Latest news with #XPELGrandPrix
Fox Sports
2 days ago
- Automotive
- 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.'
Forbes
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Forbes
Inside Alex Palou's Strategy For His Latest IndyCar Series Victory
Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing Honda celebrates after winning the NTT IndyCar Series XPEL Grand ... More Prix at Road America on June 22, 2025 in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. (Photo by Gavin Baker/Lumen via Getty Images) Lumen via Getty Images Alex Palou is normally one of the most level-headed drivers in INDYCAR. But he admitted after winning his sixth race of the season in the June 22 XPEL Grand Prix at Road America he wondered if Chip Ganassi Racing team manager Barry Wanser's strategy was going to work. Two of the three Chip Ganassi Racing drivers were using a fuel saving strategy including Scott Dixon and Palou. Dixon, however, was two laps short of making it to the finish because Palou's final pit stop was two laps after Dixon took fuel on Lap 38 of the 55-lap race. The maximum laps a car could run on the 4.028-mile, 14 turn Road America road course is 15 laps, unless there is a caution period, which would allow this fuel strategy to work to reduce speeds and save fuel. Palou pitted on Lap 40 and made it to the distance. 'It was tough,' said Palou after his sixth IndyCar Series win of the season, including the 109th Indianapolis 500 on May 25. 'It was a crazy race. I don't know about how it looked from the outside, but from inside, it just felt like there was a lot going on. Lots of yellows, obviously, that were shaking how we were looking. 'We were looking really bad at the beginning, then really good, then terrible, then really good. It was tough to be up there. But yeah, we just had to stay focused on battling against the people that were on our strategy.' But it was a strategy Palou didn't think was going to work and the driver from Spain who is usually affable and cooperative, became downright 'Grumpy.' 'I didn't agree with Barry's strategy called. 'I got to be grumpy for a couple of laps, and then I saw it was working out, and I started saying thank you again,' Palou continued as he looked at Wanser. 'It was interesting, but for sure, we got the win because of the team that we had on both pit stops and strategy. They made it look really good, and HRC that gave us the mileage we needed to gamble and to make it with that stop that we did.' 'Grumpy Palou' Wanser indicated that Palou's general attitude is pleasant and cooperative, so when he heard that his driver was 'grumpy' it got his attention. 'Well, he doesn't get grumpy, so when he is grumpy, I know he's really mad and questioning what we're doing,' Wanser said. 'But I don't know if you were following that race, we didn't know we were on the right strategy until like 10 to go. We're reacting based on what we think is happening. Chip Ganassi Racing Honda team manager Barry Wanser. (Photo by Geoff MIller/Lumen via Getty Images) Lumen via Getty Images 'There was obviously a lot of cautions this race. But we made some strategy changes on the tires during the race that we went against what we all agreed on before the race, so he wasn't very happy about that, but we saw what our competitors were doing and who we were racing, so we had to make that change to be able to stay with them and then beat them. And it worked out. 'Look, today was luck to be on the right strategy because it was hard. There were several different strategies going on.' The pivotal moment the team realized it made the right call came during a caution when the team had to decide to pit, or not to pit. 'I would say just that yellow that we were leading, we were leading, and we pitted, and some people stayed out,' Palou said. 'That was the moment that I would say gave us the win. I mean, we pitted from first. We were leading. 'We had still I would say five laps of fuel to make it, but it was not enough: in case there's another yellow, you're done. So that was a great call. 'I would say the only one that I was a bit like, oh, no, it was just when we went on the second stint on reds. That was only our set of alternates because yesterday I was pushing to try and get the pole, which we didn't get, and kind of put us on the back foot against Christian Lundgaard, Scott McLaughlin and everybody else that was not in the Fast Six. 'I knew it was going to help us during that stint, but it was going to hurt us a lot on the last stint. But honestly, the pace we had today in the 10 car was amazing, and we were able to save fuel even on primaries to be quite fast.' Wanser Questioned His Tire Strategy At The Beginning Wanser admitted one error in strategy was starting the race on Firestone Blacks instead of the Reds, which proved to be ideal for the hotter conditions at Road America despite being a softer compound. Firestone "Red" IndyCar Tires. (Photo by) Getty Images 'I'd say one of the pivotal moments is we should have never started on the Blacks,' Wanser said. 'It worked against us. Quite a few cars around us picked us off. But it ended up being the right call in the end. But if we were to do the race again, not knowing what we know, we probably should have started on the Reds. 'We actually declared primaries, and then other people got involved outside the 10 car stand. We thought about it. We were like, no, we're going to stay with primaries, and then last minute he decided again, maybe we're not making the right decision. 'Alex is a big part of the tire strategy; he's the one driving the car. He was like, all right, I think we need to start on the alternates, and when we set it in, it was like 10:01 but the window had closed at 9:56 or whatever, the 30-minute window. So even it accepted it, we knew, no way, it's not going to happen.' Wanser Knew It All Along As the laps were dwindling, and teammate Scott Dixon remained in the lead trying to stretch his final tank of fuel for 17-18 laps when 15 is the maximum without a caution period, Wanser assured Palou that Dixon would have to pit. Palou had made his final stop two laps after the Dixon, and although he needed to conserve fuel, his fuel number was much more doable. 'We really needed a yellow because we gave him a big fuel number,' Wanser explained. 'We kind of needed a yellow to help us. We got that yellow, but it wasn't enough for Scott and Alexander Rossi because they pitted two laps before us. So, we were already looking at a big number two laps after them, so you could imagine they needed a much bigger number than we did, so even the short yellow didn't help them.' Who Do You Trust? It all came down to a matter of trust between Palou and Wanser. 'He has more information than me, and when I was following Scott, I could see that he was not saving as much as I was,' Palou recalled. 'I was like, 'This guy is crazy; how is he going to do it?' 'But I didn't know. Like I don't have a lot of information. Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) driver holds his daughter Lucia and raises a finger as ... More the team lifts their Red Solo cups after winning the NTT IndyCar Series XPEL Grand Prix, Sunday, June 22, 2025, at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. (Photo by David Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Icon Sportswire via Getty Images "If it was another driver, I would have probably just focused on myself, but I know that Scott can make crazy stuff happen. 'I trusted Barry, but I was like, 'Man, if he gets a yellow, he's still P1 and we're not going to be able to pass him. We were still trying to get that first position on track just in case there was a four-lap yellow at the end and then he was still leading and ending up with a win.' With three different race strategies playing out during the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America, second-place finisher Felix Rosenqvist was one of the few drivers at the end of the race that had plenty of fuel and could run full throttle. Second-Place Rosenqvist Had Plenty Of Fuel But Palou's fuel-saving strategy was too much to overcome, and Rosenqvist finished second, 2.1725 seconds behind the race winner. It was Rosenqvist's first podium finish in a points-paying race since finishing second in September 2023 at Portland International Raceway. 'Yeah, good memories from here,' Rosenqvist said afterward. 'I had my first win here. It's been a couple of good results here in the past. I felt the whole weekend we had good pace and in practice we were rolling well. Kind of messed up qualifying. Tried to do the carousel flat and I lost it, and I started P12. 'It wasn't ideal, but I knew we had good pace in the car. My Meyer Shank Sirius XM Honda was just on rails. There was a lot of strategies going on. We did two black stints in the beginning, and we held on pretty good, and especially in the restarts, it seemed like the blacks were pretty good, and they faded a bit when you got up to speed. But we capitalized on all those yellows, and I think that was to our advantage. 'Then at the end of the race we didn't have to save any fuel, and we had two new reds, and we were just doing qually laps every lap, and that's kind of when we ended where we ended. So, it was really good, and super proud of all the guys. 'It's a hot day out there. It was tough for everyone, pit crew, engineering, and computers and all that kind of stuff. Everything is running hot. Happy we made it to the finish.' But in this race, Palou had the right strategy because his fuel tank was good to the last drop. Alex Palou celebrates his Road America on June 22, 2025 in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. (Photo by Gavin ... More Baker/Lumen via Getty Images) Lumen via Getty Images
Forbes
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Forbes
IndyCar TV Rating Drops Below 1 Million But Continue Overall Gains
Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda celebrates in Victory Lane during the NTT IndyCar Series XPEL ... More Grand Prix at Road America on June 22, 2025 in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. (Photo by Michael L. Levitt/Lumen via Getty Images) Lumen via Getty Images The IndyCar television rating for the FOX telecast of the XPEL Grand Prix At Road America may have dropped below 1 million viewers for the first time in four races, but the overall increase in viewers over last season remains substantial. The year-to-year increase is now 33 percent more viewers watching IndyCar on FOX than last year on average. This comes despite FOX's IndyCar Series coverage from Road America posted 781,000 viewers in an early afternoon starting time on June 22. That was down 10 percent from last year's 863,000 viewers for the Road America Race in 2024. The race peaked with 934,000 viewers from 3:30-3:45 p.m. Eastern Time. There are some differences, however. Last year's Road America IndyCar race was one week closer to the Indianapolis 500. Road America was on June 9, and the 2024 Indy 500 was May 26. In the TV world, the additional viewers in 2024 could have been aided by momentum from the 500 that was still fresh. In 2024, the IndyCar schedule did not have any breaks after the Indy 500 as the schedule went straight to the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix the following weekend and one week after that, Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. But there remain some positive and impressive trends. Sunday's race viewership is up 25 percent over last year's 626,000 viewers for the IndyCar 2024 non-Indy 500 race average on NBC/USA/CNBC. Through the first nine races of the season, IndyCar on FOX is averaging 1,882,000 viewers, up 33 percent from last year's 1,420,000 viewers through the first nine races on NBC/USA/CNBC. IndyCar's greatest television competition on Sunday, June 22 didn't come from a competing sport, but from the major news developments with the United States bombing raid of nuclear facilities in Iran. Ratings for news coverage on CNN, FOX News, MSNBC and NewsMax were more than double last year's ratings for those networks one year ago. On Sunday, June 25, those four news networks had a combined average of 4.214 million. On the corresponding Sunday in 2024 (June 23) the viewership average was 1.862 million. On the actual Road America race date in 2024 (June 9), the four TV cable news channels had 1.99 million viewers. This year's Indianapolis 500 drew 7.01 million viewers and was the most watched Indy 500 telecast in 17 years. The viewership peaked at 8.5 million for the final 15 minutes of the Indy 500. It was the first time the Indy 500 was televised on FOX. Television ratings momentum continued with more 1.061 million viewers for the June 1 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix and the June 15 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway, which drew 1 million, 12 thousand viewers for a prime-time Sunday night telecast. This is the first season IndyCar has been televised exclusively by FOX with all races on the major FOX network.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
How a 'grumpy' Alex Palou ended up thankful for his winning strategy at Road America
Alex Palou led just six laps, including the final three of the 55-lap race, but that was all he needed to reach Victory Lane at Sunday's XPEL Grand Prix at Road America. It marked the shortest time the driver of the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing car has spent out front in any of his six wins during the 2025 IndyCar season so far. In a race that featured two cautions in the first six laps and another two before the halfway mark, strategists across the paddock were deep in calculations, analyzing fuel targets and optimal pit windows in order to maximize both track position and efficiency toward the end. Like most of the field, Palou made his first pit stop on Lap 11 under yellow, triggered by Sting Ray Robb's crash in Turn 5. He pitted again on Lap 23 after a separate incident involving Robb's teammate in Juncos Hollinger Racing, Conor Daly, also in Turn 5, which brought out the fourth caution of the race. At that point, Palou's second stint had lasted just 12 laps, so he could have stayed out —like contenders Christian Lundgaard, Felix Rosenqvist, and Kyle Kirkwood did. Instead, he rejoined in 13th place, having fitted his only set of new alternate (softer) tires —ones he had originally planned to use later in the race. Palou didn't agree with the strategy call Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing 'I didn't agree with Barry's strategy call,' Palou admitted afterward. 'I got to be grumpy for a couple of laps, and then I saw it was working out, and I started saying 'thank you' again.' 'That was our only set of alternates because yesterday I was pushing to try and get the pole -which we didn't get- and that kind of put us on the back foot against Lundgaard, [Scott] McLaughlin, and everybody else who made the Fast Six.' 'I knew having the alternate tires for the second stint was going to help us then, but would hurt us a lot in the final stint. But honestly, the pace we had today in the 10 car was amazing, and we were able to save fuel even on primaries while still being pretty quick.' Wanser explained the thinking behind his decision: 'We made some strategy changes on the tires during the race that went against what we had agreed on pre-race, so he wasn't very happy about that. But we saw what our competitors were doing and who we were racing, so we had to make that change to stay with them—and then beat them. And it worked out.' Still, he acknowledged the element of chance: 'Look, today was luck to be on the right strategy because it was hard. There were several different strategies going on'. Palou credited Wanser's call on when to make the second of three stops as the defining moment of the race. 'That was the moment that gave us the win,' he said. 'We still had about five laps of fuel left, but that wouldn't have been enough. If there's another yellow, you're done. So that was a great call.' The Dixon factor Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing In the final stint, Palou found himself running second behind teammate Scott Dixon. The driver of the No. 9 Ganassi car had pitted on Lap 38 —two laps earlier than Palou's final stop. But Dixon is famous for his almost miraculous fuel-saving abilities. 'I was following Scott and could see that he wasn't saving as much as I was. I thought, 'This guy is crazy. How's he going to make it?' But I didn't know. I don't have all the data. If it were another driver, I probably would've just focused on myself, but I know Scott can make crazy stuff happen,' Palou said. The No. 10 pit crew was equally concerned about engaging Dixon in a fuel-saving duel to the checkered flag. 'We were equally concerned,' Wanser admitted. 'I even said to all of the engineers on the stand: are we missing something here? Because Dixon is running (fuel) numbers, lap times, he's not going to be able to get it, based on the number we gave him. They double-checked everything, triple-checked, but we were pretty confident we were going to be fine.' When asked if he could have passed Dixon with help from a late-race yellow, Palou responded: 'It depends. If it's only a one-lap yellow, yes, I think we would have been able. But if it was like a back-to-back yellow and then ends up being like four laps, he's going to make it on a good number and we're going to be like on the same number almost. So you never know' 'I thought we were at a disadvantage on tires, obviously. He was on the faster tire, and he was able to get out of the corners so well. I was struggling a lot to try and catch him. I think a very big yellow or two yellows in a row would have made it really tough for us. But you never know. It was a crazy race'. In the end, Dixon had to pit with just two laps to go for a splash of fuel, handing the lead—and eventually the win—to Palou. 'It was tough. A crazy race. I don't know how it looked from the outside, but from inside the car, it felt like there was a lot going on. Lots of yellows that shook everything up,' Palou said. 'We looked really bad at the beginning, then really good, then terrible, then really good again. It was tough to stay up there. But yeah, we just had to stay focused on racing the people who were on our same strategy.' To read more articles visit our website.
Fox Sports
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
Instant Recall: XPEL Grand Prix at Road America
INDYCAR If Alex Palou and his Chip Ganassi Racing crew are going to execute races as they did Sunday at Road America, winning another NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship is a foregone conclusion. Ranking their six victories this season, including last month's Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, is difficult, but this latest one was massively impressive. Palou certainly had a fast car as he qualified on the outside of the front row, but he had to overcome a regrettable tire choice at the start of the race that dropped him to 14th, mid-pack contact, the fierce battles of two rivals and a fuel strategy that seemed unattainable. But again, Palou found himself in victory lane, pushing his series lead to 93 points, the equivalent of two full races with eight races remaining. The outcome of the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Presented by AMR had to be demoralizing to those closest to Palou in the pursuit of the Astor Challenge Cup. Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood, for example, had another strong outing and seemed positioned to finished ahead of Palou. He finished fourth and still lost 18 points to the reigning series champion. Two key moments in the track's famous Canada Corner saw Kirkwood ahead of Palou. In both cases, Kirkwood got caught battling Team Penske's Will Power only to see Palou scoot past. While frustrating for Kirkwood, those weren't the ultimate difference-makers in the 55-lap race. Under caution on Lap 23, Palou's strategist, Barry Wanser, called the effective race leader to pit road for service. To almost everyone, including Palou, that seemed too early to make the second stop as Palou would need to average 16 laps in the final two segments to get to the checkered flag. Most thought 14 or 15 laps was the maximum the fuel could last. Palou initially was frustrated by Wanser's decision. 'I got to be grumpy for a couple of laps,' the driver of the No. 10 SOLO Cup Chip Ganassi Racing Honda said. Said Wanser: 'He doesn't get grumpy, so when he is grumpy, I know he's really mad and questioning what we're doing.' As usual, Palou made the strategy work, using two caution laps to stretch 17 laps out of the ensuing segment. That left him 15 laps to get home, and home he got. 'We didn't know we were on the right strategy until like 10 (laps) to go,' Wanser said. 'We're reacting based on what we think is happening.' If that was a gamble, it was a big one. Had Palou needed a late splash-and-go fuel stop, as teammate Scott Dixon did for being two laps short of the target, he likely would have finished on the tail end of the top 10 as Dixon did in ninth. That could have given Kirkwood about 27 points to the good. Palou breathed a sigh of relief. 'We were looking really bad at the beginning, then really good, then terrible, then really good,' he said. 'It was tough to be up there (knowing how close the car was on fuel). We just had to stay focused on battling the people that were on our strategy.' Kirkwood must wonder 'what if.' In addition to this opportunity to gain on Palou, the driver of the No. 27 Siemens Honda also is missing a similar number of points from the '500' after his car was deemed outside the rules in post-race inspection. Rather than finishing sixth that day in the spot he saw the checkered flag, he is credited with 32nd place, receiving only five points. Instead of trailing Palou by 93 points, his deficit could conceivably be half of that. Those are the kind of breaks Palou and CGR keep getting – or making for themselves – and that's the reason they're in line for their third consecutive series championship and fourth in five years. Next up: The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the All-New 2026 Passport on Sunday, July 6 (FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network). recommended
