- Pato O’Ward visiting another oval where the Arrow McLaren driver shines.
- Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin continues to impress at WWT Raceway.
- Race moves to prime-time Sunday night on FOX and looking to replicate record-setting action from last season’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
MADISON, Ill. (June 9, 2025) – The Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline at World Wide Technology Raceway will showcase the NTT INDYCAR SERIES during Sunday night prime-time television on FOX on Father’s Day.
FOX and INDYCAR announced the shift from a Sunday afternoon time slot last month as the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 becomes the first-ever scheduled primetime NTT INDYCAR SERIES race to be held on a Sunday night. It also marks the first scheduled night race at World Wide Technology Raceway since 2019.
The FOX race broadcast will begin at 7 p.m. CT with the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 scheduled for a 7:20 p.m. green flag start.
The Bommarito Automotive Group 500 also will be the first oval race since Alex Palou won the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 25. It is the second of six oval events on the 17-race schedule.
The two-day show opens Saturday with NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice sessions and pole qualifying to set the field. The series begins with a one-hour practice at 10:30 a.m. and follows with qualifying at 2 p.m. The on-track activities close out with a 30-minute practice at 4:45 p.m. and a final one-hour session at 5:30 p.m.
Here are “Five Things To Watch” at the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline:
1- Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward is second in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship standings, but he is still chasing his first win of the season.
O’Ward may not have a victory at World Wide Technology Raceway in six career starts, but he has been outstanding with the exception of last season when a mechanical issue relegated him to a 26th-place finish.
Prior to that, he had reeled off five consecutive top-four finishes, including four visits to the podium. Those podium appearances include three runner-up performances: finishing second to Josef Newgarden in the second race of the 2020 doubleheader and again in ‘21, and then to Scott Dixon in ‘23.
Over O’Ward’s career in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500, he has started among the top five four times and never outside the top eight. He has led in five of the races for a total of 159 laps, including a best of 94 in his first start at WWT Raceway during the 2020 doubleheader.
O’Ward is also coming off a strong oval finish at the Indianapolis 500, where he qualified on the front row (third) and finished third.
2- Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin has developed quite an affinity for this 1.25-mile track since arriving to the series in 2021 from New Zealand with no oval experience.
He has recorded a top-five finish in each of his four visits, with his best overall performance coming in last season’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500. McLaughlin earned the pole position and led 67 laps en route to a runner-up finish.
Previously, he was fourth in his WWT Raceway debut in 2021, landed a podium with a third-place finish in ’22 and followed with a fifth in ’23. He has compiled an impressive 3.5 finishing average.
McLaughlin also has been strong on the qualifying side as well with the exception of starting 11th in 2021. He qualified fourth the next season and then qualified on the pole the last two seasons. In 2024, he actually started 10th due to an engine change penalty of grid positions.
3- Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden has been mired in a first-half slump, but a return to World Wide Technology Raceway could ignite a strong second half.
Newgarden arrives as the defending race winner and the most dominant driver of World Wide Technology Raceway since the NTT INDYCAR SERIES returned in 2017. He won that inaugural race and then captured four of the last five dating to the second race of the 2020 doubleheader. He has led 599 career laps, including 17 or more laps in seven of his nine starts.
The two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion is attempting to rebound from a start that finds him 12th in the championship, 185 back of leader Alex Palou. After finishing third in the season opener at St. Petersburg, Newgarden has only been able to manage a top finish of ninth (Detroit) and has not led a lap during that six-race span.
4- Three-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing brilliantly took care of the slight imperfection on his illustrious resume by securing his first career oval victory in the Indianapolis 500 over Memorial Day weekend.
Given the strides he has made in his last three visits to WWT Raceway, Palou could suddenly be eyeing back-to-back oval victories. He has improved his finishing position each time, finishing ninth in 2022, seventh in ’24 and fourth last season. Interestingly, he has yet to lead a lap at WWT Raceway in six career starts, but that could come to an end very soon as well.
5- World Wide Technology Raceway and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES are hopeful of replicating last season’s thrilling, record-breaking action with a prime-time Sunday night network audience tuning in to FOX.
The 2024 edition of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 established track records with 21 lead changes and 676 passes by the field in the 260-lap event. The 21 lead changes among 11 drivers easily topped the previous-best mark of 13 (2019 and ’22). Five of the 11 drivers led double-digit laps.
Of the total passes, 254 were for position with 115 coming inside the top 10 and 44 inside the top five.
