Second Impressions: Gateway 2026

1. With a little time to breathe after IndyCar's Bommarito Automotive Group 500 from Gateway Motorsports Park, let's revisit some items that were a little hard to see when it is after midnight and everyone is exhausted.

Josef Newgarden was at a level at Gateway where he knew when to go and he knew he would have the speed to win the race. There is no reason to try and lead 175 laps. Newgarden has done it and won, but if the field is level or there are a few challengers, it is wise to wait until the final stint before showing your hand. That is what Gateway felt like. Newgarden knew he had a level that could beat Marcus Ericsson even if Ericsson had led majority of the race. 

I don't know how many current drivers have that ability. They can fit on one hand, you might not need every finger, and it is what separates Newgarden from most. And everyone who thinks Newgarden is done just has to look at the scoreboard. He has two victories. His teammates have a combined zero. How many victories do we think David Malukas and Scott McLaughlin will win in the final nine races? If Newgarden is going to be Penske's most frequent race winner, he isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

2. Newgarden said after the race he thought Christian Rasmussen was a lap down and Newgarden let Rasmussen through not realizing it was for the lead. Once told Rasmussen was on the lead lap, Newgarden picked up the pace and re-took the lead. 

This isn't the first time this has happened. Newgarden arguably lost the 2018 Iowa race because he thought James Hinchcliffe was a lap down and that race swung in that moment and Newgarden never quite had the power to get back to the front and win a race it seemed he was on to dominate in historic fashion.

I don't buy how no one would have said to Newgarden over the radio on the late restart that he was the leader and that Rasmussen was second but with a car between them. Either he is lying or Team Penske's timing stands are not as thorough thinkers as they once were. I would bet if Tim Cindric was up there, he would have mentioned the restart order and noted who and where second place was in that lineup.  

The team must being saying who is running where. How would Newgarden know how hard to push on the restart without knowing where the closest competitor was lined up and what was between him as the leader and the his closest challenger? It seems crazy the team would not have given Newgarden the running order prior to the restart.

3. Let's turn to the championship because Álex Palou's lead is down to 49 points after Palou's fueling issue in Gateway. Kyle Kirkwood is second.

Didn't we learn last year just because Palou has lost some ground doesn't mean it is a competition? Last year, everyone was saying it wasn't over after Patricio O'Ward won at Toronto and got within 99 points with four races to go only because Palou's team had an off day on strategy. How did Palou respond? He won the next race and he was third at Portland in the race after that to clinch the title. So much for it not being over!

Everyone needs to continually outscore Palou to make this a battle. He lost a chunk at Gateway, but he doesn't lose chunks that often, and what he loses is never greater than the chunks he gains on a more regular basis. Over the final nine races, a driver averaging six points more per race than Palou could be champion. So far, no one has consistently outscored Palou at that rate. Before getting exciting that a title fight is on, we must see a driver regularly take points off Palou. Otherwise, Gateway is just one race where Palou lost a chunk and then he will gain it all back and then some over the next five races. 

Palou has won four of the first nine races. The only other driver with multiple victories is Josef Newgarden, a driver who the loudest believe is terrible and Team Penske should have already fired him. This was just one race where Palou ran out of fuel entering the pit lane. Another lap of fuel and he would have been finishing in the top five again. If anyone is going to beat Palou, they are going to have to at least match his output. 

Is anyone going to win four of the final nine races? Well, probably Álex Palou, but can anyone else?

4. The first place it was mentioned that there were slight tweaks to the downforce levels and the tires for Gateway was on Off Track with Hinch and Rossi, and Alexander Rossi was rather optimistic about the changes. Many who were not driving in the Gateway race disagreed with Rossi's assessment.  

I don't think this Gateway race was much different from last year's Gateway race, and I must admit it was probably better when no fan knew a thing about racing and just wanted to go to the racetrack to watch fast cars go around in circles.

There is an abundance of information out there and 600,000 experts. Over half of IndyCar viewers know everything, even more than the drivers! 

It is good to have some working knowledge of why a race turned out the way it did and understanding downforce and grip and how the conditions can play a role. Motorsports, and IndyCar in particular, has transformed from being about who could produce the fastest car to who can produce the best race car because majority of the variables are controlled. They weren't talking about maximum wing angles and mandatory Gurney flaps and tire compounds 40 years ago. The regulations were different and how teams competed were different. 

If a team ran a Gurney flap, it was hoping to be faster. If a team ran a certain tire manufacturer, which brought a specific tire compound to the racetrack, it was hoping to be faster. If it worked, great, but it could be a disappointing combination and a team would be forced to try again or stuck with what they got and finishing 14th or maybe creeping into the top ten if many cars failed during the race.

Everyone has the same parts now. The engines are different but not that different. The tires are carefully crafted under Firestone's watch. The goal is still to go faster than the next guy, but within the sandbox everyone is playing. That means there is a limit and even if you are the fastest, you are not going to be that much faster or considerably out of reach to the next closest competitor. 

Scott Dixon nearly won at Gateway and probably had the ninth-best car in the race because he could go 55 laps on a stint. 

There are obviously some technical changes that could hurt a race. I don't think that means every change. There are also outside factors that determine how a race plays out. This year's Indianapolis 500 would not have been the same had it been 30º F warmer. There is an effort to make a race at least compelling, but there are factors no one can control that can negate all the work that is done. 

My point is don't get so upset, and if you are still upset with how Sunday night's race turned out, it had 475 passes and 268 of those were for position. From 2017 through 2021, the six Gateway races during that span never saw a race with 400 or more total passes and never saw a race with 175 or more passes for position. Since 2022, the average number of total passes at Gateway is 544 and the average number of passes for position is 236.2. 

Sunday night's race saw the most passes for position in a Gateway race since it returned to the schedule, and dare I mention the three races with the most passes and passes for position at Gateway have all occurred since the introduction of the hybrid! Oh the humanity!

Some people are unable to experience happiness.

5. Sidebar, one day we need to talk about the passing numbers IndyCar reports on its event summaries. It isn't a matter of it they are bad or good or accurate, but what should we make of them and how much should we use those as a measuring stick over what we see with our own eyes.

6. In the lead up to Gateway, there were conversations about the start time for the race, which was after 9:20 p.m. ET. The race start was moved up as rain was in the area. 

Some made it very public that they were going to watch and that it was a great thing IndyCar had a race on broadcast television in primetime, and they would watch no matter what hour the race would be held and they love IndyCar more than you. 

Others said this race was not feasible within their schedule and could not watch the race and mentioned Sunday night is not the best time for a race to be held. 

Multiple things can be true. 

A night race can be good. A night race on broadcast television can be good. 

A post-9:00 p.m. Eastern start on a Sunday is not ideal.

IndyCar does not exist in a vacuum. With the current broadcast partner in Fox, it worked to have this race as a primetime race. It worked last year to find a window to show the Gateway race in primetime six weeks before it was supposed to take place and after it was originally scheduled for an afternoon start. IndyCar isn't the only sporting entity out there. The United Football League, an entity Fox Sports has invested in, just like IndyCar, had a playoff game on Sunday that started at 6:00 p.m. ET. 

If you want to be on broadcast television, you are going to need to play ball with the broadcaster and understand you are one part of a larger web of properties. IndyCar isn't big enough to call the shots and demand its own start times. If you think the race should have been Saturday night, Fox had the Boston Red Sox vs. the New York Yankees scheduled. IndyCar isn't going to move that game.

Gateway could have started at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on FS1 or Fox's streaming service Fox One, but people would have been upset about that. 

There is a limit to a 9:00 p.m. Eastern start, and it is not the greatest for broad viewership. Then again, no IndyCar race has broad viewership outside of one race a year. You are likely not catching anyone's attention with a race ending beyond midnight on a non-holiday weekend Sunday. Starting an hour earlier is the sweet spot. Start at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and it is over by 10:30 p.m. It could be over by 10:00 p.m. if the race moves fast enough. 

This can be worked on and tweaked for the future. The start time did not appear to hurt the crowd at Gateway, which is a good thing and speaks volume to the audience that track can attract.

Also, you don't love IndyCar more than somebody if you are willing to stay up beyond midnight to watch a race. Watching any sporting league or racing series should not require unquestioned devotion. There has been a cultish undertone to some IndyCar support for a while now. It is getting a little louder. That isn't a good thing. Don't think that isn't a barrier to entry for some people. Not everyone wants to be in a cult. 

7. Sidebar, one day we need to talk about IndyCar fan behavior and how it can come off as rather unwelcoming to others, especially those who have started watching motorsports through a different series and are willing to try and watch other forms only to be told what they are watching is bad and they should be watching something else instead, IndyCar specifically, because it is better and they are not watching for the right reasons and they are not real race fans and they are actually not welcomed unless they completely denounce what they previously were watching and declare IndyCar the best. 

It really is a group that tries too hard but also doesn't know how to ingratiate themselves to others. 

They shout, "Love me, stupid" and miss the irony of their statement.

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.

Second Impressions: Gateway 2025

This might become a new way of breaking down an IndyCar race, especially if there are more night races in the future. Hit the main stuff immediately and expand on the broader topics later. We have covered the main points from IndyCar's prime time race at Gateway Motorsports Park, but there are a few things to revisit in the aftermath. 

1. Let's start with the officiating, and it can be hit in a few different parts. 

In chronological order, race control had questionable moments with Felix Rosenqvist's unsafe release penalty, which led to another penalty for failure to follow directions for Rosenqvist. Then we have the Louis Foster accident and the timing of that caution, which likely could have prevented Josef Newgarden from ever getting involved in the accident. Finally, we have the penalties to Scott McLaughlin and David Malukas for improper lane usage on pit lane. 

The first and the last one are tied together. 

Under the second caution of the race, Rosenqvist exits his pit box into the path of Santino Ferrucci, and it appears Rosenqvist's right rear tire may have grazed Ferrucci's front wing. Race control has been pretty consistent calling such as an unsafe release. If you touch another car while exiting your pit box, it will be a penalty. That is fine and it is the right call. Even if Rosenqvist didn't touch Ferrucci's car, it was still an unsafe release. 

The problem was the application of the penalty because when it was announced over the broadcast it was said Rosenqvist had a drive-through penalty, and that seemed off because in the past this foul moved the driver to the rear of the field prior to the restart. The most recent one that famously stands out to me is Alexander Rossi at the 2020 Indianapolis 500. Rossi came out into the path of Sato, there was slight contact, Rossi dropped to the rear and the rest was history. 

A drive-through felt like too much, and it was worse when Rosenqvist dropped to the rear of the field under green flag racing instead of driving through pit lane think that would be sufficient. This led to the failure to follow directions penalty and a further stop-and-go punishment. 

Then you flash forward a little over 80 laps later. 

McLaughlin comes out of his pit box erratically into the path of Patricio O'Ward. At the same time, Malukas exits his pit box in an erratic fashion, cutting off McLaughlin and forcing McLaughlin to cut from the fast lane to the transition lane. In neither case was contact made, but both releases looked rather unsafe. It felt like both would get a penalty. 

They did each get a penalty, but it was deemed as improper lane usage and neither McLaughlin nor Malukas had properly blended into the fast lane. Each driver was pushed back three spots prior to the restart, moving Malukas to fourth and McLaughlin to fifth. 

That looked like splitting hairs over what is an unsafe release and what is improper lane usage. If you are fond of tinfoil hats, you could view this as race control giving the team of the series owner and the team in technical alliance with the team of the series owner lesser infractions with more lenient penalties while the competition received harsher sentences. I don't think that is the case, but looking at the two, it is difficult to pick how one is different from the other.

You can have an unsafe release and not make contact with another car. 

Prior to Sunday night's race, IndyCar had not had an unsafe release penalty, contact in the pit lane penalty or improper lane usage penalty since the 2024 Indianapolis 500 It happened twice in that race, and each penalty was different. 

Rinus VeeKay bumped a car exiting his pit box during a pit cycle under the fourth caution. It was an improper lane usage/contact in pit lane penalty. VeeKay was sent to the rear of the field for the restart. Kyle Kirkwood missed his pit box and bumped Callum Ilott under the pit cycle during the fifth caution. Kirkwood was deemed only contact in pit lane. Kirkwood was given a drive-through penalty. 

The next most recent time a driver had an unsafe release/contact in pit lane/improper lane usage penalty was the 2024 Long Beach race. Christian Lundgaard made contact with Kirkwood while exiting his pit box. It was deemed an unsafe release and the penalty was for Lundgaard to yield five positions. This was done during a pit stop under caution, but the stop happened on lap 17. The penalty was not issued until lap 26. Lundgaard went from 14th position on lap 26 to 19th on lap 27. 

Severity of the incident and race condition clearly determine the penalty, but watching Sunday night, Rosenqvist's incident was hardly any different from McLaughlin and Malukas' misconduct. Rosenqvist didn't force Ferrucci to make an additional pit stop for repairs. It also felt like race control didn't notice the infraction until after the restart, and there is enough evidence to suggest that was the case.

The stop where the infraction happened was lap 50. The race restarted on lap 57. The penalty was issued to Rosenqvist on lap 60. 

Things move quick during a race, especially on a short oval, but if the difference between moving to the rear of the field on a restart or a drive-through penalty is when race control catches the infraction, that is unfair. Moving to the rear of the field is an inconvenience. A drive-through penalty is gutting a race. At Gateway, you are going to lose a lap with a drive-through. 

Either the penalty needs to be applied prior to the restart, or IndyCar should have accepted Rosenqvist sacrificing all those spots under green. He went to the rear of the field. He gave up all the track position he had. There was no reason why he had to be a lap down. 

In this case, the inconsistent application of a penalty was too big to go unnoticed.

2. As for the Foster caution, we touched upon it a bit after the race, this one got by the officials. They hung on for a second too long, really about three seconds too long before declaring caution. This is a tough spot for race control because it can overdo it calling a caution when a car continues after touching the barriers. 

You don't want to slow the race and lose 12 laps under caution because one driver ran a little high and grazed the wall. In this case, Foster smacked the wall pretty good. It always looked like an instant caution. 

Was there a trigger finger when David Malukas had his incident about 65 laps later? Yes, but even then I think a caution was warranted. 

IndyCar used to be very strict about cars brushing the wall. It used to be an automatic caution, but that could be overkill at times and ruin the rhythm of a race. It is tough to find that balance, but it missed one with Foster when it either wasn't looking or thought the damage wasn't that bad. Unfortunately, it took out the leader and flipped the results.

They are going to be more alert for the remainder of the season. 

3. Colton Herta was in line for a top ten finish, but late in the race Herta was used up. First when Santino Ferrucci bumped him through turns one and two. Somehow, neither car had an accident or was significantly damaged. After that though, Herta faded backward. He had been running 11th prior to his final pit stop on lap 225 but after that he was shuffled further back before ending the race in 17th, one lap down.

When your teammate wins for the third time in the first eight races, you cannot afford to throw away a top ten finish like this, especially when you are on the highest paid driver in IndyCar.

4. Nolan Siegel had a night to forget. We already covered the restart snafu that cost his teammate Patricio O'Ward and might have cost Arrow McLaren a victory, but before that, Siegel had already drew the ire of race control when he was charged with blocking when he chopped down on Scott McLaughlin as Siegel was going a lap down. 

Siegel had to serve a drive-through penalty, and he was kept off the lead lap for the rest of the race. 

Siegel has been under a spotlight lately, and once we get through Road America he will effectively have completed a full season with the McLaren organization. Ahead of the Gateway race, McLaren confirmed all three drivers will be returning for the 2026 season. 

It has been a difficult year for Siegel as he joined IndyCar midseason while competing in Indy Lights. He had competed in four race weekends prior to joining McLaren, and he had plans to run at Toronto later that season with Dale Coyne Racing, but he stepped into IndyCar as it was introducing the hybrid system and when he had no prior testing experience with the system and limited time in an IndyCar in general. 

However, McLaren has established a habit of rotating through drivers rather quickly when results have not been satisfactory. People weren't pleased when Oliver Askew was canned after a year, Felix Rosenqvist was constantly on the hot seat, and Alexander Rossi only had two seasons. Théo Pourchaire had been given the McLaren seat for the remainder of the season in 2024 and was on his way to Laguna Seca when the news came he was booted for Siegel while Pourchaire's results had been rather good for someone entering the series with no testing experience.

As much as we might not like it, this was the expectation the McLaren organization set for itself. It is going to hold a high standard and drivers must perform, but we are seeing Siegel struggle more than those other three, and yet it comes off as Siegel having greater job security than those before him.  

Siegel is only 20 years old and he will not turn 21 until November. He needs time, but Oliver Askew didn't get more than 12 races with the team. 

It goes back to what we are seeing with race control. We want consistency. The tone was set that you must perform at a high level at McLaren... and now we have a driver who has been given a noticeably longer leash. 

All young drivers should get at least two seasons, probably at least three seasons to learn. If Siegel is in the same zip code one year from now, we will have a different conversation, and McLaren will have a decision to make.

5. Gateway did well in terms of attendance. It has helped that the races the last few years have been the best since Gateway returned in 2017. 

I was nervous that the late decision to make this a Sunday night race would hurt attendance. The effect was negligible at best. I do wonder if a night race was the plan from the start, and we had seven or eight months of promoting this as a Sunday night race, would that have helped draw more people out?

The crowd was in line with what Gateway has been getting since 2017. I don't think it was its best ever, but it certainly didn't look horrible. Other than the Indianapolis 500 and Long Beach, every IndyCar race can do better. Ignore the turn two grandstands, there are still plenty of open pockets in the main grandstand. "Packed" does not equal "full." IndyCar has work to do to get to full. 

This is still one of IndyCar's better oval races. At one point, Robin Miller suggested Gateway be the season finale just based on the fan support. It is hard to disagree with that. However, with how the schedule has changed and with Gateway now hosting a NASCAR playoff race in the middle of September, I doubt the track would want IndyCar's season finale a few weeks earlier. 

IndyCar is the series that will preach "date equity" and then flip four rounds to different months of the year. This was the first Gateway race in June after eight years in August. We can't be tossing this race all  around the calendar. The middle of June looked to be a little more hospitable than late August in terms of temperature. I think Gateway's place can be right in the heart of the schedule, shortly after the Indianapolis 500. If things change on the NASCAR side, perhaps we investigate Gateway hosting the finale. 

If the finale isn't in the heart of Nashville then what is the difference between ending in Madison, Illinois vs. Lebanon, Tennessee? Neither are destinations. They are destination-adjacent, which says a lot about IndyCar in 2025.

First Impressions: Gateway 2025

1. The 2025 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 from Gateway Motorsports Park will go down as one of the most unfathomable races we have seen. Timing of the cautions set up a final stint where it felt like no one could make it but maybe one or two could stretch it. What transpired was a 50-plus lap stint where everyone didn't know whether to push it or save it but once you hit the pit lane your night was set, and your result live or died by a caution. 

No caution came, and when it was over, Kyle Kirkwood pulled out a victory that was unthinkable for about the first 75% of the race. Kirkwood had a good car, but for most of this race, Chevrolet was in control. However, a late caution for David Malukas brushing the barrier had the entire field caught a lap down to Scott Dixon, who spent much of the race outside the top ten but was the last to pit during that cycle. 

This set up Dixon to lead but also be in a position to possibly stretch his fuel like he famously can. Kirkwood was in third, behind Patricio O'Ward, and with the lapped car of Nolan Siegel between Dixon and the rest of the leaders, Kirkwood was able to use Siegel as a pick on Siegel's own teammate in O'Ward. Kirkwood stepped in to second and he knew a final stop was coming. The question was whether Dixon could do something incredible. 

Leaders started peeling off to get that final stop out of the way. Kirkwood came with 28 laps to go. Unexpectedly, Dixon came five laps later, forgoing the conservation run and committing to going all out. At that point, it was a matter of could the likes of Callum Ilott and Felix Rosenqvist stretch their fuel over 55 laps as they came late during the caution period for Malukas' incident, or could someone catch a timely caution and leapfrog to the lead. 

That caution never came. Kirkwood was able to jump ahead of Dixon by stopping five laps early. Everyone else feel in behind Kirkwood as they made their final stops. Ilott took the lead, then Rosneqvist took the lead. Rosenqvist's team couldn't make it. Ilott's team was optimistic, but the fuel ran out on the fairy tale with three laps to go. 

It played perfectly for Kirkwood, and through eight races, we still have only two winners in the 2025 season. Álex Palou's five victories have been well covered. Kirkwood won a staring contest with Palou at Long Beach. Two weeks ago at Detroit, Kirkwood had to work some moves to pass three cars or caught a timely caution to pull out a victory when he was the best car. Tonight, Kirkwood was good, but not as great as some. With how this race fell, Kirkwood took advantage of opportunities and like Palou, Kirkwood made the most out of a day when he wasn't the man to beat. 

We are watching the second breakout season of Kirkwood. Two years ago, he won two races, but he wasn't a complete driver. Last year, Kirkwood was outstandingly consistent with his finishes, but he didn't have the speed to win races. This year, he has put both together. There are nine races left after this race. The championship is still a bit of a pipe dream because Palou continues to be sensational, but Kirkwood can make it a fight. No one else has stepped up to the table. At the moment, this is Kirkwood's opportunity to cement himself as one of IndyCar's best.

2. This was a night race and I don't want to be writing at midnight. We are going to cover the rest of the top ten, a few other key guys and then we can come back to the rest later in the week. 

On that restart, it crossed my mind that Nolan Siegel might have cost his Arrow McLaren teammate a victory. Patricio O'Ward was thinking the same thing in his post-race interview. 

With one pit stop to go, it might not have mattered. O'Ward might have remained ahead of Kirkwood if Siegel had a better restart or just got out of the way for his teammate, but this race came down to when everyone stopped and what traffic they came out in. O'Ward stopped with 22 laps to go, four laps after Kirkwood. Kirkwood might have been still in position to jump ahead in the pit cycle, but on a night when O'Ward had a victory in sight, his lapped down teammate did him no favors. 

With all the issues front-runners had, this was looking to line up for O'Ward, and the one driver he likely thought was the most on his side ended up being a stumbling block on his way to finishing second. 

3. Christian Rasmussen was on fire tonight! His car was not filled with fuel on his first stop and that knocked him off strategy all night. Then Louis Foster spins into the path of Josef Newgarden and it looks like Rasmussen caught a break and would not need to stop 15 laps before everyone. Nope! Rasmussen had to stop for emergency service, so instead of holding onto a top five position, he still went to the back. 

But this crazy night shook into Rasmussen's favor, especially when the Malukas caution came. Rasmussen had a car that was hooked up and could make moves all over the track. This was by far his best night and he pushed O'Ward for second but had to settle for third. Third is still incredible and a right result for Rasmussen. 

4. I thought Dixon was going to pull this out. He stopped with 58 laps to go. It looked like everyone was getting about 50 laps. Considering the race didn't go green until 54 laps to go, I thought Dixon could save enough to make up those few laps. Dixon didn't even try, which was likely the right strategy. 

Rosenqvist and Ilott both tried and they ended up 16th and 18th. Dixon spent most of this race outside the top ten. Stopped with 23 laps to go was the right call. It didn't turn into a victory, but it was a fourth-place finish on a night when none of the Chip Ganassi Racing cars were that competitive and this turned out to be a better night for CGR than most teams.

Dixon's magic didn't end up in victory, but it did earn him a better finish than expected.

5. Santino Ferrucci was aggressive and it got him a fifth-place finish. He never broke into the leading pack. He led late during the pit cycle hoping for a late caution to do for him what the previous one did for Dixon. That didn't happen. The difference is Ferrucci was in the top ten for the entire night. 

If nothing has bit Ferrucci yet, I don't know if it will. He bumped Colton Herta through all of turn one and two. He had a few other close calls on the pit lane, and yet he ended up fifth. He has been doing this regularly since 2019. This hasn't been luck. 

6. For a brief moment, it looked like this was going to be Conor Daly's night. Daly was leading and he was daring others to beat him. Well, they beat him on pit lane and Daly fell from the lead to second to third and then out of the top five. 

When it comes to oval victories in particular, the pit crew plays a greater role in winning a race. It doesn't matter that you are leading laps 154-190 when you still need to make three more pit stops. If you are going to lose at least one if not two positions each pit cycle, it is going to be very difficult to win any race. Daly and Juncos Hollinger Racing can produce a good car, but investment must be made on the pit crew, and that will cost a healthy penny.

7. Rinus VeeKay wasn't noticed all night and he finished seventh. That sounds about right for VeeKay this season. It is a good bounce back after the last two races. 

8. Álex Palou looked like he was in trouble all night. He was shuffled back, bumped and banged, he even had to take evasive action as Louis Foster's car spun in front of him. Despite all the turmoil, Palou was eighth. Yeah, the championship is his. Kirkwood and O'Ward did everything right and caught every break they could ask for and Palou still finished eighth! He lost ground but it will hardly be noticed. Palou will get it back at Road America. It is good to be the king.

9. Marcus Armstrong ran well all race and scored a ninth-place result. You looked up and Armstrong was still in the top ten. It is fine after starting sixth. Meyer Shank Racing still isn't used to running this well. It is a result to build on. 

10. I have no clue how Robert Shwartzman pulled out tenth. Shwartzman was never in the discussion for the top ten. His final stop came with 15 laps to go, one lap prior to Ferrucci, and it led to Shwartzman scoring his and Prema's first top ten finish. At Gateway, the place we all predicted. 

Ilott had good speed this weekend and was around 15th for much of this race, but at no point did I notice Shwartzman until he was one of the last cars to stop and he ended up tenth when the checkered flag waved. He deserves it. Prema deserves it.

11. I am going to recognize all the drivers who did close to nothing in this race here to save me time: Alexander Rossi (11th), Marcus Ericsson (13th), Christian Lundgaard (14th), Kyffin Simpson (15th), Colton Herta (17th), Nolan Siegel (19th), Sting Ray Robb (20th), Jacob Abel (21st).

If for any reason you deserve more attention, it will come later this week. 

12. David Malukas was 12th and led the most laps. In the same vain as Daly and JHR, Malukas lost spots in the pit lane. He was lucky he didn't get more for his "improper lane usage" after one of his pit stops. 

My problem with David Malukas is he is prone to mistakes, and he made another tonight, aggressively trying to pass Kirkwood during a pit cycle and getting into the marbles. This sent him up the track and he was fortunate the brush with the wall was not worse. 

At the moment, Malukas is a good driver if you want to succeed at three tracks. The problem is the IndyCar schedule is more than Gateway, Milwaukee and Iowa. The performances must step up at Detroit, Road America, Mid-Ohio, Toronto and so on. Even at the places where he thrives, he is still his own worst enemy. The scatterbrain behavior cannot continue behind the wheel of the car. 

13. I am going to cover Felix Rosenqvist and Callum Ilott both right here. They both took a gamble. It looked like it was going to work. It came up short. I was surprised more cars did not stop prior to that final restart with 54 laps to go. It appears the most anyone could get was 52 laps on a tank. They both went for it and they both led late. Rosenqvist had to overcome a questionable unsafe release penalty. Ilott had a good weekend and Prema had a shot at something spectacular. Both deserve a round of applause for taking the chance. 

14. This was a night from hell for Team Penske. Will Power loses a right front tire while running second. Josef Newgarden was leading and had nowhere to go when Louis Foster spun in front of him after officials questionably held the yellow. Scott McLaughlin retired with damage while running in the top ten and after spending most of the race in the top five. 

Penske finished 24th (McLaughlin), 25th (Newgarden) and 27th (Power). Three cars started in the top five and all three finished in the bottom four. Brutal! 

And none of the drivers did anything wrong. None of them made a mistake. Power cannot control his tires being punctured or failing. Newgarden might have won this race if the caution comes out two seconds earlier. On the broadcast, it was said to be six seconds from the time Foster hit the wall to the time the caution came out. At that point, Foster was already perpendicular to traffic and Newgarden was inches from launching over the disabled #45 Dallara. 

We aren't going to have time to cover all the officiating questions from this night, but 99 times out of 100, Foster hits the wall and the caution is out before we could even fathomable thinking about another car launching over a spinning car. I don't know how the officials were caught sleeping on this one. They were quick with that trigger when Malukas hit the wall. 

15. Team Penske had the worst night. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was a close second. Devlin DeFrancesco spun basically immediately. The car was repaired but he was scraping for pennies on this night and wound up 23rd, 43 laps down. 

Foster spun when he was just outside the top ten. A promising night was over and unfortunately what could have just been a rookie mistake will now be sizzle reel material for years, and that wasn't Foster's fault. 

Graham Rahal was slow all night. It felt like he was three laps down within the first 80 laps of this race. Rahal ended up finishing 22nd, seven laps down. He has never had any speed at this track. RLLR's oval struggles have been well-documented. Gateway is its worst by far. I do not understand how RLLR didn't give Michael Cannon everything it could to sign him because they could use him everywhere, but ovals in particular. 

16. Check list for a second impressions:

Race control on cautions and penalties. 

I do want to touch upon Colton Herta being chewed out in this race. 

Nolan Siegel's night could use some examination. 

I might mention Christian Lundgaard's penalty. Let's see how interesting that is after sleeping on it. 

Let's take the temperature on Gateway's prime time debut. 

17. Real quick on Gateway, for a race that had its start time pushed back about six hours only six weeks ago, the crowd was as good as you could ask for. It looked like pretty much every other IndyCar crowd it has drawn since 2017. That is a good thing. I was worried people would be scared away with a late change and a Sunday night race. It didn't turn it into a ghost town. That is a minor victory. 

The race was excellent as well. As the track has aged, it has become better to race on. There are two lines at both ends of the track. We didn't see that the first four or five years. I am glad with what we have seen the last few years, especially tonight. This was a positive night.

18. At least we got the race in before the rain. That was a close one.

19. Dry off. Road America is in less than a week. 

Morning Warm-Up: Gateway 2025

For the first time in 29 races, Will Power has won pole position for an IndyCar event. With a two lap average at 180.329 mph, Power will lead the field to the green flag for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 from Gateway Motorsports Park. It is his 71st career pole position, and this was the 700th pole position for Team Penske across all competitions. This is Power's fifth pole position at Gateway, and this is the sixth circuit where he has won at least five pole positions. While this pole position lowers Power's average starting position at Gateway to 2.7, his average finish is 11th. Power has one podium finish through the first seven races, his fewest since 2021.

Scott McLaughlin makes it an all-Team Penske front row with a two-lap average of 179.783 mph. This is McLaughlin's second consecutive front row start at Gateway. McLaughlin has finished in the top ten in 11 consecutive races on ovals shorter than 1.5 miles in length. Ten of those results have been top five finishes. His last finish outside the top ten on an oval shorter than 1.5 miles was 22nd at Iowa in 2022. In four Gateway starts, he has finished fourth, third, fifth and second.

Patricio O'Ward takes third on the grid after running two laps at an average of 179.190 mph. O'Ward has never started worse than eighth at Gateway. Over his last 13 oval starts, O'Ward has finished on the podium eight times and outside the top twenty in three races with a finish of sixth and tenth mixed in. Last year, a mechanical issue ended his Gateway race after 42 laps. He had finished in the top five in his first five visits to the 1.25-mile oval.

David Malukas will be on the outside of the second row with a two-lap average of 179.079 mph. This is Malukas' third consecutive race starting in the top ten and his second consecutive top five starting position. The only other time he started in the top five in consecutive races was at Iowa and Nashville in 2023. Gateway is the only track where Malukas has multiple top five finishes. A.J. Foyt Racing has had a top five finisher in the last two races. The team hasn't had three consecutive top five results since Eliseo Salazar had a three-race streak spanning the 2001 season finale and the first two races of 2002.

Josef Newgarden rounds out the top five on the grid with an average at 178.910 mph. He has never started worse than sixth at Gateway. Newgarden could join A.J. Foyt as the only drivers with at least six victories at multiple tracks if Newgarden wins at Gateway. Newgarden also has six victories at Iowa. Foyt won 12 times at Trenton and six times at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

The top Honda starter is Marcus Armstrong in sixth. Armstrong qualified at 178.754 mph, and it is his fifth time starting in the top ten this season. The only time he has started better on an oval was when he started third at Milwaukee last year. While Armstrong had three top ten finishes on ovals last year, he is still looking for his first top five finish on an oval.

Felix Rosenqvist was 0.0164 second off his Meyer Shank Racing teammate Armstrong and this will place Rosenqvist seventh in the starting lineup. Rosenqvist has finished in the top ten of his last two Gateway starts and he has four top ten finishes in seven starts at the circuit. His sixth at Gateway last year was his only top ten finish in the final 11 races of 2024.

Colton Herta will be to Rosenqvist's outside on row four. Herta has finished in the top five of the eighth race of the season in five consecutive seasons. He was fourth at Gateway in 2020, fourth at Belle Isle in 2021, fifth at Road America in 2022 and 2023 and second at Laguna Seca last year. He has finished in the top ten the last two years at Gateway, and he was third in the last race at Detroit. The last time Herta finished third was at Milwaikee, and then he went on to win the following race at Nashville.

Álex Palou has his worst starting position of the season in ninth. Palou was 25th at Detroit two weeks ago, his worst finish since he was 27th at Road America in 2022. Palou followed up that Road America result with a second at Mid-Ohio. The only other time in the last three seasons where Palou finished outside the top twenty was 23rd in the first Iowa race last year. He followed that Iowa race with a runner-up finish in the second race of the doubleheader. 

Kyle Kirkwood rounds out the top ten. Kirkwood could become the first Andretti Global driver to win consecutive races since Colton Herta won the final two races of 2021 at Laguna Seca and Long Beach. This could be the first time an Andretti driver has won consecutive races with one of them being an oval race since Alexander Rossi won consecutive at Mid-Ohio and Pocono in 2018. Kirkwood won at Gateway in 2019 in Indy Pro 2000.

Scott Dixon makes it six consecutive Hondas on the grid as Dixon occupies 11th starting position. Dixon has started in the top ten only twice this season and in the top five only once. Dixon enters Gateway off finishes of 20th at the Indianapolis 500 and 11th at Detroit. He has not had three consecutive finishes outside the top ten since 2014 when he went 15th, 29th and 11th over the two Indianapolis rounds and the first Belle Isle race.

Alexander Rossi breaks the string of Hondas with the #20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet in 12th starting position. Though Rossi has four top ten finishes from the first seven races, he has yet to finish in the top five. This is the second time in his career he has not had a top five in the first seven races. The other time was 2021, where he did not get a top five until the tenth race at Mid-Ohio.

Marcus Ericsson will be starting 13th. Ericsson has finished outside the top ten in the last six races. The good news is Ericsson has finished in the top ten of the eighth race of the season in all six seasons of his IndyCar career. Only once has Ericsson finished better than his starting position at Gateway. That was 2023 when he went from 15th to tenth.

Christian Lundgaard has his best Gateway starting position in 14th. Lundgaard has never finished on the lead lap at Gateway, finishing two laps down in 2022, one lap down in 2023 and three laps down in 2024. Lundgaard is one of three drivers to have completed every lap this season along with Patricio O'Ward and Kyle Kirkwood.

Conor Daly will be starting 15th. Daly was 0.9942 seconds slower than Power's pole-winning time. After finishing in the top ten in his first four Gateway stats, Daly has an average finish of 15.75 in his last four Gateway starts with his best finish being 11th. Last year, he fell from ninth to 13th while driving for Juncos Hollinger Racing. 

Callum Ilott matches his best starting position of the season in 16th. Ilott started 16th at Barber Motorsports Park, but he dropped to 23rd in that race. In two Gateway starts, Ilott has finished 21st and 27th. He has finished outside the top ten in six consecutive oval starts and in nine consecutive starts total dating back to last season.

Devlin DeFrancesco was the top Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing qualifier but DeFrancesco is starting 17th. This is the sixth time this season the Canadian is starting outside the top fifteen. DeFrancesco won at Gateway in 2020 in the Indy Pro 2000. It was his first of two victories in the series.

Rinus VeeKay has the #18 Honda in the 18th spot on the grid. VeeKay has finished 27th in his last two starts. The only time VeeKay has had three consecutive results outside the top twenty was in 2021 when he was 24th, 24th and 21st over the races at Nashville, Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and Gateway. 

Santino Ferrucci will start 19th, his fifth consecutive Gateway start outside the top fifteen. This will be Ferrucci's 85th career start and he is still looking for his first career victory. He could become the first driver to have his first career victory come in the start following a second-place finish since Robert Doornbos was second at Cleveland in 2007 before winning at at Mont-Tremblant the following week.

Nolan Siegel rounds out the top twenty. This is Siegel's fourth consecutive race starting outside the top fifteen and it is his seventh time in eight races starting outside the top ten. Siegel scored his career-best finish of seventh last year at Gateway. His average finish in his 11 starts since is 18.0909.

Louis Foster will start in 21st in his first IndyCar race at Gateway Motorsports Park. In three Road to Indy starts at Gateway, Foster had a victory, a second and his worst finish was fourth. No driver has ever won at Gateway in IndyCar and Indy Lights. The only other past Gateway Indy Lights winner in this field are David Malukas and Christian Rasmussen.

Graham Rahal completes an all-RLLR row 11 in the 22nd position. This is his seventh time starting outside the top fifteen at Gateway. Rahal has finished outside the top fifteen in six of nine Gateway starts. His best finish at the circuit in tenth in 2018 and 2022. This will be Rahal's 300th start in IndyCar, and he is the 11th driver to reach this milestone.

Sting Ray Robb has his best starting position at Gateway in 23rd. He had started 24th in his first two visits to the track. Last year, Robb scored his first career top ten finish in IndyCar when he was ninth at Gateway. He has since matched his career-best finish with a ninth at Long Beach earlier this season.

Robert Shwartzman's second career oval start will be from 24th starting position, 23 spots worse than his first career oval start. After starting on pole position for the Indianapolis 500, Shwartzman is coming off his best finish of the season when he was 16th at Detroit. Detroit was his fourth time finishing on the leap lap, but he has yet to finish on the lead lap in consecutive races. 

Christian Rasmussen matches his career worst starting position of 25th. He started 25th at Nashville last year. His worst starting position of the season comes off the heels of Rasmussen's worst finish of the season. He was 24th at Detroit after an engine failure. This will be Rasmussen's first IndyCar start at Gateway. He won the 2023 Indy Lights race from the circuit with Louis Foster finishing second. 

Kyffin Simpson will start 26th, his worst starting position of the season and his fifth time starting outside the top 25 in his career. In the last race, Simpson was fifth at Detroit, his best career-best finish, and he picked up his second fastest lap of the season. He also had fastest lap at Long Beach when he finished tenth. 

Jacob Abel rounds out the grid in 27th, his worst starting position of the season. Abel was 2.5926 seconds This will be Abel's oval debut in IndyCar. He was runner-up in the Indy Lights races at Gateway and Milwaukee last season.

Fox's coverage of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 from Gateway Motorsports Park begins at 8:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 8:20 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 260 laps.