By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Row 1 will be center stage for the start of INDYCAR’s Java House Grand Prix of Monterey this afternoon at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Championship contenders Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward qualified 1-2 for Round 14 of the NTT IndyCar Series schedule Saturday in Northern California. The pair has combined to win the past three races, and four of the last five dating to late June. So, whomever wheels first into Turn 1 when the green flag drops shortly after 3 p.m. (EDT) likely will dictate pace and strategy over the course of…
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 Pato O’Ward’s relentless, late-season pursuit of Alex Palou for the NTT IndyCar Series championship continued Friday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. Winner of two of the last three INDYCAR races, O’Ward turned the fastest lap of the opening day of practice for Sunday’s Java House Grand Prix of Monterey at 1-minute, 9.20269-seconds/116.416 mph around the 2.248-mile/11-turn natural-terrain layout. “We rolled off really strong,” O’Ward said after logging 18 laps in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. “I’m definitely happy with where we’re at in terms of speed. Obviously, we still…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Elbows out, Pato O’Ward and Arrow McLaren are recalibrating Alex Palou’s “inevitable” drive to the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series championship. O’Ward’s strategic victory in Sunday’s Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto _ Pato’s second INDYCAR win in eight days _ chopped 30 points off Palou’s massive 129-point advantage as the day began. For the record, Palou’s pre-race advantage was the largest under the current point system this deep into a season. Palou, the three-time/reigning series champion from Chip Ganassi Racing, still boasts a 99-point pad with four races remaining. But a race win can…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Second-generation INDYCAR driver Colton Herta remained “wicked-quick” during qualifying Saturday for the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. Herta claimed the NTT P1 Award for the second consecutive summer and third time in four years at Exhibition Place. Only Scotsman Dario Franchitti (five) and Sebastien Bourdais of France (four) have won more poles for the lone NTT IndyCar Series event staged north of the border. “I think it’s kind of just what this team is capable of around here for the street-courses,” said Herta, driver of the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda fielded by Andretti…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Extensive planning and collaborative design work continues on the new race car chassis and updated twin-turbocharged V-6 engine INDYCAR will introduce for the 2028 NTT IndyCar Series season, with thorough on-track testing scheduled for early 2026. Dallara will produce the chassis, featuring a look designed to appeal to a new generation of open-wheel fans while maintaining current styling cues. Dallara has produced chassis for the series since 1997 and has been INDYCAR’s exclusive chassis supplier since 2008. “The time has come for a new NTT IndyCar Series chassis,” INDYCAR President J. Douglas Boles said…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Alex Palou hit for the cycle, INDYCAR-style, not far from the storied cornfields of Iowa on Sunday with his victory in the Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup. The mercurial, 28-year-old Spaniard now has won races on street circuits, road courses, superspeedways and short ovals. Actually, “bull-ring” more accurately describes Iowa Speedway’s 0.894-mile layout in bucolic Newton, where Palou paced a staggering 194 of 275-laps/240.625-miles en route to his seventh NTT IndyCar Series victory in 12 events this season. “I’m an INDYCAR driver now, finally,” Palou declared during his post-race presser, echoing…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Dust off the Victory Lane sombrero! Native Mexican Pato O’Ward “got creative” in his battle of wills-and-wits with INDYCAR ovalmeister Josef Newgarden Saturday at Iowa Speedway en route to victory in the Synk 275 powered by Sukup. O’Ward punctuated his 100th career NTT IndyCar Series start with a pair of late-race restarts during the final 14 laps to record the first win of the 2025 season for himself, Arrow McLaren and Team Chevy. “Yeah, for my race, I started getting creative,” said O’Ward, a 26-year-old native of Monterrey, Mexico, with family ties to…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio ENNIS – Aspiring drag strip owner Billy Meyer was dealing with house money in the mid-1980s, well before the first shovelful of dirt was turned for the Texas Motorplex. “Actually, I got an NHRA date before I built it,” Meyer recalled during Tuesday’s “Stampede of Speed/Stars of Texas Media Day” event officially kicking-off The Plex’s 40th anniversary season. “They (NHRA) trusted me enough to give me the date for September 1986 and I hadn’t even broke ground yet. They gave me the contract in 1985 to have the FallNationals in ’86.” Indeed, NHRA…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Scott Dixon’s latest INDYCAR victory extended a pair of remarkable streaks and rekindled a somewhat reluctant conversation concerning open-wheel icon A.J. Foyt Jr. Dixon combined his signature fuel-saving prowess with a rare mistake by Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Alex Palou with five laps to go to win The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by the All-New 2026 Passport. A six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, Dixon delivered his record 59th career victory Sunday, his first win of the 2025 season and seventh career victory at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. Dixon…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio INDYCAR championship leader Alex Palou received a heated, impromptu pit road lecture from Will Power after Saturday morning’s practice at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Palou later claimed his third pole of the season. Some sage advice from Will _ the NTT IndyCar Series’ acknowledged qualifying ace _ or just coincidence? “He gave me some ‘compliments,’^” Palou joked during his post-qually presser for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by the all new 2026 Passport. “No, it was all good. He was frustrated about traffic. Yeah, it wasn’t too bad.” Palou secured his…