroneves was fifth overall and second on the no-tow report. I don't know if that means a fifth Indianapolis 500 victory is in the cards, but Castroneves is tied with A.J. Foyt for the most top ten finishes in an Indianapolis 500 career at 17. You have to think Castroneves can at least have a respectable result.

Who is Probably Sleeping?

None of the Andretti Global cars were particularly quick in overall speed. Will Power was quickest at 18th. Kyle Kirkwood was 27th and Marcus Ericsson was 31st. That doesn't speak to a confident outing. However, Kirkwood was third on the no-tow report and Power was 11th. Ericsson was still down in 28th. 

Perhaps more is there for Andretti, but Andretti hasn't had the greatest qualifying pace in recent years. A tide could be turning or everything we saw is actually wrong. 

While Patricio O'Ward was sixth, none of the other three McLaren cars were in the top twenty. I would think Christian Lundgaard and Ryan Hunter-Reay will be better come May. 

Alexander Rossi also cracked the top ten while his two Ed Carpenter Racing teammates were both outside the top 25. I am not saying all three ECR cars will be in the Fast 12, but I think Ed Carpenter and Christian Rasmussen will look better when practice week begins and on the qualifying days.

Does the No-Tow Chart Tell Us Anything?

Last year, the open test had a dedicated two hours to running with turbo boost levels at the qualifying level, as this was going to be the first Indianapolis 500 with the hybrid and IndyCar wanted to see how hybrid worked at that level. As much as we say testing doesn't matter, the top six from that session made the Fast 12 and eight of the top 12 made the Fast 12 in qualifying. 

Technically, that was on an open track for all teams testing, but teams looked to get clear laps to show a representative no-tow time. This year, the turbo boost levels remained at race levels for the duration of the test, and there was no additional reason to try and run a no-tow lap. Looking at the speeds, there is not much you can get to replicating qualifying running less boost.

Jack Harvey had the top time, but his fastest lap was at 221.112 mph, 40.7034 seconds. Jacob Abel wasn't close to making the field last year, and all four laps on his best qualifying run where better than 39.7 seconds. We are a second off from being a second off the fastest times.

I tend to think in this test none of the no-tow times mattered. Only three drivers registered no-tow lap average greater than 220 mph. Jack Harvey is probably happy he got to top that time sheet, but Harvey and his Dreyer & Reinbold crew also likely know that is not the zip code this team will be playing in come qualifying weekend. There are some teams that were at the top of the no-tow chart and will make it to the Fast 12 and maybe even the Fast Six, but this test wasn't foreshadowing. 

The best Penske car was Newgarden in 23rd. I don't think anything from the no-tow report can be seriously carried over. Any similarities we see in actual qualifying are completely coincidental. 

Do We Need to Watch Our Idolatry of Indianapolis Motor Speedway?

We need to watch idolatry at all times in our lives, but in the aftermath of this test, we should cool it when it comes to the mythology of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and be ok if a driver isn't blown away the first time he runs a lap on the circuit. 

It is ok that Mick Schumacher was more impressed at Phoenix. When Schumacher ran at Phoenix it was a race weekend and the qualifying session had some stakes. He qualified fourth and likely impressed himself. In this test, the mission was to check off boxes. For Schumacher, that meant rookie orientation, which is running laps at a controlled speed. After completing rookie orientation, he was likely running to a test plan to get a feel for the car. He wasn't told to go gun-a-blazing and to hold it flat with he rear wing trimmed to an insane angle. The team wasn't looking to blow his socks off nor was Schumacher expecting it.

We must also acknowledge the cultural differences in people, and as a German, Schumacher isn't going to get too high or too low. He isn't going to be impressed by anything. Everything is going to be met with a neutral tone. 

It is a racetrack. It is an inanimate object. Let it be that especially for the drivers competing. It is not an altar everyone must bow upon arrival in adoration. It sounds remarkably uneducated to essentially be rooting for a driver to be injured because he didn't honor the racetrack in the right way. Can't we listen and understand what a driver is saying without twisting his words?