{"id":52813,"date":"2025-06-15T11:29:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T16:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=52813"},"modified":"2025-06-15T21:05:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T02:05:16","slug":"pole-sitter-power-aims-to-jump-start-penskes-indycar-season-in-primetime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/15\/pole-sitter-power-aims-to-jump-start-penskes-indycar-season-in-primetime\/","title":{"rendered":"Pole-sitter Power aims to jump-start Penske’s INDYCAR season in Primetime"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Will Power – Bommarito Automotive Group 500 – Photo by Chris Jones<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio<\/em><\/p>\n

Will Power, Team Penske and Chevrolet are poised to end their respective problematic, winless INDYCAR seasons in primetime tonight at World Wide Technology Raceway.<\/p>\n

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Will Power – Bommarito Automotive Group 500 – Photo by Karl Zemlin<\/p><\/div>\n

Power added to the storied history of Team Penske on Saturday during NTT P1 Award qualifying for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline. Competing in the final year of his current contract, Power secured the team\u2019s 700th pole across all racing series while leading a front-row lockout for Roger S. Penske\u2019s open-wheel powerhouse.<\/p>\n

Power drove to his first pole since July 2023 at Iowa Speedway _ and the record-extending 71st of the native Australian\u2019s NTT IndyCar Series career _ with a two-lap average of 180.329 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. Native New Zealander Scott McLaughlin qualified second at 179.783 mph in the No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet.<\/p>\n

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Will Power – Bommarito Automotive Group 500 – Photo by Matt Fraver<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cCool, man. It\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve had a pole, so really, really excited,\u201d said Power, 44, a two-time series champion. \u201cHopefully we can execute in the race. Man, it would be awesome to get a win here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, victory on WWTR\u2019s egg-shaped 1.25-mile oval in Madison, Ill., outside St. Louis would bolster Power\u2019s case for at least a one-year contract extension. Power, who recently hired an agent to handle negotiations on his behalf, reportedly is seeking a long-term deal with \u201cThe Captain\u201d but would settle for a year-to-year deal.<\/p>\n

Team Penske, meanwhile, is uncharacteristically winless after the season\u2019s first seven races, which have seen three-time\/reigning series champion Alex Palou of Spain and Chip Ganassi Racing (five wins) and Andretti Global\u2019s Kyle Kirkwood (two wins) dominate at the top of the podium with Honda horsepower. The winningest team in INDYCAR history, single third-place finishes by McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden and Power are Penske\u2019s best results to-date.<\/p>\n

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Will Power – Bommarito Automotive Group 500 – Photo by Matt Fraver<\/p><\/div>\n

Team Penske has won nine times at World Wide Technology Raceway _ Canadian Paul Tracy (1997), Brazilian Gil de Ferran (2002), fellow-Brazilian Helio Castroneves (2003), Newgarden (2017, 2020-Race 2, 2021, 2022 and 2024) and Power (2018).<\/p>\n

Team Penske also is looking to repair its image after Power and Newgarden were penalized by INDYCAR for a chassis violation discovered during qualifying for the 109th<\/sup> Indianapolis 500 last month. The penalties that sent the Penske pair to the back of the 33-car grid at the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway prompted Penske to fire three members of his organization\u2019s top management, including longtime Team President Tim Cindric.<\/p>\n

 SEE: <\/strong>Qualifying Results<\/a> <\/p>\n

Power scored his fifth pole at WWTR Saturday with a heavy right foot. \u201cI sent it (in) a lot,\u201d said Power, whose pole-winning laps consumed 49.9088-seconds. \u201cI knew you would have to. You\u2019d have to drive it flat in (Turns) 3 and 4. I wasn\u2019t quite flat, but I was very, very close.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only three drivers have won at WWTR from P1 _ native Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya (2000) with Chip Ganassi Racing and de Ferran (2002) and Castroneves (2003) for Team Penske.<\/p>\n

The 260-lap\/325-mile race _ only the second oval event of the season _ is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. (EDT) on FOX Sports, FOX Sports app and INDYCAR Radio Network. This will be the first Sunday night INDYCAR race conducted at WWTR. The track held scheduled Saturday night races from 2017-2021, while the 2023 race ran under the lights after a weather delay.<\/p>\n

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Pato O’Ward – Bommarito Automotive Group 500 – Photo by Karl Zemlin<\/p><\/div>\n

Texas Motor Speedway\u2019s high-banked\/1.5-mile oval in Fort Worth holds the series record for nighttime INDYCAR races with 24 between 1997 and 2001. The concept was the brainchild of Eddie Gossage, the late president\/general manager and promoter extraordinaire of \u201cThe Great American Speedway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pato O\u2019Ward qualified third at 179.190 mph in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Nearly all the drivers toward the end of the 27-car qualifying line benefited from improved conditions, as the arrival of light cloud cover helped drop the track temperature by nearly 10 degrees from the start of the session.<\/p>\n

“I think P3 is a great starting spot for the show,\u201d said O\u2019Ward, a native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio, Texas. \u201cI’m happy with that but just wish we could have got just a little bit more out of it to fight for the pole. (But) I’m very happy with the car.”<\/p>\n

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David Malukas – Bommarito Automotive Group 500 – Photo by Karl Zemlin<\/p><\/div>\n

Team Penske DNA permeates the top-five qualifiers, as David Malukas qualified fourth at 179.079 mph in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet fielded by A.J. Foyt Racing. The Waller, Texas-based organization founded by 90-year-old open-wheel icon A.J. Foyt Jr. of Houston has a technical alliance with Team Penske.<\/p>\n

“As soon as we unloaded the car this afternoon, it was good,\u201d Malukas said. \u201cIt was a little bit on the edge, so made the corrections for qualifying and that was a fantastic car. I think it was damn near perfect for us. I made a mistake on that first lap, went too deep into (Turn) 1 and then corrected it on that second lap, and got a good result for us.”<\/p>\n

Newgarden _ a two-time Indy 500 and series champion who has won this race a record five times including last year _ completed the top-five at 178.910 mph in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet.<\/p>\n

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Marcus Armstrong – Bommarito Automotive Group 500 – Photo by Matt Fraver<\/p><\/div>\n

Marcus Armstrong of New Zealand will join Newgarden in Row 3 after qualifying sixth at 178.754 mph in the No. 66 Spectrum\/Root Insurance Honda fielded by Meyer Shank Racing w\/Curb-Agajanian. Armstrong emerged as the fastest Honda-powered driver.<\/p>\n

“It was a stable run and the car was really good,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cI have never done a short oval qually _ and not wanted more when I got out of the car. The car was mega and it felt really, really strong. I just didn\u2019t get the most from it and was one of those runs you wish you could do again. But overall happy with our position and the No. 66 Spectrum Honda will be ready to race.”<\/p>\n

Championship leader Palou, whose five victories include his first on an oval at IMS, qualified ninth at 178.381 mph in the No. 10 Ridgeline Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. The series record for most wins in a season is 10, held by Foyt (1961) and Al Unser (1970).<\/p>\n

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Santino Ferrucci – Bommarito Automotive Group 500 – Photo by Karl Zemlin<\/p><\/div>\n

Dallas resident Santino Ferrucci will need to work through the field after qualifying 19th<\/sup> in the 27-car grid in Foyt Racing\u2019s No. 14 Bommarito Automotive Group Chevrolet.<\/p>\n

“I lifted a bit more than I anticipated in (Turn) 1 and it turned really, really well, and I got on the apex curb and got sideways,” said Ferrucci, explaining the three-mph difference between his first and second laps. “I just honestly kept my foot in it, because why not? I’ll either spin or it’s going to work. I feel bad for the team. You know, we’ll be able to make our way through the field, so that’ll at least be fun.”<\/p>\n

Ferrucci recorded a season-best, second-place finish in the series\u2019 most recent race, the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear in Downtown Motown on June 1. Ferrucci finished 3.5931-seconds behind Kirkwood\u2019s No. 27 Siemens AWS Honda.<\/p>\n

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Scott Dixon – Bommarito Automotive Group 500 – Photo by Matt Fraver<\/p><\/div>\n

Two-time WWTR race-winners Scott Dixon (2020 Race 1 and 2023) of Chip Ganassi Racing and pole-sitter Power (2018) are the only former winners entered in tonight\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

Dixon, a six-time series champion from New Zealand, will make his record-extending 347th consecutive start from the 11th<\/sup> position in CGR\u2019s No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. Dixon passed Mario Andretti for the all-time lead in INDYCAR starts with his 408th at IMS on May 25 and will extend his record to 410 tonight.<\/p>\n

In addition, Graham Rahal will make his milestone 300th INDYCAR start from the 22nd<\/sup> position in the No. 15 One Cure Honda fielded by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.<\/p>\n

“The One Cure car isn\u2019t bad, it just doesn\u2019t seem to be tied together (front and back end) and super-fast,\u201d said Rahal, the 11th<\/sup> series driver to reach the 300-starts mark. \u201cWe really need to be flat in Turns 3 and 4; there were little burbles because of the amount of understeer I had. The balance was much more calm than what I had in practice early, I just didn\u2019t maximize it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to get this high-line working. I think it\u2019s critical for the race. We\u2019ll keep working on the car tonight and continue to dial it in.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Dennis Hauger – INDY NXT By Firestone at World Wide Technology Raceway – Photo by James Black<\/p><\/div>\n

INDY NXT by Firestone championship leader Dennis Hauger<\/strong> will start on-pole in his oval racing debut. The sensational series rookie secured P1 for INDYCAR\u2019s developmental series with a two-lap average of 166.162 mph in the No. 28 Nammo car fielded by Andretti Global.<\/p>\n

Hauger\u2019s run to his fourth pole of the season was a track record at 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway, breaking the previous two-lap average of 164.242 mph set last year by series champion Louis Foster. The Brit is now an NTT IndyCar Series regular with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.<\/p>\n

SEE:<\/strong> Qualifying Results<\/a><\/p>\n

Hauger, who has won four of the first five races this season, looked mortal for nearly the first time this season during Saturday\u2019s opening practice. He was fifth in that session, more than 1.6 mph slower on the egg-shaped layout than leader Caio Collet of Brazil.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst time on an oval, and we got the pole,\u201d said Hauger, a 22-year-old native of Norway. \u201cSuper-happy about that. Didn\u2019t really know what to expect, but we got up to speed in practice and we really made improvements for qualifying. Looking forward to seeing how we get on (Sunday). It\u2019s going to be a bit of a different game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 75-lap\/93.75-mile race _ the series\u2019 first of the season on an oval _ is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. (EDT) on FS1, FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network.<\/p>\n

Collet, the 2024 series Rookie of the Year, qualified second at 165.735 mph in the No. 76 HMD Motorsports car. His second lap of 166.341 mph is the one-lap record for INDY NXT at WWTR.<\/p>\n

Salvador de Alba of Mexico will start third after his qualifying performance of 165.223 mph in the No. 27 Grupo Indi machine of Andretti Global. He is joined in Row 2 by series veteran Myles Rowe, who qualified fourth at 165.082 mph in the No. 99 Abel\/Force Indy car.<\/p>\n

Rookie Lochie Hughes of Australia, the only race-winner this season besides Hauger, qualified fifth at 164.350 mph in the No. 26 McGinley Clinic\/USF Pro Championship car of Andretti Global. Josh Pierson filled out Row 3 after qualifying sixth at 163.993 mph in the No. 14 HMD Motorsports car.<\/p>\n

NTT IndyCar Series Point Standings _<\/strong> 1, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 311; 2, Pato O\u2019Ward, Arrow McLaren, 221; 3, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 209; 4, Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren, 205; 5, Will Power, Team Penske, 175; 6, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 175; 7, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 173; 8, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 164; 9, Colton Herta, Andretti Global, 157; 10, Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing, 131;<\/p>\n

11, David Malukas, A.J. Foyt Racing, 126; 12, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 126; 13, Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing, 124; 14, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 118; 15, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 115; 16, Rinus VeeKay, Dale Coyne Racing, 110; 17, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 102; 18, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 97; 19, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 96; 20, Conor Daly, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 96;<\/p>\n

21, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren, 93; 22, Robert Shwartzman, PREMA Racing, 79; 23, Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 78; 24, Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 76; 25, Devlin DeFrancesco, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 71; 26, Callum Ilott, PREMA Racing, 50; 27, Jacob Abel, Dale Coyne Racing, 40; 28, Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 36; 29, Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing, 20; 30, Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, 16;<\/p>\n

31, Jack Harvey, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing\/Cusick Motorsports, 12; 32, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing\/Cusick Motorsports, 10; 33, Kyle Larson, Arrow McLaren with Henrick Motorsports, 6; 34, Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta with Marco & Curb-Agajanian, 5.<\/p>\n

FOX SPORTS\u2019 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES BROADCAST COVERAGE SCHEDULE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sunday, March 2 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)<\/p>\n

Sunday, March 23 _The Thermal Club, Thermal, Calif.  (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)<\/p>\n

Sunday, April 13 _ Streets of Long Beach, Calif. (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)<\/p>\n

Sunday, May 4 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)<\/p>\n

Saturday, May 10 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)<\/p>\n

Sunday, May 25 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)<\/p>\n

Sunday, June 1 _ Streets of Detroit (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)<\/p>\n

Sunday, June 15 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill. (FOX, 8 p.m.)<\/p>\n

Sunday, June 22 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis. (FOX, 1:30 p.m.)<\/p>\n

Sunday, July 6 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington (FOX, 1 p.m.)<\/p>\n

Saturday, July 12 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 1 (FOX, 5 p.m.)<\/p>\n

Sunday, July 13 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 2 (FOX, 1 p.m.)<\/p>\n

Sunday, July 20 _ Streets of Toronto, Canada (FOX, noon)<\/p>\n

Sunday, July 27 _ WeatherTech Raceway, Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif. (FOX, 3 p.m.)<\/p>\n

Sunday, Aug. 10 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway (FOX, 3 p.m.)<\/p>\n

Sunday, Aug. 24 _ The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis. (FOX, 2 p.m.)<\/p>\n

Sunday, Aug. 31 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn. (2:30 p.m.)<\/p>\n

NOTE _ All times Eastern. Dates and times subject to change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Will Power, Team Penske and Chevrolet are poised to end their respective problematic, winless INDYCAR seasons in primetime tonight at World Wide Technology Raceway. Power added to the storied history of Team Penske on Saturday during NTT P1 Award qualifying for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":678,"featured_media":52816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[22,672,96,784],"class_list":["post-52813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indycar","tag-indycar","tag-ntt-indycar-series","tag-will-power","tag-world-wide-technology-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Will-Power-Bommarito-Automotive-Group-500-By_-Chris-Jones_Ref-Image-Without-Watermark_m134390.jpg?fit=1080%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-dJP","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/678"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52813"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52832,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52813\/revisions\/52832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}