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Chase Burns' first career strikeout

Chase Burns' first career strikeout

Yahoo3 days ago

Louis Foster on his first IndyCar pole after Road America XPEL Grand Prix qualifying
The mustache may or may not have been the difference, but clean-shaven rookie Louis Foster will start first in Elkhart Lake. Hear his reaction.
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Where does Santino Ferrucci see his first IndyCar win coming?
Where does Santino Ferrucci see his first IndyCar win coming?

Yahoo

time12 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Where does Santino Ferrucci see his first IndyCar win coming?

Santino Ferrucci is on a roll in the 2025 IndyCar season. The driver of the No. 14 A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet secured his second podium in three races and his fourth consecutive top-five finish last Sunday at Road America. It's the kind of run worth celebrating with a beer — as Ferrucci memorably did, catching a Miller Lite tossed by a fan from the grandstands at Turn 1. But, of course, he wants more. And not beers this time, but solid results in the IndyCar Series. Advertisement 'Oh, I'm still very thirsty to get more,' Ferrucci told 'It's really nice to have a string of top-fives like that: superspeedway, short oval, road course, street course. I think it just shows our overall strength and growth. So I'm definitely looking forward to the string of races in July.' 'This was definitely the goal from the beginning of the year. I think we just started off slower than we would have liked. But now that we've hit our stride, this is what I was expecting — especially based on how we finished the 2024 season.' Expectations were high heading into 2025, especially after Ferrucci finished ninth in last year's standings, closing the season with four straight top-10s, including two fourth-place finishes at Milwaukee and a sixth at Nashville Superspeedway. However, the start of this season was rough in terms of results, with an 11th at Long Beach being his best finish prior to the streak that began at the Indianapolis 500. Yet, according to the Connecticut native, the performance was there all along. Advertisement 'We were just a bit unlucky more than anything. The way the Indy GP went, and Barber — even Long Beach — we had pace at all three events. We just had a fuel issue at Barber, hit the wall at Long Beach, which wasn't great. And then at Indy GP, we didn't run any practice or warm-up. We literally just qualified and raced. We had a couple of mechanical issues that were completely out of our control.' Ferrucci confident that he will win Santino Ferrucci, A. J. Foyt Enterprises Santino Ferrucci, A. J. Foyt Enterprises Only two drivers have won races so far in the 2025 IndyCar season — Alex Palou with six wins for Chip Ganassi Racing and Kyle Kirkwood with three for Andretti Global. That makes it look tough for others to break through, but Ferrucci believes he's close. Advertisement 'Yes, for sure,' he said when asked if a win feels near. 'I actually thought it was going to happen at Road America with the pace we had. But with the big fuel number we had to hit at the end, it wasn't exactly ideal.' With eight races in two months coming up, Ferrucci has a clear idea of where he sees the best chances to break through. 'I think all the ovals for sure, and then Portland and Laguna Seca. I think Mid-Ohio and Toronto are going to be pretty tough — those are both survival races. But I do like my pace and what we've been learning over the last two years there, so I'll remain hopeful for those as well.' Qualifying pace still a challenge, but not a worry Santino Ferrucci, A. J. Foyt Enterprises, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Santino Ferrucci, A. J. Foyt Enterprises, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing One might argue that Ferrucci needs to improve his qualifying performance to be a true contender. Every race winner in 2025 has started inside the top 10, and six of them from the top three. Ferrucci, however, doesn't seem too concerned about one-lap pace — and he may have a point. His recent hot streak includes starts from 15th, 21st, 19th, and 18th. Advertisement 'The funny thing is I'm not overly focused on it. I was really bummed with my performance at Road America — I drove really well, but we just missed something in the setup. Detroit was more on me, and same with Thermal.' 'Trying to find the limit over one lap is very difficult, as opposed to being perfectly consistent over a race distance, which I actually find easier. So, with the way the series is, I think the races have been really strong and we've been able to pass. So I've been more focused on getting the race cars right to win on Sunday.' Full focus on getting A.J. Foyt Racing back to Victory Lane Santino Ferrucci, A. J. Foyt Enterprises Santino Ferrucci, A. J. Foyt Enterprises Ferrucci signed a multi-year deal with A.J. Foyt Racing in September 2024 — just a month after his current teammate, David Malukas, joined the team following an opportunity at Arrow McLaren that didn't go as planned, and a partial season with Meyer Shank Racing. Advertisement Since Malukas signed with Foyt, rumors have swirled that the move could position him for a future seat at Team Penske if veteran Will Power, now in the final year of his contract, steps away. Malukas currently trails Ferrucci by ten points and three positions in the championship. When asked if he should also be considered for a top-tier ride, Ferrucci made it clear that his focus is solely on bringing success to A.J. Foyt Racing — which hasn't won a race in 12 years. 'I like to control what I can control. My focus is very much on what we're doing right now,' he said. 'What my teammate is up to is for him to answer — I don't really know how all of his stuff works. But you know, my goal at the end of the day is to deliver. I really want to bring A.J. and Larry their first win in a long time. I'm really happy where I'm at, and I'm very, very comfortable with my engineering lineup and everything else. So right now, my full focus is on my current program.' Advertisement Read Also: How a 'grumpy' Alex Palou ended up thankful for his winning strategy at Road America Winners and Losers from IndyCar's Road America weekend To read more articles visit our website.

Improving Foyt Team Closing In on Elusive Win with Steady Speed
Improving Foyt Team Closing In on Elusive Win with Steady Speed

Fox Sports

time13 hours ago

  • Fox Sports

Improving Foyt Team Closing In on Elusive Win with Steady Speed

INDYCAR The race is on for a driver other than Alex Palou or Kyle Kirkwood to win an NTT INDYCAR SERIES race this season. AJ Foyt Racing has two of the top contenders. Santino Ferrucci and David Malukas have quietly put together some of the series' best results over the past month, each scoring 111 points over the past four races. Only Kirkwood (142 points), Palou (138) and Pato O'Ward (127) have scored more in that span. Remember, that stretch includes a superspeedway, a street circuit, a short oval and a road course. Ferrucci and Malukas each have a recent second-place finish, including Malukas in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, and they have combined to post six top-seven finishes in eight opportunities. They both placed in the top five at Indy, with Ferrucci in fifth as he extended his record streak of top-10 finishes in the event to seven. It had been 25 years since two Foyt drivers finished in the top five at Indy (Eliseo Salazar and Jeff Ward finished third and fourth, respectively, in 2000). In last weekend's XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Presented by AMR, Ferrucci also continued his season streak of top-five finishes by ending up third. He finished second in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear and delivered fifth-place finishes not only at Indy but in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline at World Wide Technology Raceway, as well. Malukas' recent surge is evident in qualifying sessions. He has started in the top seven in each of the past four races, highlighted by a front-row roll-off in the Detroit street race. Malukas qualified fourth at WWTR and started seventh in the '500' and at Road America. The two drivers have combined to lead 87 laps over the past four races. The recent surge has Ferrucci ninth in the standings – that's where he finished last season, too – and Malukas 12th. A month ago, they were 15th and 19th, respectively. 'It's obviously going very well,' team president Larry Foyt said at Road America. 'The first half of (this) race looked like nothing was going our way with David starting up close to the front but having to go all the way to the back (due to contact) and Santino having a stall in the pits. It didn't look like it was going to be our day. 'But everybody (on the crew) just stayed in it, and the drivers did a great job. This was such a crazy (race). Everybody was trying to figure out what the (best) strategy was, and our guys nailed it.' Ferrucci has the same number of points as Colton Herta of Andretti Global w/Curb-Agajanian, and they are within striking distance of Team Penske's top two performers. Scott McLaughlin leads them by six points, Will Power by 13. Ferrucci joked it's his qualifying efforts that are slowing him down this season. His average starting position is 17.4, a stark contrast to his average finishing position (10.2). That's 7.2 positions gained per race . 'We're performing,' Ferrucci said on the FOX broadcast. 'We're back to where we were at the end of last year. I feel lit. I've just got to get my qualifying performance up. Until then, I like padding my passing stats.' Ferrucci ranks second to Christian Rasmussen in total passes for position this season. They also were the only drivers to accumulate 50-plus total passes in the past two races combined. 'Obviously, starting 18th (at Road America) is not ideal,' he said. While Malukas is 12th in the standings, he only trails Ferrucci and Herta by 10 points, which is remarkable given the slow start he had in his first season with this organization. His average finish in the first five races was 17.4. At Road America, Malukas' race became more challenging when he ran deep into Turn 3 and hit the Arrow McLaren car of Christian Lundgaard. The contact resulted in Malukas spinning off track, requiring the restart assistance of the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team. The combination of the quick service and long track distance kept him on the lead lap, and he rallied to finish seventh, his second-best result of the season. '(It was) a lot of fun, a lot of passing, and we finished right where we started,' the driver of the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet said. 'So, good recovery (and) really good job from the team.' Larry Foyt said the competitiveness of the series makes it difficult to make gains, but there is plenty of evidence to show the team is doing just that. In the second half of the season, its goal is to earn the team's first victory since 2013, when Takuma Sato won at Long Beach. 'It's so tough right now, which makes even a (top-three finish) feel like a win,' Foyt said. 'It's still not (a win), and we still want to break through and get back in victory lane. That's still the goal, but what this team is doing right now, I couldn't be happier.'

How real is Brad Pitt's 'F1 The Movie' compared to actual Formula 1 racing?
How real is Brad Pitt's 'F1 The Movie' compared to actual Formula 1 racing?

USA Today

time21 hours ago

  • USA Today

How real is Brad Pitt's 'F1 The Movie' compared to actual Formula 1 racing?

Saying Formula 1 racing is the top expression of motorsport is sure to get an argument from fans of NASCAR and Indy Car, especially since F1 has made major inroads in U.S. popularity over the past few years. The glamour-meets-high-tech nature of this European-bred sport is precisely what the director and producers of 'F1 The Movie' are banking on as the Brad Pitt-driven film hits theater and IMAX screens June 27. 'Lewis Hamilton (legendary F1 racer and 'F1 The Movie' producer) said to me he'd never seen a movie that captures what it's like to be in the car, so that was the challenge,' says director Joseph Kosinski, who also steered Tom Cruise through his aerial paces in 'Top Gun: Maverick.' For those new to F1 the sport and curious about 'F1 The Movie,' we offer this primer. What is Formula 1? The various formulas for engine displacement and other technical aspects of single-seater (versus sports cars) European motor racing were determined long ago, with Formula 1 deemed the pinnacle of speed and technology. The very first race was held 75 years ago at Silverstone in England. Many top F1 racers start as kids in karting races, then graduate to Formula 3, then Formula 2, and finally, if they're talented and lucky enough, Formula 1. Where are Formula 1 races held? Currently, there are 24 races that unfold around the world, starting with Australia in March and wrapping in Abu Dhabi in December. Other host countries include Japan, Brazil, Italy, Belgium, the U.K. and the U.S., which now has races in Miami, Austin and Las Vegas. Why is Formula 1 being talked about so much in the U.S. right now? Formula 1 has a checkered past in the U.S., which at times held just one race and for a spell had none. But the current boom in interest is down to a range of reasons, including the popularity of Netflix's series 'Formula 1: Drive to Survive,' the ability of drivers to connect directly with fans through social media, and finally the sport being owned by an American company, Liberty Media. Do Brad Pitt and Damson Idris really drive F1 cars in 'F1 The Movie'? Yes, Pitt and Idris spent four months learning to drive real Formula 1 cars. 'If you see Brad's face, then it's him driving, and often at speeds up to around 180 mph,' says Kosinski. 'When they went into those turns at high speed, the G-forces on their bodies were insane.' How did the 'F1' movie get Brad Pitt's high-speed laps on camera? Instead of building a bulky camera car, Kosinski was advised by Mercedes F1 team leader and 'F1' producer Toto Wolff to have Mercedes build his crew real F1 cars that could have four small IMAX-quality cameras attached to the body. 'We took what we used on 'Top Gun,' and miniaturized them,' says Kosinski. Did 'F1 The Movie' really shoot during actual F1 races? Yes, F1 granted Kosinski permission to have his cast and crew set up during real F1 races, often giving them short windows between real practice laps to get their scenes shot. 'Sometimes that would become 5 minutes, and sometimes the window would vanish, so we had to be very light on our feet which made it exciting,' he says. Did all that racing fun make 'F1' director Joseph Kosinski want to race for real? Kosinski, who is a Porsche aficionado, says he loves spending time on a track, although he has only done so in sports cars and not open-wheel machines such as F1 cars. 'But I did get to hit the track with Lewis (Hamilton) giving me some instructions, and then I let him drive me around in a (Porsche) 911 GT3,' he says. 'To have the most winning F1 driver of all time show you what the real limit is is quite something.' Who's faster, Brad Pitt or speed junkie Tom Cruise? Kosinski has had the rare privilege of directing speed-demon movies with arguably the two biggest male stars on the planet, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. 'There are more similarities between them than you might think, and both are phenomenally talented,' he says. 'There are also stories about when they both did 'Interview with a Vampire' (in 1994) and there were famous go-kart battles between the two of them. I think people would pay to see that showdown for sure.'

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