Mugsins From the Weekend: I am Tired of Stupidity and Anger

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

While you were sleeping, Josef Newgarden scored his 20th oval victory with a fantastic performance at Gateway Motorsports Park. While you were awake, there were track issues in Monaco, Aprilia played bowling in Hungary, it didn't rain in Michigan, and someone went from last-to-first and made history in the process. There was also an explosive technical revelation in Moto3 that saw Adrián Fernández, but not that Adrián Fernández, disqualified from the first six races of the season as two of his engines were found to be tampered with. Le Mans test day has occurred and that endurance race is approaching quick. I feel better as I write this opening stanza. A peak behind the curtain will reveal I save this for last, but the previous week was not as positive of an experience.

I am Tired of Stupidity and Anger

It has been an exhausting period, and I am not talking about all the on-track action for the NTT IndyCar Series. Sunday night's Gateway race concluded five consecutive weekends of on-track competition and it was really more than that as there was a full week for Indianapolis 500 practice. However, this has nothing to do with what happened on-track. It is the auxiliary conversation around IndyCar.

"Everything is wrong."

If you listen to the buzz that is what you can take away. IndyCar needs to do this. IndyCar needs to do that. Every decision is wrong and it should be the complete opposite. IndyCar is not perfect, and the series has made its errors. We saw it during this period with race control and throwing cautions. That wasn't great and it is an area of improvement. Even I suggested solutions to ensure bumping in the future and better distribution of the prize money for the Indianapolis 500. When there are tweaks that can be made, let's discuss those and work through what can be done. However, there are certain topics are just beating a dead horse. 

I am tired of everyone shouting for more oval races. I want more oval races. IndyCar could stand to add another two or three oval races. I am in agreement that it is a shame that we see high speed superspeedway racing, the thing that makes IndyCar stand out from all the other motorsports series in the world, only once a year. This is what IndyCar is selling when it prints t-shirts that say, "Speed Limit 241 MPH", and you can only see it every Memorial Day weekend. 

That is an identity crisis IndyCar should probably address, but I am realistic and I know as loud as the crowd is the demand isn't there. 

There is plenty of history that shows I am not one of those who sees an oval race struggle and immediately turns it on the fanbase for not showing up. It isn't about an inability to draw the fanbase that currently exists, but an inability to make an event and reach people beyond the those who are already apart of the congregation. We know, IndyCar's brass included, the demand is not there for some of these dream races. 

IndyCar isn't going to Michigan International Speedway because IndyCar doesn't care about oval racing. It isn't going because it does not see a reasonable business plan for a successful race, and Michigan International Speedway agrees. If Michigan believed the demand was there for a profitable IndyCar event, it would be on the phone with the series trying to make it happen. That is the truth with a number of venues. I would love to see it. I can see how it would be beneficial for the series, but are 45,000 people going to show up? I don't see a reason to believe otherwise. I don't like to admit that, but let's be honest with ourselves. Sometimes you must roll the dice and take a chance, but you can do that for maybe one or two races. 

It is staggering that after every IndyCar oval race we hear the same noise about all the oval races IndyCar needs and the only thing holding IndyCar back is the lack of oval races. We all know that is not true because the Indy Racing League happened, a series dedicated to only oval races, and that went so well that it started adding road and street courses, and within five years of its first road course event the series was practically 50/50 between ovals and road and street courses. 

If all it took was adding eight or nine oval races to improve IndyCar's popularity, the IRL would have never added road courses and street courses. It is foolish to think all IndyCar needs is Michigan, Kansas, Pocono, Richmond, Loudon, Texas, Iowa, Kentucky, Homestead and Chicagoland. We literally had that and look at where it got us! 

Also, let's not ignore that Long Beach, St. Petersburg, Road America, Barber Motorsports Park and Mid-Ohio are successful events with respectable crowds. Even Arlington did very well in year one and Detroit is respectable. It isn't a case IndyCar is holding 17 race weekends at 17 empty venues. The road and street course weekends are doing fine.

Should IndyCar try and branch out and build events at ovals? I would love to see it. I am just tired of how stupid some people are. These aren't good faith proposals. These are "You're stupid. I'm right. Listen to me!" arguments. I enjoyed Michigan as much as anyone, but let's not ignore what the grandstands looked like. That is what needs to be solved and if simply going was all it took IndyCar would not have struggled in the first place.

The same is true for Texas Motor Speedway. Everyone gets angry IndyCar left Texas, but if you were watching closely, you would have seen the crowd dwindling on a yearly basis even prior to 2020. IndyCar didn't stop going because things were going so well or because the series is really against oval racing even when its only nationally recognized event is an oval race. It stopped going because it couldn't even draw 10,000 spectators. If in 2023 Texas still had 50,000 people showing up even for an IndyCar race that began at 11:30 a.m. local time, IndyCar would likely still be going to Texas Motor Speedway. 

And if you are thinking, "Well, IndyCar shouldn't have been racing at Texas Motor Speedway at 11:30 a.m. and taken into consideration that the local residents would not go that early to a race" then you cannot get upset over scheduling justifications as to why Detroit is the weekend after the Indianapolis 500, which was the latest quibbling point this week. 

This week James Hinchcliffe said on the latest episode of On-Track with Alexander Rossi that one of the reasons Detroit is held this weekend is because school lets out the week after the race and once school is out people go on vacation and leave the city of Detroit. This was also something Nathan Brown of the Indianapolis Star pointed out he reported on three years ago. 

Whether we agree that should be a deciding factor over why a race is held on a certain weekend or not, it is still a case of taking in the local habits of the residents and trying to maximize the appeal of the event. 

We could also be honest and just say that is when Roger Penske and Chevrolet wants the Detroit race to be held. Not everyone is leaving Detroit for the summer, but those executives that sign the checks and approve the funding for the event would like to spend from the middle of June through the start of August upstate and not in the city. The rich get their cake and eat it too. And that is why Detroit is the weekend after the Indianapolis 500. 

And for those who said, "Well, NASCAR is racing at Michigan the weekend after Detroit when school is out. Why can NASCAR do it?" Because those are two entirely different promoters! NASCAR has decided to hold its Michigan event in the middle of June, a time of year where it has historically always held a race at Michigan. Chevrolet wants IndyCar to race a week earlier. Detroit could be held on a different weekend, but those in charge don't want it to be a different weekend. They have the money. They make the decision. There is your answer. 

I am just tired of it. I am tired of so many people having their heads in the sand. We saw this weekend. Everyone was losing their mind that IndyCar made some aerodynamic changes ahead of Gateway. I will admit, sometimes it feels like IndyCar does tinkering too much, but in this case, it didn't really change anything. Even before the race, people were upset it started on FS1 because the United Football League playoff game was running long. That happens! When you are following a live sports event, they will let that event finish and then you get on. The Gateway race also started 20 minutes early as there was a concern with weather. That wasn't how it was planned, but it worked out that way. And even if the broadcast began on FS1, the race was on Fox within 20 minutes of the green flag waving, and the broadcast continued well beyond midnight after the multiple red flags for weather. 

There is no point in being difficult just to be difficult. 

Everything might not be perfect but not everything is a disaster. We can also be realistic about expectations. I would love Michigan to return. As someone who went to every Pocono race after it returned to the schedule in 2013, I would love if Pocono was back. It isn't happening tomorrow though. And it is ok it isn't happening tomorrow. There are other events out there that are doing well. 

Gateway has been around for a decade now, and it has had its ups and downs, but it has good footing as an IndyCar event. Gateway's last decade and Milwaukee's last two years should give us some hope that in a few years maybe Pocono could return and be better than after or maybe Richmond could be added after nearly returning six years ago or maybe it is Loudon or somewhere else. It is going to be incremental steps, not a giant revolution of venue changes.

Things are not as bad as some make it out to be. We all want things to be better and a few tweaks here and there, another oval race or two, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking there is some horrific failure in front of us. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Josef Newgarden, but did you know...

Andrea Kimi Antonelli won the Monaco Grand Prix, his fifth consecutive victory.

Marc Márquez won MotoGP's Hungarian Grand Prix and the sprint race. Manuel González won in Moto2, his third consecutive victory and fourth victory of the season. Máximo Quiles won in Moto3, his fifth victory of the season.

Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup race from Michigan, his second consecutive victory and his third of the season. Corey Heim won the Truck race, his third victory of the season.

Noel León (sprint) and Nikola Tsolov (feature) split the Formula Two races from Monaco. Gerrard Xie (sprint) and Brando Badoer (feature) split the Formula Three races. Xie inherited the sprint race victory after Hiyu Yamakoshi was disqualified for improperly mounted front push rods on the car.

Myles Rowe won the Indy Lights race from Gateway after starting 24th in the 24-car field.

Coming Up This Weekend

94th 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Formula One has its first ever Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix though it isn't Barcelona's first race.

NASCAR takes a trip to the Poconos. 

GT World Challenge America will be in Road America.

World Superbike takes a run around Misano.

First Impressions: Gateway 2026

1. It is after midnight, this race went about an hour longer than I wished, we are going to make this quick for everybody, we might come back with second impressions tomorrow, which is now today because it is Monday or actually tomorrow because they will come Tuesday. 

Josef Newgarden looked comfortable the entire night, and that is why he won for the sixth time at Gateway Motorsports Park. Newgarden had a good car and he knew it. He was willing to run second and let the race evolve. Newgarden has been here long enough that he didn't need to lead lap 123. He had to lead lap 260. The car was in a spot where he could contend. In the final battle with Christian Rasmussen and Marcus Ericsson, Newgarden could counterpunch and take the lead even after Rasmussen went to the front. 

It timed out that when Newgarden took the lead it was the crossover point where the tires were not there to continue the back-and-forth battle we had been seeing. On the final restart, Newgarden had the advantage as the tires were not there for Rasmussen or Ericsson to get back ahead of Newgarden. With clean air ahead, Newgarden had enough to hold them off. 

What we saw tonight was 15 years of IndyCar experience and oval racing expertise pull out a victory. Newgarden might not have had the best car, but he was comfortable with a good car and that was enough to finish first.

2. I think this was the best race Marcus Ericsson had in IndyCar. I am pretty sure Ericsson had never led the most laps in a race prior to tonight. He has a few victories, but there has never been a race he won where he definitively had the best car. Tonight, he did, and it was only good enough for second. Ericsson got shuffled back to third at the worst time. He could get back to second, and he kept Newgarden honest, but Ericsson fell a little short of making it a perfect night.

3. This was another impressive short oval race for Christian Rasmussen. He drove into the top ten and soon the top five, Rasmussen hung in there. I didn't think he was better than Newgarden and Ericsson. The late charge was stellar, and there was a brief second where shades of Milwaukee 2025 were breaking through. Perhaps Newgarden and Ericsson were always going to get back ahead. Either way, Rasmussen needed a great night. He had not finished in the top ten yet this season. He got third. He looked pleased with it.

4. A handful of drivers deserve their flowers for this night, and Rinus VeeKay is one of them. VeeKay had a top five car. He never quite got in the battle for the podium or the victory, but he was wonderful tonight. At no point did he look out of control. He never overdrove the car. VeeKay is impressing us again with another back-marker team. Our top four finishers drove for Team Penske, Andretti Global, Ed Carpenter Racing and Juncos Hollinger Racing, and they were all legitimately there on pace. 

5. Scott McLaughlin took tires under the final caution after Caio Collet blew an engine. McLaughlin restarted ninth and he worked his way to fifth. That is likely better than where he would have finished if he had not stopped. It never felt like tires were that much of a deciding factor. It helped on the restart, but there were only 30 laps left when McLaughlin and other stopped, and the leaders were only on 27 laps older tires. It got McLaughlin a few more positions, but I didn't think it would turn into a winning strategy. Top five is still excellent for a night that didn't feel much better than seventh.

6. Kyle Kirkwood was the sixth-best car tonight. Maybe Kirkwood should have been fifth. He was in the background but never showed up as a contender. That is fine. The good news is Kirkwood gained ground in the championship tonight. He did toss away a good opportunity. That is most important.

7. David Malukas felt good but not great tonight. Malukas started second, but he never showed a fire to get to the lead. He settled just outside the top five. For a brief moment it looked like the race was going to cycle against Malukas and he was going to finish 12th or 13th. That wasn't the case. He will be the third of the three Penske cars with a finish of seventh, but this is an adequate night for Malukas. His season is still spectacular. Now he has nine races to close it out.

8. Will Power had a wild night. Power was making up positions early. Then he got caught out topping off for fuel and lost a lap. Then he got back on the lead lap and was in the top five because that topping off on fuel allowed him to run long, get back on the lead lap and stay out prior to a caution coming out. Then Power got cycled back again, stopped late like McLaughlin, and drove into the top ten. You took eighth place anyway you can get it. 

9. Marcus Armstrong had a good night. Armstrong took tires late and that likely got him ninth. I felt like I would look up and Armstrong was somewhere in the top ten. Nothing flashy but still good. That is kind of the name Armstrong is making for himself. You can count on him running seventh or eighth.

10. Christian Lundgaard did not look brilliant in this race, but Lundgaard passed Arrow McLaren teammate Patricio O'Ward late to steal tenth. Lundgaard was firmly in the middle of the field for this entire race. He doesn't quite have that punch on ovals to be a contender. For Lundgaard, it is a real tussle to break into the top ten. He can still work on it and improve. We are not yet at a point of admitting this is the best it will be for him on ovals.

11. Patricio O'Ward took tires late, he had spent a fair amount of this race in the top ten, and he ended up finishing 11th. O'Ward wasn't a contender in this race, but he was running well. In the later stages, it was clear he wasn't going to finish in the top five. The team took a gamble to get more and it didn't pan out. O'Ward was the best McLaren car for essentially 259 of 260 laps and he will wind up second best and outside the top ten overall. This result doesn't tell the full story.

12. Scott Dixon took a gamble, stretched his fuel, caught the cautions in his favor, and ultimately was a lap short and needed emergency service. I don't think Dixon had a good car tonight. I think Dixon had a car where he could stretch fuel into his favor, and it nearly worked out. Dixon lost spots early. He still hung in the top ten, but he wasn't knocking down the door to fight for a top five or podium finish. I think we saw the car he had when he was shuffled to the back, took tires on the final caution and ended up 12th, the worst of the cars to stop under that final caution. He was better than 12th but this 12th-place finish tells the story of where his car was compared to the rest of the field.

13. Santino Ferrucci was in the middle of the pack all race and was 13th. It isn't clear what happened to Felix Rosenqvist. Rosenqvist may have been trapped a lap down after a caution following a pit stop. He did not do anything notable as he finished 14th. Romain Grosjean was the first car a lap down in 15th. Mick Schumacher was 16th. Not bad days for either driver. Schumacher got to run 259 of 260 laps. That is beneficial to him.

14. Álex Palou stretched his fuel like his teammate Scott Dixon, and it appeared Palou had done enough to make it without emergency service. Then Palou ran out of fuel as he entered pit lane for his final stop. The car coasted to his box and at that point the damage was done. He lost a lap coasting and then another lap getting the car re-fired. Instead of possibly pulling out a victory, but probably at worst a top five result, Palou was 17th. 

Palou lost some ground in the championship. He had a good night. I don't think his car was set up for traffic well because once he lost the lead he never put up a good counterattack. Stretching their fuel was worth the risk for Dixon and Palou, and it nearly paid off. 

15. I have no clue what Alexander Rossi did all night, but it wasn't good and he was 18th. Sting Ray Robb was out there and finished 19th. Louis Foster was slow and he finished 20th.

16. Caio Collet had a great race. Collet made up spots early. He probably benefitted from a caution or two, but when Collet was in the top five, he held his own. And then the engine failed him. Many people were thrilled with his Indianapolis 500 performance. I still don't think it was that exceptional. This was a great drive from him. Now, he has got to do it again. 

17. Graham Rahal spun in turn four while on worn tires and with faster cars that had just made pit stops around him. Rahal said he went low and caught the marble build up on the inside. Rahal said the car was getting better and he had settled around 15th. Perhaps he could have picked up another two or three spots if he went the distance. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing did not start this race well. All three cars dropped from the opening lap. RLLR still has work to do on its oval program. 

18. Nolan Siegel was knocked out after contact with Álex Palou entering turn one. I saw it as a racing incident. Palou had fresh tires and he was quicker going into the corner. Palou was ahead. Siegel was turning in and they collided. If that is a penalty than we are going to have 100 penalties a race. 

What is a racing incident if it is not this? 

Palou didn't bowl into Siegel. Palou was making a pass. Siegel thought he could turn in when he did. Palou was there. Contact was made. Siegel got the worst of it. It is unfortunate. Not every contact should be a penalty. In this case, the contact is made with Siegel turning into Palou's rear tire. It is hard to pin that on Siegel.

19. Dennis Hauger was unable to start the race as the car suffered a fuel leak on the grid. Maybe I missed it, but I don't think that was mentioned during the broadcast. Either way, it is the second time in two short oval races a Dale Coyne Racing car has had an issue on the grid prevent a car from starting a race. It is a shame Hauger did not get a chance to compete. 

20. It is 12:59 a.m. Eastern as I type this sentence. This was a fun race. Gateway had a phenomenal crowd. It is reasonable to want a night race but not a race that starts after 9:00 p.m. Eastern on a Sunday night that is not a holiday weekend. There is a happy medium there. Perhaps we discuss some of this during a second impressions. 

21. Let's go to bed. At least it is two weeks until Road America. 

Morning Warm-Up: Gateway 2026

For the fourth consecutive race, Álex Palou starts on pole position. With a two-lap average at 174.353 mph (51.6195 seconds) around Gateway Motorsports Park during Saturday qualifying, Palou became the first driver to win four consecutive pole position since Will Power did it over the first four races of the 2011 season. Palou has won five pole positions this season, and with 17 career pole positions he is now tied with Emerson Fittipaldi for 20th all-time. At Detroit, Palou's victory was his tenth victory from pole position in his IndyCar career, and he became the 12th driver to reach that milestone. The only time Palou has won from pole position on an oval was the second race of last year's Iowa doubleheader. The Catalan driver has four consecutive top ten finishes at Gateway after finishing no better than 12th in his first three Gateway starts. His best finish at the circuit is fourth. 

David Malukas was 0.3305 seconds slower than Palou over a two-lap qualifying run, but that is still good enough for a front row start, Malukas' fourth front row start of the season. Gateway is one of two tracks where Malukas has multiple top five finishes in his career. The other is Indianapolis Motor Speedway where he has been runner-up in the Indianapolis 500 the last two years. Last year, Malukas led a race-high 67 laps from fourth starting position. Three times has the Gateway race been won from second. Paul Tracy did it in 1997, and Josef Newgarden did it in 2017 and 2020. Both Tracy and Newgarden won those races driving for Team Penske.

Kyle Kirkwood has his best starting position of the season as his two lap run at 173.206 mph (51.9612 seconds) puts Kirkwood into the third grid position. In each of his two prior top five starts this season, Kirkwood has finished where he started He started and finished fifth at Barber Motorsports Park, and he started and finished fourth at Long Beach. Prior to his Gateway victory last season, Kirkwood’s average finish at the 1.25-mile circuit was 18th. 

Indianapolis 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist will be thrilled to be starting fourth. Two weeks ago, Rosenqvist started fourth in the Indianapolis 500 and he went on to win that race. The Swede was 0.4178 seconds off Palou's qualifying time at Gateway. Coming off finishes of first and sixth, a third consecutive top ten finish would be a first for Rosenqvist since the first three races of last season. His best Gateway finish was sixth in 2024. He has finished 16th at this track in three of the last five years.

Scott McLaughlin starts in the top five for the second consecutive race. McLaughlin was 0.443 seconds slower than Palou in qualifying. This is the fourth time in six Gateway starts McLaughlin is starting in the top five. Prior to last year's retirement, McLaughlin had never finished outside the top five at Gateway. He has never won from worse than fourth starting position in his career. His best finish from fifth grid position was third in the second Iowa race in 2022.

Marcus Armstrong makes it an all-New Zealander row three. This is the second consecutive race McLaughlin is sharing a row with a fellow New Zealander. This is the second consecutive year Armstrong is starting sixth at Gateway. In his two visits to the track, he has finished eighth and ninth. Armstrong is one of three drivers to finish in the top five of both oval races this season. David Malukas and Patricio O’Ward are the other two drivers.

Tic-tac-toe, three Kiwis in a row, with Scott Dixon taking the seventh spot on the grid, behind his two fellow countrymen. This is the fifth consecutive race Dixon is starting in the top ten after opening the season with four consecutive races starting no better than 13th. With finishes of 15th and 24th in the last two races, Dixon is looking to avoid three consecutive results outside the top ten for the first time since 2014 when he did not have a top ten finish in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis (15th), the Indianapolis 500 (29th) and Texas (11th).

Josef Newgarden will start to Dixon's outside on row four. This is Newgarden's worst starting position for a Gateway race. His previous worst starting spot here was sixth in the first race of the 2020 doubleheader. The only time Newgarden has won from eighth starting position was the 2020 season finale from St. Petersburg. The only oval race he has won from eighth or worse was the 2023 Indianapolis 500, where he started 17th. A victory would put Newgarden level with Al Unser, Jr. for ninth all-time with 34 career victories.

Like Newgarden, Patricio O’Ward has his worst Gateway starting position. O'Ward will start ninth. His previous worst was eighth two years ago. In the last 17 races, O'Ward has 12 top five finishes, but all of those results have been finishes of either first, fourth or fifth. The last time he finished second or third was second in last year's Gateway race. He has six top five finishes in seven Gateway starts. The only time he has finished in the top five when starting ninth was the second Iowa race last year, where he was fifth.

Alexander Rossi rounds out the top ten on the grid. Rossi has qualified in the top ten for all three oval races this season. With a finish of 17th at Detroit, this is the second time in as many seasons Rossi has had a three-race streak without a top fifteen finish, something that had not occurred in Rossi’s first nine seasons in IndyCar. He has finished outside the top fifteen in four of ten Gateway starts. He has finished level or worse than his starting position in five of eight races this season.

Graham Rahal has his best Gateway starting position since 2021 as Rahal will roll off from 11th position. This is the sixth time Rahal has started in the top 12 this season. In three of those previous five races, he has finished third, including last week at Detroit, driving from 12th to the final podium spot. Rahal has finished outside the top fifteen in seven of ten Gateway starts with his best finish being tenth. This will be Rahal's 318th start and he will surpass Michael Andretti for ninth all-time.

Marcus Ericsson is 12th in the championship, and Ericsson has 12th on the grid occupied, the third time in the last four Gateway visits Ericsson is starting outside the top ten. Ericsson has not had a top ten finish in nine consecutive oval races. His average finish over that span is 18.888. His most recent top ten finish on an oval was fifth in the second Milwaukee race in 2024. He has finished outside the top ten in four of eight Gateway starts, including the last two years. He has only led five laps all-time at this circuit. 

Rinus VeeKay is 13th in the championship, and VeeKay has 13th on the grid occupied. This is the seventh consecutive race the Dutchman is starting outside the top ten. VeeKay was sixth in the Indianaplis 500 two weeks ago. He has not had top ten finishes in consecutive oval races since 2024 when he had top ten finishes in four consecutive oval races between the Indianapolis 500, the Iowa doubleheader and Gateway. Last year, VeeKay went from 18th to seventh in this race.

Kyffin Simpson was 0.9506 seconds slower than his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Álex Palou, and this is the difference between pole position and starting 14th for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. This is Simpson's best Gateway starting position. He had started 22nd and 26th in his first two visits. After finishing ninth at Detroit, Simpson has yet to go more than two consecutive races without a top ten finish this season.

Santino Ferrucci will start 15th. In four of the last five races, Ferrucci has started either 15th or 22nd.  Ferrucci was fifth in last year's Gateway race from 19th grid position. He has had at least one top five finish in each of the last three seasons, and he has had a top five finish in each of his five full seasons in IndyCar. Ferrucci suffered a mechanical issue during the final practice session last night, ending his session early. 

Among the championship top ten, the worst starter will be Christian Lundgaard from 16th starting position. It is Lundgaard's best starting position on an oval this season. He started 17th in Phoenix and 18th in the Indianapolis 500. Since joining Arrow McLaren, Lundgaard has three top ten eight oval starts. Last year, he did drive from 22nd to sixth in the second Iowa race, and he went from 17th to sixth at Milwaukee.

Louis Foster takes 17th on the grid, the seventh time his season Foster is starting outside the top ten. He has finished in the top ten in two of the last three races, both of those results being seventh place finishes. In the two oval races this season, Foster has finished 23rd at Phoenix and 21st in the Indianapolis 500. He has finished outside the top fifteen in four consecutive oval races.

Mick Schumacher qualified 18th. This is now the eighth time this season Schumacher is starting 17th or worse. Prior to his contact with David Malukas at Detroit, Schumacher had completed every lap in the previous three races including all 200 laps in the Indianapolis 500. He has seen the checkered flag in both oval races this season. St. Petersburg remains his only retirement.

Christian Rasmussen matches his worst starting position of the season in 19th. Last year, Rasmussen went from 25th to third at Gateway, the most improved driver. Five of his six top ten finishes last season came from starting positions outside the top ten, four or which were from 17th or worse. Despite not having a top ten finish over the last nine races, Ed Carpenter Racing signed Rasmussen to a contract extension through the 2027 season on Thursday. 

Caio Collet will start 20th in his first IndyCar race at Gateway. This is Collet's best starting position on an oval. He started 23rd at Phoenix and a disallowed qualifying time for failing post-qualifying inspection dropped him to 32nd on the grid for the Indianapolis 500. After being the best A.J. Foyt Racing finisher in the first three races, Detroit was the first time Collet was the best Foyt finisher since Arlington. All three times he has led the team were at street course races.

Will Power has a historically poor starting position for Gateway in 21st. Prior to this weekend, Power had never started worse than eighth in ten Gateway starts. He had started on one of the first two rows in nine Gateway races. Power is hoping to avoid his second streak of three consecutive results outside the top twenty in an 11-race span. He ended last season with two consecutive finishes outside the top twenty and then he opened this season with a 22nd in St. Petersburg. Power has finished 29th and 22nd in the last two races. In his last two Gateway starts, Power has finished 18th and 27th.

Nolan Siegel drops to 22nd grid position, his worst starting position since starting 25th at Long Beach. Siegel has four consecutive top fifteen finishes. His best career finish in IndyCar came at Gateway, finishing seventh in 2024. Last year, Siegel started 20th and finished 19th, one laps down. He does have five consecutive lead lap finishes, his most consecutive lead lap finishes in his IndyCar career.

Romain Grosjean's Gateway return has him leading an all-Dale Coyne Racing row 12. In four Gateway races, Grosjean's best finish was 12th in 2023. He had started no worse than 18th in his first four visits to the 1.25-mile oval. Grosjean has been cleared to race after undergoing surgery during the week on his right hand. He was injured in Detroit after Alexander Rossi hit Grosjean under braking entering the hairpin, spinning Grosjean into the barrier.

Dennis Hauger starts next to his DCR teammate on the outside of row 12. Hauger has finished better than his starting position in seven consecutive races. Dale Coyne Racing has had a top ten finisher in three of the last four Gateway races. In 2022, DCR had its most recent double top five day as David Malukas was second and Takuma Sato was fifth.

Sting Ray Robb will start last in 25th position, 1.9319 seconds slower than Palou in qualifying. This is the sixth consecutive race Robb is starting outside the top twenty. Robb is coming off his best finish of the season as he was 14th in Detroit, a ten-position improvement from his grid position. His first career top ten finish came at Gateway two years ago when he was ninth. 

Fox’s coverage of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 begins at 9:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 9:25 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 260 laps.

Track Walk: Gateway 2026

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

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 9:00 p.m. ET on Sunday June 7 with green flag scheduled for 9:25 p.m. ET.
Channel: Fox
Announcers: Will Buxton, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Georgia Henneberry and Jack Harvey will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Saturday:

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

Qualifying: 3:35 p.m. ET 

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

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

Team Penske's Shot at Redemption

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

O'Ward on the Fence

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Those Looking For a Pick-Me-Up

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Intra-Team Battles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Indy Lights

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fast Facts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No Gateway race has ever had exactly three caution periods.

Predictions

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

Musings From the Weekend: Bumping and Business

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

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

Bumping and Business

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Winners From the Weekend

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Coming Up This Weekend

IndyCar has a Sunday night race from Gateway. 

The Monaco Grand Prix occurs on its latest date ever.

MotoGP has its earliest trip to Hungary ever. 

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

First Impressions: Detroit 2026

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Morning Warm-Up: Detroit 2026

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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