On Tuesday, April 14, Chip Ganassi Racing Teams announced their plans for the No. 8 Chevrolet for the rest of the Verizon IndyCar Series season. The entry will be split between Sage Karam and Sebastian Saavedra.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced on Tuesday, April that Oriol Servia will drive a second car for the team in the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500.
While the focus was on Schmidt Peterson Motorsports' pair of drivers being on the podium, Team Penske's Helio Castroneves finished in between them on track, crossing the finish line in the second spot. It marks his second straight top-five to start the year after finishing fourth at St. Petersburg two weeks ago.
It seemed fitting that a race featuring caution after caution would end with a caution, but the final caution that ended the race featured the biggest wreck of the race. It also left Ryan Hunter-Reay and Simon Pagenaud in a disagreement.
Knowing that cautions were running rapid due to wet conditions and the race was coming within the time distance allowed, James Hinchcliffe and his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team played strategy on Sunday afternoon at NOLA Motorsports Park. That strategy would pay off as Hinchcliffe took the victory in the inaugural Grand Prix of Louisiana.
With lightning and rain in the area, Verizon IndyCar Series officials were forced to cancel qualifying for the Grand Prix of Louisiana. As a result, the field was set by entrant points.
In the third and final practice before the Grand Prix of Louisiana, it'd be Scott Dixon topping the charts in his Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon would lap the 2.74-mile, 13-turn road course in one minute and 18.5538 seconds.
In an abbreviated session due to rain, it'd be Will Power topping the speed chart in the second practice for the Grand Prix of Lousiana. Power, who led both practices at St. Petersburg before finishing second, topped the charts with a lap of one minute and 20.1704 seconds.
On Friday, April 10, NOLA Motorsports Park unveiled the trophies that will be given to the top three finishes in the inaugural Grand Prix of Louisiana this weekend.
Following the Team Penske dominance at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, many people predicted that we'd see more of the same this weekend at NOLA Motorsports Park. However, so far it looks as though Chip Ganassi Racing has the upper-hand.
As the Chase begins, two RFK Racing teams will be vying for NASCAR's 2026 crown. Chris Buescher (10th) and Ryan Preece (16th) are both eying their first Cup Series championship.
NASCAR enters The Chase presented by Mobil 1 following a 2026 regular season marked by broad-based growth across nearly every key area of the business.
