At Indy, a stack-up crash – ironically caused by his younger Chip Ganassi Racing team-mates – led to him being punted from behind and spinning onto the infield grass on the opening lap. No bother, he pitted under the yellow, got rid of his least-preferred tyre, and split the remaining distance into two stops. With his rivals
Month: August 2023
Despite only having three IndyCar Series starts under his belt, with a best finish of 12th, the 24-year-old Swede will effectively replace fellow countryman Marcus Ericsson in Ganassi’s elite driver line-up, who signed for Andretti Autosport last week. “Joining Chip Ganassi Racing is an absolute dream come true for me,” said Lundqvist. “Stepping up to
Malukas finished third in his Dale Coyne Racing car – his second podium at the track formerly known as Gateway – after making contact with McLaughlin with 50 laps to go at Turn 4. Their clash pushed McLaughlin up the track and he would finish a lapped fifth after losing a further spot to Arrow McLaren’s
Vips will drive the #30 car that Jack Harvey vacated for the final three races of the season, as Bobby Rahal’s team evaluates talent for its 2024 line-up. The 23-year-old is a three-time Formula 2 race winner and a part of the Red Bull Junior Team between 2018 and 2022, but he was dropped after
On Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, Kurt Busch decided to publicly declare what many have suspected – he has competed in his last NASCAR event. The 2004 Cup Series champion suffered a closed head injury in a wreck during qualifying at Pocono Raceway last July. He hasn’t raced since but has made sponsor and TV
Pagenaud has suffered ongoing concussion-like symptoms following his huge crash in practice at Mid-Ohio in July, which was caused by a brake failure. He has failed to gain clearance from IndyCar’s medical team after multiple evaluations since his horrendous wreck, and MSR has opted to put its 2024 signing Tom Blomqvist in the #60 car
Dixon has been testing the supercapacitor system on Honda’s side with Chip Ganassi Racing, which is being developed in conjunction with Chevrolet and Team Penske. It is a common hybrid across both powertrains. The hybrid is worth up to 150bhp, similar to the power level of the current push-to-pass engine boost system that operates on road
Newgarden needed to stay within 108 points of series dominator Alex Palou to stay in mathematical contention and looked good early on when he led 98 laps of the race from his inherited pole position. But Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing team-mate Scott Dixon used an alternate pit strategy to turn the race on its head,
After his sublime spin and win at Indianapolis a fortnight ago, Dixon put on another fuel-saving masterclass to take victory – despite a nine-place grid penalty that meant he started 16th – by 22s from Pato O’Ward (Arrow McLaren) and David Malukas (Dale Coyne Racing). They were the only cars on the lead lap. Dixon used
McLaughlin topped the qualifying session around the 1.25-mile oval, which was delayed by rain yesterday, with a two-lap average of 49.1936s, a speed of 182.951mph. But before qualifying, IndyCar officials announced nine-position starting grid penalties for McLaughlin, Alex Palou, Scott Dixon and Takuma Sato (Chip Ganassi Racing), Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Autosport) and Agustin Canapino (Juncos
The Hendrick Motorsport Chevrolet driver missed out on the playoffs for the first time since joining the Cup Series in 2016 after failing to secure the win he needed to progress. Bubba Wallace therefore secured the 16th and final spot on points, leaving 2020 champion Elliott unable to end this year higher than 17th. Elliott holds the fifth-best
McLaughlin had spun through the grass exiting the pit lane as he pushed on his new, alternate-compound Firestone tyres, briefly entering the track at the apex, which caused Power to run up the track to avoid him through Turn 2. The two-time IndyCar champion hit the wall and spun back across the track and into
The race was sent into a two-lap overtime following a horrific crash involving Ryan Preece that resulted in the Stewart-Haas driver being sent to hospital, with Kevin Harvick in the lead on his final outing at the superspeedway. But Harvick had Buescher and RFK team-mate Brad Keselowski behind him, and a push from the 2012 Cup
A pre-session downpour and high winds delayed the session by more than eight hours and when it did run for 60 minutes, Newgarden lapped the 1.25-mile oval, formerly known as Gateway, in 24.9944s at 180.040mph. It also marked the debut of Firestone’s softer alternate tyre on an oval, with teams mandated to run it in
The 45-year-old was forced to vacate the cockpit of his 23XI Racing Toyota last July, just two months after taking the 34th win of his career at Kansas, when he suffered a concussion at Pocono. In October, he announced that he would not return as a full-time driver in 2023, allowing Tyler Reddick to make
Palou, the 2021 IndyCar title winner and current clear points leader, appeared poised to join the Arrow McLaren outfit for 2024 but has now seemingly gone back on the deal. He plans to instead remain with Chip Ganassi Racing – the team having previously filed a lawsuit against Palou, who signed a McLaren contract during
Only two sets of the softer, red-walled alternate rubber will be made available to teams at World Wide Technology Raceway. They have been instructed to keep one set for the race and, unlike road and street courses, are banned from using them in qualifying. This means they will only get one chance to evaluate them
Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the announcement that Andretti had signed 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner Ericsson, who moves from Chip Ganassi Racing, Malukas was insistent that it doesn’t change anything for his future plans. When asked by Autosport if it narrowed his options in any way, Malukas replied: “His move doesn’t really affect anything
Andretti confirmed the deal on Wednesday, which means the 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner will join Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood next season. It also means that current Andretti driver Grosjean will now face a battle to retain his place at the team, with Dale Coyne Racing’s David Malukas strongly tipped to take its fourth car
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Dixon spun to the tail of the field on the opening lap after being rear-ended by Romain Grosjean as his team-mate Marcus Armstrong spun in front of the pack, but he pulled off a remarkable recovery by pitting immediately and then executing a pseudo-two-stop strategy at Indy’s road course with 80 laps
He will once again stand in for former champion and Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud, who continues to be sidelined with concussion-like symptoms following his horrendous accident at Mid-Ohio. As reigning Indy NXT champion, Lundqvist is no stranger to oval racing and has raced at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis on three previous
Byron, who had not finished better than 14th in the past five races, left little doubt in Sunday’s race, leading 66 of the 90 laps. Byron cycled into the lead following an early caution in the final stage for team-mate Chase Elliott’s stalled car and cruised to a 2.632-second win over polesitter Denny Hamlin. The victory
Dixon was speaking after a two-day test at Sebring, in which the 2.2-litre, twin-turbocharged V6 engines were paired with the common hybrid components in full regeneration mode for the first time. The Kiwi drove the Chip Ganassi Racing-run Honda test car, while Will Power handled the Team Penske-fielded Chevrolet version. Both drivers recorded over 800
Rahal was denied his first race win in the series since 2017 when Dixon, who suffered an opening-lap spin, pulled off a remarkable comeback drive on an alternate strategy. It meant Rahal caught him in the closing stages, but Dixon had stored more overtake allocation – due to fuel saving – and so was able
The 2021 NASCAR Cup champion aims to make his IndyCar Series debut in a Hendrick Motorsports-owned fourth McLaren entry in the 108th running of the Indy 500 next May. A necessary step towards that is gaining his clearance as a rookie, which has now been arranged for a test in October. Larson has already driven
Daly will drive for his third IndyCar team of the season, having lost his full-time 2023 ride at Ed Carpenter Racing to Ryan Hunter-Reay after Detroit. He then subbed twice for the sidelined Simon Pagenaud at Meyer Shank Racing at Mid-Ohio and Iowa. Harvey joined RLL from Shank in 2022 and lies 22nd in the drivers’
You couldn’t make this up, because if you did you’d simply get laughed at. Just over 12 months after his contractual future between Chip Ganassi Racing and McLaren blew up, a second explosion has been detonated by the likely two-time IndyCar champion. After final practice at Indianapolis on Friday evening, a letter from McLaren Racing
McDowell took advantage of a slow pitstop by Daniel Suarez to extend his lead in Stage 2 and never looked back at Indianapolis. The 38-year-old then saw off Chase Elliott down the home straight as the race ended with a 77-lap green flag run, to win by 0.937 seconds. Although McDowell was in contention to
Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, will become the first driver since Kurt Busch in 2014 to attempt the 1,100-mile double. Tony Stewart was the most successful of those who have attempted it, finishing ninth in the 1999 Indy 500 and then fourth in the Coke 600. The car is a combined effort between
Dixon, 43, scored a win that means he’s taken a victory in each of the last 19 seasons of IndyCar competition. He joined the series, in its CART incarnation, in 2001 and became its youngest winner as a 20-year-old at Nazareth. His only winless seasons came in 2002, when he first joined Chip Ganassi Racing