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Fox Sports
01-07-2025
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
MSR, Felix Rosenqvist Gaining Confidence, Climbing Into Series Elite
INDYCAR For Felix Rosenqvist and Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian, the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season has delivered something valuable: confidence. When confidence is backed by results, that is a powerful thing. With a determined second-place finish in the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Presented by AMR on June 22, Rosenqvist delivered the fastest race lap and surged from sixth in points into fourth in the championship standings. Rosenqvist trails Chip Ganassi Racing driver and two-time defending series champion Alex Palou by 155 points with eight races remaining in the season. Fourth is the best position Rosenqvist has been this deep into an NTT INDYCAR SERIES season and a clear sign MSR is no longer building – it is competing. 'I feel like we've definitely taken it to the next step,' Rosenqvist said. 'We're sitting pretty good.' Entering the 2024 season, Rosenqvist's first with MSR after spending two years with Chip Ganassi Racing (2019-20) and three at Arrow McLaren (2021-23), few would have predicted this kind of rise. In 2023, MSR's No. 60 Honda finished a distant 25th in the entrant standings. Also, both had produced one career win, Rosenqvist in 2020 at Road America and MSR in the 2021 Indianapolis 500, where Helio Castroneves earned his record-tying fourth victory in the iconic race. But after their first season together in 2024, the No. 60 driven by Rosenqvist catapulted to 12th in points, a leap no other car matched. The positive results continued this season with six top-10 finishes in the first nine races. 'There's some really smart people on the team,' Rosenqvist said. 'I feel like it's a confidence thing, as well. Everyone's just more relaxed. The pit crew is happier. It's just a big confidence boost, and I think that's what's really been missing.' Rosenqvist's Road America podium two weeks ago also didn't come amid smooth sailing but after a turbulent stretch. A sign of improvement. Rosenqvist placed 21st in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear on June 1, a race marred by a wild crash in the closing laps with rookie Louis Foster, which forced a complete rebuild of the car. Then, a 16th-place finish in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline at World Wide Technology Raceway followed on June 15, capping a brutal six weeks of racing that included the gauntlet of the Sonsio Grand Prix and 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500, in addition to the Barber Motorsports Park race weekend that opened May. 'Behind the scenes, we've had a lot of technical stuff going on,' he said. 'We had to split the car apart (after Detroit crash) and build it back together. This stretch had been wearing on the guys. It's hard. This is a really tough championship for everyone.' Last season, a similar midyear slump derailed what began as a promising campaign. After producing six top-10 finishes in the first seven events, Rosenqvist managed one more in the final 11 events. This time, when exhausted and battered, MSR didn't break. It rebounded. In a season dominated by powerhouse duos Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Global, which have won all nine races thus far, Meyer Shank Racing's climb into the top five of points is one of many compelling developments. MSR and Rosenqvist proved they can run and belong with the best the sport has to offer. The next step to gain is to become a winner, which Rosenqvist believes he and the team can deliver. 'We're always quick, so it's all about the details,' he said. Maybe that comes in Sunday's Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the All-New 2026 Passport (1 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network). The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a track that carries personal and professional significance to Rosenqvist. Not only is Mid-Ohio the place where Rosenqvist earned his first podium in a photo finish with Scott Dixon as a rookie in 2019, it's also the home track for MSR, which is headquartered in nearby Pataskala, Ohio, approximately 75 miles from the track. 'I love Mid-Ohio,' Rosenqvist said. 'Honestly, Road America and Mid-Ohio are two of my favorites. Mid-Ohio, I had my first podium, and I had my first win at Road America (in 2020). 'I can't wait to go back to Mid-Ohio. I don't just say that because it's like a home race. I literally love that place. A lot of fans come there, the track layout, it's just a really cool race. True race car fans.'
USA Today
30-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
What have Packers players been up to this summer?
The Green Bay Packers don't return to organized football activities until late July, but several members of Matt LaFleur's team have been busy with other events during the down period between the end of minicamp and the start of training camp. Weddings and football camps have been the big events. The headliner: quarterback Jordan Love, who married Ronika Stone in a ceremony this past weekend. Among the attendees was former Packers offensive tackle David Bakhtiari, who provided this look at the newly married couple: Backup quarterback Sean Clifford also got married during the break. Running back Josh Jacobs rode in the "Fastest Seat in Sports" to start the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Jacobs also held his football camp in Green Bay. Tight ends Tucker Kraft and John FitzPatrick attended the fifth annual "Tight End University" event in Nashville. Tight end Luke Musgrave hosted his first ever football camp at Bend High School in Oregon. Receiver Jayden Reed has been busy, hosting a celebrity basketball tournament in Chicago, a football camp in Chippewa Falls and a football skills camp in Green Bay. Defensive lineman Kenny Clark held his ninth annual football camp in California. Like Love, rookie receiver Matthew Golden threw out the first pitch at a Brewers game in Milwaukee earlier in June. Love also participated in Mookie Betts' celebrity softball game in Los Angeles.
Fox Sports
27-06-2025
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
Improving Foyt Team Closing In on Elusive Win with Steady Speed
INDYCAR The race is on for a driver other than Alex Palou or Kyle Kirkwood to win an NTT INDYCAR SERIES race this season. AJ Foyt Racing has two of the top contenders. Santino Ferrucci and David Malukas have quietly put together some of the series' best results over the past month, each scoring 111 points over the past four races. Only Kirkwood (142 points), Palou (138) and Pato O'Ward (127) have scored more in that span. Remember, that stretch includes a superspeedway, a street circuit, a short oval and a road course. Ferrucci and Malukas each have a recent second-place finish, including Malukas in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, and they have combined to post six top-seven finishes in eight opportunities. They both placed in the top five at Indy, with Ferrucci in fifth as he extended his record streak of top-10 finishes in the event to seven. It had been 25 years since two Foyt drivers finished in the top five at Indy (Eliseo Salazar and Jeff Ward finished third and fourth, respectively, in 2000). In last weekend's XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Presented by AMR, Ferrucci also continued his season streak of top-five finishes by ending up third. He finished second in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear and delivered fifth-place finishes not only at Indy but in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline at World Wide Technology Raceway, as well. Malukas' recent surge is evident in qualifying sessions. He has started in the top seven in each of the past four races, highlighted by a front-row roll-off in the Detroit street race. Malukas qualified fourth at WWTR and started seventh in the '500' and at Road America. The two drivers have combined to lead 87 laps over the past four races. The recent surge has Ferrucci ninth in the standings – that's where he finished last season, too – and Malukas 12th. A month ago, they were 15th and 19th, respectively. 'It's obviously going very well,' team president Larry Foyt said at Road America. 'The first half of (this) race looked like nothing was going our way with David starting up close to the front but having to go all the way to the back (due to contact) and Santino having a stall in the pits. It didn't look like it was going to be our day. 'But everybody (on the crew) just stayed in it, and the drivers did a great job. This was such a crazy (race). Everybody was trying to figure out what the (best) strategy was, and our guys nailed it.' Ferrucci has the same number of points as Colton Herta of Andretti Global w/Curb-Agajanian, and they are within striking distance of Team Penske's top two performers. Scott McLaughlin leads them by six points, Will Power by 13. Ferrucci joked it's his qualifying efforts that are slowing him down this season. His average starting position is 17.4, a stark contrast to his average finishing position (10.2). That's 7.2 positions gained per race . 'We're performing,' Ferrucci said on the FOX broadcast. 'We're back to where we were at the end of last year. I feel lit. I've just got to get my qualifying performance up. Until then, I like padding my passing stats.' Ferrucci ranks second to Christian Rasmussen in total passes for position this season. They also were the only drivers to accumulate 50-plus total passes in the past two races combined. 'Obviously, starting 18th (at Road America) is not ideal,' he said. While Malukas is 12th in the standings, he only trails Ferrucci and Herta by 10 points, which is remarkable given the slow start he had in his first season with this organization. His average finish in the first five races was 17.4. At Road America, Malukas' race became more challenging when he ran deep into Turn 3 and hit the Arrow McLaren car of Christian Lundgaard. The contact resulted in Malukas spinning off track, requiring the restart assistance of the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team. The combination of the quick service and long track distance kept him on the lead lap, and he rallied to finish seventh, his second-best result of the season. '(It was) a lot of fun, a lot of passing, and we finished right where we started,' the driver of the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet said. 'So, good recovery (and) really good job from the team.' Larry Foyt said the competitiveness of the series makes it difficult to make gains, but there is plenty of evidence to show the team is doing just that. In the second half of the season, its goal is to earn the team's first victory since 2013, when Takuma Sato won at Long Beach. 'It's so tough right now, which makes even a (top-three finish) feel like a win,' Foyt said. 'It's still not (a win), and we still want to break through and get back in victory lane. That's still the goal, but what this team is doing right now, I couldn't be happier.'
Forbes
25-06-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
Inside Alex Palou's Strategy For His Latest IndyCar Series Victory
Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing Honda celebrates after winning the NTT IndyCar Series XPEL Grand ... More Prix at Road America on June 22, 2025 in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. (Photo by Gavin Baker/Lumen via Getty Images) Lumen via Getty Images Alex Palou is normally one of the most level-headed drivers in INDYCAR. But he admitted after winning his sixth race of the season in the June 22 XPEL Grand Prix at Road America he wondered if Chip Ganassi Racing team manager Barry Wanser's strategy was going to work. Two of the three Chip Ganassi Racing drivers were using a fuel saving strategy including Scott Dixon and Palou. Dixon, however, was two laps short of making it to the finish because Palou's final pit stop was two laps after Dixon took fuel on Lap 38 of the 55-lap race. The maximum laps a car could run on the 4.028-mile, 14 turn Road America road course is 15 laps, unless there is a caution period, which would allow this fuel strategy to work to reduce speeds and save fuel. Palou pitted on Lap 40 and made it to the distance. 'It was tough,' said Palou after his sixth IndyCar Series win of the season, including the 109th Indianapolis 500 on May 25. 'It was a crazy race. I don't know about how it looked from the outside, but from inside, it just felt like there was a lot going on. Lots of yellows, obviously, that were shaking how we were looking. 'We were looking really bad at the beginning, then really good, then terrible, then really good. It was tough to be up there. But yeah, we just had to stay focused on battling against the people that were on our strategy.' But it was a strategy Palou didn't think was going to work and the driver from Spain who is usually affable and cooperative, became downright 'Grumpy.' 'I didn't agree with Barry's strategy called. 'I got to be grumpy for a couple of laps, and then I saw it was working out, and I started saying thank you again,' Palou continued as he looked at Wanser. 'It was interesting, but for sure, we got the win because of the team that we had on both pit stops and strategy. They made it look really good, and HRC that gave us the mileage we needed to gamble and to make it with that stop that we did.' 'Grumpy Palou' Wanser indicated that Palou's general attitude is pleasant and cooperative, so when he heard that his driver was 'grumpy' it got his attention. 'Well, he doesn't get grumpy, so when he is grumpy, I know he's really mad and questioning what we're doing,' Wanser said. 'But I don't know if you were following that race, we didn't know we were on the right strategy until like 10 to go. We're reacting based on what we think is happening. Chip Ganassi Racing Honda team manager Barry Wanser. (Photo by Geoff MIller/Lumen via Getty Images) Lumen via Getty Images 'There was obviously a lot of cautions this race. But we made some strategy changes on the tires during the race that we went against what we all agreed on before the race, so he wasn't very happy about that, but we saw what our competitors were doing and who we were racing, so we had to make that change to be able to stay with them and then beat them. And it worked out. 'Look, today was luck to be on the right strategy because it was hard. There were several different strategies going on.' The pivotal moment the team realized it made the right call came during a caution when the team had to decide to pit, or not to pit. 'I would say just that yellow that we were leading, we were leading, and we pitted, and some people stayed out,' Palou said. 'That was the moment that I would say gave us the win. I mean, we pitted from first. We were leading. 'We had still I would say five laps of fuel to make it, but it was not enough: in case there's another yellow, you're done. So that was a great call. 'I would say the only one that I was a bit like, oh, no, it was just when we went on the second stint on reds. That was only our set of alternates because yesterday I was pushing to try and get the pole, which we didn't get, and kind of put us on the back foot against Christian Lundgaard, Scott McLaughlin and everybody else that was not in the Fast Six. 'I knew it was going to help us during that stint, but it was going to hurt us a lot on the last stint. But honestly, the pace we had today in the 10 car was amazing, and we were able to save fuel even on primaries to be quite fast.' Wanser Questioned His Tire Strategy At The Beginning Wanser admitted one error in strategy was starting the race on Firestone Blacks instead of the Reds, which proved to be ideal for the hotter conditions at Road America despite being a softer compound. Firestone "Red" IndyCar Tires. (Photo by) Getty Images 'I'd say one of the pivotal moments is we should have never started on the Blacks,' Wanser said. 'It worked against us. Quite a few cars around us picked us off. But it ended up being the right call in the end. But if we were to do the race again, not knowing what we know, we probably should have started on the Reds. 'We actually declared primaries, and then other people got involved outside the 10 car stand. We thought about it. We were like, no, we're going to stay with primaries, and then last minute he decided again, maybe we're not making the right decision. 'Alex is a big part of the tire strategy; he's the one driving the car. He was like, all right, I think we need to start on the alternates, and when we set it in, it was like 10:01 but the window had closed at 9:56 or whatever, the 30-minute window. So even it accepted it, we knew, no way, it's not going to happen.' Wanser Knew It All Along As the laps were dwindling, and teammate Scott Dixon remained in the lead trying to stretch his final tank of fuel for 17-18 laps when 15 is the maximum without a caution period, Wanser assured Palou that Dixon would have to pit. Palou had made his final stop two laps after the Dixon, and although he needed to conserve fuel, his fuel number was much more doable. 'We really needed a yellow because we gave him a big fuel number,' Wanser explained. 'We kind of needed a yellow to help us. We got that yellow, but it wasn't enough for Scott and Alexander Rossi because they pitted two laps before us. So, we were already looking at a big number two laps after them, so you could imagine they needed a much bigger number than we did, so even the short yellow didn't help them.' Who Do You Trust? It all came down to a matter of trust between Palou and Wanser. 'He has more information than me, and when I was following Scott, I could see that he was not saving as much as I was,' Palou recalled. 'I was like, 'This guy is crazy; how is he going to do it?' 'But I didn't know. Like I don't have a lot of information. Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) driver holds his daughter Lucia and raises a finger as ... More the team lifts their Red Solo cups after winning the NTT IndyCar Series XPEL Grand Prix, Sunday, June 22, 2025, at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. (Photo by David Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Icon Sportswire via Getty Images "If it was another driver, I would have probably just focused on myself, but I know that Scott can make crazy stuff happen. 'I trusted Barry, but I was like, 'Man, if he gets a yellow, he's still P1 and we're not going to be able to pass him. We were still trying to get that first position on track just in case there was a four-lap yellow at the end and then he was still leading and ending up with a win.' With three different race strategies playing out during the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America, second-place finisher Felix Rosenqvist was one of the few drivers at the end of the race that had plenty of fuel and could run full throttle. Second-Place Rosenqvist Had Plenty Of Fuel But Palou's fuel-saving strategy was too much to overcome, and Rosenqvist finished second, 2.1725 seconds behind the race winner. It was Rosenqvist's first podium finish in a points-paying race since finishing second in September 2023 at Portland International Raceway. 'Yeah, good memories from here,' Rosenqvist said afterward. 'I had my first win here. It's been a couple of good results here in the past. I felt the whole weekend we had good pace and in practice we were rolling well. Kind of messed up qualifying. Tried to do the carousel flat and I lost it, and I started P12. 'It wasn't ideal, but I knew we had good pace in the car. My Meyer Shank Sirius XM Honda was just on rails. There was a lot of strategies going on. We did two black stints in the beginning, and we held on pretty good, and especially in the restarts, it seemed like the blacks were pretty good, and they faded a bit when you got up to speed. But we capitalized on all those yellows, and I think that was to our advantage. 'Then at the end of the race we didn't have to save any fuel, and we had two new reds, and we were just doing qually laps every lap, and that's kind of when we ended where we ended. So, it was really good, and super proud of all the guys. 'It's a hot day out there. It was tough for everyone, pit crew, engineering, and computers and all that kind of stuff. Everything is running hot. Happy we made it to the finish.' But in this race, Palou had the right strategy because his fuel tank was good to the last drop. Alex Palou celebrates his Road America on June 22, 2025 in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. (Photo by Gavin ... More Baker/Lumen via Getty Images) Lumen via Getty Images
Forbes
24-06-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
IndyCar TV Rating Drops Below 1 Million But Continue Overall Gains
Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda celebrates in Victory Lane during the NTT IndyCar Series XPEL ... More Grand Prix at Road America on June 22, 2025 in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. (Photo by Michael L. Levitt/Lumen via Getty Images) Lumen via Getty Images The IndyCar television rating for the FOX telecast of the XPEL Grand Prix At Road America may have dropped below 1 million viewers for the first time in four races, but the overall increase in viewers over last season remains substantial. The year-to-year increase is now 33 percent more viewers watching IndyCar on FOX than last year on average. This comes despite FOX's IndyCar Series coverage from Road America posted 781,000 viewers in an early afternoon starting time on June 22. That was down 10 percent from last year's 863,000 viewers for the Road America Race in 2024. The race peaked with 934,000 viewers from 3:30-3:45 p.m. Eastern Time. There are some differences, however. Last year's Road America IndyCar race was one week closer to the Indianapolis 500. Road America was on June 9, and the 2024 Indy 500 was May 26. In the TV world, the additional viewers in 2024 could have been aided by momentum from the 500 that was still fresh. In 2024, the IndyCar schedule did not have any breaks after the Indy 500 as the schedule went straight to the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix the following weekend and one week after that, Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. But there remain some positive and impressive trends. Sunday's race viewership is up 25 percent over last year's 626,000 viewers for the IndyCar 2024 non-Indy 500 race average on NBC/USA/CNBC. Through the first nine races of the season, IndyCar on FOX is averaging 1,882,000 viewers, up 33 percent from last year's 1,420,000 viewers through the first nine races on NBC/USA/CNBC. IndyCar's greatest television competition on Sunday, June 22 didn't come from a competing sport, but from the major news developments with the United States bombing raid of nuclear facilities in Iran. Ratings for news coverage on CNN, FOX News, MSNBC and NewsMax were more than double last year's ratings for those networks one year ago. On Sunday, June 25, those four news networks had a combined average of 4.214 million. On the corresponding Sunday in 2024 (June 23) the viewership average was 1.862 million. On the actual Road America race date in 2024 (June 9), the four TV cable news channels had 1.99 million viewers. This year's Indianapolis 500 drew 7.01 million viewers and was the most watched Indy 500 telecast in 17 years. The viewership peaked at 8.5 million for the final 15 minutes of the Indy 500. It was the first time the Indy 500 was televised on FOX. Television ratings momentum continued with more 1.061 million viewers for the June 1 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix and the June 15 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway, which drew 1 million, 12 thousand viewers for a prime-time Sunday night telecast. This is the first season IndyCar has been televised exclusively by FOX with all races on the major FOX network.
