TWO TOYOTA TOP-10s AT CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS Taylor Gray, William Sawalich Score Top-10s in First Road Course Race of Season
AUSTIN (March 1, 2025) – Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Taylor Gray (seventh) and William Sawalich (ninth) earned top 10 finishes in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Circuit of the Americas (COTA).
Corey Heim ran among the top five during the first two stages of the race before contact with a fellow competitor sent his Sam Hunt Racing No. 24 Toyota GR Supra spinning, and he went on to finish 31st in Saturday’s 156-mile Xfinity Series race.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) Circuit of the Americas Race 3 of 33 – 156 miles, 65 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Connor Zilisch* 2nd, William Byron* 3rd, Sam Mayer* 4th, Austin Hill* 5th, Christian Eckes* 7th, TAYLOR GRAY 9th, WILLIAM SAWALICH 13th, RILEY HERBST 18th, DEAN THOMPSON 30th, BRANDON JONES 31st, COREY HEIM 34th, SAGE KARAM *non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
TAYLOR GRAY, No. 54 Operation 300 Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 7th
“I feel like we really struggled the first three quarters of the race just being really tight everywhere and just kept working all day. I can’t thank my Joe Gibbs Racing guys enough. They kept working on the Operation 300 Toyota GR Supra all day and we never gave up. I feel like we got the car okay there at the end and unfortunately, we got in a little bit of a tight fuel spot and started having to save quite a bit of fuel and gave up quite a bit of track position there. And, then whenever I’d go to take back off, I just didn’t really have any rear grip to support me in going fast. Again, I can’t thank my Joe Gibbs Racing guys enough. Just gotta regroup and refocus toward Phoenix and get after it.”
WILLIAM SAWALICH, No. 18 Starkey Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
How was your race today?
“It was pretty good. We had a good Starkey GR Supra today. It was as fast as Xfinity Mobile so I really can’t thank the JGR guys enough on the No. 18 team. We had four total tires fall apart during the first and second stage so that set us back a little bit, but we regained our ground through a little bit of strategy, and they put me in position to get a good top-10 and a solid finish at the end.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 49 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In spring 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 31 electrified options.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Saturday, March 1, 2025) – On Friday afternoon, Scott McLaughlin’s race car was in the paddock, the front end in tatters after he crashed during practice for the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
Fast-forward 24 hours, and McLaughlin was holding the NTT P1 Award.
McLaughlin earned the 11th pole of his career during Firestone Fast Six qualifying Saturday, turning a top lap of 59.4624 seconds in the No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet. He won this race from the pole in 2022, the first victory and No. 1 qualifying spot of his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career. The pole marked Team Penske’s 699th pole position across all motorsports series and the 70th Team Penske pole for McLaughlin across his career with the team.
“Huge amount of respect; we have so much trust in each other, and they trusted I could do the job today,” McLaughlin said. “The guys and girls on this team, they’re stars. I had to repay them. I made a little silly mistake there, and I was glad to come back with them.
“I just wanted to get pole first race of the year. Good vibes. It’s just great vibes – immaculate vibes, we like to say. I’m very excited.”
The 100-lap race starts at noon ET Sunday on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary circuit (FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network). A 30-minute warmup begins at 9 a.m. ET (FS2, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
2021 St. Petersburg winner Colton Herta will share the front row with McLaughlin, qualifying second at 59.6393 seconds in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global.
Meyer Shank Racing produced one of its best days in team history, locking out the second row as the only team to place two drivers in the Firestone Fast Six. Felix Rosenqvist qualified third at 59.6989 in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda, followed by new teammate Marcus Armstrong at 59.8278 in the No. 66 SiriusXM/Root Insurance Honda.
Christian Lundgaard got off to a good start in his first race with Arrow McLaren, qualifying fifth at 59.8663 in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Scott Dixon rounded out the Firestone Fast Six at 59.9216 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
The thrilling Firestone Fast Six session featured the pole exchanging hands twice in the last minute. Rosenqvist was on pole with one minute to go before Herta snatched the top spot with 30 seconds remaining. Then McLaughlin came through with his pole run on his final lap, with mere seconds to spare on the session clock.
There was just as much drama in the first two rounds of qualifying, as a number of high-profile drivers failed to advance. Two-time St. Petersburg winner Josef Newgarden was eliminated in the round of 12 and will start 10th in his No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. Two-time reigning series champion Alex Palou also was ousted in the second round and will start eighth in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Eliminated in the first round were two-time series champion Will Power, who has won the pole nine times in the last 15 years at this race, and defending race winner Pato O’Ward. Power will start 13th in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, while O’Ward will take the green flag from the 23rd starting spot in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
#60: Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing Honda
February 27-March 2, 2025
Saint Petersbury, FL
IndyCar Grand Prix of Saint Petersburg
Photo: Rick Dole/StillHouse
Meyer Shank Racing only team to have both team cars in the Firestone Fast Six
St. Petersburg, Fla. (1 March 2025) – Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) opened the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season with a strong qualifying performance, as Felix Rosenqvist put the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda third on the grid, with teammate Marcus Armstrong securing fourth place in the No. 66 SiriusXM / Root Insurance Honda for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (12:00pm ET, FOX, SiriusXM Channel 218).
The qualifying effort marked the sixth time that MSR has had two of its cars qualify in the top six in the last two INDYCAR seasons.
Rosenqvist continued to showcase his speed on the tight and technical 1.8-mile, 14-turn street course, advancing through all three rounds of qualifying before locking in his third-place starting position. The sophomore MSR driver, once again showcased his speed around the St. Petersburg road course after qualifying second in last year’s race, missing out on the pole by just six one-thousandths of a second.
Armstrong impressed in his MSR debut, delivering a career-best INDYCAR street course qualifying result with fourth place. The young Kiwi demonstrated rapid adaptation to his new team and machinery, making a statement in his first race with MSR by earning a spot on the second row.
Sunday’s 100-lap Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will air live on FOX starting at 12:00pm ET, with SiriusXM also carrying INDYCAR Radio coverage on SiriusXM Channel 218.
Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:
Felix Rosenqvist: “Great qualifying for us, P3. I don’t know if I could have gotten the pole, but it’s a really exciting day for Meyer Shank Racing with us qualifying P3 and P4. We have Shinedown on the car this weekend which was one of my favorite bands growing up. But it was a hell of a start to the season for us.”
Marcus Armstrong: “There was more available for us today, but I’m happy to be inside the Top 6 in my first weekend in the No. 66 SiriusXM / Root Insurance Honda. We left a little bit on the table, but it’s okay because we get to fight for it from this position. The alternate tire is extremely soft, it looks like it could be around five laps and you might start thinking about changing them straight away. We will see how it goes, but we will be pushing tomorrow.”
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - MARCH 1: Scott McLaughlin, driver of the #3 Team Penske Chevrolet, poses with the P1 sticker after winning the pole for the NTT INDYCAR Series Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 1, 2025, in St. Petersburg, Florida. Photo: Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — What a difference a day makes.
A day after destroying the front of his car in practice, Scott McLaughlin wins the pole for the NTT INDYCAR Series’ Firestone Grand Prix, on Sunday. The driver of the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet clocked in the fastest lap of the entire session at a time of 59.462.
It’s the 11th career INDYCAR pole for the New Zealand native, 12th for Team Penske on the streets of St. Petersburg and McLaughlin’s first pole as a dad.
Colton Herta clocked in second at a time of 59.639. Felix Rosenqvist clocked in third at 59.699. Marcus Armstrong placed fourth at 59.828. Christian Lundgaard came home fifth at 59.866 and Scott Dixon rounded out the Firestone Fast 6 at 59.922.
Second round
Herta, on used Firestone reds, clocked in to open the second round at 1:00.564, a second slower than he went in Round 1. With four minutes to go, Lundgaard timed in at 1:00.070. With 90 seconds left, Marcus Ericsson clocked in a lap of 1:00.003.
In the final minute, Herta ran the fastest lap of Round 2 at 59.545. He, Lundgaard, Armstrong, Dixon, Rosenqvist and McLaughlin advanced to the Firestone Fast 6.
Nobody in Round 2 ran a sub one-minute lap until the final minute of the round.
First round
Group 1
For most of the session, Kyffin Simpson held the top spot with a time of 1:00.104, on Firestone reds. Josef Newgarden usurped him with roughly four and a half minutes to run with a lap of 59.721, also on Firestone reds. With less than a minute to run, Nolan Siegel jumped to the top with a lap of 59.625.
McLaughlin ended the session on top with a lap of 59.469. Herta, Siegel, Newgarden, Lundgaard and Rinus VeeKay advanced with him to the second round.
Everybody turned their fastest lap on Firestone reds, and the first seven cars posted a sub one-minute lap.
Group 2
Dixon clocked in the fastest lap to open Group 2 with a time of 1:01.396, on Firestone blacks. Louis Foster, on Firestone reds, turned in a lap of 1:00.456. Devlin DeFrancesco clocked in at 1:00.168.
Dixon, on Firestone reds, clocked in a lap of 59.841. With a minute left, Alex Palou timed in the fastest lap of Group 2 at 59.600. Along with him advanced Dixon, Rosenqvist, Ericsson, Armstrong and Kyle Kirkwood.
Only four drivers in Group 2 posted a sub one-minute lap.
Photo Courtesy of NASCAR at COTA and Harold Hinson Photography
AUSTIN, Texas (March 1, 2025) – Tyler Reddick blistered the 2.4-mile National Course during qualifying for Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), posting a lap time of 98.076 seconds at 88.095 mph to claim the pole. With the lap, the Corning, Calif. native also showed the way for his teammate, Bubba Wallace, who posted his best qualifying effort since Darlington last season and will start alongside Reddick in an all-Toyota front row.
“All in all, it felt like it was hard for anybody today to have the perfect lap,” Reddick said. “We hit the right areas to put together a good lap. We were able to hang on to it throughout the whole session.”
The triumph marked Reddick’s 10th pole in 185 NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) starts and his second at COTA.
Reddick said managing tire falloff will be key to repeating the success he found in 2023, when he won the event.
“It’s a lot more than we’ve had here in the past,” he said. “It really does go away and it goes away quick. That will be important tomorrow. Taking care of the tires, staying up front does help. We were not where we wanted to be in the first practice. The team worked really, really hard today to find some handling, find some speed.”
Wallace, who’s previous best start at COTA was 10th last season, was chasing Reddick through the 17-turn circuit during qualifying, nearly catching him in a couple of spots.
“He slowed me up, for sure,” Wallace joked after qualifying. “I thought I slowed him up, just being that close. It all worked out – a good one-two start for our team.”
Chase Elliott, who won the inaugural EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix in 2021, Carson Hocevar and Daniel Suarez round out the top five. Road course ringers Shane van Gisbergen and AJ Allmendinger start sixth and 12th respectively, while 18-year-old Connor Zilisch, making his NCS debut, starts 14th.
EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix action continues at 2:30 p.m. CT Sunday with the first-ever running on the new National Course.
Fuel Issues Spark Wild Finish in IMSA’s VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Race 1:
In a shocking finish to the first of two 45-minute IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge races, Canadian Jonathan Woolridge collected his second career victory in the series as the cars running first and second ran out of fuel coming to the white flag.
Woolridge trailed race-leading teammates Oscar Tunjo and Valentino Catalano by more than a minute on the second-to-last lap. Tunjo, who started the race from the pole position, led most of the race until Catalano took over out front with just over six minutes remaining.
The two ran nose-to-tail before Tunjo briefly claimed the lead from Catalano with 1:40 left on the clock. Seconds later, both cars ran out of fuel and slowed to a stop on course.
That opened the door for Woolridge to take the white flag as the new leader, and 2.4 miles later, he claimed the victory, his first since winning at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2023.
“I was a little surprised coming around the carousel there and finding those two parked there,” Woolridge said. “But I feel like that’s racing. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don’t and today we got lucky.”
Brian Thienes finished second in the P3 class and won the Bronze Cup race. Mirco Schultis rounded out the P3 podium with a third-place.
Full Recap of IMSA Race One Action from Saturday at COTA.
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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Saturday, March 1, 2025) – Dennis Hauger continued his strong first weekend in INDY NXT by Firestone, winning the pole for the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Saturday with a track-record lap for the INDYCAR development series.
Hauger turned a top lap of 1 minute, 3.8801 seconds in the No. 28 Rental Group car fielded by Andretti Global to earn the top spot in his series debut. The 45-lap race on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit starts at 10 a.m. ET Sunday, with live coverage on FS1, the FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
SEE: Qualifying Results
“The team did a great job getting a good car for qualifying,” Hauger said. “We did the job. I’ll take that. Overall, I think there was a bit more in there for me, but it’s the first race weekend. We’re getting up to speed. Happy overall.”
Hauger’s top lap in the first of two qualifying groups broke the INDY NXT track record of 1:04.5759 set by Nolan Siegel last year before he climbed to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES with Arrow McLaren. Hauger also led practice Friday and was second in the pre-qualifying session this morning.
A climb to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES also is Hauger’s goal. The Norwegian joins INDY NXT by Firestone this season after winning the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2021 and earning five wins and 13 podium finishes in FIA Formula 2 – the last official ladder step before Formula One – in the last three seasons.
2024 USF Pro 2000 champion Lochie Hughes locked out the front row for Andretti Global by qualifying second at 1:04.0209 for his series debut in the No. 26 McGinley Clinic/USF Pro Championship machine.
Caio Collet, the top returning driver to the series this season, qualified third at 1:04.3851 in the No. 76 HMD Motorsports car. Fellow series veteran Myles Rowe will join Collet in the second row after qualifying fourth at 1:04.2053 in the No. 99 Abel Motorsports/Force Indy car.
Rookie Liam Sceats qualified fifth at 1:04.5451 in the No. 30 HMD Motorsports car. Jack William Miller will start sixth in the No. 40 Abel/Miller/Vinatieri Motorsports car after his best lap of 1:04.3300.
Toyota GAZOO Racing – Tyler Reddick NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
AUSTIN (March 1, 2025) – 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick was made available to the media after winning the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas.
TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 The Beast Unleashed Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
Can you take us through your lap?
“Yeah, all in all it felt like it was hard for anybody in the field today to have a perfect lap. Certainly, it wasn’t that for me but hit the right areas that matter the most. Fortunately, put together a pretty good lap that was able to hold on there. Certainly, didn’t know the 9 (Chase Elliott) and some of the other cars, the capability of re-running a good time and what that was going to look like. All in all, we had a really good lap, and we were able to hang onto it throughout the whole session. “
How noticeable was the fall off of the new tire compound from your perspective?
“Yeah, it’s a lot more than I feel like we’ve had here in the past. Even last year’s tire was a good step to help that. Yeah, it really does go away, and it goes away quick. That will be a handful tomorrow. Qualifying is important, but one lap speed is not really going to be something that I feel like is going to matter much in the race. Obviously with the tire fall off and taking care of the tires starting upfront does help. You’re not having to push through the field to try to get to where you’re going to run for the day. We’re going to look back at just some of the things we did during practice. It felt like on our end, we were not where we wanted to be the first practice and starting off the second practice, I think around a lap and a half I said we’ve got to change a lot. And we made it a lot better. I’m proud of everybody on this Beast Camry. They worked really, really hard today to find some handling, find some speed. It’s nice to get poles, it’s nice to have good days but for us something that has been happening more times than not recently is having a day that starts off not well and being able to fight your way through it and make it better by the time the day ends. Those kinds of days have been fun. We’ve had a couple of those already this year for sure.”
Were you watching your mirrors at all when Bubba Wallace went out nearby you?
“I was but not in areas that would take away from my lap. I remember going into (turn) 1 and I’m like, ‘Dang, I wish he would’ve gapped himself a little bit more,’ because I felt like I was messing his lap up for sure. Talking to him after the fact, his focus was to go out and follow me and kind of see what I was going to do and try to mimic it. Certainly, he’s on the path to getting better at the road courses. He’s learning and if he keeps it up here soon, I’ll be having to try to battle him head-to-head for these poles. It’s been really nice to see his growth and him improve and embrace the way we have to do things and how we learn through our simulator program at Airspeed and in Salisbury. It’s just been nice to see those gains happen. Riley (Herbst) is going to go through the same process, and he’s going to learn and get better as well.”
Were you trying to be the ghost car for Riley Herbst or were you trying to improve your lap?
“I was trying to improve, yes. But, I mean, it kind of just worked out that way where I gave Riley (Herbst) a ghost car. I didn’t get to see how it really helped him or not. For myself, I felt like I left a little bit on the table, and I wanted to give it a shot at improving. Obviously, we didn’t, but I still think we learned some things from the re-run even though we didn’t go faster that can help us maybe tomorrow or the maybe the next road course qualifying session that we have.”
Are you expecting dive bombs in turn 6A during the race and is that tire pack coming right at you?
“Oh no. It’s not that bad at all. If it was shaped like that, yeah, we’d be heading right towards it but you kind of come out of 6 and straight shot into 6A. It’s honestly kind of fun playing the game of how close you can get to the tire pack before you can hit it. Haven’t got it yet, so hopefully I don’t the rest of the weekend.”
How do you prepare for that turn and do you expect dive bombs during the race?
“We’ll see. I think today will be very telling of what that’s going to look like in the Xfinity race later. I think you just have to be ready for someone to make a move anywhere around this race track. Today there were sports cars racing a little bit earlier – the sports car challenge was out there a little earlier today. I didn’t get to catch a lot of that as we were going over some things for practice. This layout is fairly new. I don’t know if there’s a lot of races that have been done on it. I think everybody is going to be learning. The Xfinity cars are going to go out there and race, and the Cup guys are going to watch that and observe and see what that looks like and how that move looks. I think it’s definitely a place where it’s going to be really hard for the car on the outside to win. If you end up on the outside of (turn) 6A or B with the double left. We’ll see.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 49 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In spring 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 31 electrified options.
Tyler Reddick led a historic front-row sweep for 23XI Racing at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) by capturing the Busch Light Pole Award for the fifth annual running of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on Saturday, March 1.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a single qualifying round, where the entered competitors were split into two groups, Group A and Group B, after the event’s two practice sessions. The competitors in each group were given 20 minutes to post a qualifying lap. After the time trials, the driver posting the overall fastest lap time is awarded the pole position.
Reddick, who qualified in Group B, navigated his No. 45 The Beast Toyota Camry XSE entry around COTA’s new 17-turn layout to a pole-winning lap at 88.095 mph in 98.076 seconds, which was enough to claim the top-starting spot over his 23XI Racing teammate, Bubba Wallace, as both performed their respective qualifying laps at the exact time while racing within reach of one another.
As a result, Reddick, a two-time Xfinity Series champion from Corning, California, notched his 10th NASCAR Cup Series career pole, his fourth on a road-course venue, his second at COTA and the first of the 2025 season for both himself and 23XI Racing. Ironically, Reddick achieved the Cup Series’ first pole at COTA in 2021 and he would capture his first race victory driving for 23XI Racing in 2023.
After being the 16th fastest during both of the event’s practice sessions earlier on Saturday, Reddick was pleased with the pace gained during his qualifying session which enabled him to claim the pole as he will lead the field to the start of Sunday’s main event.
“I think today, it threw [the team] for a loop,” Reddick said on Prime Video. “The pace was nowhere what we thought it was going to be. Everybody here on this No. 45 [team] and everyone here at 23XI [Racing] really had to go to work on our Toyota Camrys. We made massive improvements from practice 1 to practice 2. Obviously, we didn’t have the fire-off lap we were wanting and then, we’re gonna have to go out [to the track] and find it right away. Just really glad today went like it did. It’s gonna be a great track position for us tomorrow.”
AUSTIN, TEXAS – MARCH 01: Tyler Reddick, driver of the #45 The Beast Toyota, poses for photos after winning the pole award during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on March 01, 2025 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images).
Reddick will share the front row with teammate Bubba Wallace, the latter of whom clocked in his best qualifying lap at 87.894 mph in 98.300 seconds. As a result, both of the latter two competitors notched the first front-row sweep for 23XI Racing for an upcoming Cup Series event.
The second-place starting spot marks Wallace’s current best of the 2025 season and his second top-three starting spot achieved after he started in third place during this year’s 67th running of the Daytona 500 due to winning the first Daytona Duel event in February. Compared to Reddick, the Mobile, Alabama native’s best result at COTA is 15th place, which occurred during the 2024 event. After sustaining DNFs during his first three trips in Austin between 2021 to 2023, Wallace will attempt to bid for his first road-course victory for Sunday’s main event.
Like Reddick, Wallace was also pleased with the pace gained in comparison to the event’s two practice sessions, where he ranged within the top-20 mark, to launch himself to a front-row starting spot.
“When we come to the road course races, I think everybody on the Toyota camp leans on Tyler [Reddick],” Wallace said. “He does a great job of giving us the right information to chase, sometimes. I was way out in left field in practice, so we made some big gains on our Mobil 1 Toyota. Now, tomorrow’s a different pace for me, the racing and being aggressive and staying up front. That’ll be the new challenge, but all in all, just continuing to get speed and getting more comfortable on these types of places, it’s what it’s all about. [It’s] All about the men and women at 23XI Racing.”
Chase Elliott, winner of the inaugural COTA event in 2021, leaped his way to being the third-fastest competitor on the final qualifying chart with his best lap occurring at 87.842 mph in 98.358 seconds. Carson Hocevar, who is coming off a career-best second-place result from Atlanta Motor Speedway, qualified in fourth place with his best lap occurring at 87.758 mph in 98.453 seconds while Daniel Suarez, who was the fastest competitor during Group A, claimed the fifth-starting spot with his best lap occurring at 87.732 mph in 98.482 seconds.
Rookie Shane van Gisbergen, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain and Todd Gilliland rounded out the top-10 starting spots.
The following names that include Denny Hamlin, AJ Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Michael McDowell, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Erik Jones and Austin Cindric qualified 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 21st, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 32nd and 36th, respectively.
Notably, Connor Zilisch qualified in 14th place for his Cup Series debut. In addition, rookie Riley Herbst, who was initially the fastest qualifier until he was penalized for cutting the course, will start in 31st place after he made a second qualifying attempt.
With 37 competitors vying for 37 starting spots, all of the competitors made the main event.
Qualifying position, best speed, best time:
1. Tyler Reddick, 88.095 mph, 98.076 seconds
2. Bubba Wallace, 87.894 mph, 98.30 seconds
3. Chase Elliott, 87.842 mph, 98.358 seconds
4. Carson Hocevar, 87.758 mph, 98.453 seconds
5. Daniel Suarez, 87.732 mph, 98.482 seconds
6. Shane van Gisbergen, 87.699 mph, 98.519 seconds
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - FEBRUARY 28: Rinus VeeKay, driver of the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda during first practice for the 2025 Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg presented by RP Funding on Feb. 28, 2025, in St. Petersburg, Florida. Photo: Travis Hinkle/IMS Photo
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A little more than two weeks ago, Rinus VeeKay didn’t have a ride for the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. While he was in talks since October of 2024, he grew worried as time passed with no deal in place.
“I mean, seasons approaching, you’re getting closer,” he said. “You got some demons in your head, you know?”
Friday, he arrived at the Mahaffey Theater sporting a grey Dale Coyne Racing shirt, “just going into it head first.”
“The engineers and I, you know, they do what I what I ask and what I need from the car they give me,” he said. “So I think it’s a very straightforward way of engineering. You know, it’s very simple and very effective.”
So what are the goals for a driver who’s in the midst of a four-year winless drought in the NTT INDYCAR Series? It’s hard to say, because he doesn’t know what to expect from his new team.
“I think nobody really knows what to expect,” he said. “You can really work off what they did last year with nine drivers. But I think for this weekend, we can, we have legitimate shots at top 10. I think for the championship, a safe goal, a realistic goal, I think is top 16 is a great job for them as a team, but it might change. It might go to towards the top 10 or top 12 in a championship.”
VeeKay got off to a rough start with Dale Coyne Racing. In Sebring testing on February 17, he clocked in 23rd out of 27. Furthermore, he timed in 25th in first practice for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Friday.
He ended second practice, however, second fastest.
Toyota GAZOO Racing – Christopher Bell NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
AUSTIN (March 1, 2025) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at the Circuit of the Americas.
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Are there concerns for any potential trouble spots on this circuit?
“I don’t know. I think the trouble spots are always going to be turn 1 on the restarts. But with the new restart zone that they implemented it seemed like that helped that out a lot. As a racer I want it to be a little bit more straight forward and a little bit less trouble spots. We don’t know how 6B and 6A are going to race yet. I think that could be like – it kind of reminds me of that section at Chicago – maybe (turn) 5 where it’s really tight back through there and we saw a bunch of pile ups and the track can get blocked. So maybe that could happen. But turn 1, with it being the biggest brake zone I think that’s going to be the biggest area for issues. It seems like that got cleaned up a lot with the updated restart zone. I’m a fan of that and hopefully it allows more of the best cars to race for the win.”
Have you walked the track yet and what do you think about turn 6A?
“I have. It’s just awkward. It’s a very awkward corner with how you’re coming off of turn 6 the right hander in the esses. The whole car is like pushing you out track left and then you don’t really have a ton of visuals getting into (turn) 6A there expect now they have a big, old tire pack which is good because that gives us a reference of where the apex is. I don’t know. I think it is a pretty high intense braking zone, but the thing is your car is automatically trying to take you track left, so I don’t know how big of a passing zone it’s going to be. We’ll find out after the Xfinity race though. I’m excited for the challenge and trying to learn a new section of the track. I think it’s good to always shake it up.”
Did you do simulator work to get ready for the changes?
“There was. The simulator changed about 15 times since we started just because we didn’t know what the course was going to look like, what the visuals were. I had run plenty of laps there with nothing marking the track and you just kind of ran through the gravel, and then the last time that I ran through there in the simulator we had the tire pack in place. The hardest thing is just getting the site line. It’s weird because there’s no elevation change there but it’s a very blind corner. There’s not a lot to reference off of where your car is positioned on track. It’s going to take some acclimation for sure.”
What’s your confidence that you can get some more wins this season?
“I feel good about it. Honestly, the win last week doesn’t really change my outlook on the season just because I didn’t have that one planned on winning. I don’t think anybody on this 20 group expected to win a speedway race this year. It’s a goal and you want to try and obviously do it, but we didn’t have that one circled as a potential win. So, that’s good. We’re just starting the season out with what we expect to be good race tracks for us. Going into a really good stretch. Hopefully we are competitive and see where we stack up. Obviously, it would be amazing to win again early on in the season, but we don’t really know where we’re at. We’ll get a good feel of where we’re at this race and the next two and then re-evaluate and see what we need to improve on.”
Is the tire barrier as big of a threat as it looks like in turn 6A?
“I’m assuming you’re talking about 6A. That’s the last tire barrier that we have left. Yes, I went around there in the pace car yesterday. You’re coming off of turn 6 and whenever you leave turn 6, you’re basically center punching this tire barrier and so you have to awkwardly make the car want to get back right to get your angle right for 6A to get around the tire pack. I think the start of the Xfinity race is going to be exciting to see everyone try and navigate that corner for the first time. It’s going to become less and less of a talking point as the drivers get acclimated to it and get used to it. But certainly, those first couple restarts are going to be interesting to see how everybody defends and attacks. We’re going to learn a lot by watching the Xfinity race.”
Do you have any early insight on the Playoff committee you’re apart of and how are you hoping to contribute?
“Number one, I’m honored and privileged to be a part of that, and I think it’s really cool that NASCAR, and the industry respects me enough to have me be a part of it so that’s awesome. I’m grateful that I get to help out with that. The goal for the whole thing is to help bring more legitimacy to the championship. I think everybody has believed that the champions of the new age are held to – it feels different than like what Jimmie (Johnson) did and the guys back in the day. The whole goal is to make the drivers feel like that championship is a big deal, the biggest deal of our life. So, hopefully we can get a format that provides a lot of entertainment, a lot of excitement and some amazing finishes to the championship race while upping the legitimacy of the NASCAR Cup Series championship, and I’m assuming it would bleed down to the other series as well.”
About Toyota
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