{"id":56102,"date":"2026-02-19T18:46:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T00:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=56102"},"modified":"2026-02-19T18:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T00:52:07","slug":"rossi-takes-ecr-to-top-of-indycar-open-test-speed-chart-at-phoenix-raceway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/19\/rossi-takes-ecr-to-top-of-indycar-open-test-speed-chart-at-phoenix-raceway\/","title":{"rendered":"Rossi takes ECR to top of INDYCAR open test speed chart at Phoenix Raceway"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Alexander Rossi topped the speed charts during both sessions on Thursday during Day 2 of the Unser INDYCAR Open Test at Phoenix Raceway. (Photo courtesy of the NTT IndyCar Series)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

Led by Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing muscled-up against open-wheel powerhouses Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing during Day 2 of the Unser INDYCAR Open Test at Phoenix Raceway.<\/p>\n

Rossi led both sessions Wednesday around the 1-mile oval in Avondale, Ariz., including the fastest overall lap. The 2016 Indianapolis 500 champion, Rossi recorded his top lap of 174.542 mph in the No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet during the afternoon session, which started 90 minutes late due to passing sprinkles. Rossi also paced the morning session at 174.444 mph.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got through everything we wanted and when you can do that, it\u2019s a good day,\u201d said Rossi, a 34-year-old native of Nevada City, Calif. \u201cChristian\u2019s (Rasmussen) car is also strong, so there\u2019s nothing more I could ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, ECR landed both of its drivers in the overall top-four. Rasmussen, the 2025 Milwaukee Mile winner, hot-lapped at 173.924 mph in the No. 21 ECR Splenda Stevia Chevrolet _ good for second in the afternoon session behind his teammate.<\/p>\n

Recall that Rossi had placed 10th<\/sup> overall during Tuesday\u2019s opening session at 169.911 mph. Rasmussen, a 25-year-old native of Copenhagen, Denmark, was 14th<\/sup> in that session at 169.507 mph.<\/p>\n

Rossi\u2019s most recent NTT IndyCar Series oval-track victory was recorded in August 2018 on Pocono (Pa.) Raceway\u2019s 2.5-mile \u201cTricky Triangle,\u201d a facility which since has been dropped from the schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a good baseline, and it feels like we\u2019re on top of it,\u201d Rossi said of ECR\u2019s Phoenix setups.<\/p>\n

SEE:\u00a0<\/strong>Morning Session Results<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Afternoon Session Results<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Overall Test Results<\/a><\/p>\n

All 25 drivers expected to compete at the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg street race in Florida on Sunday, March 1, tested both days at Phoenix. The famed desert oval will play host to the NTT IndyCar Series for the first time since 2018 with the Good Ranchers 250 on Saturday, March 7. Round 2 of the expanded 18-race schedule, Saturday\u2019s INDYCAR event will be part of a busy weekend alongside NASCAR, providing a joint showcase of North American racing in partnership with FOX Sports.<\/p>\n

Two-time INDYCAR champion Josef Newgarden exited the test second overall at 174.362 mph in the No. 2 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet, logging his best lap in the morning session. A two-time Indy 500 champion, Newgarden was second-fastest Tuesday at 172.201 mph behind new teammate David Malukas, as 24 drivers posted faster laps on Wednesday compared to Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Malukas, 24, joined Team Penske in the offseason after competing in 2025 for A.J. Foyt Racing. The Chicago-are native continued to flash strong oval-track form by completing the top-five overall at 173.759 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.<\/p>\n

Four-time\/reigning INDYCAR champion Alex Palou of Spain _ whose eight victories in 2025 included the 109th<\/sup> edition of the Indianapolis 500 _ was third overall at 174.220 mph in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.<\/p>\n

Pato O\u2019Ward placed sixth on the overall chart at 173.706 mph after 188 total laps in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. A 26-year-old native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio, Texas, O\u2019Ward won two races en route to a runnerup point finish to Palou in 2025.<\/p>\n

Formula One veteran Mick Schumacher continued to adapt to the nuances of oval-track racing, emerging as fastest rookie over both days. The 26-year-old son of seven-time F1 World Driving Champion Michael Schumacher, Mick notched a top lap of 171.096 mph in the No. 47 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda Wednesday to lead the three-rookie field.<\/p>\n

Schumacher, who placed 18th<\/sup> overall, gained more than seven mph Wednesday, as his top lap Tuesday was 164.006 mph. Schumacher recorded 222 total laps turning exclusively left. Schumacher made his circle-track testing debut on Feb. 4 at the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway.<\/p>\n

Six-time series champion Scott Dixon exited the test in 11th<\/sup> overall at 172.794 mph after 206 total laps in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Dixon, a 45-year-old New Zealander, is set to begin his 26th<\/sup> INDYCAR campaign and 25th<\/sup> with CGR.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think last year was just a bit of a downer year for us,\u201d said Dixon, who trailed Palou and O\u2019Ward in the final point standings. \u201cLots of little mistakes here and there. We had lots of things out of our control, as well. We had a big deep-dive in the off-season, and then there was lots of positives and things that we kind of already knew, and then definitely some bits I could have executed a little bit better on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of things where we gave up a lot of big starting positions on weekends that were looking extremely good. I think just execution and looking at the details a little bit better. There’s a few things engineering-side that we can definitely do better on, as well, for driving style differences and things like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team is strong. The pit crew stays exactly the same as last year. A couple small changes on the stand. Yeah, I’m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dixon won his series titles in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 2020, as well as the Indy 500 in 2008. Dixon won the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio last July 6 to extend his record to 21 consecutive seasons with at least one race victory.\u00a0\u201cDixie\u201d owns the most wins of any active driver with 59 and set the all-time record for series starts (419) in 2025.<\/p>\n

Former Formula One and INDYCAR regular Romain Grosjean placed 19th<\/sup> overall in the No. 18 BMax Honda fielded by Dale Coyne Racing. The 39-year-old Frenchman recorded 181 total laps.<\/p>\n

Dallas resident Santino Ferrucci remained mired at the bottom of the grid. Ferrucci was 24th<\/sup> overall at 169.792 mph Wednesday in the No. 14 Homes For Our Troops Chevrolet fielded by Waller, Texas-based A.J. Foyt Racing. Ferrucci, who ran a total of 121 laps, was 22nd<\/sup> overall at 165.217 mph after 43 laps on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

There was just one incident Wednesday. Marcus Ericsson, the 2022 Indy 500 winner from Sweden, was uninjured 49 minutes into the afternoon session when his No. 28 Delaware Life Honda fielded by Andretti Global did a quarter-spin in Turn 4 and hit the SAFER Barrier with the rear of the car.<\/p>\n

Over two days of testing, 25 drivers turned 4,853 laps. Two-time series champion Will Power of Australia was the workhorse, turning a test-high 259 laps _ more than the race distance March 7 _ as he settles into the No. 26 TWG AI Honda fielded by Andretti Global. Power, the 2018 Indy 500 champion, spent 16 full-time seasons with Team Penske.<\/p>\n

INDYCAR most recently competed at Phoenix Raceway on\u00a0April 7, 2018, an event won by Newgarden. It was the last event contested on the track\u2019s original layout before it was reconfigured _the former Turn 3 is now Turn 1 _ and repaved.<\/p>\n

This test honored the open-wheel legacy of brothers Al and Boby Unser, the natives of Albuquerque, N.M., who combined to win 10 races at the track formerly known as Phoenix International Raceway. Al Unser won a record\u00a0six\u00a0INDYCAR races and added six poles from 1969 to 1985. In addition to his four victories, Bobby Unser registered a track-record 11 poles.<\/p>\n

As noted, the 2026 season will begin on the Streets of St. Pete. Race-day coverage on Sunday, March 1, will begin at noon (ET) on FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX One and the FOX Sports app. Audio coverage will be available via the INDYCAR Radio Network on SiriusXM Channel 218 and the INDYCAR App powered by NTT DATA.<\/p>\n

INDYCAR\u2019s 2026 schedule includes new venues in Arlington, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth market; Markham, Ontario, Canada and Washington, D.C. For information about the series or teams, visit\u00a0www.indycar.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FOX SPORTS\u2019 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES RACE BROADCAST SCHEDULE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Note _ All times Eastern<\/em><\/p>\n

Sunday, March 1 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., Noon<\/p>\n

Saturday, March 7 _ Phoenix Raceway, Avondale, Ariz., 3 p.m.<\/p>\n

Sunday, March 15 _ Streets of Arlington, Texas, 12:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Sunday, March 29 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., 1 p.m.<\/p>\n

Sunday, April 19 _ Streets of Long Beach, Calif., 5:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Saturday, May 9 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course, 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Sunday, May 24 _ 110th<\/sup> Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval, 10 a.m.<\/p>\n

Sunday, May 31 _ Streets of Detroit, 12:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Sunday, June 7 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill., 9 p.m.<\/p>\n

Sunday, June 21 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

Sunday, July 5 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, 12:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Sunday, July 19 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn., TBA<\/p>\n

Sunday, Aug. 9 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway, 4 p.m.<\/p>\n

Sunday, Aug. 16 _ Streets of Markham, Canada, Noon<\/p>\n

Sunday, Aug. 23 _ Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., TBA<\/p>\n

Saturday, Aug. 29 _ The Milwaukee Mile Race 1, West Allis, Wis., 2:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Sunday, Aug. 30 _ The Milwaukee Mile Race 2, West Allis, Wis., 1 p.m.<\/p>\n

Sunday, Sept. 6 _ WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., 2:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Note _ Dates and times subject to change.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Led by Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing muscled-up against open-wheel powerhouses Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing during Day 2 of the Unser INDYCAR Open Test at Phoenix Raceway. Rossi led both sessions Wednesday around the 1-mile oval in Avondale, Ariz., including the fastest overall lap. The 2016 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":678,"featured_media":56105,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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}},"categories":[12],"tags":[243,22,672,395],"class_list":["post-56102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indycar","tag-alexander-rossi","tag-indycar","tag-ntt-indycar-series","tag-phoenix-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/mail-16.jpg?fit=640%2C320&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-eAS","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56102","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=56102"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56107,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56102\/revisions\/56107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}