IndyCar returns to track in Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas — It’s been nearly a month since IndyCar’s sloppy season opener on the downtown streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, but with Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway looming, the action on and off the track was already booming.
It will be the American open-wheel circuit’s first oval race of the season, a warmup of sorts for the Indianapolis 500 in late May. It will also be the season debut for oval specialists Ed Carpenter and two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato.
What has happened since the first race?
› Will Power, IndyCar’s reigning champion, has a new contract thanks to a multiyear extension.
“I’ve been at Team Penske a long time and feel bloody fortunate to be able to drive for Roger Penske for that long,” the 42-year-old Australian said. “The older you get, the more you realize how blessed you are to be in this situation.”
› Marcus Ericsson, the 2022 Indy 500 winner who’s coming off a victory in St. Pete, wants an extension from Chip Ganassi.
“It’s up to him,” Ericsson said. “He needs to give me an offer for ’24 onward. The ball is in his corner. I really enjoy it at Ganassi, and we’ve done a lot of great things together and would love to continue.”
› Callum Ilott is frustrated by only a minimal offseason increase in speed from his small IndyCar team, Juncos Hollinger Racing, which could jump-start talks between the young British driver and larger organizations.
“I’m quick enough to be on the front end a lot of these weekends,” Ilott said. “It’s pretty obvious that I’m quite interested (in bigger teams). People are interested in me as a driver, but I need to focus on the job that I’ve got here. I’m confident whether it’s in one year, two years, three years, four years — if I’m wanted now, I’ll always be wanted.”
› Colton Herta split with his race strategist, who happens to be his father and manager, as Andretti Autosport moved Bryan Herta to second-year driver Kyle Kirkwood. Both drivers said Saturday they did not request the change, nor were they given a reason for the swap, although Kirkwood said to have Bryan “on the stand is a huge asset for me.”
Colton is now paired with Scott Harner, a former longtime Ganassi executive who spent half of last season as Kirkwood’s strategist and moved to Andretti from A.J. Foyt Racing with Kirkwood.
Said Colton: “It was a team decision, that’s all I’m going to say.”
The four Andretti cars were fast in the opener and capable of contending for the win, but all four drivers ended up crashed out.
On the track in Texas, Felix Rosenqvist of Arrow McLaren won the pole position for the second consecutive year. He was followed by Ganassi’s Scott Dixon, new McLaren teammate Alexander Rossi, 2022 Texas winner Josef Newgarden of Team Penske and Pato O’Ward, the third driver in the McLaren lineup.
Qualifying sixth was Sato, who currently has just this race and the Indy 500 guaranteed with Ganassi.
Also, Foyt is in Texas after skipping the opener. The 88-year-old team owner had a pacemaker installed two days after competition in St. Pete, where both of his cars were involved in a race-ending crash in the third turn of the first lap.