By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio INDYCAR’s traditional six-month offseason lasted all of two days for an appreciative Alexander Rossi. A hot and humid late-summer Wednesday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway saw Rossi become the first driver to turn a wheel in the superspeedway configuration of the IR-28 chassis, launching the next phase of INDYCAR’s development of its new-for-2028 car. “It does everything that INDYCAR machinery should do around here,” said Rossi, an NTT IndyCar Series regular with Ed Carpenter Racing. “We got through some basic mechanical and aero changes to kind of understand the offsets that they’re going to…
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 Scott McLaughlin placed an exclamation point on the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series schedule _ and Team Penske’s landmark 60th season _ with a workmanlike victory in Sunday’s Misson Foods Grand Prix of Monterey. Pole-sitter McLaughlin ended a winless streak dating to the 2024 campaign by wheeling the No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet to victory by 1.3739-seconds over Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The win was the eighth of McLaughlin’s INDYCAR career and first since Sept. 1, 2024, in the second race of a double-header weekend at The…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Winless in the NTT IndyCar Series since 2024, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin will confront his road-course gremlins from pole position during Sunday’s season-ending Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey. McLaughlin delivered Chevrolet its landmark 250th INDYCAR pole on Saturday with a hot lap of 1-minute, 9.1363-seconds/116.535 mph in the No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet. SEE: Qualifying Results McLaughlin is mired in a 36-race winless streak since his most recent series victory in August 2024 at The Milwaukee Mile. On the upside, the pole-winner at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca has driven to victory in…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Mick Schumacher has landed a second chance to showcase his INDYCAR potential.next season. Meyer Shank Racing confirmed Friday that Schumacher will join the team’s NTT IndyCar Series program starting in 2027. Schumacher will make his final start in the No. 47 NEREUS Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing on Sunday in the 2026 season-ending Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Schumacher will wheel the No. 66 MSR Honda next season alongside returning driver Marcus Armstrong, the native New Zealander who will enter his third season with the team…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Dueling donuts were served-up on the front stretch of The Milwaukee Mile by Pato O’Ward and Alex Palou after completion of a rain-interrupted/record-setting INDYCAR double-header in West Allis, Wis. O’Ward won Sunday’s Snap-on Makers and Fixers 250 to sweep both races on the historic 1.015-mile oval, winning the event suspended due to weather Saturday just a few hours after wheeling the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet to the checkered flag in the Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250. O’Ward became the first driver to win two INDYCAR races on the same day since Rick Mears…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio A revised and likely relentless 507.5-miles of back-to-back NTT IndyCar Series racing has been rescheduled for Sunday at The Milwaukee Mile, where rain Saturday afternoon forced a halt to Race 1 of the Snap-on INDYCAR Weekend double-header. The red flag for rain flew over the historic 1.015-mile oval in West Allis, Wis., after 90 of the scheduled 250 laps of the Snap-on Makers and Fixers 250, with Pato O’Ward leading the 25-car field in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. The race is booked to resume at 9 a.m. (EDT) today and run…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio NTT IndyCar Series ovalmeister Josef Newgarden paced Practice 1 for the Snap-on INDYCAR Weekend Friday at The Milwaukee Mile, where anticipation over Alex Palou’s latest championship was momentarily muted by a grid penalty. The historic 1.015-mile oval in West Allis, Wis., is playing host to the only double-header on the 2026 series schedule. SEE: Practice Results Newgarden, winner of two-of-three short-oval events this season, was fastest at 159.430 mph in the No. 2 Snap-on Team Penske Chevrolet. The two-time series champion, who completed 83 laps Friday, has earned 14 of his 34 career victories…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio At the insistence of Kyle Kirkwood, INDYCAR’s Astor Challenge Cup trophy has been re-packed and re-routed from Washington, D.C., to West Allis, Wis. Kirkwood’s runaway victory in Sunday’s Freedom 250 Grand Prix _ first motorsports race conducted in the nation’s capital _ momentarily punched the pause button on Alex Palou’s inevitable march to a fifth NTT IndyCar Series championship. The designated street-race ace of Andretti Global, Kirkwood emerged as commander-in-chief of the temporary 1.7-mile/seven-turn temporary circuit winding around the National Mall and several iconic District of Columbia monuments/buildings en route to a comfortable…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio INDYCAR’s contribution to America’s 250th birthday celebration is poised to become another signature moment in the 2026 Summer of Spain. Alex Palou zeroed-in on a record-tying fourth consecutive NTT IndyCar Series championship and fifth overall by qualifying on-pole Saturday for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. _ the historic first motor race conducted on the streets of the District of Columbia. SEE: Qualifying Results The Spaniard recorded a single-season best seventh pole and 19th of his mercurial career with a lap of 56.8993-seconds/107.558 mph in the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Armed with a new contract and renewed self-confidence, Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson snapped a 63-race INDYCAR winless drought with a masterful drive to victory in the inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham. Ericsson charged through the field late in Sunday’s chaotic 90-lap/197.1-mile Canadian race to hunt down and pass longtime rival Romain Grosjean of Dale Coyne Racing. SEE: Race Results Ericsson scored his fifth career NTT IndyCar Series victory while denying Grosjean what would have been his first. A former Formula One regular, Grosjean finished second for the sixth time in his disjointed domestic…