Unusual Suspects Seek Breakthrough Win from Up Front Saturday

Fox Sports

10-05-2025

INDYCAR
Roughly half of the drivers in Saturday's Sonsio Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway have won at least one NTT INDYCAR SERIES race in their career. Which means, the other half of the 27-car field has not.
It's 14 former race winners on the grid, 13 who drive to become one.
The question is, which driver will be the next to move from the latter category to the former?
There has been at least one first-time winner in five of the past six seasons, and only six seasons since 2000 have not had a first-time winner.
Four years ago this week, Rinus VeeKay scored his first series victory by winning the road course race at IMS in May. Christian Lundgaard nearly grabbed his maiden series victory on this 14-turn, 2.439-mile circuit, finishing second in a race in July 2022, and he finished third in last year's Sonsio Grand Prix.
The subject of non-winners is relevant to this 85-lap race, where four drivers seeking their first series victory will start in the top 11. Two of those drivers earned a spot in the Firestone Fast Six, with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing rookie Louis Foster starting from a season-high third position, two spots ahead of teammate Devlin DeFrancesco, who tied his career best.
Chip Ganassi Racing's Kyffin Simpson will start a career-best 10th for the second consecutive race while AJ Foyt Racing's Santino Ferrucci will line up 11th. All figure to be on the charge when the green flag drops shortly after 4:30 p.m. ET (FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
There is reason to believe any of those four non-winners – and maybe others – could contend for a spot on the podium, if not the race win, as this circuit has seen six different winners in the past seven races.
Foster is certainly one to watch in the No. 45 Mi-Jack Honda, and he posted the second-quickest time in Friday's second practice. Last year's INDY NXT by Firestone champion won a race in that series here last May, and RLL has had considerable success on this circuit. Bobby Rahal's team helped Lundgaard win two of IMS road course races and a pole. Graham Rahal dominated the August 2023 race from the pole, finishing second only because Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon used exceptional pit strategy to beat him.
'This is the first track I've come to in INDYCAR that I've actually won in a junior category,' Foster said. 'The previous rounds, two of them I had never raced at and the other two I had never won at. I know this track really well. It's always been quoted as a European-esque track. Europeans tend to do well here.'
RLL will have all three of its current drivers starting in the top six, with Rahal lining up second in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda. DeFrancesco, who drives the No. 30 EVTEC Honda, also started fifth in a 2023 race here, jumping to the lead in the opening two corners and leading the first eight laps. All three RLL drivers have been eager for this event since last year's race.
'A lot of work has gone into this program and from the offseason to now, particularly on the 30 (car),' DeFrancesco said. 'I think there was a lot of frustration leaving Barber (Motorsports Park, site of last week's Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix presented by AmFirst), because I think we had the potential to be up front. It just came down to execution. It's good to see us making steady progress as a group.'
Simpson is one of Dixon's teammates, and he has set career bests in each of the past two events. The driver of the No. 8 Journie Rewards Chip Ganassi Racing Honda finished 10th in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and qualified 10th in the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst.
Like Daly, Ferrucci has had exceptional drives in the '500.' All six of his starts have ended with top-10 finishes, including a third-place finish in 2023. He has led 16 laps overall. He drives the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing/Sexton Properties Chevrolet.
Marcus Armstrong finished fifth in last year's Sonsio Grand Prix. That result was posted with Chip Ganassi Racing; he's now driving the No. 66 SiriusXM/Root Insurance Honda of Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian. He will start 15th in Saturday's race.
All will be chasing Alex Palou in the race to Turn 1. The driver of the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda seeks his fourth win in five races this season.
The 14 active drivers who have won races in this series have done so a combined 194 times. The list:
Scott Dixon, 58 wins
Will Power, 44
Josef Newgarden, 31
Alex Palou, 14
Colton Herta, 9
Alexander Rossi, 8
Scott McLaughlin, 7
Pato O'Ward, 7
Graham Rahal, 6
Marcus Ericsson, 4
Kyle Kirkwood, 3
Felix Rosenqvist, 1
Rinus VeeKay, 1
Christian Lundgaard, 1
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