The ninth round of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season brings to a close the first half of the championship, and we turn the page to the second half in style, with a night race at Gateway Motorsports Park. This will be the 19th IndyCar race held at Gateway, and it is the tenth consecutive season the 1.25-mile oval has been on the schedule. Only three times in its history has the Gateway winner gone on to win the championship, and there is one name clearly standing above the rest who could become the fourth driver to simultaneously hold both honors. Gateway has also never produced a first-time winner. There are 13 drivers entered this weekend hoping to make that bit of history.
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 9:00 p.m. ET on Sunday June 7 with green flag scheduled for 9:25 p.m. ET.
Channel: Fox
Announcers: Will Buxton, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Georgia Henneberry and Jack Harvey will work pit lane.
Channel: Fox
Announcers: Will Buxton, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Georgia Henneberry and Jack Harvey will work pit lane.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Saturday:
First Practice: 12:30 p.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 3:35 p.m. ET
High Line Practice: 8:05 p.m. ET (45 minutes)
Final Practice: 9:00 p.m. ET (60 minutes)
Sunday:
Race: 9:25 p.m. ET (260 laps)
Sunday:
Race: 9:25 p.m. ET (260 laps)
Team Penske's Shot at Redemption
Last year's Gateway race was an utter disappointment for the Team Penske outfit. The three-car team had finishers in 24th, 25th and 27th despite all three cars starting and running most of the race in the top five.
Will Power was the first to fall by the wayside for Team Penske last year. While running second, Power suffered a tire puncture and had an accident. He was the first car out of the race after completing 47 laps. Josef Newgarden shot into the lead on lap 105, and Newgarden started to take firm grasp of the race until Louis Foster spun into his path on lap 130, collecting Newgarden in an accident that flipped the American. Scott McLaughlin had a good night going, he led 51 laps in the race, the second-most, but McLaughlin had dropped down to sixth and his race ended after 216 laps with a mechanical issue less than 50 laps from the finish.
Prior to that, the only Gateway race since its return to the schedule not to have a Team Penske car in the top five was the first race of the 2020 doubleheader, and Newgarden was the best finisher in that race in 12th.
Not only is Team Penske returning to Gateway after its worst Gateway race the year before, it is heading to Gateway off its worst race of the 2026 season.
At Detroit, Newgarden was the best Penske finisher in tenth. Prior to Detroit, Penske had at least one finisher in the top six in each of the first seven races of the season. Penske had taken the runner-up spot in the previous two races, and it had two of the top three at the Indianapolis 500.
Newgarden leads all-time with five Gateway victories. The only other driver with multiple Gateway victories all-time is Scott Dixon with two. However, Newgarden has had accidents in two of his last three Gateway trips with a victory sandwiched in-between. Newgarden is also coming off one of the most physically demanding races he has faced in a long time.
Battling a lower leg injury from his Indianapolis 500 accident, Newgarden could not crack the top twenty in either of the first two practice sessions in Detroit, and he started 21st. He spent much of the race at the tail of the field before going off strategy, and cautions lifted him into a competitive position. Newgarden held on for a tenth-place finish, but expressed exhaustion and frustration with his performance in his post-race interview.
The last three times he has seen the checkered flag at Gateway, Newgarden has won the race. He has led at least one lap in eight of ten Gateway starts. He has led at least 50 laps in five of those races. His average starting position at the circuit is 2.9, and he has never started worse than sixth at Gateway with nine starts in the top five.
While Newgarden has the longevity of success at Gateway, David Malukas has been knocking on the door for a breakthrough in his home state of Illinois.
In Malukas' first two visits to the track, he was second in 2022 and third in 2023, the first two podium finishes of his IndyCar career. In 2024, he started second and spent a fair amount of the race in the top five before coming together with Will Power in turn two. Last year, Malukas led the most laps of the race from fourth on the grid, however, he lost spots consistently during pit cycles, and he brushed the wall after attempting a pass on the outside of Kyle Kirkwood. This dropped Malukas to 12th at the checkered flag.
Malukas is coming off his worst race of the season. In Detroit, Malukas had to start last after an accident in the first round of qualifying. The race was not going much better until a caution after Malukas had made a pit stop lifted him into a top five spot. Unfortunately, track position was lost when Malukas and Mick Schumacher had slight contact in turn five. Malukas would finish four laps down in 18th.
Prior to Detroit, Malukas had six consecutive top ten finishes, the longest such streak of his career. He was runner-up in the previous two races, falling agonizingly close to victory in the Indianapolis 500. Through two oval races, Malukas has finishes of third and second, and he started on pole position in Phoenix while also leading a race-high 73 laps.
Scott McLaughlin's winless streak is now up to 26 races. Contact with Will Power in Detroit took McLaughlin out of contention for possibly a top five finish if not a podium finish, and he was classified in 19th. Through eight races, McLaughlin has finished outside the top ten in half of them. Three of those results have been outside the top fifteen. He has only led 39 laps this season, 34 of those came at St. Petersburg and the other five were at the Indianapolis 500.
Prior to last year's Gateway race, McLaughlin had been four-for-four in top five finishes, and he had taken each of the four spots in the top five that were not first place. He has led in three of his five Gateway starts. Coincidentally, in each those three races he has started on one of the first two rows. In the other two races, he has started 11th and tenth.
Team Penske has only won three of the last 11 oval races after it had won 11 of the 14 oval races prior to that.
O'Ward on the Fence
Three drivers have finished in the top five in at least six races. Two of those drivers are the top two in the championship. Four of Álex Palou's six top five finishes have been victories. Kyle Kirkwood opened the season with five consecutive top five finishes, and Kirkwood picked up his sixth in Detroit as he was runner-up to Palou.
The other driver with six top five finishes so far this season isn't third in the championship. He isn't even fourth. Fifth is not a bad spot to be through eight races, nor is six top five finishes something to hang your head over, but for Patricio O'Ward there must be some frustration in running this well and still being unable to snag a victory nor being all that close.
Forget a victory for a moment, O'Ward doesn't even have a podium finish and he has only led 19 laps this season, ten of which came at Phoenix and the other nine were at the Indianapolis 500! Since reunification, this is the most top five finishes a driver has had through the first eight races to not have a podium finish. Dating back to last season, O'Ward does not have a podium finish over his last 12 starts, the longest drought of his IndyCar career. His previous longest podium drought was the first 11 races of his career.
However, during this podium drought, he has eight top five finishes. The only driver with more top five finishes over the last 12 races is Álex Palou, who has ten.
O'Ward's most recent podium finish was his most recent victory at Toronto last year. The Mexican has won at least one oval race in each of the last two seasons, and he has won an oval race in four of the last five seasons. None of those victories have come at Gateway.
Last year, O'Ward ended up finish second at Gateway in a race that saw him stop four laps after Kyle Kirkwood for his final pit stop but Kirkwood still remained ahead of O'Ward. The two drivers each only led eight laps in the race.
For O'Ward, it was his fifth podium finish in seven Gateway starts, and he has yet to win at the circuit. Amazingly, O'Ward is tied as all-time leader in podium finishes at Gateway with Josef Newgarden, who has won five times at the circuit and never finished in any other podium spot but first at the track. While O'Ward was 26th in 2024 after his car broke down 42 laps into the race, his next worst finish was fourth in 2022. He has never started worse than eighth at Gateway.
Among circuits where O'Ward has made at least three starts, only at Iowa does he have a better average finish than Gateway. He had an average finish of 4.6 in ten Iowa starts, which included two victories. At Gateway, his average finish is 5.857. In terms of average starting position, Gateway is O'Ward's best circuit at 4.571.
The only driver with a better average finish at Gateway than O'Ward, who made at least three starts, is Sam Hornish, Jr. In three starts from 2001 to 2003, Hornish, Jr. had an average finish of 4.667, and like O'Ward, Hornish, Jr. never won at Gateway. His finishes were third, fifth and sixth respectively over those three years.
Those Looking For a Pick-Me-Up
A few notable drivers are in unusual places as we are nearing the halfway point of the season. These are drivers we are accustomed to seeing toward the top of the championship and being greater factors within races. Gateway provides an opportunity for a pick-me-up before IndyCar's first week off in over a month.
Scott Dixon is outside the top ten in the championship. Eight races into the season and Dixon ranks 11th in the championship. He is only one point outside the championship top ten, but Dixon is normally not this far down the championship this deep into a season.
This is only the second time in his 26-year career Dixon has been ranked outside the top ten in the championship after the first eight races. The other time was his infamous 2005 season, where he was 16th following the eighth race of the season.
It has not been a disastrous season for Dixon, but it has been tougher than most. He did not have a top five finish through the first four races for the first time since 2005. He does have five top ten finishes this season, and his best result was third at Long Beach. The last two results have been outside the top ten, but he was a contender for a top five in the Indianapolis 500 before the pit strategy broke down over the final two stints and he was shuffled back to 15th. A hybrid failure took him out of Detroit when he was on pace for another top five result.
Gateway has been respectable for Dixon. While he has won twice, he also has six top five finishes in the last ten Gateway races. He has finished outside the top ten in four of the last ten Gateway races as well.
Alexander Rossi enters Gateway on the back of three consecutive finishes outside the top fifteen. Mechanical problems ended both his races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Rossi took a pair of penalties in Detroit, one of which was for avoidable contact when he spun Romain Grosjean after losing his car under braking.
Prior to this slump, Rossi was 11th in the championship and he had three top ten finishes in the previous four races with his worst result being 11th. Rossi has never had four consecutive results outside the top fifteen. The bad news is Gateway is one of Rossi's worst circuits.
In ten starts, Rossi's average finish at Gateway is 13.3. The only tracks in his career where he has a worst average finish are the Nashville street circuit (13.333) and Texas Motor Speedway (14.444). Rossi has only three top ten finishes at Gateway while also having four finishes outside the top fifteen. He has only led ten laps at the circuit.
Will Power has arguably never been worse through eight races. Power is 18th in the championship, tied with Louis Foster on 121 points, but Power holds the tiebreaker.
The only time Power has been worse in the championship through eight races was when he was 19th through eight races in 2009, but Power had only started three of the first eight races that season as he was brought into Team Penske to substitute for Hélio Castroneves while Castroneves was on trial for tax evasion. When Castroneves returned at Long Beach, Power became a part-time driver and completed the Long Beach round while also competing at the Indianapolis 500. Power had scored 99 points in those three starts, an average of 33 points per start. This season, Power is averaging 15.125 points per start through the first eight races.
Power was at least third in Arlington. Outside of Arlington, he has yet to crack the top ten again this season. Meanwhile, Foster, who Power is level with on points, has finished seventh in two of the last three races. Power has finished outside the top fifteen in five of eight races. His five consecutive races without a top ten result is his longest slump since a five race stretch in 2021. Power has never gone six consecutive races without a top ten finish in his IndyCar career.
Power has been streaky at Gateway. He won the 2018 races and he has five top ten finishes at the circuit. The problem is when he doesn't finish in the top ten, he finishes poorly. He has five finishes of 17th or worse at Gateway, and he has retired due to an accident four times, including the last two years. His starting positions have been impeccable. Only once has he started outside one of the first two rows, and that was eighth in the 2023 race.
Christian Rasmussen was arguably the best car at Phoenix and was on his way to a victory before contact with Will Power. Nearly three months removed from that race and Rasmussen is second-to-the-bottom in the championship. The Dane is 24th on 76 points, only one point ahead of Mick Schumacher, who is last among full-time drivers.
Rasmussen has yet to finish in the top ten this season. His 14th at Phoenix remains his best finish of the season. He has failed to finish the last three races. Mechanical issues took him out of both Indianapolis races, and his Detroit race ended after nine laps when he bounced off the barrier.
Last season, Rasmussen overcame a pit error failing to fill the car with fuel and a penalty for emergency service in the pit lane to finish third at Gateway, and that was despite him starting 25th. It was the first podium finish of his IndyCar career. While the first two oval races in 2026 did not go in Rasmussen's favor, it should be remembered he had five top ten finishes in six oval races last season, including a victory at Milwaukee from ninth on the grid. Across his five top ten finishes on ovals last season, Rasmussen made up on average 12.8 positions from his starting place.
Intra-Team Battles
As we near the end of the first half of the IndyCar season, a few teams have a clear leader while others are rather balanced.
It should be no surprise Álex Palou has been the best Chip Ganassi Racing driver this season. Not only is Palou the only Ganassi driver in the top ten of the championship, but he has also been the top Ganassi finisher in seven of eight races, the exception being Phoenix where his race ended after 21 laps. Phoenix is one of two races where Ganassi did not have a top five finisher. The coincidental thing is the other race is the only other oval we have had this season, Indianapolis, and in both cases the best Ganassi finisher was in seventh.
While Palou has six top five finishes through eight races, Scott Dixon and Kyffin Simpson have a combined one top five finish, Dixon's third at Long Beach.
Palou has been the best Ganassi starter in all eight races. Dixon's fourth-place starting spot in Detroit was the first time either he or Simpson cracked a top five grid position this season. While Palou has started in the top ten in all eight races, his two Ganassi teammates have a combined six top ten starts.
David Malukas has been the team leader at Team Penske. Malukas is the best Penske driver in the championship, but he has also been the top Penske finisher in four of eight races. Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden have each been the top finisher twice. The only race this season where all three Penske cars finished in the top ten was Phoenix.
In terms of qualifying, Malukas has been the best Penske starter in six of eight races while McLaughlin has been the best Penske starter twice. McLaughlin has also been the worst Penske starter in four races while Newgarden has been the worst three times. Detroit was the first time Malukas has been the worst Penske starter. The only race this season where all three Penske cars started in the top ten was Phoenix, where they all actually started in the top five.
Kyle Kirkwood has been the top Andretti Global finisher in seven of eight races, and the only time he wasn't was the one race where none of the three Andretti cars finished in the top ten. Marcus Ericsson was 13th in the Indianapolis 500 while Kirkwood was 16th.
It has been pretty even in terms of qualifying at Andretti Global. Kirkwood has led the team four times on the starting grid, but Ericsson has been the best Andretti starter on three occasions. That includes the Indianapolis 500 where Ericsson was the best Andretti car in 17th. Andretti had not had a car start in the top ten in either oval race. Kirkwood was the best Andretti start at Phoenix in 11th.
Detroit was the first time this season Will Power was the best Andretti qualifier, and Detroit was also the second time this season all three Andretti cars started in the top ten. The other was Long Beach.
At Arrow McLaren, Patricio O'Ward has a slight advantage in qualifying and the race. O'Ward has been the best starter and the best finisher for the team on five occasions. Christian Lundgaard has been the best in both categories on three occasions. McLaren has had multiple top ten finishers in four races this season, but they have only had multiple top ten starters in three races. Nolan Siegel has been McLaren's worst starter in seven races and the worst finisher in five races.
It is more even at Meyer Shank Racing. While Felix Rosenqvist won the Indianapolis 500, Marcus Armstrong has been MSR's best finisher in five races. The two drivers are level with each being the best MSR starter four times this season. Rosenqvist had been the best starter in three consecutive races prior to Detroit. The only time both MSR cars have started in the top ten this season was Arlington.
Graham Rahal has been the top Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing performer in five races. That is easy when you have three podium finishes, one of four drivers with three podium finishes this season. Rahal has more podium finishes this season than Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, Kyle Kirkwood and Patricio O'Ward. Louis Foster has been the top RLLR finisher twice, but it both cases neither of his teammates finished better than 18th. Takuma Sato was the best RLLR car at the Indianapolis 500 in tenth.
In qualifying, Foster has been the best starter four times, and in two of those races, none of the RLLR cars cracked the top ten. Rahal has been the best starter in three races, and in each of those Rahal has started in the top ten. Sato was the best qualifier at Indianapolis in 12th. Mick Schumacher has been the worst RLLR finisher and the worst RLLR qualifier in five races.
At Ed Carpenter Racing, Alexander Rossi has been the better driver in terms of race finishes. Rossi has been the best finisher six times for the team. Each time Christian Rasmussen has been the best finisher it has been when every ECR car retired from the race. First was at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, where Rasmussen retired but he returned to the track to complete a few laps after Rossi had retired and actually over took his teammate. The other time was the Indianapolis 500.
Rossi and Rasmussen are tied at four in the qualifying battle. In both races where Rasmussen has started in the top ten he has beat Rossi in qualifying. Arlington is the only race where both drivers have started in the top ten.
Santino Ferrucci leads Caio Collet 5-3 in both qualifying performances and race performances. Collet has been the best A.J. Foyt Racing starter in three of the last four races. Ferrucci was the best Foyt finisher in both oval races.
Dennis Hauger has the advantage in race finishes over his Dale Coyne Racing teammate Romain Grosjean at 5-3. Every time Hauger has been the best DCR finisher, he has been at least seven positions ahead of Grosjean. However, it is flipped in qualifying with Grosjean holding the 5-3 advantage. The DCR drivers have started within five positions of one another in six of eight races. At Barber Motorsports Park, Grosjean started 18 spots better than Hauger, and Grosjean had a 13-spot advantage on the grid for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Juncos Hollinger Racing has been all Rinus VeeKay. VeeKay has been the best JHR finisher in seven of eight races. The only race Sting Ray Robb was ahead of VeeKay was Phoenix, where VeeKay was caught in an accident with Álex Palou on lap 21. Even after the repair, VeeKay still completed 245 laps and was 22nd, only one spot and one laps behind Robb. In qualifying, VeeKay is up 8-0 with the Dutchman starting on average eight spots better than his American teammate.
Indy Lights
Gateway marks the first of three oval races on the 2026 Indy Lights schedule, and this is race eight of 17 in the championship.
At Detroit, Enzo Fittipaldi took the championship lead with his second victory of the season. Fittipaldi took advantage of an opening as Myles Rowe and Time Kucharczyk battled for the lead. Fittipaldi slipped ahead going to turn four and the Brazilian held onto the top spot from that point.
After finishing 17th in the first race of the season, Fittipaldi has six consecutive top five finishes, and it has him in first on 266 points. Nikita Johnson dropped from first to second in the championship, seven points behind Fittipaldi. Johnson has yet to finish worse than sixth this year, but he has finished sixth in the last two races.
Kucharczyk has yet to finish worse than fifth this season, and he has been on the podium five times, but the Polish driver is eight points behind Fittipaldi in third. Max Taylor had an accident at Detroit and for the second time this season Taylor finished outside the top fifteen. Taylor is now fourth in the championship but 38 points off Fittipaldi. Taylor's Andretti Global teammate Lochie Hughes rounds out the top five, but Hughes also had an accident in Detroit, and he is 90 points off the championship lead.
Alessandro de Tullio has won five pole positions this season. Unfortunately, de Tullio has finished outside the top ten in three of those races, and contact at the start in Detroit meant he was classified in 22nd. De Tullio won the second Barber Motorsports Park race, but he is 94 points behind Fittipaldi in the championship.
Detroit was Myles Rowe's best race of the season, and he show legitimate pace to win the race. The runner-up result lifted Rowe to seventh in the championship on 159 points, three points ahead of Juan Manuel Correa. Seb Murray scored his second top five finish of the season in Detroit, as Murray was fifth, and this has Murray on 148 points in ninth. Despite failing to finish in the top ten for a third consecutive race, Jordan Missig holds onto tenth with 140 points, 14 points clear of Max Garcia, who matched his best finish of the season in the Motor City in fourth.
There will be one change to the Indy Lights grid for Gateway. Yuven Sundaramoorthy will replace Nicolas Stati in the #15 Cusick Morgan Motorsports entry. Stati did score his best finish of the season at Detroit in seventh, but he is 17th in the championship on 109 points. Sundaramoorthy competed in the 2024 Indy Lights championship and he was eighth that season. The Wisconsinite was third at Gateway that season, and his best finish was second at Nashville.
Lochie Hughes enters as the defending Gateway race winner. Hughes led the final 14 laps as he slipped ahead of Caio Collet, who dropped to third with Myles Rowe taking second. Salvador de Alba was fourth with Dennis Hauger rounding out the top five.
The 77-lap Indy Lights race will take place at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday June 7.
Fast Facts
This will be the 12th IndyCar race to take place on June 7 and the first since Ed Carpenter won at Texas in 2014. This is Carpenter's most recent race victory.
This year's Gateway race also falls on the 23rd anniversary of Al Unser, Jr.'s final career victory, which also occurred at Texas.
This year's Gateway race also falls on the 45th anniversary of Mike Mosley winning from 25th starting position at Milwaukee. Mosley was added to the grid as a promoter's option, he led a race high 45 laps and won by a lap over the competition. It is one of eight races in IndyCar history to be won from 25th starting position or worse. It is also the final for an Eagle chassis in IndyCar.
Of the 23 drivers to have their first career victory come since reunification, only six had that victory come on an oval.
The most recent driver not named Josef Newgarden to win consecutive oval races was Ryan Hunter-Reay at Iowa and Pocono in 2015. Hunter-Reay also won consecutive oval races in 2012 at Milwaukee and Iowa.
Newgarden has won consecutive oval races on four occasions since Hunter-Reay's streak, including a five-race streak starting at Gateway in 2022 and ending with the second Iowa race in 2023.
The most recent international driver to win consecutive oval races was Hélio Castroneves at Kentucky and Motegi in 2010.
Three drivers have won the Indianapolis 500 and Gateway in the same season, Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000, Will Power in 2018 and Josef Newgarden in 2024.
The average starting position for a Gateway winner is 5.058 with a median of third.
The third-place starter has won four of the last seven Gateway races.
Since returning to the calendar in 2017, the pole position has yet to win at Gateway.
Thirty-one consecutive IndyCar races have been won from a top ten starting position including 12 oval races during that time period.
The average number of lead changes in a Gateway race is 10.529 with a median of ten.
The last two Gateway race featured a record 21 lead changes and the second-most 20 lead changes. Prior to that, the most lead changes in a Gateway race was 13.
The average number of cautions in a Gateway race is 4.176 with a median of four. The average number of caution laps is 38.294 with a median of 35.
Five of the ten Gateway races since 2017 have featured exactly two caution periods. Two of those en races have had five caution periods, two have had six caution periods and last year's race featured four caution periods.
No Gateway race has ever had exactly three caution periods.
Predictions
Álex Palou, but if it isn't Palou, Patricio O'Ward final gets a victory at Gateway and he does it ahead of Josef Newgarden and David Malukas. Felix Rosenqvist is not the best finishing Meyer Shank Racing entry. No cars get airborne. No Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver spins exiting turn four. Alexander Rossi does not catch on fire. Ed Carpenter Racing has a driver finish the race and finish on the lead lap at that. No qualifying times are disallowed either. At least one driver picks up their first top ten finish of the season. Sleeper: Rinus VeeKay.
