Alex Palou happy with Ganassi-Shank alliance as INDYCAR sees teams collaborate
When Pato O'Ward was comparing the strength of the Arrow McLaren organization to others on the INDYCAR grid last month at Thermal, he made a little quip:
"Four Ganassis are always at the front," he said. "I know there's only right now two Ganassis that are usually at the front, but the Shanks count."
The power of the new Chip Ganassi Racing-Meyer Shank Racing relationship could continue to grow. And it could be on display this weekend at the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
INDYCAR has two prominent alliances: The Ganassi-Shank relationship, which started this year after Shank ended an alliance with Andretti Global, and the Team Penske-A.J. Foyt Racing alliance that started in August 2023.
Both of those relationships turn the three-car programs of Ganassi and Penske into potentially five-car programs when it comes to the sharing of information. When Ganassi went from five cars to three this season (veterans Scott Dixon and Alex Palou and second-year driver Kyffin Simpson remained), some of the group that worked with Marcus Armstrong went with Armstrong — who is still under contract with Ganassi — to Shank.
Foyt newcomer David Malukas has a Penske engineer assigned to his car, and while he has said he has a multi-year contract with Foyt, the prevailing undercurrent is that if he succeeds, he could be a Penske driver in the future.
The Foyt-Penske relationship was a big talking point last May when both organizations were strong.
"We have had good cars here at Foyt, and part of our alliance for us is we struggled on road and street [but] we were good in the speedway," Foyt driver Santino Ferrucci said last May. "That's where Penske kind of wanted to make up some ground. … It was a very helpful relationship for us."
The Ganassi-Shank relationship this year had the ingredients to be strong because Felix Rosenqvist had also previously driven for Ganassi, so both Shank drivers are familiar with Ganassi processes and key personnel.
"They're very consistent with their race engineering, which is what I interact with the most," Rosenqvist said. "The fundamental core of the team is the same ... I know most of them so it seems pretty seamless."
The biggest advantage can come in testing.
Meyer Shank drivers did the test last month at Barber Motorsports Park and then Ganassi did the test at the Indianapolis road course. Both Foyt and Penske teams did the test at Barber, but then only Foyt teams did the test on the Indianapolis road course.
"For sure, it's something that we want to use," Rosenqvist said about making sure they have all the tests covered. "The fact that we can split up is clever usage of our test days. We do everything together, but if we can split up the test, it is a good way to go. Hopefully we learn something from them from Indy GP [test]."
The Ganassi-Shank relationship also made for a convenient relationship when it comes to Michael Shank's sports car teams. Both Palou and Dixon drove for Shank at the Rolex 24 at Daytona with Dixon — a teammate on the same car where Rosenqvist was one of the drivers.
The drivers have good chemistry and that adds to the engineering information share.
"It helps to have a technical partnership where you can share and you can talk," Palou said. "It's a different team but the engineering side is very supported by CGR. So we are free to share data, information and everything.
"Unfortunately, they had a terrible taste at Barber [where Rosenqvist crashed] so there was not much to learn. Being able to continue the relationship with Armstrong — I know if something works for him, I can trust it and I can follow and for Felix as well."
Technical relationships are not rare in motorsports, and Ganassi had experience with them in NASCAR.
"When you say a technical alliance, that's like saying, 'I have a relationship with somebody.' Just saying you have a relationship with somebody could mean 1,000 things," Ganassi said.
"So a technical relationship is the same thing. It's not a cookie-cutter thing. It's different for everyone. So I think Mike Shank is happy with it. … It goes both ways. The information flows not all this way or all that way. We'll see. Maybe we will be both good or both bad."
Ganassi said that matter-of-factly, indicating that sometimes too much information or too much collaboration isn't always the best thing.
Andretti driver Kyle Kirkwood said his team has not felt the loss of the alliance with Shank over the first couple weeks of the season. He said when they split tests last year, the Meyer Shank car information was difficult to make relevant to the Andretti cars and drivers.
"I would say more often than not, having so many cars under one umbrella confused us," Kirkwood said. "Even though you have so much information from running that many cars, sometimes it gets a little too confusing, especially when you have as many different dynamics among the drivers in how they want to have things."
The key would be to use the additional data from another team if a driver from a different team is struggling.
"We don't feel like we're missing anything is the simple answer," Kirkwood said. "But at the same time, it is nice to have that information, especially if you're running out of information to look at. But I don't think that is the case at the moment."
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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USA Today
7 hours ago
- USA Today
5 undrafted rookies who could stand out for the Rams this summer
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Indianapolis Star
12 hours ago
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Where 'playing more offense' makes sense in IndyCar, why Zak Brown's other suggestions don't
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Both JHR cars are near the bottom, but both have also finished in the top-10 this year, and Arrow McLaren's Nolan Siegel is still in his first full season in IndyCar and 12 months ago was a serious Indy NXT title contender. So far this year, 24 of the 27 full-time cars have logged top-15 finishes, with 22 of them having finished in the top 10 at least once (all but both Prema cars, RLL's two cars near the bottom and Coyne's Jacob Abel). Across the entire 2024 season, all 27 cars nabbed top 15s, and 23 finished in the top 10 — 21 of those cars having secured at least two top 10s. Two-thirds of the field finished in the top 5 at least once, and 14 finished on the podium. 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I hate to say it, because I know this isn't going to be an easy stretch for several teams on the grid (even with the friendly loan plan Miles said in March the series is working on to help teams pay for the cars), but this needs to be a car that makes a statement. Use some parts from this car's construction if you can and it makes sense — in other words, don't just pursue change for change's sake. But the series needs to map out a car that best fits this state of IndyCar, and see where the chips fall. Insider: IndyCar planning to introduce new car in 2027, Roger Penske says While better integrating the aero screen, the hybrid (if it indeed is staying in some form) and recent safety updates to IndyCar's new machine, this car needs to be light, sleek, powerful and loud. It needs to be something this series can rally and market around in a similar vein to how NASCAR's NextGen car and IMSA's GTP machines drew increased intrigue in their early years. It's not going to be the peak of technological engineering, ala Formula 1, but it needs to make some noise both literally and figuratively. And that's going to cost some money. And if that's a dealbreaker to some teams, then it's an unfortunate fact the way in which new chapters in racing series spell different phases for teams up and down the grid. It's not uncommon in other series, and it shouldn't be something Penske Entertainment should shy away from. As Brown said, 'We need to get to the point where everyone's chasing the best, as opposed to working toward the lowest common denominator because you're trying to keep the back of the grid in business.' It's enough to not get uber-exclusive and outright boot teams out of the series like Brown suggested, but it should also at the same time be a privilege and a sign of both passion and financial stability to have a couple cars running in IndyCar. Brown's third major pillar is perhaps too soon to suggest breaking ground on, in part because we need to see how a project in the same vein, the Arlington Grand Prix, works next March. The new event, which Miles said he expects to be as big and culturally impactful as the Miami Grand Prix — if not bigger — brings the muscle, marketing savvy, local knowhow and the ticketholder registries of the Dallas Cowboys and the Texas Rangers to help IndyCar put on perhaps its biggest event outside the Indy 500 in 2026. It's been said to have been in the works for some time, and for a series desperately in need of more spring races, it adds yet another high-energy street race to the pre-Indy 500 section that already includes St. Pete and Long Beach and hopefully next year will also include Mexico City. The 'race around a stadium' model is by no means new to American open-wheel racing, but having the might of two of Texas' biggest pro sports franchises behind it is a major plus. Insider: What are 3 things to change about IndyCar? Here are our ideas And if next year's debut is as much of a success as it's been pumped up to be, Penske Entertainment needs to shop this around to other pro sports franchises around the country. Target No. 1? MetLife Stadium — the home of the NFL's New York Giants and Jets — and the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Though not a simple project to land — after all, you've got to convince two NFL franchises to join you in this endeavor to really get it to pop — it would be a major step for a series that is adamant it is and will continue to be wholly a North American series, but doesn't race anywhere close to the continent's biggest media market. And if it's something that the NFL franchises would only be willing to minimally support in Year 1 so as to feel out its potential before going all in, it should be a risk Penske Entertainment — which up until this point has shied away from racing in Mexico City on a track rental because it was devoid a local partner and which has emphasized in recent years its willingness to do big things, but mainly with other partners in the mix — should go all in on. As Brown said, massive undertakings like a blowout race under the shadows of the New York City skyline, might not be a profitable endeavor on its own, but it would offer an opportunity to elevate the series' brand as a whole. 'I think we need to be in bigger cities. I know it's going to be fiscally difficult to say, 'I want to race in New York City,' but I think to invest in a few more key markets where races may not be profitable, but (they) drive greater following of the sport and more sponsorship and bigger TV ratings, you get money back in value creation and growth of the teams and the sport,' Brown said. It would be the biggest swing Penske Entertainment has taken to date, but a sport where IndyCar is at the moment isn't going to take meaningful leaps in the sports — and even the racing — landscapes without taking risks. Outside non-Indy 500 blockbuster events like IndyCar's season opener (St. Pete), Arlington, Long Beach, (potentially) Mexico City and anything like Brown suggested in the Greater New York City area, IndyCar needs to elevate the floor of the rest of the events on its calendar. Not every single race can feel like one of the biggest on the calendar in the way F1 grands prix do, but there needs to be an higher level of expectation events that hope to continue to live on the calendar. And that starts with looking for alternatives for events that seem to merely exist like Portland and Laguna Seca. Though the former gives you a stop in the Pacific Northwest that IndyCar otherwise wouldn't race in, it's a race weekend that gets almost zero hype and publicity locally, and the fan turnout isn't anything to write home about. Until a couple years ago, Laguna Seca made sense as a finale in that it offered a somewhat glamorous place for the series and teams to entertain sponsors, even if the race weekend itself was sparsely attended. Now that it's left floating around the summer slate, Penske Entertainment shouldn't be afraid to move off an event even if it's willing to offer a slightly higher sanctioning fee than others. As Graham Rahal and so many others in the paddock have said before, in an age where it's trying to position itself as a growing giant in the motorsports realm, IndyCar should not be racing in places that make it appear unimportant. So as not to completely upend the series' balance of road, street and oval events, I think the series should first look toward natural terrain road course opportunities to swap into. Sonoma fell off the calendar in place of Laguna Seca seven years ago. If Penske Entertainment was better positioned to partner with the track and market the hell out of a return to the venue that's just north of San Francisco, could it have more success than previously? I've been told by multiple parties in the paddock that it's pertinent that IndyCar maintain a presence in the greater central California coast area, which makes giving Sonoma another chance something to consider. Insider: Will Fox, IndyCar find 'rapid growth' it sought after Indy 500? Detroit Grand Prix was a start Could you partner with IMSA on its Six Hour event at Watkins Glen and run Saturday, so as not to completely upend IMSA's six-hour race on Sunday, or find another slot on the calendar that would make sense for the upstate New York track to hold another major race weekend? Could you make a return to Homestead in the spring to give the oval track and the community another race weekend to rally around as it's primed to occasionally host NASCAR season finales and potential other fall playoff rounds in the future? Could you reconsider a return to Richmond, even though Miles vehemently poo-pooed the idea last fall? All these involve returns to tracks that fell off IndyCar's calendar for a reason, but Penske Entertainment clearly isn't afraid to put its marketing and promotional might behind events it needs to find success. In the slim amount of NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports-owned tracks that IndyCar visits, it's clear those two behemoths in the track owning landscape across the U.S. aren't going to just hand IndyCar a race weekend if there's not something for them in it, and in most cases, IndyCar hasn't been able to draw big enough crowds at some venues to make owners of those facilities feel there's enough financial gain for them to promote the race themselves. So find an already big event and see if you can make it bigger, like The Glen, or rent an oval like you do with Iowa Speedway, and pull out all the stops to give a race there a better chance to succeed than it had before. Sometimes in this crowded sports and entertainment market, you need to make your own luck, even if it costs a few bucks, and believe in yourself if no one else will. And if IndyCar is to make a serious jump in the next five years, it can't just sit around and wait for others to believe in the dream if Penske Entertainment isn't out on the frontlines trying to will it to happen.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Forbes
What McLaren CEO Zak Brown Told IndyCar Owner Roger Penske In Detroit
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown. (Photo by Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images) McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown believes fellow IndyCar Series team owners are providing a 'disservice' to IndyCar Series owner Roger Penske by not telling the series owner their true feelings regarding the sport. Brown believes IndyCar team owners are highly critical in the media, but when they meet with Penske, they tell him the series is fine. Brown met with Penske during a rare trip to the United States for last weekend's Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix IndyCar Series race. Brown offered his insight on upcoming changes he believes IndyCar needs to do. 'I had a good meeting this morning with 'The Captain,'' Brown told a very small and select group of reporters in the team NTT DATA Strategy Center in the McLaren paddock on May 31. 'We spoke about everything, and it was very productive. I shared my views on things in a very productive constructive manner I was very encouraged that I think they recognize the issues and the opportunities. 'But I am disappointed in some of the team owners that when 'The Captain' is not around they say another thing. And I think that does a disservice, actually, to Roger, because he probably gets conflicting information when he's not around the teams and hen he's around, it's like, 'Hey, everything's great.' 'I was like, 'That's not what you said 20 minutes ago.'' Brown believes real feedback is important for Penske to help guide IndyCar to become a better and more responsive organization. 'We covered everything from tech, to cars, the fans, the races, conflict of interest, the perception of conflict of interest, and I felt he was listening to me,' Brown continued. 'I called it as I see it, which I think is the right way to do it. 'I warned them. I did say I'm seeing media later and I always share my opinion, and they went, 'Yeah, we know,'' he said with a laugh. Brown has some strong, but very constructive views. Because of an extremely busy schedule, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown doesn't get much opportunity to attend an NTT IndyCar Series race in person. Most of his time is devoted to the resurgence of the McLaren Formula One operation, which has been the most successful in the 2025 Formula One World Championship. Lando Norris (left) and Oscar Piastri (right) at the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix. (Photo by Jay ... More Hirano/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) Oscar Piastri of Australia leads the F1 World Championship by 10 points over McLaren teammate Lando Norris of Great Britain. But last weekend, Brown was in Detroit for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix instead of the Spanish Grand Prix. It was Brown's first IndyCar Series race in person in 2025. The man who has returned McLaren's Formula One team met with Penske, who also owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500 on May 31. Penske is at the center of a major decision when it comes to transparency in officiating the series. Brown and other team owners are urging Penske to move to a completely independent officiating body to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest. Also in the meeting were Greg Penske, Penske's son and Penske Corporation Vice Chair of Penske Entertainment; Jonathan Gibson, the Executive Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at the Penske Corporation, Doug Boles, the President of IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Penske Corporation President Bud Denker. Penske Corporation President Bud Denker with Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet at Indianapolis ... More Motor Speedway on May 18, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Michael L. Levitt/Lumen via Getty Images) 'We've been discussing those for some time,' Denker told me on a taping of the Pit Pass Indy podcast. 'We've talked about them last week also. with a number of people and we're still working with the teams. We're working with the people that are stakeholders in our sport to get the right structure of that. But I think the goal continues to be to have that independent organization going into 2026 season. 'We've got our models not like that in terms of their having the FIA do it. We think we'll have an independent body here of the right type of people to make it truly be independent of anything to do with Penske Corporation, Team Penske, or Penske Entertainment. That's important, obviously, but more work to be done there.' When Denker was asked if IndyCar team owners should help pay for the 'completely independent officiating body' along with Penske, Denker said, 'Well, I'm not sure that's what we're going to have. But again, we're not prepared to announce anything yet. And we're still working with the stakeholders to do that. According to Brown, Penske was very interested in some of his ideas of improving the sanctioning body, including modernized and transparent technical inspections. The 109th Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway included violations from three teams – Team Penske in qualifications, Andretti Global and Prema after the race. The seemingly minor rules infraction at Team Penske was modifications to the rear attenuator by applying a different color of Loctite to the seam. Two of the three entries in question were sent to the 32nd and 33rdpositions on the starting grid including Will Power's No. 12 and Josef Newgarden's No. 2. But it came one year after a major penalty for manipulating the Push-to-Pass system. As a team owner, Penske acted swiftly and decisively by dismissing longtime Team Penske President Tim Cindric, Managing Director of the IndyCar team Ron Ruzewski and General Manager Kyle Moyer before the Indy 500. Tim Cindric (left) and Josef Newgarden (right) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 17, 2025 in ... More Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Brandon Badraoui/Lumen via Getty Images) 'It was the worst week of my life,' Denker said, regarding to the dismissals. 'These are people not only we like, but these are also people we love and have done so much for our company with wins and championships and for our brand. 'But the decision was made, and we moved forward. And now we're still moving forward. And I think the fact is that here we were in Detroit, and we're going to be in the next races at Gateway and Road America. We're moving forward. 'Tough decisions were made. They were made, and now we're thinking ahead.' Brown defended Penske's independence from his racing team at Team Penske and believes the owner of the series in no way, shape or form influence race control and technical inspection. He also believes if IndyCar can move toward a more independent officiating group, it would help remove the level of conspiracy theories that have become so prominent in the paddock and among the fans. 'I have no doubt as to Roger's personal integrity on the conflict of interest,' Brown said. 'It's just the kind of perception that creates and I'm sure it's frustrating for him because I'm very confident he's not exerting his influence in a way that but just a human nature side. 'People see ghosts and conspiracy theories and they go, 'Oh did the race director make that call subconsciously?' 'I think we need to work through that issue so that everyone can have confidence.' On the positive side, Brown believes FOX Sports CEO Eric Shanks and the way FOX Sports is promoting IndyCar is 'mega.' 'When you go through the list of things that we needed, No. 1 was we had to land the right broadcast partner and I think we've done that,' Brown said. 'We still have the other 19 things to do but at least No. 1 has been done and done successfully.' Brown shared that IndyCar continues to work on its schedule and believes the Grand Prix of Arlington is going to be an outstanding event. Brown told Penske he would like the see the IndyCar schedule start a little earlier and continue to stay away from football. He even suggested the novel idea of starting the IndyCar season the Saturday of the Daytona 500, not at Daytona International Speedway, but have the race the day before. An idea more likely would be to start the season the week before the Super Bowl or the week after the Daytona 500. 'I think we are in sore need of a new car,' Brown continued. 'I understand we're waiting on the engine formula, which will drive what type of car you need. 'But I think at the end of the day, we've done a lot of band-aids on this car and that is why it weighs so much, it's not fast enough, etc. etc. We could do a better job of integrating the hybrid. An IndyCar Hybrid. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) 'When you just start bolting everything on you end up with a big heavy car and then unfortunately some teams are innovating via engineering a very old car because that's the only way you can find more pace out of it,' Brown continued. 'I'm not saying if you have a new car, teams won't still do what teams have been doing for 100 years in motor racing, but I do think when you've got a spec car that's been around so long, and you ask, 'Where can we innovate?' 'You start innovating in areas you shouldn't innovate in.' Brown said from the discussion, it sounded like the front half of the schedule is going to be better than this year. A major part of the conversation involved technical inspection and how to improve it. Brown told Penske the series needs more investment in tech and technical inspection, including lasers, video inspection and more advanced ways of measuring the cars. 'You are always going to pre-race tech and post-race tech, and we have that in Formula One, but I think technical inspection is very important,' Brown said. 'I think the whole governance around tech, the conversations around having something independent, it needs to truly be independent, and I think that will help a lot on the conflict of interest. 'We spoke about that quite a bit. And I explained my own experience with perception is reality comment.' Brown also would like to see more investment in IndyCar that could grow the overall value of the series. He believes even fewer charters could help create an increased level of interest to 'buy in' to IndyCar and believes 20-24 car fields could actually improve the racing. Currently, IndyCar has experienced growth on the grid as 27 full-time entries competing in the series this season. IndyCar and IMS President Doug Boles during the public drivers' meeting prior to the NTT IndyCar ... More Series 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (Photo by Michael L. Levitt/Lumen via Getty Images) Brown also has tremendous respect for IndyCar President and Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles, and how he has served two major roles simultaneously. 'I like Doug,' Brown said. 'I think Doug, and I said to him in the team on our meeting, 'He's just been given a (bleep) sandwich for dinner.' 'I like Doug. He is fronted up to it in a big way like he's leaning in which is what you want. Instead of 'everything is great' Doug knows there have been some issues. 'I'm a Doug fan he's leaning in he's direct. He owns the issue and wants to solve them.' Brown would like to see IndyCar put on display the items that fail technical inspection. NASCAR does that with its 'Show and Tell' table outside of the NASCAR transporter in the garage area so that other teams can learn, what won't be accepted. 'If there's an infringement, I think we should all know what it is,' Brown said. 'I think we should just have total transparency in what we do. 'I know what happened on the Andretti car based on what my team has told me. 'But I think it'd be good to go see what it is. 'Doug was in agreement with that. I think Doug works hard, so I'm a fan of Doug. He's a few weeks into the job and having to deal with some issues, but I feel like he's a guy who is going to recognize the issues, tackle the issues and be transparent about it. 'I just think in general, the more transparent, the better. You can never go wrong with transparent.' Brown believes the rear attenuator penalties that were assessed to Team Penske in qualifying were similar to a speeding ticket for going 75 miles an hour in a 70-mph zone. As for Andretti Global's post-race penalties for modifying the Energy Management System (EMS) cover and A-arm covers, that was a speeding ticket for 100 miles an hour when the speed limit is 70 mph. 'Team Penske was going 75, and if what we have taken away from what we've read, Andretti was going 100,' Brown said. 'There's no mistake there. It's not what it was put on because that was the only way to make it fit, or we measured it wrong, or they missed the hole. 'They screwed up. 'You can argue that they screwed up. 'They modified it, completely redesigned a part you can't touch, tested it, and discovered it's better to have on the car,' Brown said of Andretti Global. 'Do I think the owner of Andretti knew what was going on? 'Highly unlikely, but you see the action Roger took with his race team.' McLaren's Zak Brown believes Penske took the issues seriously and intends to restore credibility and integrity to IndyCar and the Indianapolis 500. IndyCar Owner Roger Penske (Photo by)
