By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio With INDYCAR’s Month of May beckoning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Alex Palou is again threatening to take a wrecking ball to the championship point standings. Palou earned his third victory in five races this season in Sunday’s 51st Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach to retake the point lead by 17 in an early bid for his fifth series title and NTT IndyCar Series record-tying fourth in a row. Palou logged the 22nd victory of his career and first in America’s longest-running street race in the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.…
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 Felix Rosenqvist is determined to turn his latest NTT IndyCar Series pole position into a much-needed positive result during Sunday’s 51st Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Rosenqvist bagged his seventh career NTT P1 Award Saturday afternoon with a hot lap of 1-minute, 7.4635-seconds/105.017 mph around the famed 1.968-mile/11-turn Southern California street circuit. Starting P1, however, has hardly guaranteed the 34-year-old Swede a Victory Lane visit. “Yeah, I mean, I’m aware of that stat,” said Rosenqvist, driver of the No. 60 SiriusXM/Acura Honda fielded by Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian. “This is my…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio The modernization of A.J. Foyt Racing now includes the organization’s first reserve driver. Brit Toby Sowery has joined the team founded by open-wheel icon A.J. Foyt Jr. of Houston for the remainder of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season. Sowery is the latest addition to an expanded driver development roster overseen by Team President Larry Foyt at a time of increasing competition and technical demand within the series. “My dad, A. J. Foyt, built this team’s name on grit, risk and winning, and I’m honored he trusts me to carry it forward,” said Larry…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Same as it ever was, pole-sitter Alex Palou absolutely schooled the field at Barber Motorsports Park Sunday for his second victory of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season. The real intrigue emerging from the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst was the odd couple who shared the post-race podium with Palou in Birmingham, Ala. Rising series star Christian Lundgaard of Arrow McLaren and veteran Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing injected a bit of drama into an event that has morphed into The Alex Palou Invitational. The four-time/reigning series…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio INDYCAR ace Alex Palou has plugged into “super-hero” mode at Barber Motorsports Park, where the field for today’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst should be super-concerned. Palou earned his first NTT P1 Award of the season and 13th of his brilliant career by leading Saturday’s Firestone Fast Six with a lap of 1-minute, 6.2341-seconds/125.011 mph around BMP’s picturesque, 2.3-mile/17-turn natural-terrain road-course in Birmingham, Ala. The four-time/reigning NTT IndyCar Series champion, Palou won this race last season by a massive 16.0035-seconds _ largest margin of victory in the series during…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin continued to master his unofficial home away from New Zealand Friday, pacing P1 for the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst. McLaughlin posted a top lap of 1-minute, 7.7245-seconds/122.878 mph around the picturesque, 2.3-mile/17-turn natural-terrain road-course in Birmingham, Ala., during a 64-minute session. “Pretty good start for us,” said McLaughlin, a 32-year-old native of Christchurch, N.Z., and driver of the No. 3 Odyssey Battery Team Penske Chevrolet. “We were all strong, which is a good sign for the team. We’ve done a lot of hard work…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio ARLINGTON _ Complete with a catchy nickname, INDYCAR’s inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington went into the record book as “the new standard” for hosting and staging a domestic open-wheel street race. Dubbed “America’s Street Race” by the FOX Sports broadcast team during Sunday’s live telecast from the Arlington Entertainment District, the hyperbole began days before Kyle Kirkwood’s winning pass against Alex Palou in Race No. 3 of the NTT IndyCar Series’ 18-event 2026 schedule. “It’s been an incredible event,” said Kirkwood, Andretti Global’s 27-year-old emerging star. “This event was done right.…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden reaffirmed his position as INDYCAR’s ovalmeister with a calculated victory in Saturday’s Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway. A two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, Newgarden earned his first victory of the 2026 season and 33rd of his career by reeling-in and passing leader Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global with seven laps remaining around the 1-mile oval in suburban Avondale, Ariz. Newgarden, who started second to teammate David Malukas, drove to a 1.7937-second victory after leading only eight of 250 laps, including the final six. Nineteen of Newgarden’s career…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio At one point during his post-race press conference Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla., four-time/reigning NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou was asked if he felt “beatable.” “Unfortunately, yeah,” said Palou, shortly after scoring a runaway victory in the 2026 season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Palou cruised to his 20th career INDYCAR victory in just his 99th start by wheeling the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to a 12.4948-second victory over Scott McLaughlin, the NTT P1 Award-winner and driver of the No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet. Recall that Palou…
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin is determined to put “the worst year of my life” permanently in the rearview mirrors of his race car in 2026. That process began Saturday afternoon, when “Scotty Mac” qualified on-pole for INDYCAR’s season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Florida. McLaughlin earned his 12th career NTT P1 Award and third in the last five years on St. Pete’s 1.8-mile/14-turn temporary street circuit, leading the Firestone Fast Six with a best lap of 1-minute, .5426-seconds/107.032 mph in the No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet. “Maybe I need to…