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Custom Stickers That Look Painted On
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A Final Word for Ducati Fans
If you’re lucky enough to own the new Ducati Panigale V4 2025, you already have one of the finest motorcycles ever built. But owning a high-performance bike is just part of the experience. Making it your own is where the fun really begins.
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Larson suffered some damage in the pits at Homestead when Josh Berry spun and clipped Larson, then Berry hit Joey Logano. The damage affected the aerodynamics in Larson’s No. 5 Chevy, but Larson and his team persevered, putting him in position to make a late pass for the lead, which he converted into his first win of the season.
“It’s good to get the monkey off my back,” Larson said. “As most drivers know, having a monkey on your back can be a real ‘drag’ aerodynamically.”
2. William Byron:
Byron is second in the Power Rankings after finishing 12th at Homestead as Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman battled for the win.
“Sunday’s race was the ‘Straight Talk Wireless 400,'” Byron said. “If you’re looking for straight talk somewhere else, you surely won’t find it in NASCAR’s rule book, or their vague inspection procedures.”
3. Christopher Bell:
Bell survived a spin on lap 70, but fell a lap down and finished 29th at Homestead.
“Well,” Bell said, “I guess you can’t win ’em all. If you would have told me that a few weeks ago, I would have called you a liar.”
4. Ryan Blaney:
Blaney had the dominant car at Homestead, winning Stage 1 and leading 124 of 267 laps, but couldn’t cash in for the win, as a blown engine late in the race ended his day. He finished 36th.
“That’s two blown engines for me in the last three races,” Blaney said. “If there’s something that needs to be ‘blown up,’ it may be our engine department.”
5. Alex Bowman:
Bowman started on the pole and was seemingly on his way to victory when he skimmed the wall with six laps remaining but is second in this week’s Power Rankings. Kyle Larson pounced on the opportunity, snatched the lead from Bowman, and held on for the win.
“That mistake was totally on me,” Bowman said. “I’m the driver of the car sponsored by Ally, and, ironically, I was my own worst enemy.”
6. Chris Buescher:
Buescher finished sixth at Homestead, posting his fourth top-10 result of the year.
“My No. 17 Ford’s paint scheme featured Farm Rich mozzarella sticks,” Buescher said, “and that’s the closest to Italy most NASCAR fans will get.”
7. Denny Hamlin:
Hamlin started 23rd at Homestead and utilized an astute tire strategy to win Stage 2 and finished fifth in the Straight Talk Wireless 400.
“We debuted the Progressive Insurance sponsorship for the No. 11 Toyota at Homestead,” Hamlin said. “There are a lot of insurance companies out there we could have partnered with, but we decided to go with the ‘Flo’ and chose Progressive.”
8. Tyler Reddick:
Reddick finished eighth in the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead.
“For competition’s sake,” Reddick said, “it was a good thing Ryan Blaney’s engine blew. He was just too good. Blaney’s car was on another planet. I don’t know what planet, but apparently, it was one way hotter than Earth.”
9. Bubba Wallace:
Wallace challenged for the win at Homestead, leading __ laps before eventually finishing third, posting his first top 5 of the season.
“I attributed my car’s speed to the Columbia ‘fish scale’ paint scheme,” Wallace said. “Understandably, my No. 23 Toyota didn’t ‘flounder.'”
10. Chase Elliott:
Elliott faded late and finished 18th at Homestead, and is 10th in the Power Rankings this week.
“There was really nothing about my race to be happy with,” Elliott said. “And I really gave the good people down at the Dawsonville Pool Room nothing to celebrate. That is, unless liver failure is something to celebrate.”
Kyle Larson capitalized on teammate Alex Bowman’s late-race skirmish with the outside wall, cruising to a NASCAR Cup Series victory in the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, March 23.
The 2021 Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led six times for 19 of 267 scheduled laps. In an event where he qualified 14th, he methodically worked his way to the front, notching a top-five result after the first stage period. Despite sustaining minimal left-side damage to his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet entry amid a pit road skirmish with Josh Berry and Joey Logano, Larson continued to race up front and claimed a runner-up result after the second stage period.
After spending a majority of the final stage period racing and jostling amongst his fellow competitors at the front, Larson would find himself racing in second place with 11 laps remaining as he attempted to track down Bowman for the lead. Then after Bowman scrubbed the outside wall entering the frontstretch with seven laps remaining, Larson seized the opportunity. He made his move for the top spot and he rocketed past Bowman to lead with six laps remaining. With clean air and Bowman unable to rebound, Larson both cruised and rim-rode his way around the Homestead circuit smoothly for six final laps. He claimed his first Cup Series victory of the 2025 season and his second in Miami.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Saturday, March 22, Alex Bowman notched his first Cup Series pole this season. His pole-winning lap at 168.845 mph in 31.982 seconds was his sixth career pole. Joining Bowman on the front row was Josh Berry, winner of last weekend’s event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Berry clocked in his best qualifying lap at 168.460 mph in 32.055 seconds.
Prior to the event, Erik Jones dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota entry.
When the green flag waved pole-sitter Alex Bowman rocketed his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet entry ahead from the inside lane. The field fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch while jostling for spots. Bowman proceeded to lead Josh Berry, Noah Gragson and Ryan Blaney through Turns 3 and 4. With the field returning to the frontstretch and still jostling for early spots, Bowman led the first lap.
Over the next four laps, Bowman maintained a steady advantage over a three-car battle for the runner-up spot that involved Blaney, Berry and Gragson. Behind, Chase Briscoe moved into fifth place. William Byron, Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher and AJ Allmendinger followed suit in the top 10, respectively.
Then on the eighth lap, Blaney, who had spent the last handful of laps stalking Bowman, made his move. He went beneath Bowman for the top spot through Turns 3 and 4. Both drivers dueled through the frontstretch. Then, Blaney muscled his No. 12 Dent Wizard Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry ahead entering the first two turns. As Blaney proceeded to lead the Lap 10 mark, Berry joined the battle. He overtook Bowman for the runner-up spot. By then, Briscoe also started to reel in on Gragson for fourth place.
Through the first 15 scheduled laps, Blaney stretched his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds over Berry. Bowman, Briscoe and Gragson followed suit in the top five. Behind, Byron, Cindric, Allmendinger, Wallace and Joey Logano were racing in the top 10 ahead of Chris Buescher, Christopher Bell, Zane Smith, Tyler Reddick and Carson Hocevar. Meanwhile, Chase Elliott, John Hunter Nemechek, Kyle Larson, Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch were mired in the top 20 ahead of Austin Dillon, Justin Haley, Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain and Michael McDowell, respectively.
Ten laps later, Blaney continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by nearly four seconds over Bowman. Behind, Briscoe, who overtook Berry for third place, four laps earlier, retained the spots. Gragson was racing in fifth place while Byron, Cindric, Allmendinger, Wallace and Logano continued to follow suit in the top 10. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin, who qualified in 23rd place, was strapped in 24th place behind Kyle Busch. In addition, Ross Chastain had fallen to 27th place, Erik Jones was mired in 29th place behind Todd Gilliland and Brad Keselowski, who qualified in 32nd place, was racing in 32nd place in front of rookie Shane van Gisbergen.
On Lap 31, a first cycle of green flag pit stops commenced. A bevy of names including Byron, Austin Cindric, Logano, Michael McDowell, Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, Gragson, Reddick and Bell pitted their respective entries. Amid the pit stops, the leader, Blaney, pitted by Lap 34 along with other drivers including Bowman, Wallace and Berry. By Lap 35, a total of 14 competitors had not yet pitted. Zane Smith, who was among those yet to pit, was leading ahead of Larson, Elliott, Ty Gibbs and Austin Dillon, who had also not yet pitted. Meanwhile, Blaney, who had made a pit stop, trailed in 12th place by less than 16 seconds.
By Lap 40, Larson, who assumed the lead from Zane Smith on Lap 37, pitted under green as Blaney cycled back into the lead. By then, Hamlin and Zane Smith, the latter of whom would encounter a pit road penalty, had also pitted. Meanwhile, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who has yet to pit, continued to race on the track in third place and Bowman cycled back into the runner-up spot. Byron and Gragson were racing in the top five. Once Stenhouse pitted before Lap 45, the event’s first green flag pit sequence concluded. The entire field had made at least one pit service.
Just past the Lap 50 mark, Blaney was out in front by more than seven seconds over Bowman while third-place Byron trailed by 13 seconds. Behind, Gragson and Briscoe were racing in the top five while Logano, Allmendinger, Cindric, Wallace and Chris Buescher trailed in the top 10 ahead of Buescher, Reddick, Carson Hocevar, Bell and Justin Haley, respectively.
Ten laps later, Blaney stabilized his large advantage to more than seven seconds over Bowman while Byron, Gragson and Briscoe continued to pursue in the top-five mark. Blaney would proceed to lead by more than nine seconds over Bowman at the Lap 70 mark while the rest of the lead lap field trailed by double digits.
Shortly after, the event’s first caution flew when Bell, who was racing in the top-15 mark, slipped sideways and spun his No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE entry below the track entering the frontstretch. The incident occurred as Bell was racing towards the outside wall entering the frontstretch as he also made minor contact with the inside wall.
During the event’s first caution period, the lead lap field led by Blaney returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Blaney exited first ahead of Bowman, Byron, Gragson, Briscoe, Michael McDowell, Larson, Wallace, Allmendinger and Reddick, respectively.
With five laps remaining in the first stage period, the event restarted under green. At the start, Gragson, who restarted behind Blaney on the second row, stumbled to launch, which caused the field to fan out entering the first two turns. Amid Gragson’s issues, Bowman fended off Blaney for the lead as Gragson went up the track and barely forced Wallace up the track and into the outside wall. With all competitors maintaining race pace and the event restarting under green, Blaney then executed a bold move to slide up in front of Bowman and assume the lead, where he led the following lap.
Then on Lap 76, Larson, who was trying to race his way into the top five, slid up the track and almost made contact with Briscoe entering Turns 3 and 4. With Larson managing to keep his car racing straight, he was locked in a battle with Briscoe as Byron and Allmendinger joined the battle. Meanwhile, Blaney maintained the lead in front of Bowman as Cindric joined the battle for third place.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 80, Blaney notched his second Cup stage victory of the 2025 season. Bowman followed in second place ahead of Briscoe, Larson and Cindric while Byron, Allmendinger, Berry, Gragson and Joey Logano were scored in the top 10, respectively.
Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Blaney returned to pit road for service while Carson Hocevar remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Bowman exited pit road first ahead of Blaney while Byron, Cindric, Allmendinger, Gragson, Larson, Hamlin, Wallace and Buescher followed suit, respectively. Amid the pit stops, trouble ensued as both Berry and Logano spun backwards. The incident occurred after both were exiting their respective stalls before Berry made contact with Larson that bounced Berry into the path of Logano and sent the latter two spinning as both blocked Justin Haley from exiting his pit stall. Both would proceed to return to their respective pit stalls backwards for repairs.
The second stage period started on Lap 88 as Hocevar and Bowan occupied the front row. At the start, Bowman and Hocevar briefly dueled for the lead entering the first two turns before Bowman, who had four fresher tires than Hocevar, used the outside lane to launch ahead and reassume the lead. Hocevar then slipped up the track and lost a bevy of spots on his worn tires, which caused the field to scramble as teammate Byron and Blaney muscled into second and third. As the field fanned out, Bowman led the following lap. By then, Hamlin and Gragson were in the top five while Hocevar retained sixth place.
At the Lap 100 mark, Blaney, who reassumed the lead from Bowman on Lap 94, was leading ahead of Denny Hamlin, the latter of whom overtook Bowman for the runner-up spot. By then, Byron and Bubba Wallace were in the top five while Hocevar, Austin Cindric, Chase Elliott, Gragson and Allmendinger followed suit in the top 10. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson, Briscoe, Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick trailed in the top 15 ahead of Ryan Preece, Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Todd Gilliland and Michael McDowell, respectively.
Fifteen laps later, Blaney extended his advantage to nearly three seconds over Hamlin while Bowman, Byron and Wallace continued to race in the top five. Another two laps later,
Fifteen laps later, 12 by nearly three seconds over 11 with 48, 24 and 23 racing in top five. Another two laps later, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced with various pit strategies being ensued amongst the field. Once Hamlin pitted on Lap 125, Larson cycled his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet entry into the lead. By then, Suarez spun his No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet entry after he locked up his front tires while entering pit road he managed to continue without drawing a caution.
Just past the Lap 130 mark, Blaney, who reassumed lead after Larson, Berry and Logano pitted amid the pit cycle, was leading by two seconds over Byron while Wallace, Bowman and Austin Cindric trailed in the top five. Blaney would continue to lead by more than two seconds over Byron at the Lap 140 mark and he would stabilize his advantage by Lap 150.
Then on Lap 162, Hamlin assumed the lead from Blaney through the frontstretch as the leaders were mired in a bevy of lapped traffic. Despite encountering the lapped traffic that caused the leaders to weave through the slower traffic, Hamlin fended off Larson and Blaney to maintain the top spot.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 165, Hamlin, who inked a new multi-race partnership with Progressive Insurance earlier this week, cycled his way to his first Cup stage victory of the year. Larson followed suit in second ahead of Blaney, Byron and Wallace while Bowman, Cindric, Elliott, Hocevar and Reddick were scored in the top 10, respectively.
Under the stage break, the field pitted and Larson exited pit road first ahead of Hamlin, Byron, Wallace, Bowman, Cindric, Elliott, Reddick, Blaney and Briscoe, respectively.
With 94 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Larson and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out as Larson used the inside lane to muscle ahead of Hamlin. Larson would proceed to lead the following lap and lead with 90 laps remaining. By then, Wallace moved into second place before the latter assumed the lead from Larson exiting the frontstretch with 91 laps remaining.
Down to the final 85 laps of the event, Wallace was leading over Larson, with Hamlin, Blaney and Bowman pursuing in the top five. Meanwhile, Byron, Reddick, Cindric, Allmendinger and Buescher trailed in the top 10.
Ten laps later, Larson started to close in on Wallace for the lead, though the latter maintained a reasonable advantage. Amid Larson’s charge, Wallace led with 70 laps remaining as both Larson and Blaney were closing in.
Then with 60 laps remaining, the caution flew when third-place Blaney, who led a race-high 124 laps, blew an engine amid a heap of smoke through the frontstretch and retired on pit road. During the caution period, the field pitted and Wallace exited pit road first ahead of Larson, Hamlin, Bowman, Reddick, Cindric, Buescher, Briscoe, Byron and Gragson, respectively. Not long after, Byron was sent to the tail end of the field due to being too fast on pit road.
When the race restarted under green with 50 laps remaining, a three-wide action for the lead ensued between Larson, Wallace and Bowman going through the first two turns as Hamlin also tried to join the battle. Wallace would then muscle his No. 23 Columbia Toyota Camry XSE entry ahead entering the backstretch while Bowman, Larson and Hamlin engaged in a three-wide battle for second place. As the field behind jostled and fanned out for late spots, Wallace retained the lead for the following lap.
With 40 laps remaining, Wallace retained the lead by a second over Bowman while Larson, Briscoe and Hamlin trailed in the top five. Despite Bowman’s effort in slowly closing in on Wallace for the lead, Wallace retained the lead by six-tenths of a second with 35 laps remaining.
Then with 33 laps remaining, Bowman side-drafted Wallace entering the backstretch and dueled with him before he slid up in Turns 3 and 4 and assumed the lead with 32 laps remaining. Bowman would slightly grow his lead to half a second over Wallace with 30 laps remaining as Briscoe, Larson and Hamlin followed suit in the top five.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Bowman increased his lead to a second over Wallace. As Briscoe, Larson and Hamlin continued to race in the top five, Buescher, Allmendinger, Reddick, Austin Dillon and Ryan Preece were in the top 10 while Gragson, Logano, Berry and Byron were mired in 13th, 14th, 17th and 18th, respectively.
Five laps later, Bowman stabilized his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Wallace while third-place Briscoe trailed by more than a second. In addition, fourth-place Larson trailed by under two seconds while fifth-place Hamlin trailed by more than five seconds.
Then during the following lap, Larson overtook Briscoe for third place entering the first two turns. Larson would then overtake Wallace for the runner-up spot through the backstretch with 11 laps remaining. As Larson then commenced his charge on teammate Bowman, the latter retained the lead by a second.
With seven to go, Larson, who spent the previous three laps shaving off Bowman’s steady advantage while rim-riding towards the outside wall, capitalized on teammate Bowman scrubbing the outside wall entering the frontstretch to make his move beneath Bowman and assume the lead, where he led with six laps remaining. Larson would proceed to lead by four-tenths of a second over Bowman with five laps remaining while third-place Wallace trailed by more than two seconds.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained in the lead by more than a second over teammate Bowman. With Bowman unable to rally from his late-race scrape into the wall and narrow the gap back between himself and the leader, Larson, who kept rim-riding towards the outside wall, was able to smoothly cycle his way around the Homestead circuit for a final time before he cruised back to the frontstretch and claim his first checkered flag of the 2025 Cup Series season.
With the victory, Larson, who became the fourth different winner through the first six races of the 2025 season, notched his 30th Cup Series career victory in his 372nd series start and became the 30th competitor overall to reach 30 victories in NASCAR’s premier series. In addition, Larson achieved his second Cup victory at Homestead in four seasons and his 24th driving the No. 5 Chevrolet entry for Hendrick Motorsports.
Larson’s Cup victory on Sunday served as a bittersweet moment as the Californian had commenced this weekend by attempting to win all three of NASCAR’s top national touring series events at Homestead. Despite winning the Truck Series event on Friday, his shot of the triple-header sweep was evaporated after he lost Saturday’s Xfinity event during an overtime attempt. Nonetheless, Larson, who earned his Cup victory amid a late-race charge, was still left jubilant on the frontstretch as he celebrated on the frontstretch with his son, Owen.
Photo by Kapil Chaudhari for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“[My last run] was far from perfect,” Larson said on FS1. “I gave up a spot and a half, almost two spots there by getting the wall too many times. I knew I wasn’t going to get the best restart there.” He continued, “I knew I wasn’t good on the short runs and just thought if I could hold off [Hamlin] and [Reddick] behind me, I could get ringing the top, and [Briscoe] too.
“And then, I got in the wall and let him by, but just had to keep plugging away what I know and what’s good for me. Proud of myself, proud of the team. A lot of gritty hard work there today between [the] damage on pit road, qualifying bad, bad restart, all that stuff. Just super pumped. [This is] One of the coolest wins I think in my Cup career just because of all the heartbreak I’ve had here, the heartbreak yesterday and to just keep my head down and keep digging feels really good.”
“I felt like if I could just keep pressure on Alex [Bowman], I would hope that he made a mistake,” Larson added. “He caught the wall there and I got by him easier than I expected to. [I] Still had to work hard, though. My balance, once I got in clean air, was really loose just like those guys were
Meanwhile, Bowman, who led 43 laps from pole position and was searching for his first victory of the year, settled in second place for his first top-five result of the 2025 season. Amid the disappointment of having a victory slip from his grasp due to his late-race contact with the wall, Bowman has finished in the top nine in all but one of his current six races this season.
“I guess I choked that one away, for sure,” Bowman said, “just burnt my stuff up. [I] Saw [Larson] coming, so [I] moved around a little bit. Not when [Larson] passed me, but the time before that, I hit [the wall] pretty hard with the right front and ended up just bending something enough that I lost a lot of right front feel.
“And then, I pulled [the car] off the wall too far right there and hung it in the fence pretty bad. I hate that for this Ally No. 48 group. They deserve better than that and just a couple of mistakes there. [I] Felt like we were OK all day. That last run was probably the best we were, but hats off to Ally and [crew chief] Blake [Harris] and everybody for supporting this No. 48 team. Hate it for Mr. [Rick] Hendrick, congrats to Kyle and we’ll go try to get another one this week.”
Bubba Wallace, who led 56 laps, came home in third place for his first top-five finish of the 2025 season while Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin notched their second top-five finishes of the year by finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.
Chris Buescher, AJ Allmendinger, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece and Justin Haley completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Notably, William Byron, Joey Logano, Erik Jones, Noah Gragson, Josh Berry, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez, Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, rookie Shane van Gisbergen and rookie Riley Herbst finished 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 21st, 22nd, 26th, 29th, 31st, 32nd and 33rd, respectively. In addition, Ryan Blaney settled in 36th place with his second consecutive DNF in recent weeks due to an engine failure.
There were 27 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 27 laps. In addition, 25 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the sixth event of the 2025 Cup Series season, William Byron leads the regular-season standings by 36 points over teammate Kyle Larson, 39 over teammate Alex Bowman, 55 over Tyler Reddick, 58 over Christopher Bell and 63 over teammate Chase Elliott.
Race Results:
1. Kyle Larson, 19 laps led 2. Alex Bowman, 43 laps led 3. Bubba Wallace, 56 laps led 4. Chase Briscoe 5. Denny Hamlin, 15 laps led, Stage 2 winner 6. Chris Buescher 7. AJ Allmendinger 8. Tyler Reddick 9. Ryan Preece 10. Justin Haley 11. Zane Smith, three laps led 12. William Byron, one lap led 13. Austin Dillon 14. Joey Logano 15. Erik Jones 16. Noah Gragson 17. Josh Berry, two laps led 18. Chase Elliott 19. Austin Cindric 20. Michael McDowell 21. Kyle Busch 22. Daniel Suarez 23. John Hunter Nemechek 24. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 25. Ty Gibbs 26. Brad Keselowski, one lap down 27. Ty Dillon, one lap down 28. Cole Custer, one lap down 29. Christopher Bell, one lap down 30. Todd Gilliland, one lap down 31. Ross Chastain, one lap down 32. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap down 33. Riley Herbst, two laps down 34. Cody Ware, two laps down 35. JJ Yeley, four laps down 36. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Engine, 124 laps led, Stage 1 winner 37. Carson Hocevar – OUT, Engine, four laps led
Next on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, for the Cook Out 400. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, March 30, and air at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.
No. 16 Team Capitalizes to Earn Second Consecutive Top 10 Finish in 2025 Season
Lexington, N.C. (March 23, 2025) – After earning a hard fought seventh place finish on Sunday, Allmendinger extended his longest active top 10 finish streak at Homestead-Miami Speedway and now holds the best average finish in the Next-Gen era at the track.
“I thought we had a really solid weekend at Homestead,” said Allmendinger. “We needed a little bit more to go contend in the top five but overall, we had really good speed. I thought Trent [Owens] made some great adjustments after the second stage when we were struggling there just getting too loose. I’m proud to have another good run at Homestead; we had great stops from our pit crew; they were on it all day. It’s really nice to put two top 10s together in a row after the disappointment we had at the start off the year. To come to these races, execute, earn stage points and finish well is really good for us to build momentum.”
In addition to earning their best finish of the season, Allmendinger and the No. 16 team earned their best qualifying effort of 10th this weekend.
“It was a great weekend for us,” said No. 16 crew chief, Trent Owens. “Obviously, AJ’s [Allmendinger] track record here is good, so we had big shoes to fill. He fought hard all day. We got off a little bit there in the middle of the race stage but got it back at the end. It feels really good to see our 16-car come away with two top 10s two weeks in a row. That gives us a little bit of a momentum boost going to Martinsville next week, which isn’t one of our best tracks. I’m really proud of the team, everyone back home and AJ for driving hard, as always. We’ll keep pushing hard to continue improving.”
Capitalizing after last week’s eighth-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Kaulig Racing’s Technical Director, Mike Cook, notes the team’s improvements.
“AJ [Allmendinger] picked up where he left off in Las Vegas,” said Cook. “He was a top 10 car all day there. He qualified well here this weekend and pretty much stayed in the top 10 all day. We will continue to improve as a company and those top 10s will turn into top fives and those top fives will turn into wins.”
Looking at the schedule ahead, Cook continued, “Homestead is one of AJ’s best tracks so we were looking forward to it but that doesn’t mean we can go run well at the tracks coming up, we have them all circled. Really, really good points day for the No. 16 today which is exactly what we needed after the bad luck we had in Daytona and COTA. I’m really proud of all of our guys and all the hard work they’ve put in to get these finishes.”
Allmendinger suffered a blown engine while running eighth in the Daytona 500 and finished 41st, then a tire issue took Allmendinger from forth to 30th in the final laps at COTA. Even with the two catastrophic finishes, Allmendinger finds himself 20th in driver points, just four points from 16th, the final playoff spot.
About Kaulig Racing
Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time, multi-car NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) team, owned by award winning entrepreneur, Matt Kaulig. Established in 2016, Kaulig Racing™ has earned 27 NXS wins, made the NXS Playoffs consecutively each season since the playoff system started, and won two regular-season championships. In 2021, the team competed in select NCS events, before expanding to a two-car, full-time NCS team in 2022 and adding a third, part-time entry during the 2023 season. Since its first NCS start in 2021, the team has earned two wins. Kaulig Racing is currently fielding two full-time entries in the NCS and continues to field three full-time NXS entries. To learn more about the team, visit kauligracing.com.
RICK WARE RACING Straight Talk Wireless 400 Date: March 23, 2025 Event: Straight Talk Wireless 400 (Round 6 of 36) Series: NASCAR Cup Series Location: Homestead-Miami Speedway (1.5-mile oval) Format: 267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/85 laps/102 laps)
Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) Stage 1 Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford) Stage 2 Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
RWR Finish:
● Cody Ware (Started 36th, Finished 34th / Running, completed 265 of 267 laps)
RWR Points:
● Cody Ware (37th with 27 points)
Race Notes:
● Kyle Larson won the Straight Talk Wireless 400 to score his 30th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his second at Homestead. His margin of victory over second-place Alex Bowman was 1.205 seconds.
● There were four caution periods for a total of 27 laps. ● Twenty-five of the 37 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap. ● William Byron remains the championship leader after Homestead with a 36-point advantage over second-place Larson.
Sound Bites:
“The 34th-place finish definitely doesn’t show what we had there at the end. Once we got the car dialed in after Stage 1, I’d say we had a top-20, top-25 car there, for sure. Just could never get our laps back. But Billy (Plourde, crew chief) and the crew did a great job working on the car, making it better, getting it where it needed to be. Unfortunately, we were just fighting from our back foot at that point, but it gives me a little bit of confidence and hope, knowing we’re getting these cars better. Looking forward to re-racking and going to Martinsville.” – Cody Ware, driver of the No. 51 Jacob Construction Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Cook Out 400 on Sunday, March 30 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Josh Berry and the No. 21 DEX Imaging Mustang Dark Horse battled back from an incident on pit road to finish 17th in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Berry started Sunday’s 400 miler from the outside pole and raced in the top five and the top 10 throughout the first 80-lap Stage, finishing that segment of the race in eighth place and earning three Stage points. The pit stop during the Stage break saw Berry collide with other cars on pit road and wind up facing in the wrong direction.
After repairs to the DEX Imaging Mustang Dark Horse he returned to the race in 33rd place, but was able to steadily move forward, breaking back into the top 20 at Lap 110. The team’s strategy of running long almost paid off, but a spin on pit road by Daniel Suarez did not bring out the caution flag that the No. 21 team needed. Berry cycled into the lead at Lap 127 then made his green-flag pit stop.
Back on the track in 28th place he worked his way to 15th by the time the second Stage ended at Lap 165. The DEX Imaging team was unable to significantly advance its position in the third and final segment of the race, and Berry took the checkered flag in 17th place.
“Obviously, the incident on pit road kind of set us back, but our car was pretty decent,” Berry told reporters after the race. “It just wasn’t quite the same after that, but I thought we did a good job of making the most of it. It could have been a lot worse, but obviously we would have liked to have been a little bit better.”
Berry’s finish allowed him to move up one spot in the driver points standings to 12th place heading into next week’s Cook Out 400 at the Wood Brothers’ home track, Martinsville Speedway.
About DEX Imaging DEX Imaging is the digital document imaging division of Staples, the world’s largest business solutions provider. DEX sells and services the broadest selection of copiers, printers and data management solutions, such as HP, Konica Minolta, Canon, Kyocera and numerous others.
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES: Reducing Operating Costs Reducing Paper Consumption Increasing Productivity
DEX Imaging has been the recipient of virtually every industry award since the company’s inception, including the JD Power & Associates Award for Best Customer Experience, the prestigious ProTech Service award by Konica Minolta, the Diamond Premier Dealer Award by Kyocera, and the Elite DEALER Award by ‘ENX’ magazine. Other accolades include being named ‘Best Place to Work’ by numerous business journals in the markets DEX serves.
About Wood Brothers Racing Founded in 1950 by Hall of Famer Glenn Wood in Stuart, Virginia, Wood Brothers Racing holds a special place in NASCAR history as the sport’s longest-running team. Over eight decades, the team has earned 101 victories in the NASCAR Cup Series, along with 120 poles, and remains proud of its longstanding relationship with Ford Motor Company, fielding only Ford products since its inception. Glenn’s brother, Leonard Wood, played a key role in shaping modern racing by developing the techniques behind today’s pit stops. With a rich legacy rooted in innovation and tradition, Wood Brothers Racing continues to honor its heritage while adapting for the future as it competes in NASCAR’s premier series with Josh Berry.
Strong Effort for Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet Team Results in 13th-Place Finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway
Finish: 13th Start: 30th Points: 28th
“We had a solid day with our Bass Pro Shop/Winchester Chevrolet. Our team made a lot of adjustments overnight, which helped a ton, especially at the start of the race. We started deep in the field, but were able to pick cars off early. The balance fired off a little loose. Richard (Boswell, crew chief) made a call to pit halfway through Stage 1 to get tires and work on our car. Our pit crew pulled off clean, fast stops, and gained us track position all day. We consistently ran inside the top-15 for the majority of the race and drove up to seventh towards the end. In the final stretch, I just couldn’t run the wall like I needed to and lost some spots. Finishing 13th after the last couple of weeks feels like a win. Our cars have been fast this year and I’m proud of the work everyone at RCR is putting in.” -Austin Dillon
Kyle Busch and the No. 8 Bank OZK Chevrolet Team Showcase Perseverance at Homestead-Miami Speedway
Finish: 21st Start: 22nd Points: 17th
“Certainly wasn’t the day we were looking for with our Bank OZK Chevrolet. We definitely missed the setup. Randall (Burnett, crew chief) and the guys kept working on it with every stop and we were way better at the end. Appreciate the effort they put into it. We never gave up. We’ll keep working on it.” -Kyle Busch
CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES THE THERMAL CLUB INDYCAR GRAND PRIX THE THERMAL CLUB THERMAL, CALIFORNIA TEAM CHEVY POST RACE RECAP MARCH 23, 2025
PATO O’WARD AND CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD SCORE DOUBLE PODIUM FOR CHEVR0LET Arrow McLaren Duo Continued Successful Weekend with Second and Third Place Finishes
Pole sitter Pato O’Ward driving his No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, led 51 of 65 laps in today’s The Thermal Club Grand Prix for the NTT INDYCAR Series
o With an ambient high temperature of 94 degrees and track temperature in excess of 120 degrees, tire wear for both red and black tires was the determining factor for how the race played out in the final 10 laps of the race with the race winner saving a new set of reds for final stint
o O’Ward sits second in the standings after two races, 39 points behind race winner and points leader Alex Palou
Arrow McLaren teammate Christian Lundgaard behind the wheel of the No. 7 Chevrolet, who started alongside O’Ward finished third to give the team and Chevrolet a double podium in the second race of the season
o Lundgaard now sits fourth in the standings, 42 behind the leader
Chevrolet scored four of the top-nine
· Two-time series champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power, No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet, was the biggest mover in today’s caution-free race driving through the field from 21st starting position to finish sixth
o Power gained 15 positions with performance behind the wheel and the fastest pit crew on pit lane
Alexander Rossi, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, posted a solid top-10 finish in only his second race with the team
Next on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES for Team Chevy is the Streets of Long Beach on April 11-13, 2025.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:
David Malukas, No. 4 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, Finished 18th:
“It was a toTwo-ugh race. We knew it was going to be tough going into it, and it was almost a little bit of a curse, making it to Q2 and using up our reds because to everybody’s [surprise], I guess, we didn’t expect it, but the Reds [alternate tires] ended up being the better tire by quite a big margin. And we only had one new Red set when everybody else had two, and everybody kind of filtered out from there on. So made it to P8 on the new Reds, and from there, it was just survival, holding on. We came out with a P18 in the end. So really rough race. We knew it was going to be tough. Definitely a weekend to forget and move on to Long Beach.”
Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, Finished 14th:
“It was honestly a really good race on our red tire runs. It was a bit of a bummer to lose the hybrid due to heat soak. But I don’t think we were the only one struggling with something like that. Just our prime tire run, we didn’t account for the balance being as badly shifted as it was, and we kind of missed the strategy just a little bit, but overall, it wasn’t a terrible day. Could have been worse.”
“We took a gamble and it didn’t work out for us. We had used our new reds in the start because we didn’t really quite know what the deg was going to be like, the deg profile. The blacks really kind of took a turn in the negative towards the end of the race and that was it. We didn’t really stand a fighting chance. But thanks for all of the fans hanging in there with us. Thanks to you guys for tuning in and hopefully it was somewhat of an entertainment. Long Beach is what’s coming up and hopefully we can have a repeat weekend, maybe even go one better. We have fought for the championship every single year, and that’s where I expect to be. The weekends like this is where every point does count. Every win does count for so much more and we just missed it by that, you definitely feel like you’ve left some points on the table where if we would’ve gone tomorrow, we maybe would’ve done something different. But, yeah, happy with the points day and we’re going to keep pushing. It’s a long, long, long season ahead and the ovals are a different beast as well. We need to be strong everywhere.”
“That was extremely frustrating. I think we had good race pace, but we ended up on the wrong strategy. We did one more stop than everyone else and couldn’t make up that time again. I’m frustrated and disappointed, and I don’t think that’s what this group deserves. I feel like I’ve said that every weekend now and we need to do something to stop feeling that way. Hopefully, we have a better one in Long Beach.”
Christian Lundgaard, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, Finished 3rd:
“I think the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet has done a very good job. The entire team has done a very good job all weekend. We just didn’t have it there. We gave it a shot and came up short, but having two cars on the podium is as well of a day we could’ve wished for coming into Thermal. It’s tough seeing this guy beat us every single event. We’ve got to find a way to stop him. Gotta thank the fans too for sticking in there. It’s a long race, it’s tough.”
Alexander Rossi, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, Finished 9th:
“Ultimately a strong weekend for the ECR Java House team, but still a bit disappointed with P9. We looked like we were on for a Top 5 but some things didn’t quite go our way. Despite that, super proud of all the effort this weekend and we will continue pushing forward in Long Beach.”
Christian Rasmussen, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, Finished 12th:
“We finished P12 from starting P19. It was a good race for us even though we struggled this weekend finding the balance on the primary tire. The No. 21 Splenda Chevrolet crew did an amazing job getting the car in the window which allowed us move forward a bit. We’ll keep building on these results and there is more to come in the future.”
Conor Daly, No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, Finished 16th:
“At the start, we kind of just got boxed in and shoved off track there and we just kinda had to work forward from there on though. But honestly, we had a couple of good passes on track, a couple of good battles and worked our way forwards. We were really fast on reds and had good pits stops, which felt really good, but we just weren’t able to do anything crazy. I would say overall, happy with our pace on reds. We just keep stacking away points and keep getting better one race at a time.”
Sting Ray, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, Finished 23rd:
“Not a super exciting day for us. Being in the race was very fun. Lots of chaos, which welcome to INDYCAR racing. But really surprised the way the tires worked out. I think that having a it be red tire race kind of hurt us quite a bit. Not our cleanest day. Made up a spot on track, so write it up to a good experience. Thanks to the Goodheart Freedom Service Dogs car and all the crew that worked hard this weekend. We made some improvements and learned a lot.”
Robert Shwartzman, No. 83 PREMA Chevrolet, Finished 22nd:
“In the morning, the car felt pretty decent despite very few laps with it. Then, in the race, the first stint was mega. I came from the back towards the mid-pack and was battling with Scott Dixon. Honestly, at that stage, it felt really good and felt like we could challenge for the top 10. Then, again from that moment on, everything just started to fall apart. We came to pit, and we had a really slow pitstop. From then on, on Prime tires, I had zero grip. I don’t understand what was going on. And then at the end, to top it off, I had a hybrid issue. Overall, this is definitely a weekend to forget.”
Callum Ilott, No. 90 PREMA Chevrolet, Finished 26th:
“It was a shame about the contact on lap one. It was just a bit of a concertina, and way, way more damage than it should have been. It was quite costly. Unfortunately we had a bit of an issue in the pitstop with the with the fuel, which didn’t help. We had to do an extra pitstop to recoup that. But the positive was the pace and the car felt good. It’s a shame to have all those issues early on. We’ve got to work through these, there are some lessons for me and some lessons for the team, but the positive was that we had a top 10 pace-car and a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes and there’s been a lot of improvement.”
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet, Finished 13th:
“Just a tough day for us on the No. 2 car. I had more potential, but I probably missed out on the tire game today, not utilizing the reds enough. That’s still a really strong effort from the team to try and make the most of it which I think we did with the 13th place. We can take those points and move forward. It’s a long season, so we had a tough weekend here, and we’ll try and get things turned around in Long Beach and get back towards the front.”
Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet, Finished 27th:
“Not the day we wanted for the XPEL Chevy. Tough weekend all around, really, but I was very confident going into today that we would have good race pace. I’m confident that we could have moved up through the field like Will (Power) and Josef (Newgarden) were able to do. Unfortunately, the issue we had with our MGU (motor generator unit) caused it to go into critical mode and we had to sit on pit lane for several laps while draining the battery and resetting everything. Very thankful that we got a solid finish to start the year at St. Pete. We’ll just go about climbing back out of this points hole.”
Will Power, No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet, Finished 6th:
“Yeah, that’s a big day considering it was full green. They didn’t get any lucky yellows or anything. That was pure pace there. The guys had a great strategy and we had great speed. I was really patient and methodical getting through the field. I think we’re all pretty disappointed with qualifying. I thought we certainly should’ve been in at least the top 10. That’s racing. That’s a good day. You look on those days and that’s the sort of thing that will help you win a championship there. We had an extra set of reds there. It helped, yes. Big time. It was kind of cool because at St. Pete, you didn’t have that luxury because the green was so soft, you couldn’t event use it in the race. But in this race, the (alternate) was the preferred tire. It was just, man, you had one lap to do it. Made a mistake starting the lap. The tire wasn’t quite in and I was disappointed with that because I’d been very fast in practice, running in the top six most of the time. But, you know, this is INDYCAR, anything can happen. Keep your head on and keep rolling.”
THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, as we wrap-up Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix here at beautiful Thermal Club.
Joined now by Pato O’Ward, who led a race-high 51 laps today, his first runner-up finish since Nashville last year. 27th career podium finish. And his teammate Christian Lundgaard, his fourth career podium.
Pato, we’ll begin with you. Your thoughts on a podium and a second-place finish, although I’m sure you are a little disappointed not being on the top step today.
PATO O’WARD: No, it’s all very good points day for the team today. Obviously we were the car that had everything to lose because we were starting on pole. I think we led like 50-something laps.
THE MODERATOR: 51.
PATO O’WARD: 51 laps. It kind of sucks to lose it there in the end.
Yeah, we need to keep pushing. We obviously weren’t perfect. There is obviously something that we could have done better in order to give it more of a proper fight to the 10 car.
Yeah, great weekend all around. Great recovery. Looking forward to Long Beach.
THE MODERATOR: Christian, congratulations on the podium. First one since last May at the IMS road course. You share Pato’s thoughts on a good weekend for Arrow McLaren?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, I think where we were in St. Pete to where we are now, I think it’s a clear step. The 7 car, we had a good weekend. We scored some points in St. Pete coming here. I think overall looking across the three cars, we’re more competitive. Leaving with two podiums, a first and second, qualifying, I think we can be very happy with the weekend.
He keeps beating us every time, so we need to stop that (smiling).
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Pato, on the radio quite a few times you were told that you were not able or not supposed to use hybrid. Can you explain why and if that had an impact on your race?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, for 50% of the race I couldn’t use the thing. Just overheats (smiling), so…
Obviously here it’s probably one of the most helpful areas where the hybrid is of good use because of those very stop-and-go corners and long straightaways.
In race trim, like, if you’re asking me if I would have won that race if I didn’t have those issues, the answer is still no (laughter.
Q. Christian, did you have the same issues with yours?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yes.
Q. Lap traffic an issue either at any point?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yes.
PATO O’WARD: I mean, I hate to whine about it, but it sucks to be the leader. All of our Chevy affiliate teams are worthless with helping when a Chevy leader is coming up on them. Honda seem to work as a team very, very well because Foster was doing everything in his power to keep me behind. Palou gets right behind him, and he just lets him cruise by.
I still think Palou would have gotten us sooner or later. Obviously that just makes it a bit more of an annoyance rather than a joy.
Q. When F1 teams go 1-2, is that any extra motivation, or are you aware of it? Does it change your mindset?
PATO O’WARD: Oh, we’re aware, man. We want to be doing what F1 is currently doing.
I think the fight here in INDYCAR is different, definitely different. I think McLaren right now are leading the way in their situation, and we’re still chasing. We’re still chasing to be the best, so…
We’ll get there.
Q. As far as how much further you have to go to catch, how much further do you feel like you are along now compared to a year ago?
PATO O’WARD: Definitely better. Definitely. I mean, to be fair, this probably was one of the tracks where I personally felt like we really didn’t have a fighting chance. We put two cars on the front row, and we got some hard work today.
Yeah, like Christian said, it just seems like every time someone is winning, it’s always Palou in the 10. He’s obviously figured it out. He’s got a great team behind him. We just need to keep pushing. There’s really not another way.
Q. Christian, probably one of the most exciting portions of the race was when you and Alex were battling for second place. How intense was that from your point of view?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, I mean, I knew I lost that fight. He was out on the sticker set of alternates at the end of the race. I was on a sticker set of primes. I knew he was going to have the advantage.
I knew Pato was five seconds up the road, so I tried to make him lose as much time fairly as possible. We had some fun, but it didn’t really seem to bother him.
Q. When you race a guy like Alex Palou, do you have a lot of trust that he’s going to race you hard, but it’s going to be clean?
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I mean, yeah, it is clean. Don’t get me wrong, there is going to be a point when you’re racing someone that you think is clean isn’t.
But at this point it was, so that was good.
Q. Under these very hot circumstances, the conditions, how difficult was it totally for you? Any dehydration problems? Once Alex Palou passed you both, when he passed you, could you see or recognize some little secrets in the car, why he’s so dominant?
PATO O’WARD: Sticker set of red tires. That was the answer for losing the lead.
And I would say that I have forgotten what you asked first.
Oh, the heat. No, honestly the pace was super slow, the whole pace of the race. We were just kind of out there controlling it really because you’re just taking care of the tires. Physically for me really wasn’t an issue.
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I agree. I agree, so… Simple.
Q. Did you feel like you did everything you could do today and just got beat by the strategy and what they were able to do?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah. I think the team did a phenomenal job in the pits. I mean, the car has been a joy to drive all weekend. In the race, as well.
We ran a red, black, black, black race. I think it should have been a red, red, black, black or any sort of combination with two reds and two blacks. I think we missed it on the 5 car. We can only see why we chose that, try not to make that mistake again.
CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, I mean, I think the car that I had yesterday was potentially a little more preferred for me than today. I think we made some changes going into warm-up that felt nice in warm-up, but it was 40 degrees cooler. We carried those into the race. To me that didn’t really seem to be the preferred.
But I think in terms of strategy, I think we did what we could. I’m still a little doubtful why we went new stickers on the second stint instead of trying to do a little bit like Alex did, but it’s always easy to be smart after the fact.
I think we need to sit down and look at the facts and all the information that we have and come back in Long Beach and learn from those mistakes.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll let you go, Christian and Pato. Thank you.
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THERMAL, Calif. - MARCH 23: Alex Palou (C) sprays champagne in celebration of his victory in the NTT IndyCar Series Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix on March 23, 2025, in Thermal, California. Photo: Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment
With 13 laps to go to go at the Thermal Club, Alex Palou cut the lead to 3.5 seconds. Then, with 12 to go, he cut it to under two seconds. With 11 to go, he pulled up to the rear of Pato O’Ward.
Palou ran down into Turn 7 to overtake O’Ward for the lead with 10 laps to go and drove onto his second straight win to start the 2025 NTT INDYCAR Series season.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “We love this feeling obviously. I think everybody does. We never take anything for granted, at least they don’t, anybody in the team. They just keep on working and giving me better cars and all the tools that I need to try and win and fight for the races.
“It’s been incredible, an incredible weekend with lots of speed and perfect execution on pit stop, strategy. At the beginning starting on used reds, we didn’t know if they were going to make it five laps, 10 or 15.”
O’Ward, who led a race-high of 51 laps, finished runner-up. Christian Lundgaard rounded out the podium in third.
“No, it’s all very good points day for the team today,” O’Ward said. “Obviously we were the car that had everything to lose because we were starting on pole. I think we led like 50-something laps. It kind of sucks to lose it there in the end. Yeah, we need to keep pushing. We obviously weren’t perfect. There is obviously something that we could have done better in order to give it more of a proper fight to the 10 car. Yeah, great weekend all around. Great recovery. Looking forward to Long Beach.”
“Yeah, I think where we were in St. Pete to where we are now, I think it’s a clear step,” Lundgaard said. “The 7 car, we had a good weekend. We scored some points in St. Pete coming here. I think overall looking across the three cars, we’re more competitive. Leaving with two podiums, a first and second, qualifying, I think we can be very happy with the weekend.”
Colton Herta and Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the top five.
Will Power, Marcus Armstrong, Kyle Kirkwood, Alexander Rossi and Scott Dixon rounded out the top 10.
Race summary
O’Ward led the field to green at 3:23 p.m. ET. After three laps, he pulled out to a 2.5-second lead over Lundgaard. After five laps, he extended the lead out to four seconds. Lundgaard started the first cycle of pit stops from second on Lap 10 for new Firestone reds. O’Ward pit from the lead on Lap 17 for new Firestone blacks as Rossi pit from the lead a lap later for used Firestone reds. This cycled O’Ward back to the lead on Lap 19.
O’Ward picked up where he left off in the first run of the race by pulling out to a 3.5-second lead by Lap 25. Josef Newgarden and Dixon kicked off a second round of pit stops on Lap 26. Newgarden took new reds, while Dixon took used reds.
During this cycle, the broadcast feed went out and FOX switched over to NASCAR at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Our INDYCAR production truck has an electrical issue. We are working to get it fixed as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, we have NASCAR bonus coverage on FOX and FS1 until the INDYCAR truck is back online.
The third and final cycle of green flag stops commenced on Lap 45. O’Ward pit from the lead on Lap 49 for blacks. After a five-corner overtake battle with Lundgaard, Palou, on reds, cut bits and chunks out of O’Ward’s lead on the run to the finish.
What else happened
Coming to the green, Devlin DeFrancesco made contact with Scott McLaughlin in Turn 15 and turned him. He received a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact.
Marcus Ericsson went off track and spun out on Lap 16.
Nuts and bolts
The race lasted one hour, 56 minutes and 23 seconds, at an average speed of 102.771 mph. There were five lead changes among three different drivers and zero cautions for the first time in 72 IndyCar races.
Palou leaves with a 39-point lead.
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES returns to action on April 13 on the streets of Long Beach.
Alex Palou once again made the impossible possible, completing a late dash from a nine-second deficit to pass pole sitter Pato O’Ward and drive away to win The Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix on Sunday, staying perfect in two NTT INDYCAR SERIES races this season.
Palou earned his 13th career victory in the No. 10 DHL Honda Chip Ganassi Racing car, beating O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet to the finish by 10.1854 seconds. Christian Lundgaard finished third in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet as the team captured two of the three podium positions for the first time since May 2023.
“What an amazing weekend,” said Palou, who started third. “We had a really fast car since practice, and everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing on the 10 car executed perfectly. We knew it was aggressive to start with the used reds (alternate tires), and we knew that we were looking toward the end of the race with that 10 car, and we did it.”
Two events into the 17-race season, Palou leads second-place O’Ward by 39 points in the championship standings.
“It’s tough seeing this guy beat us all every single event,” Lundgaard said. “We’ve got to find a way to stop him.”
Colton Herta finished fourth in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda fielded by Andretti Global, while Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the top five in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing.
Palou rallied from a nine-second deficit with 15 laps remaining in the 65-lap race, the first caution-free NTT INDYCAR SERIES event since October 2020. He selected the more grippy, faster Firestone Firehawk alternate compound tires during his last pit stop at the end of Lap 49. O’Ward made his final stop at the end of Lap 50, taking Firestone Firehawk primary compound tires.
Three-time and two-time reigning series champion Palou passed O’Ward for good on Lap 56, diving under his rival entering Turn 7 on the abrasive 17-turn, 3.067-mile natural terrain road course. Palou’s superior tire grip allowed him to rocket away from the field. His lead blossomed to three seconds on Lap 58, mushrooming to six seconds by Lap 61.
The winning move was set up by the Chip Ganassi Racing team’s decision to take alternate tires on Palou’s last stop. That helped him pass Lundgaard for second place on Lap 50 – one lap after Palou’s final stop – after a spirited joust over multiple corners.
Then Palou set sail for O’Ward and reeled him in with astonishing pace, pulling to within 4.9 seconds by Lap 52 and 1.3 seconds by Lap 53 as O’Ward coped with slower traffic and less grip from his tires.
“We took a gamble; it didn’t work out for us,” O’Ward said. “We had used our new reds (alternate tires) at the start because we didn’t really quite know what the deg (tire degradation) was going to be like. The blacks (primary tires) really kind of took a turn for the negative at the end of the race, and that was it. We didn’t stand a fighting chance.”
Palou became the first driver to win the first two races of the season since CGR teammate Scott Dixon opened 2020 with three consecutive victories en route to his sixth championship. Palou’s titles have come in 2021, 2023 and 2024.
NTT P1 Award winner O’Ward controlled most of the race from the pole. He led 51 of the first 55 laps, surrendering the top spot only during pit stops.
But O’Ward and 25 other drivers left Southern California empty-handed after another masterpiece of tactics and temerity by Palou and strategist Barry Wanser. In the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding on March 2, Palou and Wanser made the quick shift to alternate tires early in the race and then Palou executed flawless, blazing in and out laps surrounding his last pit stop to ensure victory.
The next race is the 50th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 13 (4:30 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network). A Spanish-language telecast will be available on FOX Deportes.
