SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

Editor-in-Chief's Note: Yesterday's INDYCAR race was the last for NBC Sports, with coverage moving to FOX next year. I think that network did a superb job with its coverage and I really appreciated it. NBC released a farewell video on Sunday narrated by Leigh Diffey. It's well worth your time. Watch it here. 

(Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi and the Ganassi Racing Team celebrate after the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, Sunday, September 15, 2024. Photo by Chris Owens)

Alex Palou joined the immortals of more than a century of North American open-wheel racing Sunday, winning his third NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix Presented by Gainbridge at Nashville Superspeedway. Palou finished 11th in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing DHL Honda, more than enough to clinch his third Astor Challenge Cup in the last four years. His closest title rival, Will Power, went five laps down early in the race due to a disconnected seat belt in the No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Business Chevrolet and finished 24th, eight laps down. “We just had to keep on going,” Palou said of his focus after he learned of Power’s troubles. “I have to thank everyone working on the 10 car. Super proud. It’s been an amazing year, and I’m happy we got the championship back home.” Palou’s list of accolades matches many of the all-time greats of INDYCAR SERIES racing. He became just the 13th driver in history to earn at least three championships and just the seventh to win three titles in four years; Dario Franchitti was the last – also for Chip Ganassi Racing – when he won three straight from 2009-11. Spaniard Palou, 27 years, 5 months, 14 days, became the second-youngest driver to win three INDYCAR SERIES championships. Only Sam Hornish Jr. was younger, 27 years, 2 months, 8 days in 2006. Chip Ganassi Racing also continued its climb into rare air, winning its 16th series championship, including four in the last five seasons. Only Team Penske has more, with 17 titles. Watch the Extended Race Highlights of the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix from Motorsports on NBC here. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)

(Photo of Alex Palou by Joe Skibinski)

(Photo of Colton Herta by Chris Jones)

With the title race all but over just 13 laps into the 206-lap race due to Power’s troubles, Colton Herta hunted down and passed Pato O’Ward on Lap 202 to earn his first career oval victory in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian. Nashville-area resident Herta outraced O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet to victory by 1.8106 seconds and climbed from fourth to a career-best second in the final NTT INDYCAR SERIES standings, 31 points behind champion Palou. It was the first oval victory for the Andretti team since Alexander Rossi won in 2018 at Pocono Raceway. “I’m so happy,” Herta said. “We knew we were going to have a hot rod in the race. It’s been an amazing year. I just saw I finished second in the championship, which is awesome. Hoping to do a little bit better next year.” Nashville-area resident Josef Newgarden finished third in the No. 2 Team Penske Hitachi Astemo Chevrolet. NTT P1 Award winner Kyle Kirkwood was fourth in the No. 27 Andretti Global AutoNation Honda after leading a race-high 67 laps, while Scott McLaughlin rounded out the top five in the No. 3 Team Penske DEX Imaging Chevrolet. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)

(NASCAR.com)

A Round of 16 date at Watkins Glen International didn’t disappoint for Chris Buescher (No. 17 Ford), who bumped past Shane van Gisbergen (No. 16 Chevrolet) in NASCAR Overtime to tally his first road-course victory in the NASCAR Cup Series and, additionally, find Victory Lane for the first time in 2024. Van Gisbergen, Carson Hocevar (No. 77 Chevrolet), Ross Chastain (No. 1 Chevrolet) and Zane Smith (No. 71 Chevrolet) rounded out the top five.Watch the Extended NASCAR Race Highlights from The Glen from Motorsports on NBC here. 

(MediaFormula1.com)

Oscar Piastri (No. 81 McLaren Formula 1 Team) claimed victory at the end of a captivating Azerbaijan Grand Prix, narrowly beating Charles Leclerc (No. 16 Scuderia Ferrari) to the checkered flag in a race-long, multi-car battle on the streets of Baku, as Sergio Perez (No. 11 Oracle Red Bull Racing) and Carlos Sainz (No. 55 Scuderia Ferrari) dramatically crashed out late on. Piastri trailed pole-sitter Leclerc in the early stages of the 51-lap encounter but overhauled him shortly after the front-runners’ sole pit stop phase, with Perez – and eventually Sainz – joining them to make it a tense, four-way scrap for honors. It was Piastri who ultimately came out on top, having expertly defended P1 on several occasions and gained a little bit of breathing space when Leclerc’s tires faded in the closing laps, which pushed the Ferrari into the clutches of Perez and Sainz. Drama ensued at the start of the penultimate lap when a failed pass on Leclerc led to Perez going wheel-to-wheel with Sainz – the pair spectacularly colliding on the run between Turns 2 and 3 and ending their afternoons in the concrete wall. While the race ended under the Virtual Safety Car, there was no stopping the celebrations for McLaren and Piastri, who reflected on “the most stressful afternoon of my life” to bag a second Grand Prix win and helped McLaren move to the top of the constructors’ championship. Behind Piastri and Leclerc, a big winner from the clash between Perez and Sainz was George Russell (No. 63 Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team), who took an unlikely podium, while Lando Norris (No. 4 McLaren Formula 1 team) – on an alternative strategy from P15 – passed title rival Max Verstappen (No. 1 Oracle Red Bull Racing) for P4 late in the race. Watch the Race Highlights here. (Thank you to MediaFormula1.com)

(Photo of Scott McLaughlin at the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 by Chris Jones)

Chevrolet has won the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturer Championship for the third consecutive year. It is the ninth time Chevrolet has captured the coveted award since its return to INDYCAR competition in 2012. “This is a proud moment for everyone at Chevrolet. The effort by GM Motorsports competition engineering and Propulsion engineers, along with our partners at Ilmor, to deliver power and reliability in the Chevy 2.2-liter V6 INDYCAR engine has been outstanding,” said Mark Reuss, GM President. “This Championship is truly a combined effort and could not have been accomplished without the teamwork, preparation, and execution of the five Chevrolet teams: Team Penske, Arrow McLaren, Ed Carpenter Racing, AJ Foyt Racing and Juncos Hollinger Racing. Congratulations to our teams and drivers, and thank you to INDYCAR for providing an incredibly competitive series.” In the 13 seasons of the Chevrolet 2.2-liter V6 twin turbocharged INDYCAR engine, Chevy-powered drivers have won 122 of the 215 races to date. Six of those wins have been in the Indianapolis 500, with Tony Kanaan (2013), Juan Pablo Montoya (2015) Will Power (2018), Simon Pagenaud (2019) and Josef Newgarden (2023 and 2024). In addition to the nine Manufacturer Championships, Chevrolet has won seven driver championships with Ryan Hunter-Reay (2012), Power (2014 and 2022), Scott Dixon (2015), Simon Pagenaud (2016) and Newgarden (2017 and 2019). Previously, Chevrolet competed in Indy-style racing as a manufacturer of V8 engines from 1986-93 and 2002-05, powering 111 wins, one manufacturer championship in 2002, seven Indianapolis 500 wins and six driver championships.

Editor's Note: This is our dearly departed billboard, which we had at Road America for several years. Peter gifted the phrase "America's National Park of Speed" to the track, which now uses it proudly in all of its communications. -WG

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG