Track Walk: Mid-Ohio 2025

The tenth round of the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season has the series moving into Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for this Independence Day weekend. Mid-Ohio starts a run of four consecutive weekends at the track with five races during that time. When the month of July is over, only three races will remain in the 2025 season. At time of publishing, there are only 59 days remaining in the IndyCar season. This will be the 42nd IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio, and there have been eight different winners in the last eight races at the circuit, the longest streak ever at the track. Three different teams have won in the last three years. 

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday July 6 with green flag scheduled for 1:20 p.m. ET.
Channel: Fox
Announcers: Will Buxton, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Georgia Henneberry and Jack Harvey will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Friday:

First Practice: 4:30 p.m. ET (75 minutes)

Saturday:

Second Practice: 10:30 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 2:30 p.m. ET 
Sunday:
Warm-up: 9:32 a.m. ET (25 minutes)
Race: 1:20 p.m. ET (90 laps)

FS2 will have coverage of Friday practice session while FS1 will have coverage of Saturday's sessions and the Sunday morning warm-up. Fox will have race coverage.

How Will Ten Extra Laps Change Strategy?

This year's Mid-Ohio race sees a return to the 90-lap distance, which had previously been used from 2013 through 2019. When Mid-Ohio became a doubleheader for the 2020 season, a pair of 75-lap races were held, and for the past four seasons, Mid-Ohio was an 80-lap race. 

Ten laps make a big difference at Mid-Ohio. Each of the winners in 2018 and 2019, the last two 90-lap races, were won with two-stop pit strategies, but the 90-lap distance opens the door for multiple strategies to work. 

Scott Dixon won in 2019 making only two stops, but he was struggling on his tires at the end of the race, and it allowed then-Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Felix Rosenqvist to close in on Dixon. Rosenqvist had made three stops. On the final lap, nothing separated the two drivers, and at the finish line Dixon held off Rosenqvist by 0.0934 seconds for victory. 

Dixon was one of three drivers to run a two-stop strategy in that race. Will Power made two stops from pole position and finished fourth. Alexander Rossi made two stops from second on the grid and finished fifth. Meanwhile, Rosenqvist went from sixth to second on a three-stopper and Ryan Hunter-Reay went from tenth to third. It should be noted the 2019 race went caution-free.

Rossi won in 2018 on a two-stop, but he was the only driver in the field to run such a strategy. He won from pole position with 66 laps led in a flawless run. However, behind Rossi, everyone made three stops, and in another caution-free race drivers were able to drive forward. Sébastien Bourdais went from 24th to sixth. Simon Pagenaud went from 17th to eighth. 

From 2013 through 2017, each Mid-Ohio winner made at least three pit stops. 

Charlie Kimball won on a three-stop strategy in 2013 after starting fifth. Kimball and Simon Pagenaud, who started eighth, had a memorable battle, which saw Kimball overtake Pagenaud for the lead with 18 laps remaining. Dario Franchitti rounded out the podium on a three-stopper after he started sixth. The only drivers in 2013 to use a two-stop strategy were the front row starters. Ryan Hunter-Reay dropped from first to fifth, over 46 seconds behind Kimball, while Will Power went from second to fourth at the checkered flag, and Power was over 42.5 seconds behind Kimball in what was a caution-free race.

Scott Dixon won after making four pit stops in 2014. Dixon had started 22nd and he made his first pit stop on lap two as there was an opening lap caution for a three-car incident in turn four. He then made his final pit stop on lap 62 and was able to stretch his fuel the final 28 laps to win by 5.3864 seconds over Sébastien Bourdais.

From 2014 through 2017, no team attempted a two-stop strategy, including the 2015 race despite there being four cautions. 

In the past four seasons with the 80-lap race distance, all four winners have made only two pit stops. Only two out of 40 top ten finishers over those four races made three pit stops. Will Power, amazingly, used a three-stop strategy in 2022 to go from 21st to third in what was a six-caution race. In 2023, Patricio O'Ward went from 25th to eighth on a three-stopper with the only caution being for an opening lap incident. 

Of the 80 lead lap finishers over the last four Mid-Ohio race, 19 made at least three pit stops. Last year, all seven cars that made at least three pit stops finished 14th or worse. 

The Hybrid - One Year Later

Mid-Ohio marks the one-year anniversary of the first hybrid race in IndyCar history. Debuting on July 7, 2024, IndyCar's hybrid system has now gone a full calendar year in use. It has been used on all but one circuit on the calendar, and that would be Laguna Seca, which was the final race prior to the introduction of the system last year, and Laguna Seca has since moved to the end of July. 

Eighteen races have been held with the hybrid system. Eight of those have been oval races, six of which took place last season. Six permanent road course races have been held, two of which were in 2024 and four were in 2025. There have been four street races, three of which have happened this season.

In 18 races with the system, there have been seven different winners with the system. Álex Palou leads all drivers with six hybrid victories, but those six victories have all come this season. None of the five drivers to win with the hybrid in 2024 have won yet in 2025. We opened IndyCar's hybrid era with five consecutive different winers. Four of those were Chevrolet drivers. 

While Chevrolet won seven of the nine hybrid races in 2024, Honda has opened the 2025 season with nine consecutive victories, ten consecutive when you count last year's season finale, which Colton Herta won, giving Honda an 11-7 edge with the hybrid system. Only four teams have won during IndyCar's hybrid era, but in the 42 races prior to the introduction of the hybrid, a team other than Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing, Andretti Global or Arrow McLaren had won only once. That was Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with Christian Lundgaard at Toronto in 2023.

Adding all the points earned since the first hybrid race, it is no surprise Palou has the most. He has scored 645 points over the 18 hybrid races, 118 points more than Patricio O'Ward, the next closest. Scott McLaughlin is third amongst all drivers with 507 points, 20 points behind O'Ward. Kyle Kirkwood sits in fourth having earned 503 points, which is 23 points more than his Andretti Global teammate Colton Herta, who rounds out the top five.

Scott Dixon and Will Power are next, each one point apart since last year's Mid-Ohio race. Dixon has scored 434 points over that span to Power's 433 points. Santino Ferrucci has scored 397 points with Christian Lundgaard next on 384 points. Felix Rosenqvist rounds out the top ten with 361 points. Josef Newgarden is just on the outside of the top ten as Newgarden has scored 357 points in the hybrid races, five more than Marcus Armstrong and 14 more than Rinus VeeKay. 

Alexander Rossi (329) and David Malukas (308) are the final two drivers to have amassed over 300 points. Marcus Ericsson has scored only 270 points, 12 more than Graham Rahal and 23 more than Nolan Siegel. Kyffin Simpson has scored 235 points while Conor Daly and Christian Rasmussen are on 231 points, but Daly did not run in three hybrid races last year, Mid-Ohio the first Iowa race, and Toronto. Sting Ray Robb rounds out the hybrid regulars with 200 points to his name. 

Palou's Look at the Record Book

Álex Palou has been the man of 2025 in IndyCar. Palou's victory at Road America was his sixth of the season. He is the first driver with at least six victories through the first nine races since A.J. Foyt did it in 1975. Six victories is a high-bar in contemporary IndyCar.

Palou is the first driver to win six races in a season since Will Power in 2011. No driver has won at least seven races in a season since reunification. The last driver with at least seven victories in a year was Sébastien Bourdais, who won eight of 14 races in the 2007 Champ Car season. When it comes to unified series, Al Unser, Jr.'s eight victories in 1994 is the last time a driver won at least seven times in a single series. 

While Palou has these milestones within view, all-time records are plausible for the 2025 season. With a winning percentage of 66.667%, he is on pace to win at least 11 races this year. The most victories in a single season is ten. A.J. Foyt did it in 1964 and Al Unser did it in 1970. The remaining eight races line up particularly well for Palou. 

The Catalan driver has won at three of the remaining seven circuits. Palou won at Mid-Ohio two years ago and he was finished on the podium in all four of his starts at the track with Chip Ganassi Racing. He has never finished worse than sixth in three Toronto starts, and he was second there in 2023. He has finished on the podium in two of the last three Iowa races. His four visits to Laguna Seca have ended with finishes of fourth, first third and first. He has won twice in four Portland starts, and he was second last year. 

Milwaukee and Nashville are the only real question marks for Palou, and last year was his first visit to both circuits. He was fifth in the first Milwaukee race, and then gearbox issues prevented him from starting the second race on time. At Nashville, he only needed a ninth-place finish to clinch the championship and he finished 11th. 

One more victory would make him only 16th driver to win at least seven times in a season. He is currently tied with Ralph Mulford, Danny Sullivan and Tony Kanaan in the all-time record book with 17 career victories. One more victory would move him into a tie with Ryan Hunter-Reay for 27th all-time. 

Aside for victories, Palou has seven podium finishes this season, and he is on pace for at least 13 podium finishes in a season. Only five times in IndyCar history has a driver had at least 13 podium finishes in a season, and only six times has a driver had at least 12 podium finishes, most recently was Scott Dixon in 2008. The last driver with at least 13 podium finishes was Alex Zanardi, who had 15 podium finishes in 1998. The most podium finishes in a season was 16, which Mario Andretti achieved in 1968.

Who Needs a Win?

Through nine races, there have only been two winners this IndyCar season: Álex Palou and Kyle Kirkwood. It is the fewest winners through nine races since the 1980 season when Johnny Rutherford and Bobby Unser had a 5-4 split. We have not seen only two winners through ten races since the 1964 season when A.J. Foyt won nine of the first ten races, and Parnelli Jones had won the eighth race of the season at Milwaukee. Foyt and Jones combined to win the first 12 races of the 1964 season. 

Over two-dozen drivers need a victory, and time is running out as there are fewer races remaining than have been contested. Six drivers from last season have not won yet in 2025.

Patricio O'Ward won at Mid-Ohio last year, and it was his second of a series-high three victories in 2024. O'Ward has been one of the closer drivers to victory this season. He has finished runner-up three times, and no other driver has multiple runner-up finishes this season. At Thermal Club, O'Ward led 51 of 65 laps, and at one point was over ten seconds clear of the field before Palou had the better tire compound for the final stint, allowing Palou to run down and pass the Mexican driver.

O'Ward has seven career victories, but he has yet to win at a track multiple times. Prior to his victory last year, he had not finished better than eighth in his first six Mid-Ohio starts. 

Team Penske has been the biggest notable absence in the 2025 season. Its trio of drivers all have a bagel in the victory column after the three combined for eight victories in 2024. The team has not failed to win one of the first ten races since Penske went winless in 1999. 

Will Power is currently the best Penske driver in the championship, and he is ranked in seventh on 197 points. After rebounding with four consecutive top ten finishes from Thermal Club through the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Power has finished outside the top ten in three of the last four races. He has finished on the podium in four of the last six Mid-Ohio races, which include his only victory at the circuit in the second race of the 2020 doubleheader.

Scott McLaughlin is seven points behind Power in the championship, and he is heading into Mid-Ohio on one of his worst slumps since his rookie season. In the last four races, McLaughlin has an average finish 19.5. He has failed to finish two of those races and he has finished 12th in the other two. The good news is McLaughlin has finished in the top five in the last three Mid-Ohio races, which started with his victory at the circuit in 2022.

Josef Newgarden is having a nightmare of a season. Seventeenth in the championship, Newgarden's only top five finish was third in the season opener at St. Petersburg. He has finished outside of the top twenty in three of the last four races. Mid-Ohio is likely not the place Newgarden was hoping to see. He has finished outside the top ten in the last two race, though he had finished in the top ten of the previous four Mid-Ohio races and he has won twice at the circuit, most recently in 2021.

Scott Dixon is fourth in the championship, but he enters this weekend 20 races removed from his most recent victory. While Dixon is the all-time leader in victories at Mid-Ohio with six, he has not won at the track since 2019. Five races is longest winless streak at the 2.258-mile circuit. He has only one podium finish through the first nine races, his fewest since 2022 when he had one through the first nine races in that year as well. Dixon went on to win the tenth race in 2022 at Toronto, ending a 22-race winless streak. 

Colton Herta is in a similar rut as Will Power. Like Power, Herta has finished outside the top ten in three of the last four races with a third at Detroit mixed in, one spot better than Power. Herta is tenth in the championship on 184 points, tied with Santino Ferrucci, but Ferrucci holds the tiebreaker as his best finish this year was second at Detroit. Herta has not won on a permanent road course since the 2022 Grand Prix of Indianapolis. His fourth-place finish last year at Mid-Ohio ended a three-race top ten finish drought at the circuit. 

Road to Indy

It is another full weekend of competition for the junior series as the Road to Indy will complete a pyramid this weekend. U.S. F2000 will race three times, USF Pro 2000 will race twice, and Indy Lights has one race from Mid-Ohio. 

Caio Collet scored his second career victory in Indy Lights two weeks ago at Road America, and now Collet heads to where he scored his first career victory. He won at Mid-Ohio last year, and he could become the first driver to win at Mid-Ohio in consecutive years in Indy Lights since Santiago Urrutia swept the 2016 doubleheader and won the first race in 2017. 

Collet's victory has him third in the championship, 70 points behind championship leader Dennis Hauger. Hauger was second at Road America, his fifth podium finish of the season and he has started on pole position in five of seven races. The only time he did not start on pole position were the two races on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Hauger has 317 points and a 28-point advantage over Andretti Global teammate Lochie Hughes. Hughes has raced at Mid-Ohio the last three years in the Road to Indy, but in eight starts he has never finished better than fourth. Hughes was third at Road America, and he has finished in the top five of every race this year. 

Myles Rowe is fourth in the championship on 216 points. Rowe had six top five finishes in seven races. Josh Pierson matched his best finish of the seaosn with fourth at Road America. Pierson sits on 194 points, three ahead of Salvador de Alba. There is a 30-point gap from de Alba to Callum Hedge in seventh. There is a further 27-point gap from Hedge to Jack William Miller.

Indy Lights will race on Sunday July 6 at 10:35 a.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 35 laps.

Max Garcia won two of three Road America races in USF Pro 2000, and his championship lead is 72 points over Mac Clark. Garcia has finished inside the top four of every race this season while Clark has four consecutive podium finishes and seven consecutive top five finishes, but Clark has yet to win a race this year. Clark has not won in Road to Indy competition since the second race of the 2023 Mid-Ohio triple-header in U.S. F2000.

Ariel Elkin is a point behind Clark in the championship while Alessandro de Tullio is 19 points off Elkin on 234 points. Max Taylor's victory in the Road America capper moved Taylor into the championship top five on 202 points, one more than Jacob Douglas. There is a 54-point gap from Douglas in sixth and Michael Costello in seventh.

Both USF Pro 2000 races will be run on Saturday July 5. The first of which will be at 11:55 a.m. with the second at 5:15 p.m. Each race will be 30 laps or 50 minutes. 

U.S. F2000 has the closest championship battle with Thomas Schrage up 27 points on Jack Jeffers. Neither driver had an outstanding Road America weekend. Schrage won the first race but was 13th in the second race. Jeffers started each race on pole position, but he was 22nd and seventh at the checkered flag of each respective race. 

Teddy Musella made a big gain, finishing second and first at Road America. Musella is on 192 points, 36 points behind Musella. G3 Argyros has six consecutive top five finishes and he is fourth on 175 points. 

The still-absent Liam McNeilly remains fifth on 165 points despite missing the last five races. McNeilly is ten points ahead of Evan Cooley. Caleb Gafrarar is seventh on 139 points, ten points ahead of Indianapolis Raceway Park winner Anthony Martella.

U.S. F2000 will race on Friday July 4 at 2:05 p.m. The second race of the weekend will be Saturday July 5 at 4:20 p.m. The final race of the triple-header will be Sunday July 6 at 8:20 a.m. All three races are scheduled for 20 laps or 40 minutes.

Fast Facts

This will be the seventh IndyCar race to take place on July 6, and the first since Juan Pablo Montoya won at Pocono in 2014. It was Montoya's first victory since returning to IndyCar.

This Sunday will also mark the 22nd anniversary of Bryan Herta scoring his first victory for the Andretti Green Racing organization at Kansas Speedway. It is also the 17th anniversary of Ryan Hunter-Reay winning at Watkins Glen for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. For both drivers, this was their third career victories.

Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske each have 12 Mid-Ohio victories.

Americans have won six of the last 13 Mid-Ohio races. American drivers had not won any of the 14 Mid-Ohio races prior to this stretch. 

The only driver to pick up a first career victory at Mid-Ohio was Charlie Kimball in 2013. 

In the last two races, the winner has led eight laps or fewer, and in four of nine races this season the winner has led fewer than 15 laps.

The fewest laps led for a Mid-Ohio winner is ten by Bobby Rahal in 1986. In only four Mid-Ohio races has the winner led fewer than 20 laps (Johnny Rutherford 1980, Rahal 1986, Roberto Guerrero 1997 and Al Unser, Jr. 1995).

In nine consecutive Mid-Ohio races, the final lead change has occurred with over 20 laps remaining. 

In only five Mid-Ohio races has the final lead change occurred with ten laps or fewer remaining (1986 - ten laps to go, 1987 - ten laps to go, 1995 - four laps to go, 2007 - nine laps to go, 2016 - six laps to go).

The average starting position for a Mid-Ohio winner is 3.414 with a median of second. 

Eight of the last ten Mid-Ohio races have been won from the front row. 

Sixteen of 41 Mid-Ohio races have been won from pole position. Twenty-five Mid-Ohio races have been won from the front row, including five of the last six races.

The average number of lead changes in a Mid-Ohio race is 4.707 with a median of five.

Five of the last six Mid-Ohio races hav had five lead changes or fewer. 

Every Mid-Ohio race has had at least one lead change.

The average number of cautions for a Mid-Ohio race is 1.9 with a median of two. The average number of caution laps is 7.15 with a median of 6.5. 

Seven Mid-Ohio races have been caution-free. Another ten Mid-Ohio races have had only one caution, including the last two Mid-Ohio races. Nine of the last ten Mid-Ohio races have had two cautions or fewer.

Predictions

Álex Palou makes it seven victories and he will lead at least 50 laps in the process. Scott Dixon will be on the podium. At least one driver will gain at least ten spots from their starting position. Josef Newgarden will be the best finishing Penske driver. A.J. Foyt Racing's top five streak will come to an end. Every team will make three stops. Christian Lundgaard is again the top finishing Arrow McLaren driver. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing will have all three of its cars finish better than their starting positions. There will be at least one case where a top five runner gets a pit lane penalty. Sleeper: Felix Rosenqvist. 

Musings From the Weekend: Spoiler Alert!

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

Lando Norris led a McLaren 1-2 in Austria. Red Bull did not have a great day at the Red Bull Ring. Liam Lawson did have a great day at the Red Bull Ring. Someone got hurt in the Netherlands. Now, it is tourney time, and eight of the 16 teams that advanced in the NASCAR In-Season Challenge were in the bottom half of the seeds! IndyCar will not be going to Thermal Club next year. How long the spring break will be remains unknown. At least the Grand Prix of Arlington, has a "foundational partner" in Toyota, and of course that has led to wild speculation! Just be prepared for disappointment. However, I went to the movies, and you have been warned. 

Spoiler Alert!

What if Martin Donnelly attempted a comeback? 

That is what F1 The Movie asks. Rolled into an American folklore of motorsports hero, F1 takes a real-life accident and uses it for an unthinkable comeback story. 

Much of the story and what we see on-track does not fit reality. It is a movie though. It is supposed to be fictional, a foot in reality but allowed to exist outside what we see on a daily basis. While a motorsport fans' stomach for creative license will be pushed beyond its limits, a savant must appreciate the cinematography and how it captures an already breathtaking sport in a more astonishing light. As immersive as a current television broadcast is with its plethora of camera angles and onboards, F1 finds a way to go a step further. 

Plurids aside, oh boy! This movie is good. Comedic at times, even if it uses actual incidents as inspiration for what we see in the film, it pushes the limits on the drama. Based on reality, it is flawed, but there was something about it going beyond what is realistic that makes it entertaining. I have seen it compared to Driven. That is asinine. Though some racing sequences are ridiculous, F1 has good acting and depth to its characters. In Driven, you could see the strings while the technical advancements of F1 allows for a clean blend of a fictional race team into real race footage. 

It is hard to forgive some of the liberties taken. In this film, it is a world where the stewards see nothing and do less. There are certain expectations from the real world that we must see to ground the film in reality. When you do not see those, it is disappointing. It is like if we saw a football movie and the quarterback was body-slammed in front of the referee five seconds after the whistle, and no penalty was given. There is a good chance Sonny Hayes would have earned enough penalty points in his first two races that he would not be allowed to make a third start. We were watching a Yuji Ide situation! 

But Hayes isn't that bad of a driver. His years of experience, including a stint in Formula One 30 years prior, has him a step ahead of the APX GP team, and some of the competition. It is almost a step too far as we do not see drivers this intertwined in strategy to the point of manipulating a race. But Hayes is not your typical Formula One driver. He has spent decades competing everywhere, almost in a way of conquering all the summits of the motorsports world. He has raced in the top levels of NASCAR and sports cars. He probably has also run in some low-budget efforts and had to do more with less, forcing Hayes to be more cerebral than a man who just slams his foot down on the throttle with countless numbers of engineers and strategists studying telemetry.

Hayes wants to win for himself, but he can see how his role is to elevate the team. His finishing position is not the be-all, end-all even if it is what he wants the most. He can selflessly put the team ahead of himself. If the team can get a win, he will do what he was brought in to accomplish. 

Can a big-budget racing film live without a spectacular crash sequence? 

Regardless of what film it is, they all have it. Grand Prix, Le Mans, Driven. Even Cars had two! Rush was centered on an actual crash. That film needed it. If it didn't show it, the story would be incomplete. I didn't see Gran Turismo, but that is based on Jann Mardenborough's career, and I know he had a big accident in his career that seems like it could only be in a movie, but it actually happened. It has to be in the film at that point. I guess Ford v Ferrari doesn't have one, but that is another film centered on real events. When it comes to fictional films, the immediate instinct is to get a big accident onto the screen. F1 goes for the spectacle, but the accidents are believable because they are based ones that happened. One was practically a recreation with an aspect of a different accident added for dramatics to complete this one moment in the film.

It is hard to say it is unrealistic when it is based on something we saw. We know it is possible, but what strains the motorsports lovers in the audience is why it is necessary to include it in the story. 

Motorsports is on the ragged edge enough. It does not need the spectacular each time out. It can be visually staggering but still hit hardest on the emotional anguish from a bad result. It does not require physical injuries to feel pain. 

The crash doesn't need to be a car flying through the air. A driver can have a shunt while battling for the lead and break a wrist because he didn't get his hands off the wheel in time. Both are possible. One is more conceivable. It can look like a regular racing accident and have consequences. The audience would still get it. They didn't need to go to the next level to have people catching their breath. 

If we remove two accidents from the film, would the motorsports audience be more accepting? It is the biggest barrier. There are other elements of the film that push expectations. Could a team of that level improve as much as it could in a short period of time? We don't see it so we would likely have a gripe with it, but it isn't inconceivable. In theory, it could happen. In practice, it never does. 

If we remove two accidents from the film, would the non-motorsports audience love it as much as they do? I think so. It goes back to motorsports being naturally on the ragged edge. A slightly worse than average accident is still startling to watch. It doesn't have to be over the top to leave someone breathless. 

While being a film about the biggest motorsports series in the world, F1 quietly champions other forms of motorsports, and uses Sonny Hayes as the archetype for what we want all drivers to be. The dream is Formula One, but Hayes must find a way to fill a void after an accident nearly ended his career before his prime. We meet a man who is not obsessed with the mountaintop but has come to find joy chasing the next challenge. Once he has conquered it, he can move on. 

We see Hayes competing in sports cars. He grew up in IndyCar circles. The film states that he has raced in NASCAR and other sports cars. We know his eye is on Baja. For all these drivers who say they would love to compete here, there and everywhere, Hayes is doing it, and apparently he has done very well. This is a driver who will not be saying, "Aw, shucks," when it is all said and done. He has practically raced it all while most compete in barely enough to fill a thimble. 

If the audience is paying attention, they understand there is a world beyond Formula One, and one that can be fulfilling. Whether that leads others to explore what is going on in different corners of the world and perhaps right under their noses is unknown, but hopefully they take away there is more beyond the glitz of a grand prix weekend, it is rewarding, and they are welcome to give it a try.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Lando Norris, but did you know...

Marc Márquez won the Dutch TT, his sixth victory of the season. Márquez also won the sprint race. Diogo Moreira won in Moto2, his first Moto2 victory. José Antonio Rueda won in Moto3, his sixth victory of the season. Andrea Mantovani and Alessandro Zaccone split the MotoE races.

Chase Elliott won the NASCAR Cup race from Atlanta. Nick Sanchez won the Grand National Series race, his first career victory. Corey Heim won the Truck Series race at Lime Rock Park, his fifth victory of the season.

The #63 GRT - Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini of Mirko Bortolotti, Jordan Pepper and Luca Engstler won the 24 Hours of Spa.

Ott Tänak won the Acropolis Rally.

Pepe Martí (sprint) and Richard Verschoo (feature) split the Formula Two races from Austria. James Wharton (sprint) and Martinius Stenshorne (feature) split the Formula Three races.

Coming Up This Weekend

IndyCar opens up July in Mid-Ohio.

NASCAR will be in Chicago.

It will be British Grand Prix weekend from Silverstone.

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters will be at the Norisring

The European Le Mans Series has a trip to Imola.

Best of the Month: June 2025

Halfway done. Another year is halfway done. Summer is here. It has been a scorcher across most of the United States. Some relief is on the way. Before we know it, we will be wishing for a little extra warmth.

For this moment, we are in the heart of the season. Every series is competing. Most are around halfway through. Some are just beyond that point. There is plenty of racing to keep as busy, but it will soon be dwindling as 2025 slowly comes to an end. 

IndyCar Tidbits

We are beyond the halfway point in the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season. Nine races down, eight races to go, and this has been a stunning season to say the least. We are on the verge of July and only two drivers have won a race. For the better part of two decades, we knew an IndyCar season would not fully play out until the final rounds. This year, we have already come to terms with who will be champion. 

We might not see a historic title fight in 2025, but the door is open for plenty of history, and records being matched that we have not seen in decades. The drama might not be a battle for the ages but it could be something most have never seen in the IndyCar series. 

We will cover the history as the season moves on. There have been a few pieces of history and milestones that have already happened through the first half of the season. It will not surprise you that a certain driver was involved. 

Fastest to 50 Career Top Ten Finishes

Regardless of what else is accomplished this season, 2025 will be remembered as the season of Álex Palou. 

Through nine races, he has won six times. Palou has a 93-point lead in the championship. A third consecutive title is inevitable at this point. It would also be the fourth in his career, and it would make him the sixth member of that club. There is still time for it to go wrong, but there is no reason to believe after the first nine races it will flip upside down in the final eight races. 

Championship aside, Palou is already joining special clubs. Moving away from victories for a second, though he has 17 now in his career, the same total as Danny Sullivan, Jimmy Murphy and Tony Kanaan, only one fewer than Ryan Hunter-Reay, and two behind Sam Hornish, Jr. and Jimmy Bryan, Palou hit a milestone at Road America that might not appear to be that significant. 

With his victory in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, Palou reached 50 career top five finishes. It was his 90th start. Only 33 other drivers have hit the half-century mark in top five results. It isn't the most exclusive club, but it is not a long list either when you consider the century-plus history of American open-wheel racing's highest division.

Fifty-in-90 is a breathtaking batting average. Each race Palou has better than 50% odds he will finish in the top five. A great day is a high probability for the Catalan driver every time he gets into the race car. 

Not many drivers could have had the same hit rate as Palou through 90 races. That begs the question, "What is the fastest a driver has reach 50 career top ten finishes?"

And I know what you might be thinking, but the answer is not Álex Palou, though he is up there. 

Palou became one of six drivers to reach 50 top five finishes within his first 90 starts with his most recent victory. 

The fastest?

The Split made some of these facts easy because it is Sébastien Bourdais. Bourdais reached 50 top five finishes in 71 career starts. That was at Circuit Zolder in Belgium on August 26, 2007. Bourdais would make three more starts in his Champ Car career before leaving after the 2007 season. In 74 starts over those first five seasons, he only had 15 results outside the top ten, eight of those were in his rookie season in 2003. 

Many drivers benefitted in the record book thanks to The Split. Really every driver did. If there had been one series the entire time, no one has the same totals they currently have. That goes for Bourdais, Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Paul Tracy, Sam Hornish, Jr. and everyone else. 

We cannot hold that against Bourdais. He is the fastest to 50 top five finishes. He broke Rick Mears' record to get there. Mears hit 50 in his 76th start. Then comes Mario Andretti, who hit 50 in his 81st start, A.J. Foyt's 50th was in his 85th start, and Dan Wheldon had 50 top five finishes in his first 88 starts. Then add Palou. 

That's it. That's the list. 

If you want to knock it up to 50 top five finishes within a driver's first 100 starts, you add Hornish, Jr. (92 starts) and Bobby Rahal (94 starts). That is still only eight members. 

When it comes to drivers who began their career after reunification, Josef Newgarden is the only other one to have reached 50 career top five finishes, and it took Newgarden 143 starts to get there. If you want to chuck Simon Pagenaud in there, who only compete in one season during The Split, the final Champ Car season in 2007, it still took Pagenaud 115 starts to reach 50 top five finishes. That is just over an extra season and a third compared to Palou.

It is not easy to hit this milestone in such a quick period of time. Palou is magnificent.

Kirkwood Rules The Streets

Back in April, we touched up Kyle Kirkwood's street course trend. With his victory at Long Beach, he became the fourth driver in IndyCar history to have his first three career victories come in street races. At the start of June, Kirkwood made it four street course victories in his first four career victories when he was first in Detroit. 

That made Kirkwood the third driver to do such a thing. Will Power was the first to do it as Power's first six victories were street races, though the temporary circuit at Edmonton City Centre Airport is included in that. Technically not city streets but recognized as a street course. Mike Conway was the other driver to achieve such an accomplishment. Conway's four career victories all came on street courses, and they were all proper street courses. 

Unfortunately, Kirkwood's run at Power's accomplishment ended when Kirkwood won at Gateway, his first career oval victory, and fifth in his career. He has a place in the history book, but just not the largest section of peculiar facts in IndyCar history. I still think he has a few more street course victories in his over the remainder of his career.

The Swedes

Marcus Ericsson and Felix Rosenqvist both made history in June, and you probably didn't even notice it. To be fair, no one really mentioned it. I am not sure anyone else was keeping track. 

We do know about the milestone both drivers reached. In the span of two races, they each made their 100th start. Ericsson hit the century mark at Long Beach. Rosenqvist followed at Barber Motorsports Park. That's not the history I am talking about. They each did something that you probably would not have guessed. 

Entering this season, the most experienced Swede in IndyCar roster was Kenny Bräck. Bräck had made 104 starts from his first start on March 23, 1997 at Phoenix to his final start on May 29, 2005 in the 89th Indianapolis 500. 

Ericsson became the most experienced Swede at Gateway. Rosenqvist moved ahead of Bräck into second at Road America.

It is a small thing, but it does capture a bit of IndyCar's place in the motorsports world in the 2020s. While we had Bräck, and Stefan Johansson was also a regular in the 1990s, there wasn't a Swedish pipeline of drivers to the United States. Sweden had a bit of a lull across the board in open-wheel racing until the arrival of Ericsson in GP2, which led to Formula One.

Bräck and Johnasson were the Swedes many IndyCar fans would have recognized, but then there was nearly a 15-year gap until another competed in the series. There is a cyclical nature to driver origins. For a while, Frenchman were common on the IndyCar grid. Now, there are none. We have seen fewer British drivers in recent years. I was stunned to find out Louis Foster's pole position at Road America was the first for a British driver in IndyCar since Dario Franchitti in 2013. Could it really have been that long? That feels like yesterday. 

For basically the entire 1990s and 2000s, Brazilians were as common, if not more common than American drivers on the grid. In 2025, the only Brazilian to race in IndyCar was Hélio Castroneves at the Indianapolis 500. The most recent Brazilian to debut in IndyCar was Pietro Fittipaldi at Phoenix in 2018. Matheus Leist debuted the race prior to that at St. Petersburg. 

At one point, it looked like Brazilians would also be frequent in IndyCar. Now, they are not here. We see two Danes on the grid, and prior to 2021, there had only been two Danes to ever compete in an IndyCar race. A Spaniard is leading the championship, but there have only been four Spaniards to ever start an IndyCar race. Scott Dixon was the only New Zealander for the longest time, and now we have three. Canadians have not been common on the grid and we have gone multiple seasons in recent years without a full-time Canadian driver. Mexican drivers had been lacking for over a decade before Patricio O'Ward came around. There is no full-time Japanese driver, and for almost 30 years Honda made sure it had a Japanese driver competing in the series. A decade ago, there were five Colombians in IndyCar. Now, there are none. 

One hundred starts is quite a bit. You have made a presence in IndyCar if you have been around for 100 starts. There is no sign that Ericsson and Rosenqvist will be going anywhere anytime soon, but we must keep in mind that someday they will be gone, and so might be this Swedish contingent that has embraced IndyCar and also had a respectable following in their home country, something we do not see from other international countries. 

Cherish it now because we do not know if it will continue.

No Repeat Finishes

An oldie, but a goodie. 

Dating back a few seasons ago, I have noted which drivers have not had a repeat finish through certain points in a season. 

Three seasons ago, Alexander Rossi became the first driver since Eddie Cheever in the 2001 Indy Racing League to not have a repeat finish over an entire season. Rossi went 17-for-17. The last two seasons have seen the longest streak without a repeat finish hit 13 races. Graham Rahal did it in 2023 and Felix Rosenqvist did it last year. 

Where are we through nine races in the 2025?

Scott Dixon (Second, tenth, eighth, 12th, fifth, 20th, 11th, fourth, ninth)

David Malukas (13th, 18th, 17th, 16th, 23rd, second, 14th, 12th, seventh)

That's it! That's the list! Only two drivers remain. That isn't crazy. Through nine races last year, only three drivers had yet to have a repeat finish, and in that ninth race itself, four drivers had their first repeat finish occur. 

In recent races, many drivers have had their first repeat finish. 

Santino Ferrucci was fifth in Indianapolis and fifth two races later at Gateway. Josef Newgarden has finished 25th in the last two races. Marcus Ericsson was 13th in consecutive races over Detroit and Gateway. Even if you throw Jacob Abel in, who failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, Abel had his first repeat finish of the season at Road America, where was 23rd after previously finishing 23rd at St. Petersburg. 

Who is more likely to have their streak go the longest?

Dixon has three of the top five spots covered, as well as six of the top ten. That is not a lot of room left for the remaining eight races. You expect Dixon to finish in the top ten regularly. He could win, but he could be second again. He could have a good day and finish third, or he could lose a spot in the final pit cycle and suddenly be fourth for the second time this season. 

Malukas is a bit of a wild card. He has eight top ten finishing positions remaining. He could click off a few more of those, but over the final eight races he will likely have four or five finishes outside of the top ten. That is a pretty wide net. That could be on the verge of the top ten, or those could be dreadful days where he is never a factor. The problem is Malukas has six spots between 11th and 20th already covered. 

I am leaning toward Malukas because he could practically finish 19th, eighth, sixth, 22nd, 15th, 11th, ninth and 25th over the final eight races and that would be 17 different positions in 17 races. He could do well on the ovals or he could overstep and a poor day would check off one of the final positions in the box score. 

The last time we didn't have a driver open a season with at least ten different finishing positions was in 2019 when Marcus Ericsson opened with nine different. Every season since reunification has seen at least one driver open with at least nine different finishing positions.

Caution Finishes

You might not have realized something at the end of the Indianapolis 500. Álex Palou came off of turn four and within the final few hundred yards of the finish line, lights flashed, Nolan Siegel was in the turn two wall, and the caution flag was waving. You probably did see that, but you probably did not realize what that caution also ended. 

The race was effectively over at that point. Marcus Ericsson wasn't going to make a run on Palou and beat him in a drag race to the yard of bricks, but this year's Indianapolis 500 was the first race to end under caution since Texas 2023, over two years prior. IndyCar had gone 37 consecutive races with a green flag finish prior to this year's Indianapolis 500.

Since reunification, that was the most consecutive races without a finish under caution. Prior to that, the longest streak was 23 races, beginning with the first Mid-Ohio race in 2020 and going through the 2022 Texas race.

There have been 294 races since reunification. Of those 294 races, 35 have finished under caution. That is 11.904%. Eight of those races have been weather-related, whether it be the race being called under red flag conditions or the race finishing under caution while reaching a time limit. Twelve of those 35 races had the caution come out on the final lap of the race.

That doesn't seem so bad.

Earliest Title Deciders

It is early to think about the championship, but it is on all of our minds. Álex Palou will be the 2025 IndyCar champion. When will he be the 2025 IndyCar champion? We are all expecting for the second time in three seasons the title to be clinched early. This is something we are not used to after having 16 consecutive years with at least one championship going to the finale unclaimed. The question becomes, "How early could Palou clinch?"

Up 93 points with eight races remaining, Palou is 16 points away from passing the threshold needed to clinch the title with two races to spare. On average, Palou's championship lead over second has increased by 10.375 after each race. At that rate, Palou would still only clinch the championship with two races in hand. With three races to go, Palou's lead would be around 145 points. With 54 points on the table for each race, 162 points would still be out there. However, Palou would be in a position where he would not need much to clinch the championship.

For some of you, this is the end of the world. How will anyone watch IndyCar if the championship is decided with two races to go?

Well, we had nearly two decades of championships going to the wire and all those title fights didn't really bring the masses to the racetrack or in front of their television screens to see the drama. I think IndyCar will be fine either way. This will just be one of those seasons that stand out, and it has been a long time since a championship was clinched with multiple races remaining. 

The last time was the 2002 CART season. Cristiano da Matta claimed the title with three races remaining. 

That is pretty early, but it is not the earliest. 

Since 1946, a total of 44 out of 93 seasons have seen the championship clinched with races to spare. In 23 of those season, the championship was sealed with multiple races remaining. On six occasions has the championship been clinched with at last four races remaining, but the earliest a championship has been clinched was with five races in hand, and that happened in consecutive seasons.

In 1969, Mario Andretti clinched the championship with his victory at Trenton on September 21, 1969. There were five races after that, and Andretti would win two of them. 

The following season, Al Unser clinched the championship with his victory at DuQuoin on September 7, 1970. DuQuoin was the first in a five-race winning streak for Unser, and that winning streak was snapped when he was second in the season finale at Phoenix behind Swede Savage. 

The other seasons where the title was over with at least four races remaining were Jimmy Bryan in 1954, A.J. Foyt in 1964, A.J. Foyt in 1975 and Alex Zanardi in 1998.

Álex Palou has some work to do if he wants the title decided that early. Clinching with three races in hand seems like a stretch, but clinching with two looks pretty practical with eight races left\t. 

July Preview

The first NASCAR race of the month will be the Chicago street course, and considering this will likely be the final edition of the race, I think it deserves to be recognized for being a respectable track while also being a significant achievement. 

NASCAR shut down Grant Park, right in the heart of the city. It didn't run around some parking lot on the outskirts of the city. It took a significant area and put on a race, and the track is pretty good. It is a bit of a shame that in two years we have not seen a completely dry race that was allowed to reach the scheduled distance. It is also a shame that this is a part of NASCAR's plan to be a limited time only with some of these events. 

I don't know how practical Chicago's Grant Park could be as a permanent NASCAR Cup Series venue, but it would not be a bad thing if NASCAR made a commitment that one of these street race events will stick around for years to go. There is a chance Chicago's exit will see the return of Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, but that is an hour outside the city. 

San Diego appears to be the next destination for NASCAR's street race, though that still must be confirmed. Street races do not have a long shelf life to begin with, but if NASCAR has one that works, it should not be afraid to stick it out and make it own. If it keeps jumping around, it will run the risk running out of cities sooner rather than later. 

Let's hope Grant Park gets a deserving send out, one full of sun.

Other Events of Note in July:

NASCAR will conclude its in-season tournament with races at Sonoma, Dover and the Brickyard 400. 

Formula One has two historic venues, Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps.

Formula E ends its season with a pair of doubleheaders at familiar venues, Berlin and London. 

MotoGP has a round in Germany and the Czech Republic, and then it is on summer break for a month.

Let's Look at the League - June 2025

We have surpassed the halfway point in the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season. The championship looks rather under control with Álex Palou up 93 points on the competition with six victories already under his belt with eight more races left to run. We are still adjusting to knowing the inevitable before the summer has even begun in IndyCar circles. 

To distract us from reality, we do have our yearly hypothetical, what if IndyCar had a head-to-head competition where each race individual teams competed against one another in a larger league format that would determine a different champion? 

NASCAR is about to do an actual form of this starting this weekend in Atlanta. For IndyCar, we continue playing make-believe, but it could be worse. At least this involves a little creativity.

League One

For League One, we are just beyond the halfway point in the regular season. Eight of 14 weeks are complete. The bigger picture is starting to shake out. A few teams are in a prime position for the playoffs, a few more are in the middle and could make it, but could also fall short. Then there are the few teams that know they must start winning matchup and time is running out.

Results

	Conference One	Conference Two
Week 1 (St. Petersburg)	#10 CGR def. #15 RLLR (1-12)	#26 Andretti def. #6 McLaren (16-26)
	#28 Andretti def. #12 Penske (6-26)	#3 Penske def. #21 ECR (4-15)
	#60 MSR def. #5 McLaren (7-11)	#9 CGR def. #45 RLLR (2-27)
	#2 Penske def. #7 McLaren (3-8)	#27 Andretti def. #14 Foyt (4-12)
Week 2 (Thermal)	#10 CGR def. #28 Andretti (1-21)	#26 Andretti def. #21 ECR (4-12)
	#12 Penske def. #15 RLLR (6-11)	#6 McLaren def. #3 Penske (19-27)
	#5 McLaren def. #7 McLaren (2-3)	#9 CGR def. #14 Foyt (10-14)
	#60 MSR def. #2 Penske (5-13)	#27 Andretti def. #45 RLLR (8-24)
Week 3 (Long Beach)	#10 CGR def. #60 MSR (2-4)	#26 Andretti def. #45 RLLR (7-16)
	#7 McLaren def. #12 Penske (3-5)	#3 Penske def. #14 Foyt (6-11)
	#5 McLaren def. #15 RLLR (13-22)	#9 CGR def. #6 McLaren (8-20)
	#28 Andretti def. #2 Penske (12-27)	#27 Andretti def. #21 ECR (1-23)
Week 4 (Barber)	#10 CGR def. #7 McLaren (1-2)	#26 Andretti def. #14 Foyt (7-18)
	#12 Penske def. #60 MSR (5-13)	#3 Penske def. #45 RLLR (3-26)
	#5 McLaren def. #28 Andretti (6-20)	#9 CGR def. #21 ECR (12-15)
	#2 Penske def. #15 RLLR (10-14)	#6 McLaren def. #27 Andretti (9-11)
Week 5 (GPOI)	#10 CGR def. #2 Penske (1-12)	#27 Andretti def. #26 Andretti (8-25)
	#5 McLaren def. #12 Penske (2-3)	#3 Penske def. #9 CGR (4-5)
	#15 RLLR def. #7 McLaren (6-17)	#6 McLaren def. #14 Foyt (13-20)
	#60 MSR def. #28 Andretti (10-26)	#45 RLLR def. #21 ECR (11-19)
Week 6 (Indianapolis 500)	#10 CGR def. #5 McLaren (1-3)	#26 Andretti def. #9 CGR (14-20)
	#12 Penske def. #2 Penske (16-22)	#3 Penske def. #27 Andretti (30-32)
	#7 McLaren def. #28 Andretti (7-31)	#14 Foyt def. #21 ECR (5-6)
	#60 MSR def. #15 RLLR (4-17)	#45 RLLR def. #6 McLaren (12-13)
Week 7 (Detroit)	#12 Penske def. #10 CGR (4-25)	#26 Andretti def. #3 Penske (3-12)
	#5 McLaren def. #2 Penske (7-9)	#27 Andretti def. #9 CGR (1-11)
	#7 McLaren def. #60 MSR (8-21)	#14 Foyt def. #45 RLLR (2-22)
	#28 Andretti def. #15 RLLR (13-20)	#6 McLaren def. #21 ECR (19-24)
Week 8 (Gateway)	#10 CGR def. #15 RLLR (8-22)	#26 Andretti def. #6 McLaren (17-19)
	#28 Andretti def. #12 Penske (13-27)	#21 ECR def. #3 Penske (3-24)
	#5 McLaren def. #60 MSR (2-16)	#9 CGR def. #45 RLLR (4-26)
	#7 McLaren def. #2 Penske (14-25)	#27 Andretti def. #14 Foyt (1-5)
Week 9 (Road America)	#10 CGR def. #28 Andretti (1-21)	#26 Andretti def. #21 ECR (16-18)
	#12 Penske def. #15 RLLR (14-20)	#6 McLaren def #3 Penske (8-12)
	#5 McLaren def. #7 McLaren (17-24)	#14 Foyt def. #9 CGR (3-9)
	#60 MSR def. #2 Penske (2-25)	#27 Andretti def. #45 RLLR (4-11)

Conference One Standings

#10 Ganassi 8-1

#5 McLaren 7-2
#12 Penske 5-4
#60 Meyer Shank 5-4

#7 McLaren 4-5
#28 Andretti 4-5
#2 Penske 2-7
#15 RLLR 1-8

There are five weeks left in the regular season, and nothing is set in stone. The top seeds are still in play, everyone is still alive for a playoff spot, and the relegation battles are tight. 

It is no surprise Álex Palou would have the #10 Ganassi team leading the way in his conference, Patricio O'Ward would have the #5 McLaren in second, only one game back, and a little breathing space to Will Power and Felix Rosenqvist tied for third. The #12 Penske defeated the #60 MSR at Barber and that is currently the tiebreaker.

The playoff positions could swing widely over the final five weeks. Christian Lundgaard has been unable to catch a break. Despite finishing on the podium in three consecutive races, Lundgaard lost two of those matchups. He was third at Thermal Club and lost to his teammate O'Ward, who was second. At Barber Motorsports Park, Lundgaard was second but he lost to Palou, who won the race. 

Marcus Ericsson has better odds than you would expect for the playoffs considering his season. Josef Newgarden's season has him positioned right where you would expect, and Newgarden is closer to relegation than the playoffs, but there is time for him to go on a run. Graham Rahal's struggles are showcased right here. He isn't out of it, but Rahal has some work to do.

Key Matchups

Week 10 (Mid Ohio): #12 Penske vs. #7 McLaren. 

Week 12 (Iowa): #10 Ganassi vs. #2 Penske / #12 Penske vs. #5 McLaren

Week 13 (Toronto): #10 Ganassi vs. #5 McLaren / #12 Penske vs. #2 Penske / #7 McLaren vs. #28 Andretti

Week 14 (Laguna Seca): #10 Ganassi vs. #12 Penske / #5 McLaren vs #2 Penske

Conference Two Standings

#26 Andretti 8-1

#27 Andretti 7-2

#6 McLaren 5-4
#3 Penske 5-4
#9 Ganassi 5-4
#14 Foyt 3-6
#45 RLLR 2-7
#21 ECR 1-8

It hasn't been the greatest seasons for Colton Herta, but he has caught some breaks to top his conference with Kyle Kirkwood in second. Herta has won four consecutive matchups, and in three of those he has finished outside the top ten. After Kirkwood is a tight middle. Despite Nolan Siegel not having the greatest season, Siegel's results have him in a playoff spot thanks in part to him being 2-0 against Scott McLaughlin. McLaughlin beat Scott Dixon in their first meeting, and Dixon did beat Siegel. 

After starting 0-5, Santino Ferrucci is 3-1 over the last four races, but Ferrucci has some work to make the playoffs. Christian Rasmussen was the last one on the board when he won his matchup at Gateway, but the second Iowa race will be circled on his calendar because that is when he faces Louis Foster again, and a win that weekend could be enough to get Rasmussen the tiebreaker and avoid automatic relegation.

Key Matchups

Week 10 (Mid-Ohio): #9 Ganassi vs. #6 McLaren

Week 11 (Iowa): #26 Andretti vs. #14 Foyt

Week 12 (Iowa): #26 Andretti vs. #27 Andretti / #3 Penske vs #9 Ganassi

Week 13 (Toronto): #26 Andretti vs. #9 Ganassi / #3 Penske vs. #27 Andretti

Week 14 (Laguna Seca): #26 Andretti vs. #3 Penske / #9 Ganassi vs. #27 Andretti

League Two

Unlike the top division, League Two is nearly done with its first phase of the competition, but it is mostly a formality. Though there are two races left in the regular season, we know the two promoted teams for next season. The final two weeks will still be used to determine a champion, but it is one of two parties. The rest will be competing for promotion playoff spots and will race deep into the summer.

Results

Week 1 (St. Petersburg)	#8 CGR def. #51 Coyne (18-23)
	#18 Coyne def. #77 JHR (9-21)
	#4 Foyt def. #66 MSR (13-24)
	#20 ECR def. #76 JHR (10-17)
	#83 Prema def. #30 RLLR (20-22)
Week 2 (Thermal)	#30 RLLR def. #77 JHR (20-23)
	#66 MSR def. #20 ECR (7-9)
	#76 JHR def. #18 Coyne (16-17)
	#4 Foyt def. #90 Prema (18-26)
	#51 Coyne vs. #83 Prema def. #51 Coyne (22-25)
Week 3 (Long Beach)	#8 CGR def. #20 ECR (10-15)
	#66 MSR def. #30 RLLR (14-24)
	#90 Prema def. #76 JHR (21-25)
	#4 Foyt def. #83 Prema (17-18)
	#18 Coyne def. #51 Coyne (19-26)
Week 4 (Barber)	#66 MSR def. #8 CGR (17-21)
	#20 ECR def. #77 (8-22)
	#4 Foyt def. #30 RLLR (16-24)
	#90 Prema def. #51 Coyne (23-27)
	#18 Coyne def. #83 Prema (4-25)
Week 5 (GPOI)	#4 Foyt def. #8 CGR (23-27)
	#83 Prema def. #77 JHR (18-21)
	#66 MSR def. #90 Prema (7-22)
	#76 JHR def. #30 RLLR (15-17)
	#20 ECR def. #51 Coyne (14-24)
Week 6 (Indianapolis 500)	#30 RLLR def. #8 CGR (11-25)
	#77 JHR def. #90 Prema (23-33)
	#66 MSR def. #18 Coyne (18-27)
	#76 JHR def. #51 Coyne (8-DNQ)
	#4 Foyt def. #20 ECR (2-28)
Week 7 (Detroit)	#8 CGR def. #76 JHR (5-17)
	#66 MSR def. #77 JHR (6-15)
	#20 ECR def. #18 Coyne (10-27)
	#4 Foyt def. #51 Coyne (14-18)
	#83 Prema def. #90 Prema (16-26)
Week 8 (Gateway)	#8 CGR def. #77 JHR (15-20)
	#66 MSR def. #51 Coyne (9-21)
	#76 JHR def. #83 Prema (6-10)
	#20 ECR def. #30 RLLR (11-23)
	#18 Coyne def. #90 Prema (7-18)
Week 9 (Road America)	#8 CGR def. #18 Coyne (6-10)
	#51 Coyne def. #77 JHR (23-26)
	#66 MSR def. #83 Prema (5-27)
	#4 Foyt def. #76 JHR (7-22)
	#90 Prema def. #30 RLLR (15-19)

League Two Standings

#4 Foyt 8-0

#66 MSR 8-1

#8 Ganassi 5-3

#20 ECR 5-3

#76 JHR 4-4

#18 Coyne 4-4
#83 Prema 4-4

#90 Prema 3-5

#30 RLLR 2-6

#77 JHR 1-7

#51 Coyne 1-8

The promotion spots have been claimed. With two weeks remaining in the regular season, the #4 Foyt entry and the #66 Meyer Shank entry have clinched the automatic promotion spots. David Malukas beat Marcus Armstrong at the season opener at St. Petersburg after Armstrong's mechanical issues. Since then, Malukas has won every matchup, and Armstrong hasn't lost since that day. 

The League Two championship, which is mostly for pride, will come down to whether or not the #4 Foyt entry loses both the final two races or if the #66 MSR does not win at Mid-Ohio. All Malukas needs is one victory to clinch the championship, and he is slated to face the #77 JHR entry at Mid-Ohio, and the #18 Coyne entry in the first Iowa race. Armstrong's final regular season race is at Mid-Ohio against the # entry, as the #66 MSR's bye is the final week at Iowa. 

Everyone else is competing for a spot in the round robin for the promotion playoff. Last place in the regular season does not qualify for the promotion playoffs, and that fight took a turn at Road America as Jacob Abel got the #51 Coyne entry's first victory of the season over Sting Ray Robb in the #77 Juncos Hollinger Racing entry. This puts Abel and Robb on the same record with the tiebreaker going to Abel. 

Over the final two weeks, the #77 JHR entry will face the #4 Foyt at Mid-Oho and the #76 JHR car at the first Iowa race. The #51 Coyne entry has its bye for Mid-Ohio, but then it has the #30 RLLR entry at Iowa. If the #77 JHR fails to win both of the final two weeks, it will not qualify for the promotion playoff. If the #77 JHR wins one of the two, then it must have the #51 Coyne entry lose at Iowa.

That will be worth keeping an eye on. 

For the promotion playoff, those eight teams will be split into two groups and there will be a round robin over the second Iowa race, Toronto and Laguna Seca races. The top two from each group will advance to the semifinal at Portland before the final promotion spot will be secured at Milwaukee.

We will come back in July when we are on the verge of the playoffs.

Musings From the Weekend: The Unanswerable Questions From F1 The Movie

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

Álex Palou won again. IndyCar announced its regulations for its new chassis and engine, which are basically unchanged from the regulations announced in 2020, so we are getting what we were told about six or seven years late. Maybe that is enough time to attract some other manufacturers. Elsewhere, there was an endurance race that was not won on the road. There was another endurance race that went to the final lap. The power went out. There was some rain. It appeared to be hot no matter where in the world you stood. Fuel mileage was a common thread across a number of series. NASCAR could be heading to San Diego and Philadelphia. However..., "Let's all go to the lobby. Let's all go to the lobby. Let's all go to the lobby and get ourselves a treat." 

The Unanswerable Questions From F1 The Movie

It is premiere week for one of the most anticipated motorsports movies in recent memory. 

For years we have heard about this ambitious project of a Formula One feature film with Apple Studios, and Lewis Hamilton as a producer. There were many skeptics, but after two years of filming, it is here and F1 The Movie is about to be released in the United States. 

This film comes during the boom Formula One has experienced over the last half-decade. Never has Formula One been more popular in the United States, and a feature film was the next step along with the docuseries, three grand prix, live flag-to-flag race coverage and even commercial appearances for a number of the teams. Formula One has never been more exposed and recognized. To top it all off, it has Brad Pitt in the leading role.

Many are still skeptical, this time over the quality of the film. You aren't going to please everyone, but motorsports fans are some of the hardest people to please. Because they are snooty and will not admit it. They also do not accept creative license. Plenty are writing this film off before even going to the box office. 

"Let's judge a book by its cover! It saves time!" 

Do as you please, but let's see how it goes. Will it push reality? Probably. It is a movie. Will it live up to what Formula One actually is? To some level it will, but again, movie! 

I am not that interested in how the film portrays Formula One. I don't really care how it does with the lingo or the presentation of races or we get the scene where a car is in second-place and then all it needed to pass was to shift into the next gear and we get that stereotypical car movie trope. That is coming and I can live with that. 

I am here to pick some knits. 

If you listen to The Rewatchables, every film has some loose threads. Some are glaring! Others you need to ponder. 

This film has a few knits before it has even hit the screen. We know it. To the average viewer with no knowledge or a passing knowledge of Formula One, they aren't thinking about it. To me, I am focus on those. 

Without further ado, let's get to picking.

How can a 60-ish-year-old driver make it to Formula One?

Pitt's main character is Sonny Hayes, a "New York City cab driver, professional gambler and nomadic racer-for-hire who was a Formula One driver in his youth" according to Wikipedia. In another character description, Hayes is said to have suffered a significant accident that took him out of the sport. 

That's nice. Let's cut to the chase, Brad Pitt is 61 years old. He was born in 1963. The last driver born in 1963 to compete in a Formula One weekend was Ukyo Katayama in the 1997 European Grand Prix from Jerez. Literally the day Jacques Villeneuve became world champion! Hell, Villeneuve is still only 54 years old!

How can a 60-ish-year-old person make it to Formula One? 

This isn't a late-30s-something driver who was a star junior driver, had a bad accident in his early 20s, was out of the sport and started rebuilding after years of recovery and now is getting his chance. He is 60-ish years old. 

The oldest driver to ever start a race was Louis Chiron in the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix at 55 years and 292 days old. This film started filming when Pitt was 59 years old, but still, how does a driver who has been out of Formula One for almost 30 years, comeback at an age that is nearly four years older than the current record for oldest race starter?

There hasn't even been a driver over the age of 45 since Graham Hill ran the 1975 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Which brings us to our next point...

How does Sonny Hayes have a Super License if he was competing IMSA's GT Daytona class?

On regulations alone, I don't see how Hayes could have been allowed in a Formula One car. 

Let's just start with driver rankings that the FIA uses for sports cars. There are four categories, from highest to lowest, platinum, gold, silver and bronze. 

A platinum ranking includes those who are a "current or past Super License holder." But Hayes would have been downgraded a grade to gold when he turned 50 and he would have been downgraded again to silver when he turned 55. 

If it had been 30-ish years since he ran in Formula One, and he is now "a racer-for-hire" competing in the GT Daytona class at the 24 Hours of Daytona (as we know from the filming two years ago and from the shots in trailer), I don't think he could just show back up and get a ride. 

This guy got a Super License waiver and Colton Herta couldn't?!?!?!

Yeah! In what world would an at-best silver-rated, part-time driver competing in a pro-am class as the amateur get a Super License waiver to return directly into Formula One? And this would be an American driver by the way if you want to believe that kind of thing matters.

Herta couldn't get a waiver and was at least competitive in IndyCar. In no world would Hayes be allowed.

There was not other driver out there?

The team hiring Hayes, APX GP, couldn't find a more capable solution? I know the plot is Hayes is brought in to mentor APX's young talent, but there isn't another more suitable driver out there?

I know Hayes is friends with the APX team owner (team principal?) played by Javier Bardem. That is how he gets the ride, but in what world would Bardem's character throw Hayes a bone? This is like Christian Horner (who is ten years younger than Pitt) being fed up with the driver situation at Red Bull and after running through Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, Horner decides to bring in former British Formula Three teammate Warren Hughes in to be Max Verstappen's teammate, or Zak Brown needing a new driver at McLaren and calling up his former British Formula Three teammate Johnny Mowlem. 

Of all the drivers in the world, there are no other options to be the second driver in this team? 

Hayes could be a driver's coach. He doesn't have to be the other race driver. We see plenty of drivers work as coaches. 

How in the world can Sonny Hayes be competitive?

He is descried as a "racer-for-hire." 

I am not sure what that means. He is getting hired to race, but he was competing in the 24 Hours of Daytona in the GTD class and he is at best a silver-rated driver. Is he the equivalent of the old driver that other silver-rated drivers or bronze-rated drivers watched growing up and now that they are gentlemen drivers and are funding a seat they can hire whomever they want as their co-driver, and Hayes is the driver they grew up watching they can now pay him to round out their lineup? 

He isn't even competing in IMSA's top class. He is going from GT3 competition to Formula One. At least if he was in a GTP car it could be a little more plausible. If he was driving for Proton Competition or Action Express Racing, we could at least acknowledge it is possible. Kevin Magnussen went from GTP back to Formula One.  

We saw Jimmie Johnson jump into an IndyCar after almost 20 years in the NASCAR Cup Series and he couldn't finish above 16th on a road or street course. Hayes has been competing less than that in mostly GT competition and he is just going to get into a Formula One car and be competitive? 

I don't think so.

How bad is APX GP?

During one of the trailers, Hayes is out of the car and when celebrating finishing the race the character who is the team... something or another played by Kerry Condon comments he finished last. 

Some of that could be the driver, and Hayes being 30 years removed from racing Formula One and competing in a grand prix at 60 years old, but is APX GP bad? 

If the team was any good, it wouldn't be relying on Hayes. It would have a development program of some sort or a partnership and could have a Mercedes junior driver or Ferrari junior driver on call that could fill that opening. If APX GP needed a veteran driver for mentorship, Mercedes could have given them Stoffel Vandoorne at that time. There were better options out there. 

I don't think this is a competitive team. Now, it is a movie. APX GP will be competitive. It would be funny if they made this movie and the plot point is APX trying to get sixth in the constructors' champion and that extra $10 million. I think there is an audience that would appreciate that.

Who is Hayes Replacing?

If APX GP is relying on a 60-something who is basically done driving, who the hell was its second driver before Hayes? What is that guy doing afterward? Is he getting another shot in Formula One and Williams is thinking they got a steal or is this guy off to sports cars after realizing APX GP is simultaneously the mountaintop and rock-bottom of his Formula One career?

Who is paying for this?

Is APX GP that settled on sponsorship that it can hire this guy? 

Where is its funding coming from? This isn't an actual automobile manufacturer. It doesn't appear to be Red Bull where it is selling another product through Formula One. This is a pure private team. Is this is all Javier Bardem's character's team and he funds it to a points where he can hire whomever he wants or he has signed all the sponsors and they have trusted him to hire any driver without getting any say? He obviously gets the only say in who the drivers are. No boardroom would allow Hayes to be hired. 

I think if we are getting into how the fictional race team in a Formula One movie has its funding, that is a place to wrap it up. The runtime for this film is over two hours and 30 minutes in length. Maybe there is a five-minute or 15-minute scene going over the Super License waiver process with the FIA. There is going to be plenty of time for it.

Winners From the Weekend

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

Marc Márquez won MotoGP's Italian Grand Prix, his sixth victory of the season, and Márquez also won the sprint race. Manuel González won the Moto2 race, his fourth victory of the season. Máximo Quiles won in Moto3, his first career victory in his fifth career start. 

The #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun won 6 Hours of the Glen. The #22 United Autosports Oreca-Gibson of Paul di Resta, Rasmus Lindh and Dan Goldburg won in LMP2. The #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW of Max Hesse and Dan Harper won in GTD Pro. The #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin of Zacharie Robichon, Tom Gamble and Casper Stevenson won in GTD.

Chase Briscoe won the NASCAR Cup race from Pocono. Connor Zilisch won the Grand National Series race, his second victory of the season. Layne Riggs won the Truck race.

Caio Collet won the Indy Lights race from Road America. Max Garcia (race one & two) and Max Taylor  (race three) split the USF Pro 2000 races. Thomas Schrage and Teddy Musella split the U.S. F2000 races.

The #98 Rowe Racing BMW of Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn, Kelvin van der Linde and Raffaele Marciello won the Nürburgring 24 Hour.

Dan Ticktum won the Jakarta ePrix.

Broc Feeney swept the Supercars races from Hidden Valley Raceway.

Coming Up This Weekend

Formula One is in Austria. 

MotoGP runs the Dutch TT. 

NASCAR opens its in-season tournament in Atlanta

The 24 Hours of Spa closes out a three-week run of 24-hour endurance races.

The Acropolis Rally will take place.