Colton Herta's wish after qualifying pole? An 'easy race with no yellows' at Detroit Grand Prix
The Andretti Global driver finished well over a tenth of a second ahead of A.J. Foyt Racing's David Malukas in the battle for pole Sunday, having had four Fast 6 appearances already this year but so far no poles, matching his pole performance a year ago on the 1.645-mile downtown Detroit street course.
But in the chaos of last year's race that featured eight cautions and 47 of 100 laps ran under yellow, Herta and the No. 26 Andretti Global crew faltered and fell back to 19th. Entering IndyCar's third race since the series' shift to the downtown street course track, Andretti Global and others are looking to knock Chip Ganassi Racing off the top step, with Alex Palou (2023) and Scott Dixon (2024) taking wins on the course thus far.
'We've been close a few times this year making it on a pole run, so I'm happy to do that and start P1 tomorrow,' said Herta, who's looking for his first podium finish of 2025. Entering Sunday, the Andretti Global driver's best finish of fourth came at The Thermal Club. Outside that, he's finished 16th at St. Pete after starting second, seventh at Long Beach after starting second and seventh at Barber after qualifying third, along with dismal runs during the Month of May at IMS (25th on the IMS road course and 14th in the Indy 500).
Entering Sunday, Herta sits ninth in points, 22 back of eighth-place Will Power, 36 back of his fifth-place teammate Kyle Kirkwood, 74 back of second-place Pato O'Ward and 186 of runaway championship leader Alex Palou.
'Now we just need a nice, easy race with no yellows,' said Herta, referencing IndyCar's run of three full races (and parts of two others) that ran without a single caution earlier in the season.
Among a Fast 6 that included Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard, Palou, Malukas and Graham Rahal, the battle for pole was essentially between the pair of Andretti Global teammates and Malukas, all three of whom had only used one set of Firestone alternate tires during Round 1 of qualifying instead of two like so many of their competitors had — done so they could better ensure they'd advance to the Fast 12.
Despite ending up tying his best starting spot of his IndyCar career in second, Malukas said he and his No. 4 squad expected to have a better shot at giving Andretti a serious run, but finished well back of Herta on their fastest laps (1:00.4779 vs. 1:00.6492). Kirkwood, too, felt he gave away an opportunity for his second pole of 2025, having been sitting four-tenths up on Herta's fastest lap with half a lap left before making enough wall contact to break a tow link that left him losing time in bunches on the final couple corners.
Entering Sunday, Kirkwood is the only driver to have finished ahead of Palou in the two-time defending series champ's only non-win of the year at Long Beach, where the Chip Ganassi Racing driver still managed a runner-up finish.
'I've never been more disappointed with third in my life,' said Kirkwood, who was stripped earlier this week of his sixth-place Indy 500 finish due to a post-race tech inspection failure. 'But congrats to Colton. I'm glad one of us got (pole), because it would've been really frustrating if neither one of us got it.
'I know I just threw away a pole, without a doubt, but our cars are fast, and that's what's really important. And I see no reason why we won't be fast once again (on Sunday).'
Starting fourth on Sunday, Lundgaard said after stepping out of his car he was proud to have finished as the fastest driver not to have used a new set of alternates in the Fast 6, as he looks to potentially overtake teammate O'Ward for second in points and with any luck chip away a bit at his 125-point gap to Palou.
Meanwhile, Palou, who finished 15th-fastest in Practice 1 Friday afternoon, was more than happy to settle for sixth in the Fast 6 after a whirlwind 48-hour media tour in New York City following his first career Indy 500 win on Sunday. In his five wins so far in 2025, Palou has started eighth (St. Pete), third (Thermal), pole (Barber and IMS road course) and sixth (Indy 500).
He'll start fifth Sunday, with Graham Rahal dropping back from fifth to 11th due to a six-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Honda Indy 200 Preview: Who are the top contenders heading into Mid-Ohio?
We've hit the midseason point of the IndyCar Series season and the first race of the second half of the season is the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio in Lexington. Here's a quick preview of this Sunday's race. More: Honda Indy 200 race at Mid-Ohio: How to buy tickets Alex Palou is the guy to chase Last year going into Mid-Ohio, Alex Palou was the defending champion and first in the IndyCar Series standings with a 23-point lead. He finished narrowly second in the race, but by season's end he won his third career IndyCar Series title. Fast forward to this year and Palau is riding high again as he enters Sunday's race with a 93-point lead at the top of the standings with 386 points. Palou had three wins last year — yet he's probably in even better form this year — as the Chip Genassi Racing driver started the season off winning five of the first six races, making him the third IndyCar driver in history along with A.J. Foyt in 1964 and 1979 and AI Unser in 1971, to do exactly that. Palou was so hot early on that there was serious talk of him reaching the most wins in an IndyCar Series single season, which is 10 set by Unser in 1970 and Foyt in 1964. And hey, Palou still might reach that as he sits with a season-high six wins, coming off a victory at Road America two weeks ago. With Mid-Ohio being a road course that should improve the Spaniard's chances as he's already won four times on road courses this season. Still, no bigger win was a bigger triumph for Palou then winning the famous Indianapolis 500 in May. Let's see if Palou can add to his lead this weekend and create even more distance from the field. Other contenders Interesting enough this season, there have only been two drivers that have won titles through the first nine races. That's Palou and Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood, who has three wins to his name and is second in the championship standings behind Palou. Kirkwood finished eighth in last year's race. Another fact that might interest fans: there hasn't been a repeat winner at Mid-Ohio since Scott Dixon from 2011-2012. Pato O'Ward will look to change that at the 90-lap road course as O'Ward held off Palou in the late stages at Mid-Ohio last season for the win. The Arrow McLaren driver will enter this weekend third in the championships standings and he knows how critical it is to do well at Mid-Ohio to stay within the title race. "Super important. There's plenty of racing to go and it's been a different season than what people have expected it to be," said O'Ward before racing at Road America. "It's been a very different start to the season. We're inching away at the championship and getting closer and closer." For O'Ward, he's finished runner-up in three races so far and is seeking that first win of the campaign. He hopes to get it at Mid-Ohio. "Yeah, it definitely feels like this isn't the first time this has happened but we've been close a few times and we're gonna be close again," O'Ward said. "I'm not really focused on if it's going to arrive or when it's going to arrive. Sometimes years play out a certain way and we might be super consistent, but maybe you don't actually get a win here and there. I'd love to go back-to-back like we did last year. We had a phenomenal week last year. We have some tracks coming up that we're looking forward to be a part of." jamessimpson@ Twitter/X: @JamesSimpsonII
Indianapolis Star
6 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
BC 39's first two-time winner came from back for consecutive victories: 'Gave it all I had'
INDIANAPOLIS — During Wednesday night's third qualifier race for the BC 39 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway dirt track, Cannon McIntosh's car was upside down near the Turn 3 fence. Just a few short hours later, the Bixby, Oklahoma native kissed the bricks on the wall after claiming his second consecutive victory in the 39-lap feature race on the fifth-mile oval, and becoming the first to win the BC 39 twice. McIntosh only led the final two laps of the race after getting the lead from Jacob Denney on a late restart. 'If he left it open, I was going to go attack,' McIntosh said. 'I was able to clear him (Denney) there and he crossed under, kind of hopped our wheel, didn't really know what was going to happen there and he didn't protect the second time, so I dove it off in there again and gave it all I had.' Second place finisher Gavin Miller pulled off a slide job on Denney going to the white flag and the light contact between the pair was enough to slow both down and allow the No. 71K Keith Kunz Motorsports machine to win. Tuesday night's preliminary feature winner Justin Grant started the race from the pole and led the race's first 36 laps but late contact on the front stretch with Denney punctured the California native's left front tire. The pair had contact again on the back stretch before another yellow flag for multiple stopped cars exiting Turn 2. 'I don't think (Grant) knew I had that big of a run coming down the front stretch when we hit and then I slid him down to one,' Denney said. 'I smoked the curb. I didn't know he was there and we hit again. So I don't feel like it's any of our fault. It's just hard racing for the win there and both weren't going to give an inch just enough for each other to not crash. So it was a good race with him.' On the ensuing restart, Denney led McIntosh and Miller as the trio headed to the first turn. McIntosh went underneath Denney to pull off a slide job and nearly cleared the Ohio native but the pair had contact exiting Turn 2. Denney went high again going into Turn 3 and that time McIntosh made the pass stick en route to victory. Insider: How Andretti Global is making a midseason shop switch into IndyStar's old printing center For McIntosh, it was all about proving that his crew guys were the best. The team replaced numerous parts on the car after determining that a backup car would not be needed following his flip in the third qualifier race. McIntosh then started fourth in the B-Main which he won to advance to the feature where he started 19th. 'If that car fired off tonight, we had a chance,' McIntosh said. 'Those guys have worked hard and gave me a great piece and I truly couldn't have done it without them and their hard work. They could have given up on me and gotten it back out there and not put much effort into it and thought, 'Yeah, well he's out of it, he is just not showing up today.' But they worked their butts off and they believe in me. So it comes down to me doing my job there at the end. They gave me a winning car. It was up to me to go do the job and I'm just thankful we were able to do it.' IMS president Doug Boles was on hand to hand McIntosh his tie after McIntosh's victory. He was upbeat about the race and its future at the dirt track. 'We've never really had a contract, it's a handshake deal and they'll definitely be back next year,' Boles said. 'We'll just figure out the right date. Hopefully we can get ahead of that, you know, get people to know earlier. This is the first time we've done a Tuesday-Wednesday show. So we've got to figure out how that is and, and figure out what the right date is for it.' Boles had to juggle the BC 39's date with the dirt track's debut in Indiana Sprint Week on July 24, and that had other logistical hurdles. The track's biggest expense for hosting the races is in renting the temporary grandstands that must be rented, built up and torn down for both the BC 39 and the Sprint Week race in three weeks' time. Insider: 5 thoughts on IndyCar's new car, what it could mean for the sport's future, paddock insight But that expense doesn't dampen Boles' enthusiasm for the BC 39. 'For me, this is my second favorite day of the year,' Boles said. 'And to continue to have this, I think it's just great grassroots racing, great way to stay connected to USAC and obviously the connection of our organization and USAC goes way back. So that's really, really important for us.' As for McIntosh, sweeping the dirt races at IMS would be on his bucket list for 2025. 'I don't have anything planned or lined up, but I sure would like to, but yeah, we'll see,' McIntosh said. 'Maybe something will come about, maybe this interview will make it out there and something happens.'
Fox Sports
15 hours ago
- Fox Sports
Special (De)Livery: Mid-Ohio
INDYCAR This new feature at will show special, one-off liveries that teams will race at NTT INDYCAR SERIES events this season. The first installment focuses on The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the All-New 2026 Passport on Sunday, July 6 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (1 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network). Kyle Kirkwood – Andretti Global Andretti Global will run a special Honda-inspired livery for Kirkwood, who has won three races this season in his Honda-powered No. 27 car. The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course holds special meaning for Honda, with the manufacturer's Marysville Auto Plant under an hour away from the track. With more than 12,000 employee tickets distributed, the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio is a centerpiece in Honda's impressive motorsports calendar. The Fourth of July race weekend also marks a major milestone for the Honda organization and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES – the one-year anniversary of the debut of the hybrid unit, a movement Honda has helped lead both on and off the track. Honda has won all nine races so far this season, with Alex Palou claiming six wins and Kirkwood three. Alex Palou – Chip Ganassi Racing OpenAI, one of the world's leading artificial intelligence organizations, is expanding its partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing to become the primary partner at this event. Palou has won six races this season and leads the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship. Felix Rosenqvist – Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian Rosenqvist's livery will pay tribute to legendary hard rock front man Ozzy Osbourne and his band, Black Sabbath. The No. 60 Honda will sport a striking purple livery inspired by primary sponsor SiriusXM's Ozzy's Boneyard (channel 38) channel, which features hard rock and heavy metal classics curated under the influence of Ozzy. The special livery also celebrates a monumental moment in music history: Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath's upcoming 'Final Show at the Back to the Beginning' concert on July 5 in Birmingham, England. The concert will feature icons like Metallica, Slayer, Alice in Chains and more. recommended
