Will Power – INDYCAR Testing – Sebring International Raceway. Photo by Joe Skibinski

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

Team Penske’s Will Power and Josef Newgarden officially closed INDYCAR’s extended offseason in familiar territory _ atop the overall speed chart after Day 2 of an NTT IndyCar Series Group Test at Sebring International Raceway.

Will Power – INDYCAR Testing – Sebring International Raceway. Photo by Joe Skibinski

Power and Newgarden _ both series and Indianapolis 500 champions _ placed 1-2 overall Tuesday in the test on Sebring’s historic and notoriously bumpy 1.67-mile “short-course.”

The two-day test in Central Florida served as final preparation for all 27 fulltime series drivers and teams heading into the 2025 season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding street race on Sunday, March 2. Broadcast coverage is scheduled to begin at noon (EST) on FOX Sports, FOX Deportes and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

Power was quickest Tuesday and overall with a hot lap of 52.2549-seconds/115.051 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, followed by Newgarden at 52.3191-seconds/114.910 mph in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. Both laps were logged during the cooler morning session, when seven of the 10 quickest laps overall were run. The field was split into morning and afternoon groups both days, with Power turning a combined total of 139 laps.

Josef Newgarden – INDYCAR Testing – Sebring International Raceway. Photo by Joe Skibinski

“It’s funny, after a couple days back in the car, you feel right at home, back to the same old stuff, and going through the same old changes and just confirming stuff,” said Power, a 43-year-old native of Australia. “I know it so well now, but it always changes. It’s never the same. So, you’ve got to be on your toes; it’s a super-tight field.”

Indeed, less than eight-tenths-of-a-second separated the entire 27-car lineup over two days of lapping.

Tuesday’s results for Roger Penske’s juggernaut stood in contrast to Monday, when Power was quickest for the team in seventh at 52.8032-seconds/113.857 mph _ more than four-tenths-of-a-second behind leader Pato O’Ward at 52.3470-seconds/114.526 mph.

O’Ward’s best time from Monday placed him third overall on the combined chart after turning a total of 129 laps in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. A 25-year-old native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio, O’Ward’s best lap Tuesday was 52.7060-seconds.

Native New Zealander Marcus Armstrong’s afternoon session-leading time Monday of 52.3675-seconds/114.804 mph stood as fourth overall in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing normally driven by Felix Rosenqvist. The native of Sweden, who was ill and sat out Monday’s session, strapped into the car Tuesday and placed ninth overall at 52.5273-seconds/114.455 mph.

Colton Herta wound up fifth overall via his lap Tuesday morning of 52.3818-seconds/114.773 mph in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda fielded by Andretti Global. The runnerup to Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing in the 2024 championship, Herta ran a total of 111 test laps.

Nolan Siegel helped Arrow McLaren join Team Penske with two drivers in the top-six as he clocked in sixth overall at 52.4405-seconds/114.644 mph with his top lap Tuesday morning in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

Palou, the three-time/reigning series champion from Spain, was seventh overall at 52.4948-seconds/114.526 mph off his best lap Monday in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Palou logged a total of 134 test laps.

Series newcomer PREMA Racing _ an organization that has dominated global junior open-wheel competition _ finished its first INDYCAR Group Test on an encouraging note. Series veteran Callum Ilott of Great Britain placed eighth overall at 52.4998-seconds/114.515 mph in the team’s No. 90 Chevrolet.

A challenging test for superstar Scott Dixon ended with the six-time series champion 13th overall at 52.6120-seconds/114.271 mph. “Dixie” recorded his best lap Tuesday morning in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda after turning only two laps Monday due to a mechanical problem. A 44-year-old native of New Zealand, Dixon ended the test with a total of 58 laps-run.

Dixon’s Tuesday began on an ominous note when he crashed into the barriers in Turn 6 approximately 15 minutes into the morning session. Dixon was uninjured while the No. 9 Honda sustained minor rear damage which was repaired, allowing CGR’s longest-tenured driver to return to testing.

Santino Ferrucci of Texas-based A.J. Foyt Racing placed 16^th overall at 52.7007-seconds/114.078 mph after a combined 108 laps in the No. 14 Chevrolet.

Native New Zealander Scott McLaughlin _ third member of Team Penske _ placed 24^th overall at 52.9212-seconds/113.603 mph after turning a combined 149 laps in the No. 3 Chevrolet.

Series drivers combined to run 1,311 laps on Monday and finished Tuesday with a combined total of 3,242 laps-run.

Next month’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding is positioned to set the stage for a pivotal season of change in the NTT IndyCar Series and its brand.

FOX Sports will launch its inaugural season of INDYCAR coverage with the season’s first practice on the Streets of St. Pete in Florida on Friday, Feb. 28, on FOX Sports 1. All 17 races on the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series schedule will air on FOX. Two additional days of coverage during PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying May 17-18 ahead of the 109th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge will create a series-record 19 network windows.

The NTT IndyCar Series is the only premier motorsports series in North America with all races broadcasting on network television. All INDYCAR programming also will be streamed live on the FOX Sports app.

“This will be a season of unrivaled exposure for the NTT IndyCar Series,” INDYCAR President J. Douglas Boles said. “With phenomenal support of our sport across multiple massive platforms _ including Super Bowl LIX _ FOX Sports has proven to be a superb partner and promoter. With the season approaching, we know their unique style of engaging and innovative broadcasts will continue to raise the bar and drive an unparallelled growth opportunity for INDYCAR.”

With an eye on the competition, several updates will be featured during 2025, as follows:

Lap-counts at several NTT IndyCar Series races have been extended for 2025, creating the opportunity for additional on-track dynamics. Race distances have been updated for:

_ Streets of Long Beach (90 laps, or plus-five laps)

_ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (90 laps, plus-10)

_ Iowa Speedway doubleheader (275 laps, plus-25)

_ Streets of Toronto (90 laps, plus-five)

_ Nashville Superspeedway (225 laps, plus-19)

The 2025 schedule features the first full-season integration of the series’ hybrid power unit, including the Indianapolis 500 for the first time. Hybrid assist _ developed specifically for INDYCAR through a first-of-its-kind collaborative effort between OEM partners Chevrolet and Honda _ provides an added boost of 120 horsepower when used with traditional Push-to-Pass on road and street circuits. Used in tandem, a total of 800 horsepower will be available to drivers for the first time in two decades.

New this season, use of the hybrid power unit will be allowed to start or restart the Chevy and Honda 2.2-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engines on pit lane. As in 2024, hybrid assist will be allowed to restart a stalled race car on-track on non-ovals.

INDYCAR’s hybrid power unit made its successful race debut on July 7, 2024 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. From its full-field integration at The Milwaukee Mile Open Test on June 11 through the end of the 2024 season, 94,244 miles were completed with the system. Overall use and influence of hybrid assist increased race-over-race on road and street circuits and ovals. Twelve of the 14 on-track passing records broken during the 2024 season were recorded after introduction of the hybrid power unit.

Some NTT IndyCar Series practice sessions will present an updated look in 2025. Effective at the Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., Streets of Long Beach, Detroit and Toronto and Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala., Road America, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Portland International Raceway _ weekend tire allotments will include one additional set of Firestone Firehawk alternates (five total) and one less set of Firestone Firehawk primaries (five total).

Race teams will be allowed to use their weekend allotments as they see fit, reserving one set of new alternates, per the rulebook, for use during the race. Tire allotments for event weekends at The Thermal Club in Thermal, Calif., and Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course remain unchanged from last year.

Also on road and street circuits, split group practice sessions in Practice 1 will expand to all tracks except for Road America and its lengthy 4.014-mile natural terrain layout in Lexington, Ohio. All cars will receive an initial 45-minute practice session before the start of two 10-minute segments, with groups split by odd and even numbered pit boxes. As in qualifying, the clock in Segments 1 and 2 will stop for the first red flag condition of each practice segment.

Popular high-line practice sessions will continue on all short ovals in 2025, a practice that made its debut on Texas Motor Speedway’s high-banked/1.5-mile oval in Fort Worth in 2023. The additional track time will allow drivers and teams to work in the upper groove of the track surface in a bid to provide more grip ahead of the race.

An annual INDYCAR review has prompted adjustments to procedures and rules for the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season as follows:

_ Ahead of a race start on ovals, there will be a mandatory “pair-up” location with “one-to-go” to reduce the chance of incident and the need for waved-off starts.

_ Where feasible for oval restarts, INDYCAR will extend the beginning of the restart zone to give the leader wider discretion on the choice to accelerate. The ending location of oval restart zones will remain the same as in previous seasons.

_ A multi-stage pit lane speed limiter _ as utilized at pit-in at Road America and at pit-out at World Wide Technology Raceway and Nashville Superspeedway _ will be expanded to pit lane entry at WWT Raceway, Iowa Speedway and Nashville. The update prevents cars from overextending from the apron onto the racetrack after the pit-in commitment point.

_ The 2024 road and street circuit restart line, where drivers must remain in single file and are prohibited from passing until reaching the designated line in the last corner, remains intact for 2025.

_ Additional EM Motorsport light panels, introduced in 2022, will be used at all circuits. The additional lights will enhance the forewarning of conditions, particularly around blind corners.

_ Also for safety, drivers will be alerted of local yellow conditions by a notification on driver cockpit dashes in addition to the light panels and traditional cloth flag notifications at marshal posts around each circuit.

Alternate tires at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn., again will be available for the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season-finale at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. Last season, the championship race featured 653 on-track passes _ most on-record for the series at the track.

“From the mid-year integration of the hybrid power unit to the on-track passing records and another championship decided at the final race, 2024 was truly a phenomenal year for the NTT IndyCar Series,” said Mark Sibla, INDYCAR Senior Vice President, Competition and Operations. “This is a testament to the hard work by the teams, drivers and naturally our partners Chevrolet, Honda, Firestone and Shell.

“As our attention turns toward 2025, we will continue the series’ energy, momentum and incredibly close competition on-track. We’re excited to get the new season started.”

The entire 2025 INDY NXT by Firestone season will be featured on live television for the first time. As announced in December, 12 INDY NXT races will air live on FOX Sports 1, with two airing on FS2. Additionally, all practice and qualifying sessions for the NTT IndyCar Series’ development series will air on a combination of FS1 and FS2.

Last season’s schedule averaged the most starters (19.5) since 2009. The 2025 season is expected to match or exceed that number in a field featuring drivers from 10 countries. Additionally, Chip Ganassi Racing will add intrigue to the championship as it fields cars in INDY NXT for the first time since 2007.

Building on the series’ momentum, 2024 featured on-track passing records at four circuits, with qualifying records broken at six. Sixteen of the traditional 33 starters in last year’s Indianapolis 500 were graduates of INDY NXT.

After launching a re-imagined look in 2023, this is the fourth season that INDY NXT will feature continued integration with INDYCAR as sanctioning body. In 2025, INDY NXT chassis will showcase updated and stylized rear wing end plates featuring LED rain lights, matching the safety component available in the NTT IndyCar Series.

The pathway to North America’s premier open-wheel series again offers a total purse of $1.4-million. The series champion will receive $850,000 to be applied to a rookie oval test, the Indy 500 Open Test and Rookie Orientation Program, an entry for the 2026 Indianapolis 500 and an entry for an additional 2026 NTT IndyCar Series event. The 2025 championship team will receive a prize of $35,000.

“This will be a season of incredible and unprecedented exposure for INDY NXT by Firestone,” Series Director Richard Buck said. “The continued integration of this series with INDYCAR has clearly raised the quantity and quality of INDY NXT. The championship has never been more fierce and difficult to win, but it will prove to be all the more gratifying for the driver advancing to the NTT IndyCar Series.”

The 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season will open on Sunday, March 2, on the Streets of St. Petersburg in Florida. Broadcast coverage is booked for noon (EST) on FOX Sports with a Spanish language version on FOX Deportes. INDY NXT by Firestone’s season-opener will begin on Saturday, March 1, at 10 a.m. on FS1.

The award-winning INDYCAR Radio Network will provide coverage of both races, with audio available on SiriusXM Channel 218 and the INDYCAR App powered by NTT DATA.

FOX SPORTS’ 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES BROADCAST COVERAGE SCHEDULE

Sunday, March 2 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. (FOX, Noon)*

Sunday, March 23 _The Thermal Club, Thermal, Calif.  (FOX, 3 p.m.)

Sunday, April 13 _ Streets of Long Beach, Calif. (FOX, 4:30 p.m.)

Sunday, May 4 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala. (FOX, 1:30 p.m.)

Saturday, May 10 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course (FOX, 4:30 p.m.)

Sunday, May 25 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval (FOX, 10 a.m.)

Sunday, June 1 _ Streets of Detroit (FOX, 12:30 p.m.)

Sunday, June 15 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill. (FOX, 3 p.m.)

Sunday, June 22 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis. (FOX, 3:30 p.m.)

Sunday, July 6 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington (FOX, 2 p.m.)

Saturday, July 12 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 1 (FOX, 5 p.m.)

Sunday, July 13 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 2 (FOX, 2 p.m.)

Sunday, July 20 _ Streets of Toronto, Canada (FOX, 2 p.m.)

Sunday, July 27 _ WeatherTech Raceway, Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif. (FOX, 3 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 10 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway (FOX, 3 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 24 _ The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis. (FOX, 2 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 31 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn. (2:30 p.m.)

*NOTE _ All times Eastern. Dates and times subject to change.

Final 2024 NTT IndyCar Series point standings _ 1, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 544; 2, Colton Herta, Andretti Global, 513; 3, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 505; 4, Will Power, Team Penske, 498; 5, Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren, 460; 6, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 456; 7, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 420; 8, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 401; 9, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 367; 10, Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren, 366;

11, Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 312; 12, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 306; 13, Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing, 300; 14, Marcus Armstrong, Chip Ganassi Racing, 298; 15, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 297; 16, Linus Lundqvist, Chip Ganassi Racing, 279; 17, Romain Grosjean, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 260; 18, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 251; 19, Pietro Fittipaldi, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 186; 20, Sting Ray Robb, A.J. Foyt Racing, 185;

21, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 182; 22, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 163; 23, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren, 154; 24, David Malukas, Meyer Shank Racing, 148; 25, Jack Harvey, Dale Coyne Racing, 143; 26, Conor Daly, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 119; 27, Augustin Canapino, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 109; 28, Theo Pourchaire, Arrow McLaren, 91; 29, Katherine Legge, Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing, 61; 30, Tom Blomqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 46;

31, Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, 45; 32, Toby Sowery, Dale Coyne Racing, 45; 33, Callum Ilott, Arrow McLaren, 39; 34, Luca Ghiotto, Dale Coyne Racing, 27; 35, Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing, 26; 36, Kyle Larson, Hendrickcars.com Arrow McLaren, 21; 37, Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 19; 38, Tristan Vautier, Dale Coyne Racing, 12; 39, Juri Vips, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 11; 40, Colin Braun, Dale Coyne Racing, 10;

41, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing-Cusick Motorsports, 6; 42, Hunter McElrea, Dale Coyne Racing, 6; 43, Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta with Marco & Curb Agajanian, 5. 

Click here to see overall test results.