By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio A.J. Foyt Racing has accepted responsibility for post-race technical inspection penalties levied by INDYCAR against the No. 14 entry driven by Santino Ferrucci to a second-place finish in Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear. The No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet was found to be under the required driver ballast weight following the event won by Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global. Ferrucci finished 3.5931-seconds behind Kirkwood’s No. 27 Siemens AWS Honda. While Ferrucci has retained his season-best finish, the organization has been fined $25,000 and has forfeited 25 championship driver and entrant…
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 Sanctioning body INDYCAR has levied a post-race technical inspection penalty on the No. 14 A.J. Foyt Racing entry following Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear. The No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet driven to a season-best, second-place finish by Dallas resident Santino Ferrucci was found to be under the required driver ballast weight following the event won by Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global. Ferrucci finished 3.5931-seconds behind Kirkwood’s No. 27 Siemens AWS Honda. During post-race inspection, INDYCAR discovered the driver ballast needed to bring the combined weight of the driver and driver ballast…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood says a tight-and-bumpy street-course like Downtown Detroit is a “very hard drive” in an open-wheel car. “That’s the nature of street-courses,” Kirkwood said after posting his second NTT IndyCar Series victory of the season Sunday afternoon. “The track is very difficult to drive. It’s obviously very bumpy. It brings out the worst in you, and it brought out the worst in me (Saturday) in qualifying. It’s pretty rare for me to make mistakes and hit the wall anywhere else other than street-courses. “Yeah, that was a tough one. But…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Andretti Global’s Colton Herta continued to master the tight, bumpy and basically mean Streets of Detroit Saturday en route to earning pole position for today’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear. Herta repeated as NTT P1 Award winner with a best lap of 1-minute, 0.4779-seconds/97.920 mph on the 1.645-mile/nine-turn layout in Downtown Motown. Herta logged his first pole of the season and 15th of his NTT IndyCar Series career during the Firestone Fast Six. Herta secured P1 last year in this event with a lap in 1:00.5475-seconds/97.808 mph. The 25-year-old native Californian…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Kyle Kirkwood rallied from a bump-and-run incident involving Will Power to top the speed sheet after Friday’s opening practice for INDYCAR’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear. Kirkwood led the 80-minute session, separated into groups, with a lap of 1-minute, 1.7509-seconds/95.901 mph in the No. 27 Siemens AWS Honda fielded by Andretti Global. That lap around the 1.645-mile/nine-turn circuit in Downtown Motown was recorded after Kirkwood spent considerable time in the pits for repairs to the rear of his car after being nudged from behind through a short section of the circuit amid…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio The top-10 results originally recorded by David Malukas and Santino Ferrucci of Waller, Texas-based A.J. Foyt Racing in Sunday’s 109th Indianapolis 500 were upgraded to top-fives following post-race technical inspection penalties assessed to a pair of Andretti Global teammates. INDYCAR announced the No. 28 entry of second-place Marcus Ericsson and the No. 27 car driven to sixth by Kyle Kirkwood _ as well as the No. 90 PREMA Racing entry driven by Callum Ilott to 12th _ were found in violation of the rulebook. All three were dropped to the rear of the 33-car…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio A podium finish in Sunday’s 109th Indianapolis 500 for A.J. Foyt Racing unashamedly moved David Malukas to tears over what-might-have-been at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For the record, Malukas’ Indy 500 career-best third and the seventh-place result recorded by teammate Santino Ferrucci were the first top-10s for Waller, Texas-based Foyt Racing at IMS since May 28, 2000. Foyt’s drivers that day? Eliseo Salazar of Chile and Jeff Ward finished third and fourth, respectively, in a pair of G Force/Oldsmobile entries during the often-chaotic fledgling years of the Indy Racing League. Ancient history to Malukas, the…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio A pair of second-place finishes since 2022 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway have only served to sharpen Arrow McLaren ace Pato O’Ward’s approach to winning the Indianapolis 500. O’Ward finished runnerup to Sweden’s Marcus Ericsson in 2022 and to Josef Newgarden last year, when the Team Penske star completed a last-lap pass for his second consecutive victory. Ericsson, then of Chip Ganassi Racing, led 13 laps en route to his victory on a day when O’Ward led 26 laps. Last year Newgarden led 26 laps to O’Ward’s 12. O’Ward will start today’s 109th edition of…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio An all-Team Penske pairing in the Oscar Mayer $150,000 Pit Stop Challenge saw Josef Newgarden beat Will Power in a final that required all three rounds. Newgarden’s crew won the first round and Power’s prevailed in the second. In the final, Newgarden’s No. 2 crew changed four tires and completed a simulated fueling in 10.263- seconds, while Power and the No. 12 crew trailed at 10.503-seconds. The No. 2 crew earned a $50,000 prize, with the No. 12 crew collecting $25,000. This was the record-extending 20th victory in the annual contest for Team…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Carb Day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is for sending messages, and Joseph Newgarden made it clear Friday he is fully capable of rewriting history during the 109th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Newgarden and Team Penske swept the two key elements of Miller Lite Carb Day, leading the two-hour final practice with a top lap of 225.687 mph in the No. 2 Shell V-Power NiTRO+ Team Penske Chevrolet. Relegated to a last-row/32nd starting for Sunday’s scheduled 200-lapper due to a technical rule violation, Newgarden is aiming to become the first driver to win…