MADISON, Ill. — Just as pyrotechnics of fire signaled the start of IndyCar’s annual trek to St. Louis, fireworks under the dark skies marked its conclusion.
With Kyle Kirkwood‘s third victory of the season and Pato O’Ward’s runner-up, Alex Palou running away with the championship is no longer a forgone conclusion. What started as a promising weekend for Team Penske with speed in practice and a pole spiraled into a quagmire by the halfway point. Finally, IndyCar could use more ovals.
Without further ado, here’s The White Zone: Three thoughts from Gateway.
The White Zone: Three thoughts from Gateway
Thought 1: IndyCar has a championship fight again
While Palou finished the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 eighth, he was a non-factor for the first time this season. At one point, he ran a lap down and needed a wave-around to get back on the lead lap. Meanwhile, O’Ward ran top-five for most of this race and came an undercut short of his first victory of the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season.
“The guy has been on a run,” O’Ward said. “He has five wins or something. I’ve got zero wins. I’ve just got a handful of podiums. We need to start racking up some wins, and that’ll make that points count come down a lot faster than what you’re seeing now.
“I feel like we’re just sitting at bay right there just waiting for our run to come, so hopefully that does come to life, and yeah, I think it’s going to be a tight end to the championship.”
Furthermore, with his third win of the season, Kirkwood now throws his hat into the title fight.
“I mean, I’m not surprised of what has transpired with him because — I’m not taking anything away from him, but a lot of the beginning races of the season are races that he was really, really good at in past years, and it’s no surprise that he just pieced them all together and got wins at all the places that he did,” Kirkwood said.
“But I think now we’re getting to a point in the season where these are races that we are very close to them on, and it will be interesting to see how they shake out. Ultimately we’re just going to have to keep doing what we’re doing, trying to win as many races as possible and get as many points as possible, and hopefully that will pan us out into a good position.
“But I can tell you that we’re going to do everything in our effort to claw back at him. It’s still a long ways away. 75 points is deep. That’s almost two races.
“He could still take a little break if he wanted to.”
Of course, Palou leaves World Wide Technology Raceway with a 73-point lead over O’Ward and a 75-point lead over Kirkwood. Come next Sunday at Road America, Palou could make me report myself to Freezing Cold Takes on Twitter.
The White Zone: Three thoughts from Gateway
Thought 2: Disaster night for Team Penske
After coming up 15 seconds short of winning his first 24 Hours of Le Mans, Sunday, Team Penske looked poised to deliver the Captain some great results at World Wide Technology Raceway. After all, Will Power won the pole and Josef Newgarden topped the chart in the first practice session, Saturday.
By halfway, however, Team Penske’s strong run turned into a disaster.
On Lap 47, Power cut a tire, pounded the wall and broke the steering on his No. 12 Chevrolet.
On Lap 130, Louis Foster got into the marbles in Turn 4, hit the wall and spun down the track. Newgarden tried to evade, but hit the inside wall on the frontstretch, launched off Foster’s car and flipped.
And to further rain on the Penske parade, Scott McLaughlin, who led 51 laps, suffered a mechanical failure that knocked him out of the race on Lap 216.
The White Zone: Three thoughts from Gateway
Thought 3: More ovals, please
For four laps after the lap 150 restart, Conor Daly fought tooth and nail for the lead with O’Ward.
IndyCar, give us more ovals, please.
I’m not saying it needs NASCAR levels of ovals, but five is too few. I’ll even throw out some ovals: Texas Motor Speedway, a longtime stalwart on the INDYCAR schedule, and Richmond Raceway, which if not for COVID, might still be on the schedule.
Just some thoughts I had, as the rain turns on and off here at World Wide Technology Raceway.
