The Inside Line IndyCar Podcast: Alex Palou continues dominance with Sonsio Grand Prix win
In this week's edition of 'The Inside Line', IndyStar motorsports reporter Nathan Brown and his co-host Joey Barnes dissect Alex Palou's fourth victory in five starts in the 2025 IndyCar season on the IMS road course. The pair talk through the impact of IndyCar's new tire rules and how they both shook up the field and how they might impact races beyond the Sonsio Grand Prix if they're adopted. Then, Nathan and Joey shift into a breakdown of what they're watching as Indy 500 practice gets underway on Tuesday and list the teams and drivers they think are in most need of a pick-me-up from the everything the 500 and the lead-up to it offer in looking at the rest of the season and the various history on the line in the 109 th Indy 500.
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Indianapolis Star
4 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
IndyCar Series 2025 drivers championship, Rookie of the Year, Leaders Circle standings after Detroit GP
The 2025 IndyCar Series season nearing its halfway point. Alex Palou has won five races, most notably the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Kyle Kirkwood has won twice. Here's where the drivers and teams stand in the season-long points, Rookie of the Year and Leaders Circle races. (Through seven of 17 races) Robert Shwartzman had the best finish among rookies at the Detroit Grand Prix (16th). Jacob Abel finished 18th and Louis Foster 22nd after contact. IndyCar's Leaders Circle program pays eligible teams just over $1 million the following season in guarantees. To qualify for one of the 22 spots, the entry must be associated with one of IndyCar's 25 charters — teams are allowed to have a maximum of three. Only Prema Racing's two cars remain unchartered. The 25 chartered cars are then ranked by entrant points and, at the end of this season, the top 22 eligible entries will be paid $1.2 million or more by Penske Entertainment throughout the 2026 season. Here are the cars around the bubble after the Detroit Grand Prix: 18. Chip Ganassi Racing No. 8, 97 points 19. Andretti Global No. 28, 96 points 20. Juncos Hollinger Racing No. 76, 96 points 21. Arrow McLaren No. 6, 93 points 22. Juncos Hollinger Racing No. 77, 78 points ------------------------------------------------------------- 23. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing No. 45, 76 points 24. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing No. 30, 71 points
USA Today
6 hours ago
- USA Today
IndyCar complete results: Kyle Kirkwood wins Detroit Grand Prix after Indy 500 winner Alex Palou crashes out
IndyCar complete results: Kyle Kirkwood wins Detroit Grand Prix after Indy 500 winner Alex Palou crashes out Kyle Kirkwood comes away from the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix with his second IndyCar Series victory of the year after he muscles past three cars late on a damaged wing. Kirkwood started 3rd, though he believes he had the best car and squandered a chance at pole position a day earlier. After the last round of pit stops, he picks off Marcus Armstrong, Kyffin Simpson and Santino Ferrucci on successive laps (76-78 of 100) to take the lead. Post-race, Kirkwood said his damaged wing didn't offer much of a problem. He also won at Long Beach. Ferrucci finishes a career-best 2nd, improving 19 places from his start. Pole-sitter Colton Herta completes the podium. They and 4th-place Will Power battle hard in the closing laps after a red flag as Kirkwood wins by 4+ seconds. Points leader Alex Palou crashes out and finishes 25th, down 20 spots from his start, but he retains a 90-point edge on Pato O'Ward in the season championship. Jinx!: Palou's crashcontinues streak of Indy 500 winner not winning next race Nathan Brown is your best IndyCar follow, and sign up for IndyStar's motorsports newsletter. Kyle Kirkwood Santino Ferrucci Colton Herta Will Power Kyffin Simpson Marcus Armstrong Pato O'Ward Christian Lundgaard Josef Newgarden Alexander Rossi Scott Dixon Scott McLaughlin Marcus Ericsson David Malukas Sting Ray Robb Robert Shwartzman Conor Daly Jacob Abel Nolan Siegel Graham Rahal Felix Rosenqvist Louis Foster Devlin DeFrancesco Christian Rasmussen Alex Palou Callum Ilott Rinus Veekay Lap 90: Santino Ferrucci gets past Will Power for 2nd, but he's 3+ seconds behind Kyle Kirkwood. Colton Herta also passes Power. Lap 89 restart: Kyle Kirkwood leads Will Power by 2 seconds. Lap 83 red flag: Felix Rosenqvist and Louis Foster crash hard. Foster's front suspension fails, he loses control and plows into Rosenqvist. Barrier repair requires a red flag and the cars head to the pits. Lap 78: Kyle Kirkwood gets by Santino Ferrucci for the lead, but Kirkwood has left front wing damage. Lap 77: Kyle Kirkwood muscles by Kyffin Simpson for 2nd, and he stalks leader Santino Ferrucci. Lap 76 restart: Kyle Kirkwood gets by Marcus Armstrong for 3rd place. Lap 72 restart: David Malukas gets into the rear of Alex Palou, ending the points leader's day. Malukas likely faces a penalty. Caution again. Lap 70: Santino Ferrucci, Kyffin Simpson and Marcus Armstrong — who had pitted shortly before the caution — are the top 3 and may have enough fuel to make it to the end. Coming out of the pits, Kyle Kirkwood is 4th, with Will Power, Colton Herta and Alex Palou trailing. Lap 67 caution: Callum Ilott smashes the wall shortly after making a pit stop. Lap 60: Kyle Kirkwood leads, with Will Power, Colton Herta, Alex Palou and David Malukas completing the top 5. They are on hard tires. Pato O'Ward is 6th, but he started 18th and is on soft tires. He wants to make up track position before the soft tires start losing grip. (Just before many of the leaders take pit stops) Kyle Kirkwood Colton Herta Will Power Alex Palou Pato O'Ward Felix Rosenqvist Marcus Armstrong Kyffin Simpson David Malukas Scott Dixon Christian Rasmussen hits a wall after a pit stop but keeps going. Lap 39: Scott Dixon goes the farthest on his first set of hard primary tires before pitting. He had qualified 10th but started 16th after an unapproved engine change coming into the weekend. Lap 33: Graham Rahal needs extensive work on the right rear in the pits. Christian Rasumussen Graham Rahal Louis Foster Marcus Ericsson Scott Dixon Alexander Rossi Robert Shwartzman Kyffin Simpson Sting Ray Robb Josef Newgarden Lap 23 restart: Christian Rasmussen leads Graham Rahal and Louis Foster. Lap 18 restart: Christian Rasmussen leads and Nolan Siegel spins out after getting hit from behind by Scott McLaughlin, who is assessed a drive-through penalty. Devlin DeFrancesco goes off track and loses his right rear tire. Caution. Lap 14, caution: Felix Rosenqvist spins. Laps 11-13: David Malukas, Christian Lundgaard, Kyle Kirkwood and Colton Herta pit to take on hard tires. They will be on a 3-pit stop strategy. Lap 10: The leaders started the race soft tires, and they're slowing rapidly. Colton Herta leads Kyle Kirkwood, with Christian Lundgaard third. Lap 1: Alex Palou moves up for third on the opening lap and David Malukas falls to fifth. Colton Herta keeps the lead. Row 1 1, Colton Herta 2, David Malukas Row 2 3, Kyle Kirkwood 4, Christian Lundgaard Row 3 5, Alex Palou 6, Rinus Veekay Row 4 7, Scott McLaughlin 8, Will Power Row 5 9, Marcus Armstrong 10, Christian Rasmussen Row 6 11, Graham Rahal (had 5th-best qualifying effort) 12, Marcus Ericsson Row 7 13, Louis Foster 14, Felix Rosenqvist Row 8 15, Alexander Rossi 16, Scott Dixon (had 10th-best qualifying result) Row 9 17, Callum Ilott 18, Pato O'Ward Row 10 19, Kyffin Simpson 20, Jacob Abel Row 11 21, Santino Ferrucci 22, Robert Shwartzman Row 12 23, Devlin DeFrancesco 24, Josef Newgarden Row 13 25, Conor Daly 26, Sting Ray Robb Row 14 27, Nolan Siegel Push-to-pass: 150 total seconds, in increments up to 15 seconds. Tire allotment: Five sets of primary tires (six for rookies) and five sets of alternate tires. Teams must use one set of primary tires and one set of new alternate tires for at least two laps in the race. Alex Palou, who has won five of the six races. Kyle Kirkwood has one win. Scott Dixon avoided the crashes and penalties on the tight downtown street course to come away with his 58th career win. From Nathan Brown, IndyStar Picking Alex Palou is so obvious that we're barring him from this portion of the preview for a while. Pato O'Ward sits second and Christian Lundgaard third in points, but they're more than two races' worth of max points behind Palou. Who makes a move in the points standings? Marcus Ericsson would have been 10th in points after crossing the finish line second in the Indianapolis 500, but he stands 20th after his car failed post-race tech inspection. He earned his lone podium finish in 2024 in Detroit, and with a similar performance this weekend, Ericsson makes up a lot of the ground he lost in the championship standings in Indy. Something you didn't see coming: At a track where he started on pole last year, but only finished 19th, Detroit seems like as good a track as any for Colton Herta to find some momentum. He sits just 9th in the championship standings with a single top-5 finish. However, the narrow streets of Detroit can be cruel, and somehow Herta and the No. 26 crew leave with a tough result unbecoming of the traditionally dominant street course program of Andretti Global. (All times ET; all IndyCar sessions are on IndyCar Live, IndyCar Radio and Sirius XM Channel 218) 9:30 a.m.: IndyCar warmup, FS1 10:30 a.m.: Indy NXT race, FS1 12:30 p.m.: IndyCar race, Fox TV: Coverage begins at 12:30 p.m. ET, Sunday, June 1, 2025, on Fox. Green flag is scheduled for 12:47 p.m. Will Buxton is the play-by-play voice, with analysts James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell. Kevin Lee and Jack Harvey are the pit reporters. Fox Sports app. Watch free with a Fubo trial IndyCar Nation is on SiriusXM Channel 218, IndyCar Live and the IndyCar Radio Network (check affiliates for each race) Sunday: Sunny, high around 70 degrees. (Team and drivers; *-Indianapolis 500 only)
Indianapolis Star
6 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
Pacers Insiders break down Game 6 win to New York Knicks in Indianapolis
IndyStar's Dustin Dopirak and Kyle Neddenriep break down the Indiana Pacers' Game 6 win to the New York Knicks.
