Roger Diez
Roger Penske had a good weekend, with a pole and a 1-2-3 finish for his IndyCar team at Road America, the pole for the NASCAR Cup race at Sonoma, and top practice times for the Lemans 24 hour race.
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Will Power broke a two-year losing streak, driving the No. 12 Verizon car for Team Penske at Road America. Power lead teammates Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin to the checkered flag Sunday. McLaughlin started from pole and Newgarden was in a backup car due to a serious crash in qualifying. The 95g hit was the hardest he ever experienced and says a lot about the safety of the modern Indy Car.
Alex Palou finished fourth for Chip Ganassi Racing and Kyle Kirkwood was fifth, racing for Andretti Global.
Power’s win vaulted him to the top of the point standings with a narrow five-point lead over Palou. Scott Dixon, Palou’s teammate at Ganassi, is another six points in arrears. The next race is June 23 at Laguna Seca in Monterey.
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Last Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, Kyle Larson took advantage of 13-lap-fresher tires to hunt down and pass the Fords of Michael McDowell and Chris Buescher in the closing laps. Larson’s win puts him back atop the point standings with 561. Chase Elliott has 547, Denny Hamlin 535, Tyler Reddick 512, Truex 508.
The wreck-strewn race was slowed by eight cautions and was disastrous for Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin blew the engine on lap two, Ty Gibbs crashed out after 16 laps, and Martin Truex Jr. ran out of gas coming to the checker, dropping him from second to 27th.
Saturday’s Xfinity race went to Shane Van Gisbergen, who won his first race in the series the previous weekend in Portland. SVG, as he’s known to the broadcast booth, burst on the scene with his surprise win in the inaugural Chicago street race.
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This weekend the NASCAR Cup teams will visit Iowa Speedway for the first time, although the Craftsman Trucks and the Xfinity series have raced there previously. There are 17 current Cup drivers who have won there in either the ARCA Menard’s series, Craftsman Trucks, or Xfinity.
Built in 2006, Iowa is a very fast, seven-eighths mile oval with 12-14 degree progressive banking in the turns.
Saturday’s schedule calls for Xfinity qualifying at 9:05 a.m., Cup qualifying at 10:05 a.m., and the Hy-Vee Perks 250 at 12:30 p.m. Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 airs at 4 p.m. with all the weekend’s action on USA.
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Max Verstappen won the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, but it wasn’t the dominating performance that we’re used to. In fact, the issue was very much in doubt in the closing laps as Lando Norris in the McLaren stalked Max’s Red Bull. Verstappen won by a mere 3.789 seconds, a far cry from his 15-20 second gap of last year.
Mercedes scored its first podium of the season as George Russell overtook teammate Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps after a spirited battle. Hamilton was fourth and Oscar Piastri fifth in the second McLaren.
It was a horrible day for Ferrari with both drivers retiring. Monaco winner Charles Leclerc had power unit problems while Carlos Sainz crashed out. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez also failed to finish.
Nine races into the 2024 season, it has a very different look than last year. By this point in 2023 Red Bull had won every race, with Verstappen winning seven and Perez two. This year Max has won six of the nine, Perez none, and Leclerc, Sainz, and Norris one each. Parity is still a ways off, but things are looking up.