Musings From the Weekend: The 100 Days After...

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

NASCAR made the right decision, though it took significantly longer than it should have. The Le Mans test day took place. Jacques Villeneuve was in the news, and he had a point. There was some history at Road America that made everyone happy. Will Power won for the first time in over two years and wasn't the only drought that ended this weekend. IndyCar's off-track circus became rather unavoidable, and it isn't over yet, and that leads to what should be discussed this week.

The 100 Days After...

Friday saw the conclusion of the second season of "100 Days to Indy," IndyCar's docuseries that airs on The CW, which has also found a streaming home on Netflix for the first season with the second season likely to be released on the streaming giant in quick succession. 

Season two followed the IndyCar Series through one of its most controversial periods, and that is saying something because IndyCar has had a few notable controversies over its existence. 

It captured IndyCar's biggest cheating scandal in real-time, a tough thing to do as the news of Team Penske's data manipulation of the push-to-pass system came out days before the season two premiere. With an episode already in the can, there was no time for adjustments on the first episode. It would be shown as the St. Petersburg event happened, believing Josef Newgarden had opened the 2024 season with a dominant performance to kick off the run to his Indianapolis 500 defense.  

It might have been the best way to handle the opening of the 2024 season, showing the news as it happened instead of jumping around. It was not an envious position for the producers who likely had the first two episodes, if not the first three, finished when the news broke, but it did tackle the penalty and the scenes at Barber Motorsports Park days after the announcement in full. 

Episode four from Barber was all about the penalty. The puff was gone. We started right at the track as all the drivers arrived and gave quotes about the incident. We got right to Newgarden's emotional press conference. It was the best way to tackle it. Wedding planning and clothes shopping and any life away from the track ended up on the cutting room floor.

"100 Days to Indy" is a tight turnaround show. The final few episodes are turned around only two weeks after a race occurred. Time is non-existent for creative editing or storytelling. The production crew is handcuffed, but in each of its two seasons it has done a fine job of presenting IndyCar and the weeks leading up and through the Indianapolis 500.

But what about the 100 days after? 

To be accurate, 113 days follow the Indianapolis 500 through the 2024 IndyCar season finale from Nashville Superspeedway. The stories do not stop because the Indianapolis 500 is over. This was the biggest complaint when the "100 Day to Indy" series was first announced ahead of the 2023 season. It was not been corrected for 2024. A lot is missed and this is short-changing IndyCar from growing as a series. 

The Indianapolis 500 is great, the most important race on the IndyCar schedule, arguably the biggest race in the world, but all is being sold is the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar needs to sell all of it. It must sell every event from March through September. It needs more viewers for Laguna Seca, Mid-Ohio, Iowa and Toronto. This series is great through May, but then the series vanishes and any potential audience is only getting a fraction of what actually happens. 

In the days following this year's "500," there was a great collective vocalization from drivers, team owners and others in IndyCar wondering how to get the nearly six million viewers for the Indianapolis 500 to tune in for all the other races. I don't think I have heard more drivers expressing exasperation over the steep falloff in viewership they were about to experience not only from Indianapolis to Detroit but from Indianapolis to the rest of the season. 

Every other race will get a smaller rating compared to Indianapolis, but everyone within IndyCar wishes the drop off wasn't so steep. It is almost a 90º drop straight down. Something gradual would at least be understandable. 

If IndyCar had an average viewership of two million people, I think everyone would feel considerably better. How can IndyCar raise the average to that level? Around five million people have been watching the Indianapolis 500 for the last decade or so, and every year the races that are not the Indianapolis 500 are hovering around a million viewers. The Indianapolis 500 hasn't done enough to entice more people to stick around. We must realize it will take more than the Indianapolis 500 to grow IndyCar. 

This is where "100 Days to Indy" comes in or whatever the hell you would call a docuseries that would follow the entire IndyCar season. 

The Monaco Grand Prix didn't make Formula One bigger in the United States, nor did the Italian Grand Prix or the British Grand Prix or even the United States Grand Prix from Austin. We all know "Drive to Survive," a docuseries on Netflix, is the reason Formula One has not only grown in the United States but around the globe. 

It wasn't the racing that people were attracted to. It was the stories. "Drive to Survive" made the drivers relatable to the audience. They gave people who never cared about racing a reason to care. It gave them lovable underdogs as well as the best in the world and made them more than just a driver. It is a glamorous  job taking people around the world, but it showed the drivers as mortals, expressing the same anxieties and frustrations as the common man working 9 to 5.

The background was brought to the foreground, and people was intrigued with what happened beyond the 300-kilometer grand prix on Sunday. There is plenty of exciting things that happen beyond the racetrack. Driver news is exciting. Intra-team conflicts are intoxicating. All sports have it. There is an audience love every aspect of a sport. Football fans love "Hard Knocks" just as much as they love spending an afternoon watching the games on the couch. Think about the obsession that is fantasy football. Football is more than four quarters and 60 minutes on Sunday.

IndyCar needs IndyCar to be bigger. Hoping for the 108th consecutive year that the Indianapolis 500 will be the springboard is insanity at this point. Maybe a few hundred people or a thousand people see the Indianapolis 500 and stick around. We have enough evidence to know it is not millions and it will never be millions. 

This has been written many times before and it will continue to be written until someone within IndyCar recognizes the same thing. The racing doesn't matter. Nobody cares if there were 25,000 passes in a race and 100 lead changes and the lead changed hands six times on the final lap before being decided by 0.000001 seconds in a three-wide photo finish. You must make the people competing matter. Give an audience someone to care about, and acknowledge it must be done over the entire season. 

IndyCar's biggest story the last two seasons has been Álex Palou. First, in 2022 when Palou publicly refuted Chip Ganassi Racing announcing it was exercising its option to retain him for the 2023 while Palou was saying he was going to Arrow McLaren. Second, in 2023 when Palou signed an extension to remain with Chip Ganassi Racing despite having already agreed to terms with McLaren for 2024 as Palou went on to win his second championship.

IndyCar's greatest drama has not been on display for a greater audience. A docuseries that would be around and catch some of that background would go a long way. 

There is much more to IndyCar beyond the month of May, and that is what IndyCar must show! Giving a docuseries enough time to tell the stories and not in a slapdash manner is important . 

We could have seen Conor Daly losing his ride in real time last June rather than squeezing it into the start of episode five as a hurried catchup over everything that has happened in the year since the previous Indianapolis 500. 

Marcus Ericsson left Ganassi after winning the Indianapolis 500 and finishing second in the Indianapolis 500. 

Simon Pagenaud walked away from one of the most gnarly accidents we have seen in decades but it has put his career on hold. Pagenaud's exit opened the door for Linus Lundqvist. 

Christian Lundgaard won his first career race, and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing had high moments, including Graham Rahal coming close to victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Some would call that redemption.

Scott Dixon went on a tear and showed he still has it.

Romain Grosjean burned out of Andretti Autosport. 

Juncos Hollinger Racing had not one, but two incidents where one of its drivers received online abuse from fans of the other Juncos Hollinger Racing driver.

And that is just from last year! Imagine if we had the show following the past two race weekends to cover Agustín Canapino, Théo Pourchaire, Arrow McLaren and JHR!

A lot happens in IndyCar. A lot of it is missed when the docuseries cuts you off at Memorial Day. 

Not everything will be captured, but most of it could. Most of this grid could become personable to an audience. That is what "Drive to Survive" has done for Formula One. It isn't only Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. It is everyone. Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz, Jr., Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda, Lando Norris, hell it has even made team personnel such as Zak Brown, Toto Wolff, Christian Horner, Otmar Szafnauer and, of course, Guenther Steiner household names.

There is great potential in a docuseries introducing IndyCar, all levels of it, to an audience, but IndyCar must want IndyCar to be on display. That means all of it, from St. Petersburg in March through Nashville in September. You must show it is more than the 100 days through the Indianapolis 500. IndyCar exists beyond that 100-day period. If you cut the audience off, then no one knows it exists nor what they are missing and they will not continue onward.

But if you keep the cameras on for the next 113 days, capturing everything that happens and show what the IndyCar Series is from start to finish, that is 113 more days for people to remain invested. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Will Power, but did you know...

Max Verstappen won the Canadian Grand Prix, his sixth victory of the season. 

Kyle Larson won the NASCAR Cup race from Sonoma, his third victory of the season. Shane van Gisbergen won the Grand National Series race, his second consecutive victory.

Jamie Chadwick won the Indy Lights race from Road America. Lochie Hughes swept the three USF Pro 2000 races. Sam Corry and Max Taylor split the U.S. F2000 races.

Jack Aitken and Marco Wittmann split the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters races from Zandvoort.

Coming Up This Weekend

The 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The NASCAR Cup Series finally races at Iowa Speedway, albeit a butchered Iowa Speedway because somehow professional motorsports organizers have no clue how to take care of a racetrack.

Supercars will be at Darwin.

World Superbike is back in action at Misano.

First Impressions: Road America 2024

1. A messy start opened the door for Team Penske to take control of this race from Road America, but the winner was not the driver who led the most. It wasn't even the driver who spent the most time in second. Will Power was third for a good portion of this race, behind Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden, but on the penultimate stint, Power went the longest, require a shorter final pit stop, and Power pulled out in the lead and held the gap to the finish. 

It was a strange thing because up to that point we had seen the driver stopping earlier coming out and maintaining positions. McLaughlin had held off Newgarden on a few occasions despite Newgarden going a lap longer. On the final pit cycle, running long was the answer. When Newgarden emerged ahead of McLaughlin after going a lap longer, though Newgarden was already in the lead after McLaughlin lost time on the alternate tire, it felt like it was race over. I don't think anyone expected Power to go from third to first in the final pit cycle. 

Power wasn't far off but he didn't appear to be that close to leapfrog to the lead. Was one fewer lap of fuel that much of an advantage? It played a part. 

For Power, this ends a two-year slump. He had not won since the final Belle Isle race in 2022. Last year, Power's attention was split between racing and his family as his wife Liz battled illness. With the family in good shape, the job can take more focus and we are seeing it. Through seven races, Power has now finished first or second in four of them. He has two other finishes of sixth and his only bad day was 24th in the Indianapolis 500. 

This is the form we saw from Power in 2022 that won him a championship. Through seven races in 2024, Power is back on top of the championship. 

2. If this was the backup car, how good was the primary car for Josef Newgarden? After a massive hit in qualifying, Newgarden looked competitive today, and this felt like it was going to be his race. The cautions at the start minimized the burden of the alternate tire in the opening stint. When McLaughlin put on the alternate tire for the penultimate stint, it looked favorable for Newgarden. Those tires did not have the pace to hold onto the lead, and Newgarden was in touching distance. When Newgarden got ahead, it must have felt like his race to lose. 

It is hard to say Newgarden lost this race. He came in a lap after McLaughlin's final stop and Newgarden had the back-marker of Nolan Siegel directly ahead of him. Newgarden did the right thing. If he had gone another lap and lost the lead to McLaughlin, everyone would have been saying the team made a mistake. I don't think anyone expected Power to leap ahead from how far back he was. 

Going an extra lap might have kept Newgarden ahead of Power, but it doesn't mean he would have remained ahead of McLaughlin. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, but Newgarden needed a good result. Four of the first six races were results outside the top fifteen. An Indianapolis 500 victory can only cover over so much, especially since it is no longer double points. Newgarden needed a second-place finish, even if he had first in his grasp. 

3. The chaos at the start allowed Scott McLaughlin to vault from eighth to first. In the opening stint, it looked like McLaughlin was going to get lucky and stomp the field. McLaughlin left everyone in his dust for the most part, but only Newgarden could close in and keep it close. Then Power clawed his way into the battle. Again, if Newgarden had his primary car, and if this race didn't start with three of the top four starters spinning, I don't think McLaughlin is close to leading as many laps as he did. I am not sure McLaughlin finishes on the podium. He took advantage of the opportunity and this ended up being Team Penske's tenth 1-2-3 finish in IndyCar competition, and its first since the 2017 season finale at Sonoma. 

4. It was Team Penske and then everyone else today. It is only fitting Álex Palou led everyone else. Palou didn't do anything special. He definitely benefitted from the accident at the start. That was three fewer cars to pass, and Palou ended up finishing three spots better than he started. He isn't going to have many more bad days this season. Penske won today, but Palou leaves only five points behind Power in the championship. Palou will be back on top soon enough, and the championship will likely go through him.

5. This feels like another missed opportunity for Kyle Kirkwood and Andretti Global. It wasn't as bad as Detroit last week, but when three of the top four starters are spinning after the opening corner of the race and you are the one top four starter remaining straight, you should be thrilled. What Kirkwood did not see coming was McLaughlin flying from eighth to second and then taking the top spot on the first restart. Once McLaughlin was clear, Kirkwood could not keep up with McLaughlin or any of the Penske cars. Kirkwood still finished fifth, which is a great day for him, but this race was on a platter and he didn't take advantage of it. 

6. Colton Herta was spun at the start. Josef Newgarden got into the back of Herta as Herta eased up to avoid the spinning Linus Lundqvist and Marcus Armstrong. I was surprised a penalty was not called on Newgarden. I understand the reasoning. It was a chain reaction and Newgarden had nowhere to go, but it feels like IndyCar has called that type of contact as a penalty before. It was unfair for Herta, but it would have been unfair to Newgarden as well.

Herta has all right to be upset because an all-out strategy that ended up being a five-stop race meant the best he could do was finish sixth, 28.8662 seconds back. Herta thinks he could have won the last three races. I am not sure about Indianapolis, but Detroit and Road America I will give him. 

I don't know if there is a better way to redress positions when there is an incident like that. 

IndyCar didn't throw the caution immediately for that spin at the start. They let almost a half a lap go before it called a caution for Armstrong's stricken car. But why couldn't IndyCar give Herta all those spots back? It wouldn't have been something that happened eight laps prior or 24 laps prior. The caution was out before a lap was completed. There could be a provision on opening lap incidents or possibly even restart incidents where if one car is significantly disadvantaged after taking evasive action to avoid an accident, he can be put back to where he was at the time of the incident. 

It would be different and not how we have done it, but it is flexible to these circumstances where neither driver should be penalized, but one has been negatively affected. It requires some more thought. What if a driver has a tire puncture? Should he get to change tires and immediately be re-positioned to second or third? What if it is a restart with two laps to go? Maybe it should just be an opening lap thing, but I think there is a better way than to have one driver's chance of victory completely erased through one corner while an offending party gets no reprimand and has an improved chance of victory. 

7. We have seen enough speed to know Romain Grosjean was bound to have one good day. It happened at Road America. Grosjean didn't get into any incidents. The team called a good race. It got him seventh. It hasn't been a case where Grosjean has been regularly close to the top ten with Juncos Hollinger Racing, but he likely should have one or two more than he does at the moment. 

8. Patricio O'Ward was eighth. If you start 11th, you are not likely going to win. Eighth is as good as it might be. None of the Arrow McLaren cars looked great today. O'Ward wasn't a factor in this one.

9. Marcus Ericsson made it three Andretti Global cars in the top ten. Ericsson started 15th and he avoided the incidents. You are going to finish ninth if you avoid the trouble. Nothing spectacular but a good result for Ericsson after a tough end of May. 

10. It is hard to celebrate a tenth-place finish, but Graham Rahal should allow him to feel good about this race. Rahal was pushed off on the opening lap, in an entirely separate accident from the Lundqvist/Armstrong/Herta mess at the front. It was bad enough Rahal was starting 24th. A trip through the gravel was not what he needed, but he had to run an aggressive strategy, like Herta, and it got Rahal tenth from 24th. 

It is hard to celebrate making up 14 positions when it only gets you tenth. This has been the story of Rahal's career. Every year he has at least one if not two races where he makes up over a dozen positions and finishes in the top ten, and we all wonder if he only started a dozen spots better, he would have been competing for a victory. 

11. If there is a slight consolation for Rahal, it is he was the best Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver, as Christian Lundgaard was 11th. If Rahal had been tenth but Lundgaard was sixth, it is hollow. Lundgaard did ok today, but it is tough to make up many positions at Road America if you are on a normal three-stop strategy. With Pietro Fittipaldi in 16th, it isn't a bad day for RLLR, but it isn't a great day either. 

12. It is unclear how Linus Lundqvist recovered to finish 12th because after the opening lap spin, Lundqvist wasn't mentioned again. All I can say is, more pit stops, greater aggression and he can go from 25th to 12th over the final 50 laps. It is good recovery, but this was still a missed chance. This wasn't Lundqvist's fault. He didn't have the greatest start, but Marcus Armstrong was right under him through turn one. 

Armstrong was much too aggressive there. Everyone wants to win a race on lap one. In someways, it is the best time to make a move in an IndyCar race, but Armstrong needed more patience. At least get through turn three. To add insult to injury, Armstrong had mechanical issue hamper his day and end his race after 35 laps. 

13. I am going to jump up and finish Chip Ganassi Racing here because Ganassi had all five cars start in the top 12. It had three cars finish outside the top twenty. Besides the Lundqvist/Armstrong incident, Kyffin Simpson was spun off in the final corner on lap six when Christian Rasmussen made a boneheaded move. Simpson deserved better. 

Scott Dixon had the worst blisters imaginable on his alternate tires and it forced him off-strategy on the second stint of the race. Road America does not allow for much strategy variation. It is either you pit on lap 13 of a stint, lap 14 of a stint or lap 15 of a stint. That isn't a big window. When you must pit less than ten laps into a stint because your tires are blistering, your race is over. Dixon was screwed and he ended up 21st. 

Not a great day for Ganassi. 

14. Théo Pourchaire was 13th. That's fine. This was a race where nobody in the middle of the field really did anything remarkable. I don't know why Pourchaire finished 13th, but it is better than 14th. I have no clue what happened to Alexander Rossi that saw him drop to 18th. It felt like McLaren made a turn over the last two weeks. Here we are wondering what the hell happened as none of its cars were a factor.

15. Felix Rosenqvist actually had a good day. Moving up eight spots from 22nd to 14th isn't brilliant. It is good. Rosenqvist was a little off-strategy and running longer than most on the opening stint. It didn't quite result in a top ten day. He felt more active than others. He did finish five spots ahead of Hélio Castroneves. This has been a better year for Meyer Shank Racing. I am excited David Malukas will be in the #66 Honda for the remainder of the season. Malukas has been out of a car for most of the year, but I want to see what MSR does with a driver who should be more competitive with Rosenqvist. 

16. Santino Ferrucci was 15th and Sting Ray Robb was 17th. If you avoid doing stupid stuff, you avoid finishing last most of the time. If you were told at the start of the day A.J. Foyt Racing would finish 15th and 17th, you would say, "Yeah, that sounds about right."

17. Christian Rasmussen does get his nose dirty quite often. Rasmussen has to dial it back about 15% but Ed Carpenter Racing doesn't have a great record at developing drivers. I don't think we are going to see it get Rasmussen in line. I am not sure the team could if it tried. Rinus VeeKay had something happen and finished three laps down in 24th, four spots behind Rasmussen. It was just another day of letting down potential for ECR.

18. Luca Ghiotto ran a 55-lap test session for Dale Coyne Racing and was 22nd. Jack Harvey was four laps down in 25th. This is what Dale Coyne Racing is in 2024. It wasn't long ago it was competing for victories. It is a damn shame. 

19. Nolan Siegel's unexpected second career start sees him finish 23rd, albeit a lap down. It was a difficult situation to be in for Siegel, as he found out during Indy Lights practice on Friday he would take over for Agustín Canapino. We will have a Canapino discussion at a later time, but was the 19-year-old kid with one IndyCar start to his name really the best option as a last minute substitute for Canapino? 

What happened to the vast number of veterans that used to hang around IndyCar? Ten years ago, this is Oriol Servià's ride or maybe Alex Tagliani. Siegel has a future in IndyCar, but his present should be in Indy Lights. He is not getting much out of a last-minute ride with Juncos Hollinger Racing. Conor Daly would have done it. Charlie Kimball was there calling the Indy Lights race. Spencer Pigot coaches Jacob Abel, but has a history with JHR. I think there are some names being overlooked to do a one-off such as this one. 

20. This is a race where I wish everyone was mandated to use each tire compound twice. This race is always a three-stopper, but if everyone had to use the alternate compound twice, it changes the complexion of the race. 

Does a driver run two stints on alternates to begin the race and get them out of the way? 

Does the wear of the alternate tires make this a four-stop race because everyone will need to stop for tires before fuel and they will all need a splash of gas late in the race? 

Road America is fun, but I think we can open this race up a bit because we aren't going to see two-stoppers vs. three-stoppers. The pit windows are narrow. It doesn't allow for some drivers running long versus drivers taking tires late and hoping to go on a charge. Mandating using each compound twice mixes it up more. 

This is where IndyCar should be more open to different strategy regulations. All Firestone must do is bring an extra set of alternate tires for 27 teams or just swap out a primary set for the extra alternate set. That doesn't seem to be much of a hurdle. For all the little things IndyCar tries, this is worth exploring at a few races. Road America is going to be a three-stop race no matter what. Why not experiment with it?

21. Everyone gets a week off. It is going to be nice to have a break. It is nice to have a race the week after the Indianapolis 500. There is such a buzz that I want to keep going. Two consecutive weeks racing after the "500" is a little bit much. Not the worst way to spend your time, but it is nice to get a breather. Yes, there is Le Mans, but most will watch that from their couch. It is two weeks until Laguna Seca.

Morning Warm-Up: Road America 2024

Linus Lundqvist scored a surprise first career pole position in a wet but drying qualifying session on Saturday ahead of the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America. Lundqvist ended up being on top when Josef Newgarden had an accident in the kink to end the final round of qualifying before a number of drivers could complete their final laps. Lundqvist claimed pole position with a lap at 105.1519 seconds, only 0.1394 seconds better than Cotlon Herta in second. This will be Lundqvist's tenth career start. The most recent driver to have their first career victory come in a tenth career start was Billy Boat at Texas, 26 years and three days ago. Lundqvist has finished outside the top twenty in the last three races and in four of six races this season.

Colton Herta starts on the front row for a second consecutive race. This is Herta's fifth front row start in seven Road America appearances. He has five consecutive top five finishes at Road America, and his worst finish in six starts is eighth. His average Road America finish is fifth, but Herta has yet to win at the circuit. It has been 35 races since Herta's most recent victory. The 33 laps Herta led last week at Detroit were his most laps led in a race since he led 33 at Road America last season.

Marcus Armstrong makes it two Chip Ganassi Racing cars starting in the first three positions, and it is another Ganassi driver looking for a first career victory. Armstrong was 0.5073 seconds off Lundqvist in the final round of qualifying. This is Armstrong's best career start. He had never started better than sixth prior to this weekend. He has finished in the top five in two of the last three races. This will be Armstrong's 29th career start. Only once has a driver had a first career victory come in a 29th career start. That was Eliseo Salazar on October 11, 1997 at Las Vegas.

Kyle Kirkwood makes it two Andretti Global cars starting in the first four positions. Kirkwood was over 1.29 seconds from Lundqvist's best time. This is Kirkwood's best starting position of the season and his best starting position since he started third at Mid-Ohio last July. This is only the fourth time he has qualified in the top five in his career. He won from pole position at Long Beach in 2023, but his other two finisher were 15th and 17th.

Will Power caused the first red flag in the final round of qualifying, but since multiple drivers did not register a lap in the final round, the spots are set based on round two times, meaning Power will start fifth. This is the tenth consecutive race Power has started inside the top eight. He has an average finish of 9.222 over his last nine starts. 

Josef Newgarden's accident to end the Fast Six session meant his fastest two laps were erased and it knocked Newgarden down to sixth on the grid. Newgarden clipped the curbs on entry to the kink while on slick tires and that sent the Tennesseean spinning. This is the fourth consecutive race Newgarden has started in the top five, and he has started in the top five of six of seven races this year. Newgarden has finished on the podium in six of nine Road America starts. 

Álex Palou was almost three-tenths off making it out of the second round of qualifying, and Palou will start seventh. Palou is coming off a 16th-place finish at Detroit, Palou's worst finish since the 2022 Grand Prix of Indianapolis when he was 18th. Only twice in Palou's career has he finished in the top five in the race following a result outside the top fifteen. He was third in the first Road America race in 2020 after being 19th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. He won the 2021 Portland race after finishing 20th at Gateway.

Scott McLaughlin matches his best Road America starting position in eighth. McLaughlin has not finished in the top five finish in the last three races. This is his longest stretch without a top five finish since last season when he went four races that covered the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Indianapolis 500, Detroit and Road America.

Alexander Rossi fell to ninth on the grid after he topped the first group in the first round of qualifying. This is the sixth time in seven races this season Rossi has not started in the top five. Rossi has not won in his last 27 starts. Rossi has nine top five finishes but only one podium finish during that time. He has four consecutive top ten finishes at Road America.

Scott Dixon rounds out the top ten. Dixon's victory at Detroit from fifth starting position ended a streak of five consecutive victories from outside a top five starting position for the New Zealander. He has won consecutive races on six occasions in his career, including in two of the previous four seasons. Dixon has won three of the first seven races twice in his career, 2003 and 2020. He won the championship in each of those seasons.

Patricio O'Ward ended up 11th in qualifying. It is the second consecutive race O'Ward is starting from row six. It is the first time he is starting outside the top ten in consecutive races since the 2021 Grand Prix of Indianapolis and Indianapolis 500. He did win from 16th at Belle Isle in the second race of the 2021 doubleheader.

Kyffin Simpson made it out of the first round of qualifying for the first time in his career, and Simpson will start a career-best 12th. Simpson advanced from the first qualifying group on his final lap, knocking Christian Lundgaard out in the process. Simpson has finished outside the top twenty in the last two races after finishing in the top twenty in the first four races of the season.

Christian Lundgaard was knocked out on Simpson's final lap in round one, and Lundgaard will start 13th. This is Lundgaard's worst starting position on a road or street course this season. He started 13th at Road America two years and and finished tenth. Lundgaard has led a lap in three consecutive races. This is the first time in Lundgaard's IndyCar career he has led consecutive races. 

Romain Grosjean started 14th for a second consecutive race. Grosjean had finished in the top five of his first two Road America starts before he finished 25th last year. The only other circuits where Grosjean has multiple top five finishes are the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and Long Beach.

Marcus Ericsson ended up 15th in qualifying, the fourth time in the last five races Ericsson has started outside the top ten. His runner-up finish at Detroit last week was his first podium finish since he was second in the 2023 Indianapolis 500, 16 races between podium visits for the Swede. He has five consecutive top ten finish at Road America. 

Christian Rasmussen makes his first IndyCar start at Road America from 16th. Rasmussen is coming off his second retirement of the season after he suffered an engine failure at Detroit. Both times the Dane has not finished a race, he has been classified in 27th. Rasmussen won at Road America in all three Road to Indy series. 

Rinus VeeKay starts a position behind his Ed Carpenter Racing teammate Rasmussen in 17th. This is the fourth time in seven races VeeKay is starting outside the top fifteen in 2024. The Dutchman has never started better than 15th at this track. VeeKay has never finished better than 12th at Road America with an average finish of 14th over four starts.

Théo Pourchaire's first Road America appearances comes from 18th on the grid. Pourchaire scored his first career top ten finish last week at Detroit when he finished tenth. The most recent first-time winner to win after finishing tenth in the previous race was Alexander Rossi, who was tenth in the 2016 Grand Prix of Indianapolis before Rossi won the 100th Indianapolis 500.

Santino Ferrucci takes 19th on the grid, his worst starting position since 24th at Long Beach. Ferrucci is aiming for his third consecutive top ten finish. Twice in his career has Ferrucci had three consecutive top ten finishes. The first was over the 2020 Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Road America doubleheader weekend. The other was over four starts in 2021 that covered the Indianapolis 500, the Belle Isle doubleheader and Mid-Ohio.

Jack Harvey will be on the outside of row ten. Harvey has gone 22 starts since his most recent top ten finish. This is the first season Dale Coyne Racing has not had a top ten result through the first six races since 2015 when the team didn't even had a top fifteen result through the first seven races. Harvey's average finish in six Road America starts is 18.5

Nolan Siegel will drive the #78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet this weekend in place of Agustín Canapino. On Friday, it was announced on Canapino would be taking this weekend off citing mental health after the social media controversy involving Canapino and Arrow McLaren's Théo Pourchaire. This will be Siegel's second career start, and he will roll off from 21st position. He was 20th on debut at Long Beach driving for Dale Coyne Racing.

Felix Rosenqvist will start 22nd, the second consecutive race Rosenqvist is starting 22nd. This is Rosenqvist's worst starting position at Road America. In the first five races of 2024, the Swede's average starting spot was 5.4. Thanks to the last two races, his average starting spot has dropped to 10.142. He has finished in the top ten in five of six races this season. Last week was only the second time in Rosenqvist's career where he finished in the top ten after starting outside the top twenty. The other was the 2022 Belle Isle race, going from 25th to tenth.

Luca Ghiotto is back in Dale Coyne Racing's #51 Honda for Road America and for Laguna Seca in two weeks. Ghiotto's third career start will be from 23rd starting position. The Italian started 21st and 22nd in his first two IndyCar appearances. He ended up 21st at Barber Motorsports Park and 25th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.

Graham Rahal will start 24th, his worst career starting position at Road America. This is the fourth consecutive Road America race where Rahal is starting outside the top ten. Prior to this run, he had never started worse than sixth at the 4.048-mile circuit. Rahal has one top five finish in his last 24 starts. He has only six top ten finishing during that timespan. 

Pietro Fittipaldi starts 25th, the fourth time he has started outside the top twenty this season. Fittipaldi has an average finish of 20.5 through the first six races this season. The #30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda had an average finish of 15th through the first six races of 2022 with Christian Lundgaard and an average finish of 19.1667 through the first six races of 2023 with Jack Harvey.

Sting Ray Robb qualified 26th. This is the 24th consecutive race Robb is starting outside the top twenty. This is the sixth time he is starting outside the top 25 in his career. Robb was 22nd in last year's Road America race from 25th starting position.

Hélio Castroneves rounds out the grid in 27th starting position after bringing out a red flag in the second qualifying group. This is the sixth time in Castroneves' career he has started 27th or worse. One of those was starting 27th at last year's Laguna Seca season finale. He did win from 28th at Chicagoland in 2008. The worst starting position for a Road America winner is 13th. Castroneves' average finish in eight Road America starts is 12.875.

NBC's coverage of the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America begins at 3:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 3:45 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 55 laps.

Track Walk: Road America 2024

The seventh round of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season will be the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America. This marks the final of five consecutive weekends at the racetrack for the teams from the Grand Prix of Indianapolis through Indianapolis 500 qualifying and the Indianapolis 500 itself to Detroit last week and now up to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. This will be the 35th time IndyCar has raced at Road America and the tenth race since IndyCar returned in 2016. In three of the last four seasons, a Road America winner has gone on to win the IndyCar championship.

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday June 9 with green flag scheduled for 3:45 p.m. ET.
Channel: NBC
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Marty Snider, Kevin Lee and Georgia Henneberry will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Friday:

First Practice: 4:15 p.m. ET (75 minutes)

Saturday:

Second Practice: 10:45 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 1:45 p.m. ET 
Sunday:
Warm-up: 10:15 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 3:45 p.m. ET (55 laps)

* - All sessions will be available live on Peacock

Ganassi's Playground

Chip Ganassi Racing is already entering Road America on a high note. It is fresh off its third victory through six races this season after Scott Dixon stretched his fuel tank again to win in Detroit. Marcus Armstrong went from 19th to third for his first career podium finish. It was the team's second double-podium day this season and the team has had a representative on the podium after five consecutive races. Dixon leads the championship with Álex Palou in second, and Ganassi rides this wave of momentum into a track it has commanded in recent seasons. 

Ganassi has won four of the last five Road America races. It has won five of nine Road America races since 2016. It has had a driver on the podium here in eight of the last nine races. Ganassi's seven victories at this circuit are second only to Newman/Haas Racing's ten Road America victories. 

In the last nine Road America races, Dixon and Palou have each won twice. Josef Newgarden is the only other multi-time winner during that span. Dixon has finished in the top ten in seven of those nine races, and he has completed every lap at the track since 2017, one year after he retired five laps into the Road America return due to an engine failure. Last year, Dixon went from 23rd to fourth. 

Palou has won two of the last three Road America races. In five starts, he has two victories, three podium finishes and four top ten finishes. He was caught in an accident in 2022, which left him 27th. 

Both drivers could match the record for most Road America victories this weekend. It is currently a three-way tie for the most between Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi and Michael Andretti on three victories. Dixon has won three times at eight different circuits in his career. Road America is one of three circuits Palou has won at multiple times. The others are the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and Portland. 

While Dixon and Palou look to add to their legacies, 60% of the Ganassi team would like to add their name to history at Road America, a place that is somewhat known for first-time winners.

Eight times has a driver had their first career occur at Road America. Two of those drivers were Ganassi drivers at the time of their first career victory. Bruno Junqueira won a shortened race in 2001. Felix Rosenqvist won the second race of the 2020 doubleheader after chasing down Patricio O'Ward on primary tires. 

Marcus Armstrong has two top five finishes in the last three races. Armstrong had no top five finishes in his first 15 IndyCar starts. Last year, Armstrong started eighth and led five laps, but a questionable pit decision cost him spots and an additional pit stop relegated him to 24th in the final results.

Rookies Linus Lundqvist and Kyffin Simpson are separated by only five points in the championship through six races. While Lundqvist was third at Barber Motorsports Park, he has finished outside the top twenty in four of six races this season. Simpson has finished outside the top twenty in the last two events. 

Lundqvist never finished on the podium in three Indy Lights starts at Road America. Simpson started on pole position in last year's Indy Lights race but dropped back to eighth. He won twice at the circuit in Formula Regional Americas in 2021. 

Despite Ganassi's success, it has led only 77 of the 490 laps run at Road America since 2016. In Ganassi's last four victories at the circuit, none of those Ganassi drivers led the most laps in that race, and on three of the four occasions, the driver has led ten laps or fewer. 

Penske's Reality Check

It might have received redemption between its victories at Barber Motorsports Park and the Indianapolis 500, but Team Penske is on the back foot through six races.

The team has six combined top five finishes through six races, which actually better than last year. In 2023, Penske had only four top five finishes through the six races, but this feels different in 2024. Will Power might be third in the championship and have three runner-up finishes this season, but Scott McLaughlin is still in eighth. Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden is tenth. This is Newgarden's worst championship position through six races since 2014 when he was 17th in the championship driving for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing. Eleven races remain this season. 

Power is the one bright spot. His winless streak might be up to 33 races, but he has finished sixth or better in five races this year. His 24th in the Indianapolis 500 after his accident is the lone blemish on what has otherwise been a strong season. McLaughlin and Newgarden are another story. 

McLaughlin won at Barber and was sixth in the two Indianapolis races, but he has been classified 20th or worse in the other three events this season. Newgarden has been classified outside the top fifteen in four of six races, including two results of 26th. 

Power is 31 points behind Dixon for the championship lead. McLaughlin is 75 points back while Newgarden is 88 points behind. Through six races last year, Newgarden was 37 points behind the championship leader, McLaughlin was 70 points back and Power was 88 points off the top spot. 

This is all occurring despite the Team Penske drivers ranking first, second and third in average starting position through six races. Newgarden has an average of 3.667 while Power's average is 4.1667 and McLaughlin has an average at 6.5. While Power has the third-best average finish at seventh, McLaughlin and Newgarden rank 13th and 15th respectively with averages of 14.333 and 15.0.

Team Penske is renowned for its consistency, but the only race this season where it has had multiple top five finishers was McLaughlin and Power's 1-2 finish at Barber. It has not had all three cars finish in the top ten since Nashville last year, a ten-race drought. This is the longest stretch Penske has gone without having three top ten finishes in a single race since the team returned to three full-time teams in 2014. The team's previous longest drought during this time occurred over the final seven races in 2014. 

If there is any reason for optimism it is Team Penske has been almost equally as good as Chip Ganassi Racing at Road America. Since its return to the schedule in 2016, Team Penske has had at least one car on the podium in eight of nine races. In three of the nine races, Penske has had at least three top ten finishers. Team Penske has led 235 of 490 laps run at Road America since 2016. It is one of only three teams to win at the circuit in the last eight seasons, and Penske has won three times during that span. 

Giving Lundgaard Some Love

It might be 11th in the championship, but Christian Lundgaard is quietly off to another good season through the first six races. 

Lundgaard was third in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, and he was sixth at Barber Motorsports Park. He is coming off his best career finish in the Indianapolis 500 in 13th, and after starting the season with two consecutive results of 18th or worse, he has finished no worse than 13th in the last four races. Lundgaard is tied for the third-most laps led this season. The Dane and Álex Palou have each led 53 laps this season, behind only Scott McLaughlin and Scott Dixon. Along with Dixon and Palou, Lundgaard is tied for most races led this season having led in four of the first six events. Coincidentally, Lundgaard, Dixon and Palou have all led in three consecutive races.

Though he will head to Road America having not finished in the top ten in his last two starts, Lundgaard has not gone three consecutive races without a top ten result since the first five starts of his IndyCar career over 2021 and 2022. This is also a good track for Lundgaard.

In his first two visits to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, Lundgaard has finished tenth and seventh. He went forward in 2022, moving up from 13th, and he started seventh in last year's race. Lundgaard has finished in the top ten in eight of the last nine permanent road course races, with the lone exception being 11th at Portland last year. He has finished in the top ten in 11 of the last 14 road course races, which includes a 21st at Portland and 11th at Mid-Ohio in 2022. Road America is one of six tracks where Lundgaard has multiple top ten finishes along with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Barber, Toronto, Nashville and Laguna Seca.

Not only is Lundgaard strong at Road America, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has been strong at Road America. 

In ten Road America starts, Graham Rahal has two podium finishes, three top five finishes and seven top ten finishes with another two 11th-place finishes. Rahal's average finish at the track is 8.4, his third-best circuit (with a minimum of three starts) behind Motegi and the IMS road course. Despite good finishes, Rahal has led only five laps in his career at Road America.

For Pietro Fittipaldi, it will be his first visit to Road America. Fittipaldi has one top ten finish in 14 career starts, five of which have been on permanent road courses. Road America is a great location for the Fittipaldi family. Emerson Fittipaldi won three times at the circuit, tied for the most in IndyCar. In 11 starts, Emerson had eight top five finishes and nine top ten finishes with an average finish of 5.636. Christian Fittipaldi scored his first career victory at Road America in 1999 and he had three top five finishes at the circuit with an average finish of 8.875. 

Lundgaard has been the top RLLR finisher in the last four races after Fittipaldi and Rahal split the opening two rounds.

Ending Spring on a High Note

It might be June, but Road America is the final IndyCar in spring 2024. Few drivers, it has been an impressive spring, and they will want to enter summer remaining on that high. For others, they are hoping for a pick up before the summer heat settles over the second half of the season. 

Arrow McLaren has turned it around. After failing to have a car finish in the top twenty at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, the team has had multiple top ten finishers in the last two races, including having all three cars finish in the top ten at Detroit, the first time the team has had all its cars crack the top ten this season. 

Patricio O'Ward and Alexander Rossi are both in the top five of the championship. With finishes of second at the Indianapolis 500 and seventh at Detroit, O'Ward is fourth in the championship on 160 points, ten points more than Rossi, who has three consecutive top ten finishes and top five finishes in the last two races. 

O'Ward has two podium finishes and four top ten finishes in six Road America appearances. His first career pole position was at Road America in the second race of the 2020 doubleheader. O'Ward led 43 laps but finished second after being overtaken on the penultimate lap when O'Ward did not have the tires to hold off Felix Rosenqvist. 

Rossi famously dominated the 2019 Road America race, leading 54 of 55 laps. He has finished in the top ten in his last four Road America starts, which includes two podium finishes. This is the location of Rossi's most recent pole position. In 2022, Rossi led 16 laps from first on the grid, but finished third.

Théo Pourchaire heads into Road America off his first career top ten finish. Pourchaire was tenth at Detroit, the top rookie finisher in the race. The Frenchman started a career-best seventh in the last race. Though he has only run four of six races, Pourchaire has 58 points, 23 points behind Linus Lundqvist for the top rookie in the championship. 

Kyle Kirkwood is the lead Andretti Global driver in the championship, sitting in sixth on 148 points, one point ahead of teammate Colton Herta. Kirkwood has finished more worse than 11th through six races this season. He was fourth at Detroit, his third career top five finish, and his best finish since he won at Nashville last summer. Kirkwood was ninth in last year's Road America race.

Colton Herta had a good start to the season. With two podium finishes and four top ten finishes through the first four events, Herta was tied for third in the championship, 25 points off the championship lead. After finishes of 23rd and 19th after two accidents, Herta has dropped to sixth and is 69 points behind Scott Dixon. Herta has not had three consecutive results outside the top ten since 2022 between the Iowa doubleheader and the July IMS road course race. He has not had three consecutive results outside the top fifteen since a four-race run in 2019 from Barber through the Indianapolis 500, the fourth through seventh starts of his career.

Marcus Ericsson and Marcus Armstrong both bounced back from early retirements in the Indianapolis 500 to the podium in Detroit. For Ericsson, his runner-up finish ended a three-race skid where his best finish was 16th. For Armstrong, third in Detroit marked the second time in three races he has reset his career best finish. 

Ericsson has finished outside the top fifteen in four of six races this season. He is 14th in the championship on 108 points. Armstrong is 13th on 116 points. 

Road to Indy

It is a busy weekend for the Road to Indy as well with six races spread across the three support series, including a triple-header. 

Jacob Abel was off the podium for the first time this season at Detroit, but Abel's fifth-place finish allowed him to extend his championship lead. Abel heads to Road America up 25 points on Louis Foster, who is riding a two-race winning streak into Wisconsin. Nolan Siegel suffered a mechanical issue before the start of the Detroit race and the best he could do was 18th, dropping him to third in the championship and 44 points behind Abel. 

Caio Collet was on the podium in the last two races and takes fourth in the championship, 72 points back. Myles Rowe was fourth in Detroit, his best finish of the season, and he is 81 points off the top. Callum Hedge was third in Detroit, but he is 93 points from Abel. 

Michael d'Orlando and Reece Gold are tied on 124 points, ten points ahead of Jonathan Browne in ninth. James Roe, Jr. rounds out the top ten on 110 points, one point ahead of Salvador de Alba. 

Siegel and Abel went 1-2 last year at Road America. Foster was sixth. D'Orlando won the first USF Pro 2000 race last year but was knocked out of the second race on the pace lap. Rowe was second and fourth.

Indy Lights will hold its 20-lap race on Sunday June 9 at 12:10 p.m. ET.

Nikita Johnson's USF Pro 2000 championship lead is down to a single-point. After being caught in an accident at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Johnson's 17th has him on 178 points while Lochie Hughes was third and heads to Road America on 177 points. Jace Denmark was runner-up at IRP and he is 17 points back. 

Liam Sceats is 24 points off the top and Hunter Yeany, who was not entered for IRP and is not entered for Road America, rounds out the top five on 148 points. Christian Brooks has 139 points while IRP winner Braden Eves is up to seventh on 129 points. Simon Sikes is on 123 points. Nicolás Baptitse is ninth on 118 points with Danny Dyszleski on 173 points. 

Sikes and Hughes split the U.S. F2000 races at Road America last year while Johnson was third and fifth. 

The first USF Pro 2000 race will be at 9:00 a.m. ET on Saturday June 8. The second race will be at 5:10 p.m. ET later that afternoon. The third USF Pro 2000 race will take place at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday June 9. All three races are scheduled for 15 laps or 50 minutes.

Max Garcia holds a 28-point advantage in the U.S. F2000 championship over Evagoras Papasavvas. Garcia was seventh at IRP but Papasavvas was third. Sam Corry is 50 points back in third. Max Taylor fell to 78 points off the championship lead after ending up 17th at IRP. Elliot Cox rounds out the top five on 122 points, 83 points behind Garcia. 

Joey Brienza sits on 113 points with Quinn Armstrong on 97 points after his best finish of the season of fourth at IRP. Nicolas Giaffone was second at IRP and he is on 96 points, a point ahead of Hudson Schwartz. Tanner DeFabis won at IRP and that moved DeFabis up to tenth in the championship on 93 points. 

Both U.S. F2000 races will take place on Saturday June 8. The first race will be at 1:30 p.m. ET and the second will be at 6:05 p.m. ET. Both races will be 12 laps or 40 minutes.

Fast Facts

This will be the 14th IndyCar race to take place on June 9 and the first since Scott Dixon won at Texas in 2018. 

This will be the fifth IndyCar race to take place on June 9 in the state of Wisconsin. The first four were all at the Milwaukee Mile. The most recent was in 1974. Johnny Rutherford won that race.

For two of the last three winners on June 9, it was the final victory of their careers. Sam Hornish, Jr. won on June 9, 2007 at Texas, the final victory of Hornish, Jr.'s IndyCar career. Justin Wilson won on June 9, 2012 at Texas, the final victory of Wilson's career. 

Only three times has a driver won consecutive Road America races (Mario Andretti 1983-84, Michael Andretti 1990-91, Jacques Villeneuve 1994-95).

Nine times has a Road America winner gone on to win the championship. 

Eighteen times has the Road America winner not led the most laps. 

Twice has the Road America winner led only the final lap (Héctor Rebaque 1982, Michael Andretti 1996).

The average starting position for a Road America winner is 3.764 with a median of third. 

Five of the six worst starting positions for Road America winners were first-time winners.

Four of the six Road America races won from a starting position outside the top six positions were first-time winners. 

Only one Road America race has been won from outside the top ten. Alex Tagliani won from 13th in 2004. 

The average number of lead changes in a Road America race is 4.705 with a median of four. 

Since IndyCar returned to Road America in 2016, the average number of lead changes has been 6.444 with a median of six. 

There have been three Road America races without a lead change (1987, 1993, 2003).

The average number of cautions in a Road America race is 2.272 with a median of two. The average number of caution laps is 6.667 with a median of six. 

There have been at least four cautions in the last three Road America races. Only six of the previous 30 Road America races had seen at least four cautions. 

The most cautions in a Road America race is six (1995, 1997, 2001, 2006). 

Eleven Road America races have gone caution-free (31.428%). There were consecutive caution-free races in 2018 and 2019. 

Predictions

Alexander Rossi wins the race and leads the most laps. Honda puts two cars on the podium. Team Penske has all three cars finish in the top ten. Marcus Armstrong does not run a questionable strategy. There are no incidents involving Santino Ferrucci and Agustín Canapino, but someone will get abuse online afterward anyway. The Dale Coyne Racing drivers will finish 16th and 21st. There will be at least seven positions between Felix Rosenqvist and Hélio Castroneves. Théo Pourchaire will gain ground in the rookie of the year battle. Sleeper: Kyle Kirkwood.

Musings From the Weekend; Our Head-to-Head Reality

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

Scott Dixon won a bad IndyCar race in Detroit. Joe Roberts won the Moto2 race from Mugello, the American's second career victory. NASCAR is taking its time ruling on Kyle Larson. Stewart-Haas Racing announced it will be closing shop at the conclusion of 2024. Team Penske benefitted from a Team Penske mistake, and it didn't involve data manipulation. Esteban Ocon could be benched for Montreal. The Germans are reporting Dale Coyne Racing has contacted Mick Schumacher for his services. Formula E could see Ferrari join its grid. MotoGP confirmed India will not take place in 2024, but Kazakhstan will slide into that weekend in September. However, there was news last month that did not get the attention it deserved from this space because of Indianapolis. Now that it is June, here we are...

Our Head-to-Head Reality

Last month, NASCAR announced it would add a tournament element to its 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. Over five races during the summer, a 32-driver tournament would take place with drivers paired into head-to-head matchups with the winners advancing to the next round. At the end of the tournament, two drivers will face off for a $1 million prize. 

These five races will all be broadcasted during the TNT portion of the season. The prior three races during Amazon's Prime portion of the Cup season will be used as seeding rounds to determine how the bracket will lineup for the first race. The tournament will begin on Saturday June 28, 2025 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. 

As a space that has been openly tracking a hypothetical head-to-head season that ends in a playoff for IndyCar since 2019, this is a welcome element to a motorsports season and I am glad NASCAR is attempting it. Though, Denny Hamlin deserves much credit because he ran his own tournament last year, and year two of Denny Hamlin's tournament challenge began this weekend with Gateway. 

There has been plenty of dismissal at NASCAR introducing this tournament for the 2025 season, but this is a positive. It only adds an element to a race without completely changing a race. We aren't adding more stages. We aren't doing heat races. We aren't inverting the field mid-race. We are taking the existing race and giving something different to watch while it is going on. It is only an addition. 

It doesn't make winning the race any less meaningful. If you win the race you will likely have won your head-to-head matchup and advanced to the next round. A race result will still be important, but it does give a viewer something else to watch and could give the battle for 12th greater meaning or two drivers running seventh and tenth could become intriguing if one driver loses a spot and the other gains a spot. 

When I started tracking the hypothetical IndyCar league in 2019, I did it because I believed the one way motorsports could standout in the new world of legalized sports betting was with head-to-head matchups. It is tough to pick a race winner, and you are more likely to lose money, but if a race could turn into 12 bets of head-to-head matchups, a bettor could win and win big. A bettor could decide to bet only four or five matchups. Someone could try all 12. It was a way to get people involved watching a race without feeling like it is a foolish bet to pick one driver out of two-dozen or three-dozen. 

At the time, I argued head-to-head matchups were something the series should be forward on and organize on its own, providing them for sports books and casinos rather than having the sports book or casinos make them up. If the series, IndyCar in this case, took the initiative, then gambling sites could run with it without having to do any heavy lifting. If it could be a new way to draw viewers and have them interested in the series without costing the series an arm and a leg, it was an obvious thing to do. 

Obviously, IndyCar hasn't done it. I doubt it ever will, but until NASCAR announced its in-season tournament last month, no one had done anything of this like for five years. The opportunity was there. Instead of being first, IndyCar will only get to look like a copycat if it ever adopts it. But we aren't hear to admonish IndyCar again for failing to take a chance on something that wouldn't cost the series anything, we are here to praise to NASCAR because it is doing something different to engage viewers during an otherwise dull portion of the season. 

It was intelligent to tie it to the TNT package. This will be TNT's thing. It is something TNT can push at the start and be tracked through its five-race run of the Cup season. It is a midseason shakeup before the playoffs start. NASCAR has a great opening two months, but then it falls off. It doesn't pick up in the summer, and really doesn't see more viewers during the playoffs either. This tournament will be a reason to stay engaged through the dog days of summer before that final playoff push begins. 

Track selection will be interesting, and starting at Atlanta signals what NASCAR hopes from this tournament experience. One, it is in TNT's backyard, so it makes sense to strt there. Two, NASCAR wants upsets. It wants the first race to be wide-open where anyone can advance and anyone can be eliminated. It knows how to root for chaos. However, be careful of what you wish for. 

When it comes to the NCAA basketball tournaments in March, the belief is the first weekend is for upsets, but the second weekend is for chalk. 

We love upsets. We love seeing Florida Gulf Coast bounce Georgetown or St. Peter's knock off a two-seed. But viewership is clear, if there are too many upsets, fewer people tune in. When it is Kentucky-Duke or North Carolina-Kansas, people watch. We like seeing the occasional upset, and a bottom seed win a game or two, but more people don't watch if there are nothing but Cinderellas left standing. When it gets to the Sweet Sixteen and the Elite Eight, we want blue bloods, the programs that have been dominant for decades and we are used to seeing in the Final Four. 

Atlanta, in its current configuration, opens the door for an abundance of upsets. It could be fun for one race, but then you need to take your medicine in race two. If six of the top eight drivers in the championship are eliminated at Atlanta and you are left with six of the bottom eight, meaning six of the drivers between 25th and 32nd, this tournament could be in bad shape quickly. 

It runs the risk of making it easy for the few top drivers left remaining. It could be a cakewalk to the final because not every race will be Atlanta. Even if it is in a tournament format, if you have Harrison Burton vs. Ryan Preece in a second round matchup at say Pocono, it is still a battle 22nd. Sure, it matters, but it also isn't that thrilling.

Looking at the 2024 schedule and when this tournament would take place, those races are currently Nashville, Chicago, Pocono, Indianapolis and Richmond. We know Atlanta will be replacing one of those races, but there are going to be at least two if not three straight-forward races where there will not be a gimmick to save an otherwise slow team. 

The opening weekend looks great if you have William Byron vs. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., but if you have that matchup in the quarterfinal round at Pocono or semifinal round at Indianapolis, it could be rather anti-climatic. Where will the final held? Richmond at the present moment isn't the hot location to end this competition at. Indianapolis makes sense on paper for the prestige of the venue, but is Roger Penske really going to want the Brickyard 400 on cable? 

It is a dangerous thing when the final is one head-to-heat matchup, especially if it is going to be at a track where it requires having a good car. 

I have been doing IndyCar's hypothetical league format for five years. In the first year, it was Josef Newgarden vs. Ed Jones in the final at Laguna Seca. Newgarden started second to Jones' 18th and Jones retired after 51 laps. We would have been lucky in 2020 because the final would have been Newgarden vs. Scott Dixon, which happened to be the top two drivers in the championship that season in the St. Petersburg season finale. 

In 2021, it was Newgarden vs. Patricio O'Ward, a great matchup on paper, but O'Ward was knocked out early at Long Beach due to a mechanical issue. It was better in 2022 with Will Power vs. Scott McLaughlin in the final at Laguna Seca. Power took the title with third over McLaughlin in sixth. Last year's final would have been somewhat dramatic between Dixon and O'Ward. 

The final must be held somewhere, and at some point you just accept what you get. Not every round will be fantastic. You cannot assure the final will be competitive. If one team has an off day or gets caught in an early accident, it deflates the balloon, but this is where we remember the head-to-head matchup is extra. The race will still matter most. If there is a great battle for the race victory and the tournament champion finished eighth while the other finalist retired with 100 laps remaining, we will focus on the battle for the race victory and tournament becomes a foot note. If the race is a runaway but the head-to-head championship is between two drivers running 11th and 12th, we will get this other battle to watch but the race victory is still more important in the grand scheme of the championship...

Until NASCAR decides to give out playoff points for how drivers do in the tournament. That's the next thing that will happen. NASCAR will give something. I don't know. A playoff point for each round victory with an additional ten playoff points to the tournament champion with five additional playoff points to the other finalist. But we will let NASCAR break that news in January at its media day. 

Seeing as how this is being introduced in the first year of a seven-year television contract and it is tied to one of the broadcast partners, let's give this a few years to see how NASCAR's tournament plays out. It is a low-risk way to giving people something else to watch during a race. If it doesn't stick, it will hurt no one. If it hits, it will look genius.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Scott Dixon and Joe Roberts, but did you know...

Francesco Bagnaia won MotoGP's Italian Grand Prix and the sprint race. David Alonso won the Moto3 race, his third consecutive victory and his fifth of the season. Mattia Casadei and Kevin Zannoni split the MotoE races.

Austin Cindric won the NASCAR Cup race from Gateway after Ryan Blaney ran out of fuel coming to the white flag. It is Cindric's second career victory. Shane van Gisbergen won the Grand National Series race from Portland, his first career victory in the series. Corey Heim won the Truck race from Gateway, his fourth victory of the season.

The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque won the IMSA race from Detroit. The #77 AO Racing Porsche of Laurin Heinrich and Seb Priaulx won in GTD Pro, its second consecutive victory.

Louis Foster won the Indy Lights race from Detroit, his second consecutive victory.

The #16 Scherer Sport PHX Audi of Ricardo Feller, Dennis Marschall, Christopher Mies and Frank Stippler won a weather-shortened 24 Hours Nürburgring.

The #37 TGR Team Deloitte TOM's Toyota of Ukyo Sasahara and Giuliano Alesi won the Super GT race from Suzuka. The #777 D'Station Racing Aston Martin of Tomonobu Fuji and Charlie Fagg won in GT300.

Ott Tänak won Rally d'Italia Sardegna by 0.2 seconds over Sébastien Ogier after entering the final four stages 17.1 seconds behind the Frenchman.

Coming Up This Weekend

It will be a busy day in North America with IndyCar at Road America, Formula One in Montreal and NASCAR at Sonoma and all three races will be shown on network television and practically all happening simultaneously.

The Le Mans Test Day will take place and the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters is accommodating its weekend at Zandvoort to allow some drivers to attend both.

First Impressions: Detroit 2024

1. On what was a sloppy race day, it is probably best Scott Dixon pulled out this victory. There were accidents, a rain shower, and with the number of caution laps, it opened the door for someone to stop earlier than thought possible and make it to the end of the race. You didn't need to tell Dixon twice. 

Stopping with 44 laps to go, it would require some help to make it, but this race was always going to provide it. Once Dixon made the stop, everyone should have been afraid. More should have anticipated Dixon's move and come with him. It would be tough for the rest of the field to do it, but if Dixon was shuffled behind a few competitors, it would at least give everyone else a better chance. 

Instead, Dixon held the point as others made their final pit stops, and like Dixon does, he made enough fuel to win comfortably and even make it back to the pit lane on the cool down lap. Add to it Álex Palou's first bad day in over a year-and-a-half, and Dixon is now the championship leader. There are plenty of races to go, and Palou will not disappear, but Dixon knows how to race with a lead. It is setting up for Ganassi to control this championship to Nashville.

2. Marcus Ericsson needed a good day and he got it. This is a race where few performances will stand out. Ericsson made a run late as he had better tires and didn't have to save fuel. He was a little too far back to chase down Dixon, but coming 0.8567 seconds short considering how the last few races went, the Indianapolis 500 especially, is a boost for the Swede. 

3. Marcus Armstrong clung to his first career podium finish. Armstrong was on the same strategy as Dixon, but the sophomore driver learned how difficult it is to go 44 laps to close out a Detroit race. Armstrong did a masterful job holding off Kyle Kirkwood, who looked poised to make a run for the victory. Once Kirkwood was vanquished, Ericsson pushed but Armstrong held strong, but he didn't quite have it in the final laps. Armstrong made it to the finish in third, but he did run out of fuel on the cool down lap. He did all he could. Third is a great result.

4. Kyle Kirkwood didn't have the legs at the finish. On the final restart, he looked set to get ahead of Armstrong and take the fight to Scott Dixon, but Kirkwood could not get ahead of Armstrong. Detroit is a tough place to pass, and Armstrong executed a stout defense that arguably won the race for the Dixon. It killed Kirkwood's tires and he had to let Ericsson go. Kirkwood likely feels a victory slip out of his hands, and I think it did, but fourth is a rare result for Kirkwood. It is his first top five finish that wasn't a victory. He wants to win, but he must pile up these results as well.

5. Alexander Rossi was stuck in the opening lap incident when Will Power spun, and yet he rallied to finish fifth with Will Power right behind him. That is what this race was today. Over half the top ten you wonder how they finished there. This wasn't a good race. That isn't meant to slight Rossi, but he stuck to it, a few things went his way, and he finished fifth. Good for him.

6. Will Power was spun on the opening lap, had about a half-dozen penalties today and he ended up finishing sixth. This was not Power's greatest drive ever. Power didn't stop as earlier as Dixon and Armstrong, but he stopped not long after that. It moved Power to the front. Some could say this was one of his worst performances in quite some time. It was a bad race. Many drivers had bad days. Somebody has to finish sixth. There was a good chance it would be someone with a bad day. A conversation could be had if penalties should increase in severity if a driver has multiple offenses in one race. Persistent infringement should be a thing. 

7. Patricio O'Ward was seventh. I am not sure he did anything brilliant. Like Rossi, O'Ward was caught in the opening lap stack up, and it put him in the back. Then cautions went O’Ward’s way. It ended up in a top ten finish. Take it and run!

8. Felix Rosenqvist had a tire puncture on the opening lap. It could have been costly, but this race was a mess and Rosenqvist could jump up to ninth despite the setback. It makes up for Indianapolis a little bit. Unless it is a victory, you can never truly make up for a lost engine at Indianapolis, but this could have been a 17th-place finish. Eighth is a gift.

9.  It was a weekend for Santino Ferrucci. Practice incidents aside, Ferrucci punted Hélio Castroneves on lap 15. It was a bit of bad driving, but with the way this race went, a stop-and-go penalty could be overcome, and Ferrucci ended up ninth. As many foolish moves he makes, this was Ferrucci's fourth top ten finish through six races. He has been getting results even if it is a long way to get there. This is the best start for an A.J. Foyt Racing driver since Takuma Sato in 2013. Ferrucci isn't going anywhere, even if he is going to run into 80% of the field.

10. Théo Pourchaire drove a damaged car to a tenth-place finish. The incident that caused the damage was pretty eye-opening for Pourchaire. He barely made the corner and used Agustín Canapino as a brake, but Pourchaire held on. It was an impressive weekend for Pourchaire. He jumped onto a new street course and was up to speed immediately. He qualified seventh and looked good enough to make the Fast Six. He wasn't really at fault for the opening lap incident. There were four cars going for one spot on the racetrack. Pourchaire took a car most would have given up on and put it in the top ten. It was likely one of the most difficult drives of his career, and he looked up for it. This was a good pickup for IndyCar.

11. Christian Lundgaard had to stop for a splash of fuel on the final lap and it cost him a top five. Lundgaard still got 11th, but he looked better than that today. Lundgaard had his own fair share of contact, most notably parking his car on Romain Grosjean in the turn three hairpin. That was a bad move on Lundgaard's part. That was after he gambled staying out when the rain started to fall. Again, plenty of drivers had bad races. Lundgaard was just another one. It was 11th for him.

12. Agustín Canapino was working on a top ten result but he was sliding backward in closing laps. A top ten would have been kind to Canapino. Matching a career-best in 12th is still generous, but he didn't really do much wrong. This was not a bad day for Canapino. He had one of the few good days.

13. We are going to breeze through the field here. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing had Pietro Fittipaldi in 13th and Graham Rahal in 15th. Lundgaard was the best RLLR driver on this day. The other two were never in the conversation. RLLR showed good street course pace last year. This wasn't bad this weekend, but it was not great either. Lundgaard is the one guy who can make it work regularly. Rahal can make it work occasionally. Fittipaldi is stuck with the slow third car. 

14. Rinus VeeKay was spun on the mid-race restart when Will Power clipped him. VeeKay was off-strategy and on slick tire while others were on the wet tires. It could have worked out in VeeKay's favor. Instead, he was sent backward due to no fault of his own. At least VeeKay made it that far. Christian Rasmussen lost an engine after 25 laps. Rough day for Ed Carpenter Racing. 

15. Álex Palou was all over the place today, but not in a bad way. The alternate tire was junk and Palou had to stop early to get off of that compound. The cautions fell, Palou jumped ahead and was on the wet tires, which was not the long play, but it got him track position, and right when it looked like Palou was set for a top ten and maybe even a top five, Josef Newgarden spun in turn three, Palou was balked and the top ten streak ended. Palou took 16th, but this could have been much better. 

There are 11 races left this season. Palou is 18 points back. Palou will be fine, but this was the first time we have seen Palou have a bad day, and it wasn't even his fault. As long as Palou can avoid everyone else's mess, he will still be dangerous. 

16. Dale Coyne Racing is not going to do much better than 17th at the moment. Jack Harvey was 17th and really didn't cause any issues. Tristan Vautier was 18th and avoided the issues. Vautier was up to third as he tried to stretch his fuel like Dixon and Armstrong. That is Dale Coyne Racing's only shot at the moment. Even then it was likely not going to shake up in their favor. 

We cannot take anything from these results. Coyne has next to no resources and Vautier was called three days before practice. There will likely be a new different at Road America. This is not a recipe for success.

17. You noticed how two Andretti Global cars were in the top four? Colton Herta blew a good result today. Herta led at the start, took wet tires because he had to make a pit stop anyway and it was raining, and then Herta made a moronic move today trying to pass Palou and Vautier into turn four when the track was still damp off line. That pass was never going to stick. 

It is understandable that Herta was frustrated because he led the first third of this race, wasn't challenge at any point while leading, and yet was behind cars he felt he was better than, but this was not seeing the forest from the trees. Especially after Indianapolis where Herta lost a hefty amount of points, he cannot afford to make a terrible error. He was in the top five of the championship. There are 11 races left after today. Herta might not want to be behind Palou and lose points, but it would be better to lose two points to Palou than to lose 20 points to Palou.

It worked out that Palou ended up 16th while Herta was 19th, but Herta could have been in the top ten while Palou was caught in Newgarden's spin and Herta could have gained points today. It is another case of Herta coughing up points. Andretti Global must fix that. 

18. Scott McLaughlin was the only driver caught out in the rain. McLaughlin slid into the turn one tire barrier while running in a podium position. That knocked McLaughlin off the lead lap and he couldn't recover. Josef Newgarden had a bad pit stop when the fueler couldn't connect the fuel nozzle. Then Newgarden had an unsafe release penalty when he nearly bowled over Christian Lundgaard's crew. Newgarden was on the Dixon/Armstrong strategy, and he got into Kirkwood on the lap 70 restart, spinning himself out and stacking up Palou. 

Newgarden kept going, but then he slapped the barrier and that ended a miserable day. With a result of 26th, this is the fourth result outside the top fifteen through six races for Newgarden in 2024. This has been a problem for Newgarden since the end of last season. He has seven results of 15th or worse in the last ten races dating back to 2023. This isn't good. He cannot bank on winning six oval races to close the season and win the championship. If you cannot finish fifth or sixth once in a while no number of victories will be enough to win the championship. He might have a second Indianapolis 500 victory, but Newgarden has work to do. 

19. It is mostly stragglers from here. With all the incidents today, it should come as no surprise Sting Ray Robb ran into the barrier. Linus Lundqvist was caught in a stack up or two but I am not sure how he was 22nd. Romain Grosjean had enough today. Grosjean wanted to retire the car. The team told him to continue. This is destined to be the one and only year of the Grosjean/Juncos Hollinger Racing marriage.

Kyffin Simpson and Helio Castroneves had both of their races ruined after the Santino Ferrucci contact. Castroneves was run over. Simpson had nowhere to go and was collateral. A stop-and-go penalty doesn't quite have enough bite when the two drivers done wrong end up three laps and four laps down. 

20. This wasn't a good race. This isn't a good track. Belle Isle is not walking through that door. The downtown location is better for a Detroit race. There is more to do and it is easier for people to get to. Belle Isle isn't far, but it isn't the most accessible circuit. There is also a limit on how many people can attend Belle Isle. Far more people can surround a downtown Detroit circuit. That is not changing, but this circuit isn't up to IndyCar quality. 

This is a disservice to the series. I am not even going to play the "race after Indianapolis card" here. If this race was seven days after Portland or Long Beach or Gateway it would still look poor in comparison. 

But it isn't going to change. This is Roger Penske's event with strong Chevrolet support. It isn't going back to Belle Isle. It isn't going to Michigan International Speedway no matter how much you cry about it. This race will stay at the foot of the Renaissance Center forever. This is a corporate picnic and it happens to be an IndyCar race. 

21. At least Road America is next week.

Morning Warm-Up: Detroit 2024

Colton Herta won pole position for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix with a lap at 60.5475 seconds in the final round of qualifying. It is the 12th pole position of Herta's career and his first since Mid-Ohio last year. He is fifth among active IndyCar drivers in pole positions, and Herta is tied for 29th all-time with Parnelli Jones. The Californian had not started better than fourth this season entering Detroit. He is the fifth different pole-sitter through six races this season. Herta's last four podium finishes have all come on street courses, and five of his last six podium finishes have been on street courses. It has been 34 races since Herta's most recent victory in the 2022 Grand Prix of Indianapolis.

Álex Palou was 0.1520 seconds off Herta's top time and Palou will start second. This is Palou's tenth front row start in 70 IndyCar appearances. Only three of Palou's ten career victories have come from the front row. The Catalan driver has seven consecutive top five finishes dating back to last season. In 55 starts with Chip Ganassi Racing, Palou has 33 top five finishes.

After winning from third in the Indianapolis 500 last week, Josef Newgarden starts in third position for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. Newgarden is attempting to become the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 and the race following since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000. After the St. Petersburg penalty, Newgarden has not finished on the podium in a street race since his 2022 Long Beach victory, ten street races ago. 

Scott McLaughlin makes it an all-Team Penske row two. This is McLaughlin's ninth top five start in the last 14 races. The New Zealander has led the most laps this season with 126 laps led. McLaughlin is one of four drivers to lead in at least three races this season. Prior to the first two street course races this season, he had four consecutive top ten finishes on street courses. 

Scott Dixon will start fifth. Dixon has won 12 times in the month of June, the most IndyCar victories in the month. However, Dixon has not won in June since the 2020 Texas race, the first race of that season after a significant delay due to the pandemic. Four times has Dixon won from fifth on the grid, most recently was Road America on June 25, 2017.

Kyle Kirkwood caused a red flag in the final round of qualifying, and it cost Kirkwood his fastest two laps. Instead of starting third, Kirkwood will start sixth. He has finished better than his starting position in four of five races this season with the exception being Kirkwood finishing tenth at Barber Motorsports Park after starting ninth.

Théo Pourchaire is back in the #6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, and Pourchaire qualified a career-best seventh, 0.0287 from making the Fast Six. Pourchaire will drive this car for the remainder of the season. The #6 Chevrolet is 17th in the entrants' championship on 77 points, two points behind the #77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet and four points ahead of the #8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. The #6 McLaren has yet to finish in the top ten this season.

Will Power ended up eighth on the grid, 0.0557 seconds from making the final round of qualifying. Power had started in the top five in the previous four races. The Australian has finished on the podium in the last two visits to Detroit. In each of the previous two years, Power has not finished in the top ten of the Indianapolis 500 the week prior either. He was 24th last week in the "500."

Marcus Ericsson will start ninth in Detroit after starting 18th or worse in the previous three races. Ericsson enters Detroit with three consecutive finishes outside the top fifteen. This is only the second time in Ericsson's IndyCar career he has failed to finish in the top fifteen in three consecutive races. The other time was the fourth, fifth and sixth races of his career, Long Beach, the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis 500 in 2019. 

Santino Ferrucci find himself tenth on the grid, the second consecutive race Ferrucci has started in the top ten. It is the first time he has started in the top ten in consecutive races in his IndyCar career. Ferrucci has three top ten finishes through the first five races. Ferrucci is the first A.J. Foyt Racing driver with three top ten finishes through the first five races of the season since Takuma Sato in 2013.

Christian Lundgaard wound up 11th. Lundgaard has yet to finish in the top ten in his prior two visits to Detroit, whether it be Belle Isle or the downtown circuit. Lundgaard has finished 18th and 23rd in the two street course races this season. Last year, his average finish in street races was 9.8, which included a victory at Toronto and three total top ten finishes.

Patricio O'Ward brought out the red flag in the second round of qualifying after stalling in turn five. This caused O'Ward to lose his fastest two laps and relegated the Mexican to 12th starting position. This is only the fourth time in the last 30 races he is starting outside the top ten. O'Ward is coming off the 11th runner-up finish in his career in 77 starts as he was second in the Indianapolis 500.

Christian Rasmussen missed out on the second round of qualifying by 0.1024 seconds, but 13th will still be the best starting position of Rasmussen's IndyCar career. His 12th place finish at the Indianapolis 500 last year was his best finish of the season. The Dane was ninth and second in the two Indy Lights races held on this Detroit street course last year.

Romain Grosjean takes 14th on the grid. This is the fourth consecutive race where Grosjean has started outside the top ten. Prior to this stretch, only once had the Frenchman gone three consecutive races without starting in the top ten. Grosjean has not finished in the top five in his last 18 starts. 

Felix Rosenqvist missed out on the second round of qualifying for the first time this season, and Rosenqvist will start 15th. The Swede is coming off finishing 27th at the Indianapolis 500 after suffering an engine failure during the race. It was the fifth time Rosenqvist has finished 27th in his career. Four of those results have come at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, three in the Indianapolis 500 and one on the IMS road course. 

Alexander Rossi fell to 16th starting position, matching Rossi's worst starting position of the season. The American is coming off finishing fourth in the Indianapolis 500. Rossi has not had a podium finish on a street course since he was runner-up to Will Power in the final Belle Isle race in 2022.

Pietro Fittipaldi occupies 17th on the grid, his fifth time starting outside the top fifteen this season. Fittipaldi has finished outside the top twenty in three of five races this season after he was 32nd in the Indianapolis 500. Fittipaldi has finished outside the top twenty in eight of 14 career starts.

Rinus VeeKay will be on the outside of row nine. VeeKay was ninth in the Indianapolis 500. VeeKay has not had consecutive top ten finishes since the first two races of the 2022 season. VeeKay's only top five finish on a street course was second in the first Belle Isle race in 2021.

Agustín Canapino takes 19th, his third time starting on the tenth row this season. Canapino enters the sixth race of the season 20th in the championship on 56 points with his best finish being 15th at Long Beach. Last year, Canapino entered the sixth race of the season 18th in the championship on 56 points having finished 12th in the first two races of the season. 

Graham Rahal missed out on advancing from group two by 0.0614 seconds, but Rahal has a six-spot grid penalty after changing to his fifth engine this season through the seventh event, when including the non-championship Thermal Challenge. This drops to Rahal to 20th on the grid from 14th. He has finished outside the top ten in five of his last six street course starts. The exception was Rahal finishing ninth at Toronto last year. Rahal

Linus Lundqvist leads an all-Chip Ganassi Racing row 11. This is the second consecutive race where Lundqvist has qualified outside the top twenty, and he has not started better than 17th this season. Lundqvist won twice at Belle Isle in Indy Lights in 2022. Lundqvist was also second in both Belle Isle Indy Lights races in 2021. 

Marcus Armstrong starts next to Lundqvist in 22nd.This is Armstrong's worst starting position since he started 26th at Barber Motorsports Park in 2023. Armstrong lost an engine after six laps in the Indianapolis 500, pretty much all of which were under caution. It was Armstrong's second retirement of the season. The New Zealander was running at the finish in all 12 starts in 2023.

Sting Ray Robb will start 23rd for the second consecutive race. This is Robb's 23rd consecutive race starting outside the top twenty. Robb matched the second-best career finish with 16th in the Indianapolis 500 last week. Robb had finished 16th at St. Petersburg on debut in 2023. Robb led 23 laps in the Indianapolis 500, the third-most in the race behind only Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden.

Tristan Vautier makes his first IndyCar start since June 10, 2017 at Texas Motor Speedway, and Vautier will do it from 24th on the grid. His most recent street course start was June 14, 2015 at Toronto. Vautier's only top five finish in IndyCar was nine years and two days ago, a fourth at Belle Isle. 

Hélio Castroneves is in the #66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda in place of Tom Blomqvist for Detroit and Road America, and Castroneves will start 25th. Blomqvist's worst starting positions this season were 26th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and 25th in the Indianapolis 500. Last season, Castroneves had an average finish of 17.294. His average finish in five street course races was 19th. 

Jack Harvey takes 26th on the grid. Harvey had an accident in the opening practice on Friday. Between Belle Isle and this downtown Detroit circuit, Harvey has an average finish of 16.75 in the Motor City with his best result being 15th at Belle Isle in 2022. 

Kyffin Simpson has a six-spot grid penalty as Simpson is using his fifth engine of the season. Simpson will drop to 27th on the grid after the penalty after he was to start 23rd from being 12th best in the first qualifying group. Last week's Indianapolis 500 was the first time Simpson did not finish better than his starting position. 

USA's coverage of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix begins at noon Eastern with green flag scheduled for 12:45 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 100 laps.