By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio First bragging rights for the “Month of May” at Indianapolis Motor Speedway belong to Alex Palou, who qualified on-pole Friday as defending champion of today’s Sonsio Grand Prix. Palou earned his fourth career NTT P1 Award and first since the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear last June. The two-time/reigning NTT IndyCar Series champion, Palou’s best lap during the Firestone Fast Six was 1-minute, 9.0004-seconds/127.251 mph in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. The pole-clinching lap on the 2.439-mile/14-turn IMS Road-Course admittedly ranked as a mild upset after Palou placed…
Author: John Sturbin
John Sturbin
John Sturbin is a Fort Worth-based journalist specializing in motorsports. During a near 30-year career with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, he won the Bloys Britt Award for top motorsports story of the year (1991) as judged by The Associated Press; received the National Hot Rod Association’s Media Award (1995) and several in-house Star-Telegram honors. He also was inaugural recipient of the Texas Motor Speedway Excellence in Journalism Award (2009). Email John Sturbin at jsturbin@hotmail.com.
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio The Americanization of Frenchman Theo Pourchaire will continue during the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season, courtesy of Arrow McLaren. Pourchaire, the reigning Formula 2 champion, will make his third start in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet in Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course _ lead-in event to INDYCAR’s all-important “Month of May.” Two rounds of practice today will be followed by three rounds of knockout qualifying for the NTT P1 Award Friday afternoon around the 2.439-mile/14-turn layout. Saturday’s race is scheduled for 85-laps/207.3-miles. Pourchaire will sit-out the 108th running…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio INDYCAR chairman and team-owner Roger S. Penske has suspended Team Penske President Tim Cindric and three others for two races – including the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 – in the aftermath of the cheating scandal hovering over the sport as it rolls into the all-important “Month of May” at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden – the reigning Indy 500 champion – had his victory in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg disqualified last month for illegal use of the series’ push-to-pass regulations. Teammate Scott McLaughlin’s result in…
Scott McLaughlin won the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst for the second consecutive year on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park,
Scott McLaughlin earned his first NTT P1 Award of the season and his sixth career NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole with his final lap of 1 minute, 5.9490 seconds during the Firestone Fast Six session in the No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet.
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden insisted Friday he is neither a cheater nor a liar, denying he intentionally manipulated the push-to-pass system in his Team Penske car en route to victory in the season-opening street race in St. Petersburg, Fla. Newgarden’s victory in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 10 was wiped from the record book by sanctioning body INDYCAR on Wednesday _ first disqualification by the series in 29 years. The reigning Indianapolis 500 champion, Newgarden addressed the festering issue prior to the opening practice for Sunday’s Children’s…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Major rules infractions committed by Team Penske have negated Josef Newgarden’s victory in INDYCAR’s season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the sanctioning body announced Wednesday morning. The penalties levelled against Team Penske include disqualifications for Newgarden’s No. 2 Chevrolet and Scott McLaughlin’s No. 3 Chevrolet, as well as a 10-point penalty against Will Power’s No. 12 Chevrolet during the Florida street race conducted on Sunday, March 10. Newgarden’s DQ has handed a belated victory to Pato O’Ward, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Power was awarded second with Colton Herta of…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Scott Dixon reaffirmed his position as “greatest open-wheel driver of this generation” Sunday afternoon, winning INDYCAR’s 40th edition of the Acura Long Beach Grand Prix via a cerebral combination of patience and aggression. The NTT IndyCar Series’ master of fuel-saving, Dixon completed the last 34 laps of the 85-lap/167.28-mile street event on one tank of Shell 100 percent Renewable Race Fuel to hold off a charging Colton Herta _ running a more conventional, less risky fuel strategy _ by 0.9798-seconds. “That was tough; that was really tough,” said Dixon, driver of the No.…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Overdue for an NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory, Arrow McLaren ace Pato O’Ward promptly paced Friday’s opening practice for Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. O’Ward turned a top lap of 1-minute, 6.6874-seconds/106.239 mph in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet on the 1.968-mile/11-turn temporary street circuit. O’Ward, who finished second in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (Fla.) presented by RP Funding, is chasing his first series victory since July 2022 at Iowa Speedway. That’s a winless stretch of 24 races. “The car is in the window, and we’ve been…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio FORT WORTH _ The maturation of NASCAR favorite son Chase Elliott was on full display Sunday during a post-race presser at Texas Motor Speedway 18 months _ and one snowboarding wipeout _ in the making. Elliott snapped a nagging, 42-race Cup Series winless streak with a double-overtime/green-white-checkered flag victory over Brad Keselowski in the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 that undoubtedly thrilled his devotees and temporarily at least silenced his detractors. And in the process of dissecting his day with the media, Elliott acknowledged that his 19th career Cup victory was mostly about “the journey.”…