Race Weekend Central

Pato O’Ward’s IndyCar Title Chances Disappear in Long Beach

Pato O'Ward in the hairpin at the 2021 Grand Prix of Long Beach

(Photo by James Black/INDYCAR)

LONG BEACH, CA — Pato O’Ward’s 2021 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach was always going to be a mountain to climb if the Mexican racer was going to have a shot at winning the NTT IndyCar Series championship.  However, contact early in the race began a chain of events that culminated in O’Ward’s early …

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Alex Palou Wins 2021 IndyCar Series Championship

Alex Palou celebrates winning the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series championship

(Photo by Chris Owens/INDYCAR)

LONG BEACH, CA — After winning on his Chip Ganassi Racing debut back in April, Alex Palou capped off the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series season by winning his first series championship by finishing fourth in Sunday’s (September 26th) Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. After starting 10th, Palou managed to keep himself out of danger …

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Josef Newgarden Wins Pole at Long Beach, Pato O’Ward Frustrated

Josef Newgarden going around the hairpin at the 2021 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

(Photo by James Black/INDYCAR)

LONG BEACH, CA — Josef Newgarden’s NTT IndyCar Series championship hopes may be remote but they improved ever so slightly as the two-time IndyCar champion managed to secure the 15th IndyCar pole position of his career ahead of Sunday’s (September 26th) Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Newgarden steered No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet around …

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Colton Herta Paces Opening Long Beach Grand Prix Practice

Colton Herta in the hairpin at Long Beach in Friday practice in 2021

(Photo by Chris Jones/INDYCAR)

LONG BEACH, CA — Colton Herta’s bid to win two NTT IndyCar Series races in a row got off to a good start by setting the fastest lap time in the opening practice session for the 2021 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. With the fastest lap of 1 minute, 9.2680 seconds, Herta averaged 102.281 …

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Oliver Askew Driving Like Every Race Could Be His Last

Oliver Askew preparing for the 2021 Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca

(Photo by Joe Skibinski/INDYCAR)

LONG BEACH, CA — Oliver Askew is fighting for his NTT IndyCar Series future. In a three race deal with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, the Jupiter, Florida native will race in Sunday’s (Sept. 26th) Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in an attempt to become a full time IndyCar driver in 2022. “I think right …

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Romain Grosjean Charges to 3rd at Laguna Seca

Romain Grosjean in the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca in 2021

(Photo by Joe Skibinski/INDYCAR)

Romain Grosjean‘s strategy nearly gave the Frenchman his first NTT IndyCar Series win, but the former Formula 1 driver would have to settle for third place in Sunday’s (September 19th) Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca. Starting 13th, Grosjean got to 12th place at the Andretti Hairpin after passing Graham Rahal and then …

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Reconstructing the IndyCar Portland Start Calamity

Felix Rosenqvist, Scott Dixon and Alex Palou in front of the major calamity at Portland

(Photo: Matt Fraver/INDYCAR)

Sunday’s (Sept. 12th) Grand Prix of Portland started the way the last two NTT IndyCar Series races have started at Portland International Raceway: with an incident in the Festival Chicane. With numerous cars having damage from all of the incidents and others scattering all over the place, it’s worth looking at the sequence of events …

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Pato O’Ward Loses IndyCar Points Lead in Portland

Pato O'Ward at Portland

(Photo by Joe Skibinski/INDYCAR)

Pato O’Ward‘s slim lead in the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series standings disappeared after Sunday’s (Sept. 12) Grand Prix of Portland when the Mexican racer finished 14th. Up ahead of him, fellow title rival Alex Palou earned the victory, claiming the points lead in the process. O’Ward started seventh but INDYCAR placed him as the race …

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Techbench Tuesday: IndyCar at Portland International Raceway

Will Power at Portland in 2019

(Photo by Joe Skibinski/INDYCAR)

The NTT IndyCar Series’s west coast swing to close the 2021 season starts this coming Sunday (September 12th) at Portland International Raceway, a 12-turn, 1.967 mile road course near the Columbia River. Portland’s history with IndyCar racing goes back to 1984 when the CART IndyCar World Series raced there for the first time with Al …

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A Deeper Dive Into Romain Grosjean’s Oval Debut

Romain Grosjean at Gateway Joe Skibinski/INDYCAR

(Photo by Joe Skibinski/INDYCAR Media)

Romain Grosjean’s goal of completing all 260 laps came up one lap short at the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at WWT Raceway at Gateway, but the NTT IndyCar Series rookie looked like a series veteran en route to a 14th place finish. Looking a little deeper, that result shouldn’t be surprising. The Formula 1 veteran …

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