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Fox Sports
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
Dennis Hauger Looking to Become Latest to Sweep Laguna Seca Doubleheader
INDYCAR Dennis Hauger widened his INDY NXT by Firestone championship advantage to 76 points over Andretti Global teammate Lochie Hughes following a runner-up finish the last time out at Iowa Speedway on July 12. Hughes, who started second on the short oval, fell to 16th place after receiving a blocking penalty for impeding eventual race winner Myles Rowe on Lap 3. The rookie served a drive-through penalty on Lap 12 and lost a lap in the process. Caio Collet, the race winner at Road America on June 22, sits third in the standings, 84 points behind Hauger. Rowe trails by 127, while Salvador de Alba rounds out the top five, 156 points back, entering a crucial doubleheader this weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Each race will span 35 laps. Saturday's event airs at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS2, while Sunday's race begins at 1 p.m. ET on FS1. Both will also stream via the FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network. Hauger Double Opportunity to Pad Lead Reigning series champion Louis Foster swept last year's doubleheader at Laguna Seca, joining Spencer Pigot (2015), Rinus VeeKay (2019), and Kyle Kirkwood (2021) as the only drivers to win both races in a weekend at the 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course. Could Hauger be next? The Norwegian has been dominant on natural road courses this season, earning wins at Barber Motorsports Park, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, plus a runner-up at Road America. Since Laguna Seca returned in 2019, the eventual champion has won at least one race during the weekend in three of five seasons. With just four races remaining after this weekend, including Portland International Raceway (Aug. 10), The Milwaukee Mile (Aug. 24) and Nashville Superspeedway (Aug. 31), Hauger has a golden opportunity to put the title nearly out of reach. Hughes Needs Rebound Despite his setback at Iowa, Hughes has been consistently strong on road courses this year, with podiums at Barber, IMS, Road America and Mid-Ohio. Still, his first finish outside the top five in nine rookie starts left him more than a full race's worth of points behind. With 54 points available per race, 108 are on the line this weekend, plenty of room to rebound. Andretti Global has won seven of the last eight INDY NXT races at Laguna Seca, making Hughes a strong candidate to return to form. Collet Aiming For Victory Collet finished second to Foster in both Laguna Seca races last year. Can he claim the top step this time? Driving for HMD Motorsports, Collet has six podiums in nine races this season and enters with seven consecutive top-five finishes. He is very much in the hunt. Double Top-10 Finish For Chip Ganassi Racing at Iowa CGR teammates Niels Koolen (fifth) and Bryce Aron (ninth) both finished inside the top 10 at Iowa, the team's second double top-10 of the season, the first coming in Detroit. While Chip Ganassi Racing boasts 23 championships and over 260 wins across major series, including six Indy 500s, the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, and 24 Hours of Le Mans, an INDY NXT victory remains elusive. Could Laguna Seca deliver that missing piece? CGR has five NTT INDYCAR SERIES victories on the track, including three straight. A Launchpad to INDYCAR Since 1989, INDY NXT by Firestone has staged 27 races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, with 21 different drivers winning. Twenty of the 21 winners went on to compete in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. With victory lane reserved for the drivers en route to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, who will emerge victorious in both races this weekend? Track Specs: 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course. Qualifying Record: Christian Rasmussen, 1:11.7225 (112.333 mph), Sept. 9, 2023. Push To Pass Parameters: 150 seconds of total time with a maximum time of 15 seconds per activation. recommended Item 1 of 1
Fox Sports
21-07-2025
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
Instant Recall: Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto
INDYCAR Tire selection in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES can go a long way in deciding the outcome of races, and there is no better example than the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. Pato O'Ward and his Arrow McLaren strategists opted, like many of the drivers in Sunday's 90-lap race at Exhibition Place, to begin with a set of the less-preferred alternate Firestone Firehawks, and they switched out of them just as an early caution came. Meanwhile, series leader Alex Palou and his Chip Ganassi Racing crew, started with a set of the more durable primary compound, and then they were committed to them when that caution came at Lap 3. Palou's camp surely knew that O'Ward was gaining an early advantage. Ultimately, that moment didn't send O'Ward to victory lane or reduce Palou to finishing 12th, but it certainly set the stage for both eventual scenarios to unfold. Palou did his best to remain in contention, staying with that first set of primaries until Lap 40, but he was already boxed in. He still needed to use the alternates and O'Ward didn't. The decisions helped O'Ward slice 30 points off Palou's series lead. Palou still leads the season standings by a staggering 99 points – that's nearly two full races with four events to go – but a third consecutive championship and fourth in five years isn't the Spaniard's lock that it seemed to be a few days ago. Still, O'Ward will need a lot to break right for him to claim his first series title. Palou has two race wins each at the next two venues – WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Portland International Raceway – while O'Ward won last year's race at The Milwaukee Mile. O'Ward also finished second in last year's race at Nashville Superspeedway – he was nine positions ahead of Palou in the return to that oval track – so he has that to be optimistic about. Simply put, O'Ward needs to gain similarly on Palou in three of the four remaining races and hold serve in the fourth. That's a big ask, but as O'Ward noted, anything is possible. Palou knows that, too. As for other takeaways from the street fight in Toronto: · The competition in this race was fierce and certainly worth the watch, with 226 on-track passes, the most for the event since 2014 and the fourth-most ever. A great majority of those overtakes – 201 – were for position, the most in the event since 2019. · In another example of making the right strategy call, Dale Coyne did it again, and driver Rinus VeeKay did the rest in a second-place finish. After starting a strong ninth, VeeKay led 16 laps, his first laps led on a street circuit or road course since this event in 2022 -- that was 1,068 days ago. Don't look now, but VeeKay is 11th in the standings and on the charge. · Kyffin Simpson continues to improve in his second season with Chip Ganassi Racing. This third-place finish was the highest of his career. Yes, strategy contributed to the result, but Simpson was plenty racy. · Andretti Global got mired in traffic with all the various pit stop strategies in play and couldn't defend its 1-2 finish of a year ago. But the team finished 4-5-6 with Colton Herta, Marcus Ericsson and Kyle Kirkwood, arguably its best group result of the year. · Kirkwood has to be kicking himself. He might have had a better chance had he qualified better than sixth. In that Firestone Fast Six session, he grazed the wall in Turn 2 but thought he had enough time to pit for additional fuel. But time ran out, and he didn't get to post a competitive lap time. He said that's two potential poles he has thrown away, the other coming in Detroit in June. · Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Graham Rahal had another strong Toronto run, finishing seventh for his seventh in the top 10 in his last nine races. He has now been top 10 in this event five consecutive years. · PREMA Racing continues to make gains. Callum Ilott was furious that other drivers kept creating local yellows in qualifying, and he finished that disjointed second round in the 11th position. He had a strong race, finishing eighth, and rookie teammate Robert Shwartzman ran as high as fifth in the middle part of the race. · There is no rest for the weary. The fifth race of this month is Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. For the truck drivers, it's a 2,733-mile trek from Toronto to the Monterey track, and that doesn't factor in a likely stop at team headquarters to regroup. The first practice for the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey is at 5 p.m. ET Friday (FS2, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network). Sunday's 95-lap race is at 3 p.m. ET on FOX. recommended Item 1 of 3
Fox News
21-07-2025
- Sport
- Fox News
'Championship Is Not Over': Pato O'Ward Puts The Pressure On Alex Palou
TORONTO — Pato O'Ward had a comfortable lead over the final third of the race on the streets of Toronto, so he could have let his mind wander. He could have taken just a moment — maybe a second — to wonder how much he could cut into Alex Palou's championship lead on Sunday afternoon. But he didn't look to see where Palou was running. He didn't ask. That's how far the gap was coming into the race, and when he heard he had cut Palou's lead from 129 points to 99, O'Ward wasn't going to let the big hill that he still must climb ruin an afternoon where he earned his second victory in the last three races. Palou, who has seven wins this year, finished 12th. "It's only, like, [down to] 99," O'Ward said. "It's a good chunk. His good weekends are days like [mine] today. We need to make sure that we continue to have days like today. Not just one but a few. "I think we're going to keep this conversation going until Nashville. That's my goal." To keep the conversation running until the season finale at Nashville, O'Ward would need to be within 54 points of Palou. One of Palou's best tracks comes next weekend at Laguna Seca Raceway. Then the final three races are at Portland International Raceway, The Milwaukee Mile and Nashville Superspeedway. Palou won't be able to clinch at Laguna Seca. He would have to be 108 points ahead of O'Ward after Portland to clinch and 54 points ahead of O'Ward after Milwaukee to seal his third consecutive title and fourth overall. O'Ward is the only driver even remotely in the championship hunt. Kyle Kirkwood sits third in the standings at 173 points behind and Scott Dixon is 174 points behind. "Obviously, we're at a time in the championship where we're going to have to get a little bit more into the conversation of getting our elbows out because that's what I had to do today just to open the doors to having a chance to win this race," O'Ward said. "That's the only way we're even going to catch a whiff of making him sweat a little bit." Those elbows out included contact with Will Power. INDYCAR reviewed the move to see if O'Ward could have avoided it, as Power had slight contact with the barrier after knocking wheels with O'Ward. Pato was cleared of any wrongdoing and INDYCAR ruled it a racing incident. He felt bad for Power but also said the driver who is on the outside of two-wide in that corner is risking contact. "The problem is that it's such a fine line that you're battling with," O'Ward said. "You don't want to lose any positions. "When you're going through where you're full opposite lock [of the way you're turning], we basically hit square. When you hit tire to tire, both of our wheels got out of our hands. You had to, like, gather it back up." Power rallied back to finish 11th, one spot ahead of Palou. Today, Palou was a victim of strategy. He started on the primary tires early and then needed to run on the alternate tires longer than other drivers. He led early but then was mired in traffic for the second half of the race. "I chose the strategy," Palou said. "There [with the strategy] is what we did wrong today. I was pushing for that strategy. I thought it was going to give us the best opportunity to win. "The car was really fast. I wanted to be up front, trying to avoid being trapped in traffic. It happens. We knew it was going to be a risky strategy." McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said if it weren't for Palou, many would look at O'Ward as having a great season. He also said he believes in miracles. "Championship is not over," Brown said on the FOX broadcast prior to the race. "A miracle might need to happen. But miracles can happen. That's what makes the sport exciting." What the team must work on now is entering every race with full faith that they can pull off a win. Toronto, for example, typically hasn't been one of the better tracks for O'Ward. "I think the biggest challenge Pato and I have is to make everybody believe that no matter what, especially in INDYCAR, every time you take the green flag, that is an opportunity," said team principal Tony Kanaan. "We had a pretty good and intense meeting last night. I said, 'We got to believe it.' Days like this, it makes a big difference in our people. I think you give them an extra boost of confidence that we can do it, we can take the next step." That next step is more three-week stretches for O'Ward where he is battling for the win no matter the track. "You need a car that you can attack with and that you can pass people," O'Ward said. "I feel like you can't just always rely on strategy. If we just relied on strategy today, I think maybe we would catch a whiff of a podium. "But that's not enough. You need something to be able to really fight your way forward … It feels really good to earn it today. It really does. Especially in a place that's been a very tough weekend, basically every time we come here." 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.
Fox Sports
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
'Championship Is Not Over': Pato O'Ward Puts The Pressure On Alex Palou
TORONTO — Pato O'Ward had a comfortable lead over the final third of the race on the streets of Toronto, so he could have let his mind wander. He could have taken just a moment — maybe a second — to wonder how much he could cut into Alex Palou's championship lead on Sunday afternoon. But he didn't look to see where Palou was running. He didn't ask. That's how far the gap was coming into the race, and when he heard he had cut Palou's lead from 129 points to 99, O'Ward wasn't going to let the big hill that he still must climb ruin an afternoon where he earned his second victory in the last three races. Palou, who has seven wins this year, finished 12th. "It's only, like, [down to] 99," O'Ward said. "It's a good chunk. His bad weekends are days like today. We need to make sure that we continue to have days like today. Not just one but a few. "I think we're going to keep this conversation going until Nashville. That's my goal." To keep the conversation running until the season finale at Nashville, O'Ward would need to be within 54 points of Palou. One of Palou's best tracks comes next weekend at Laguna Seca Raceway. Then the final three races are at Portland International Raceway, The Milwaukee Mile and Nashville Superspeedway. Palou won't be able to clinch at Laguna Seca. He would have to be 108 points ahead of O'Ward after Portland to clinch and 54 points ahead of O'Ward after Milwaukee to seal his third consecutive title and fourth overall. O'Ward is the only driver even remotely in the championship hunt. Kyle Kirkwood sits third in the standings at 173 points behind and Scott Dixon is 174 points behind. "Obviously, we're at a time in the championship where we're going to have to get a little bit more into the conversation of getting our elbows out because that's what I had to do today just to open the doors to having a chance to win this race," O'Ward said. "That's the only way we're even going to catch a whiff of making him sweat a little bit." Those elbows out included contact with Will Power. INDYCAR reviewed the move to see if O'Ward could have avoided it, as Power had slight contact with the barrier after knocking wheels with O'Ward. Pato was cleared of any wrongdoing and INDYCAR ruled it a racing incident. He felt bad for Power but also said the driver who is on the outside of two-wide in that corner is risking contact. "The problem is that it's such a fine line that you're battling with," O'Ward said. "You don't want to lose any positions. "When you're going through where you're full opposite lock [of the way you're turning], we basically hit square. When you hit tire to tire, both of our wheels got out of our hands. You had to, like, gather it back up." Power rallied back to finish 11th, one spot ahead of Palou. Today, Palou was a victim of strategy. He started on the primary tires early and then needed to run on the alternate tires longer than other drivers. He led early but then was mired in traffic for the second half of the race. "I chose the strategy," Palou said. "There [with the strategy] is what we did wrong today. I was pushing for that strategy. I thought it was going to give us the best opportunity to win. "The car was really fast. I wanted to be up front, trying to avoid being trapped in traffic. It happens. We knew it was going to be a risky strategy." McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said if it weren't for Palou, many would look at O'Ward as having a great season. He also said he believes in miracles. "Championship is not over," Brown said on the FOX broadcast prior to the race. "A miracle might need to happen. But miracles can happen. That's what makes the sport exciting." What the team must work on now is entering every race with full faith that they can pull off a win. Toronto, for example, typically hasn't been one of the better tracks for O'Ward. "I think the biggest challenge Pato and I have is to make everybody believe that no matter what, especially in INDYCAR, every time you take the green flag, that is an opportunity," said team principal Tony Kanaan. "We had a pretty good and intense meeting last night. I said, 'We got to believe it.' Days like this, it makes a big difference in our people. I think you give them an extra boost of confidence that we can do it, we can take the next step." That next step is more three-week stretches for O'Ward where he is battling for the win no matter the track. "You need a car that you can attack with and that you can pass people," O'Ward said. "I feel like you can't just always rely on strategy. If we just relied on strategy today, I think maybe we would catch a whiff of a podium. "But that's not enough. You need something to be able to really fight your way forward … It feels really good to earn it today. It really does. Especially in a place that's been a very tough weekend, basically every time we come here." 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. recommended Item 1 of 1 Get more from the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Indianapolis Star
17-06-2025
- Automotive
- Indianapolis Star
'A lot of work to do': Alex Palou doesn't think his IndyCar championship lead is safe
MADISON, Ill. — And with that, we have a legitimate IndyCar title fight on our hands … for now anyways. A championship race cushion that rose as high as 112 points to second place after Alex Palou's Indianapolis 500 victory, and his fifth win in six starts to kickoff 2025, has now had nearly 35% chopped off the top in the span of eight days after Palou's DNF in 25th in the Detroit Grand Prix and a 260-lap fight just to finish eighth Sunday under the lights at World Wide Technology Raceway. 'I kept saying it,' Palou told IndyStar, referencing a third consecutive IndyCar title that many — including this writer — had stated was all but his one-third of the way into the season. 'You can lose close to 50% of your lead in two races, and that's how it goes. I've been saying it, and I feel that way. 'I think it's still a lot of work to do. I wouldn't change anything or trade my points from anybody, but this is far from done.' After their first- and second-place finishes in Sunday night's short-oval clash, Kyle Kirkwood (third in points, 75 back) and Pato O'Ward (second, 73 back) sit within what feels like a reasonable ways back still with more than half the season left. 'It does (feel doable) again. It's double-digits again. Triple digits are never a good sign in a championship, so we're moving closer. It's still a long ways to go,' Kirkwood said. Echoed O'Ward: 'There's plenty of racing to go. So much has happened already, so I expect the same for the next half of the championship. All we need to do is just keep on our wagon and keep pushing forward, and we'll see if we're sitting pretty in Nashville.' Importantly in that stretch, four short ovals remain, types of tracks where Kirkwood can now call himself a race winner after Sunday night and where O'Ward has won twice in his career (Iowa Speedway and The Milwaukee Mile) and has totaled six podiums at the remaining three oval venues. Though he, too, shook the proverbial "first oval win" monkey off his back, Palou holds just two podiums at the remaining three oval venues this year — both coming at Iowa Speedway, which plays host to a doubleheader July 12-13. On the other hand? Palou is eyeing four permanent road courses — at which he has a combined seven wins, including one at each of them. Across 16 combined starts at the aforementioned Road America, Mid-Ohio, Laguna Seca and Portland tracks while with Chip Ganassi Racing, the three-time IndyCar champ has 13 podiums and one fourth-place finish. Banking on this lackluster run of results to carry on over the next two stops at Road America and Mid-Ohio for Palou is a bet not worth making, Kirkwood said. 'He's good at a lot of races that we've got coming up, and those are the ones that are going to really count,' Kirkwood said. '(WWTR) had been a track where we hadn't been amazing at, so it's great to claw back some points here. 'But everybody knows we're going to Road America next week, and he's going to put on a show there, and we'll have to do everything in our power to keep him from looking shiny once again on road courses.' Insider: Kyle Kirkwood 'in the zone' and serious IndyCar contender, no longer 'street-course merchant' In comparison, O'Ward has just three podiums in 12 combined starts at the next two tracks on the calendar, including his win last year while holding off Palou late at Mid-Ohio. Those three strong finishes, though, represent his only ones at either track better than eighth place. During his two seasons with Andretti Global, Kirkwood sports a pair of top 10s at Road America (ninth and fifth) and just one at Mid-Ohio (eighth last year), where, ironically, he thoroughly dominated during his junior career with nine wins over his last 10 junior category starts spanning Formula 4 United States, USF2000, Indy Pro 2000 and Indy Lights. 'That's a place I'm working on,' Kirkwood said of Mid-Ohio, where Andretti Global had finishes of fourth, fifth and eighth a year ago. 'It's a place we're working on as a team, and hopefully we can come back there and do something like we did here. 'I think now we're getting to a point in the season where these are races that (Andretti Global) is very close to (Chip Ganassi Racing) on, and it will be interesting to see how they shake out. Ultimately, we're just going to have to keep doing what we're doing, trying to win as many races as possible and get as many points as possible. I can tell you that we're going to do everything in our power to claw back at (Palou).' As has so often been the case for O'Ward across his five-plus year IndyCar career, he and the No. 5 Arrow McLaren crew are doing their best to bide their time being the bridesmaids and waiting for their moment to rattle off a string of wins like the young Mexican driver's competitors have in recent months. Twenty-three times in his IndyCar career has O'Ward finished second or third place, two more than Palou, with just seven additional podiums in the form of victories. 'Hand him over to the world': How Pato O'Ward became IndyCar's biggest star To their credit, O'Ward and team principal Tony Kanaan have said all the right things in recent weeks, trusting that continually putting that No. 5 Chevy in the right spot late in races will lead to victory at some point. Ironically, just hours before Sunday night's green flag, Kanaan told IndyStar that even a win Sunday wasn't the be-all, end-all at a track where O'Ward has now finished runner-up four times without a victory. What was most pivotal was finishing ahead of Palou (five wins) … and Kirkwood (three wins). 'We're doing what we need to do, but it's just frustrating. Ugh, and in any other championship year, we'd be off to the races,' Kanaan said. 'It's a good problem to have to complain about, but it's frustrating, man. '(Pato's) driving a hell of a championship. I think he's matured a lot, and he's doing what he needs to do. He's been carrying it, and his team has been behind him. As a team, you keep pushing, but it's not even about, 'What do we do differently?' Nothing. It's the nature of (IndyCar). We still need to go home proud of it and keep digging. It is what it is.'
