The IndyCar Afterburn: St. Louis 2025

Today’s theme music: “Fire” by Scooter

Racing fans were absolutely spoiled this weekend, as Ferrari won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France while North America saw a continental triple-header. In Montreal, George Russell took the Canadian Grand Prix as the two McLarens had their first big fight of the season. In Mexico City, NASCAR made its debut south of the border with a dominant display from Supercars legend Shane Van Gisbergen. But those in the know were waiting all day for Sunday night, as IndyCar gathered east of St. Louis for the Gateway 500.

For the fourth event in a row, we got the season’s best race yet, with all sorts of drama going on and several unexpected names challenging for victory. Even with a more established driver ultimately taking the win, when those final fireworks went off, it felt more than deserved. So without further ado, let’s get into the ups, downs, and all-arounds from southern Illinois and see what the action under the Arch means in the grand scheme of things.

Kirkwood proves he’s not just a street fighter

Kyle Kirkwood has emerged as the most credible challenger to Àlex Palou’s domination this year, but if there was anything to hold against the Andretti star, it was that all his wins had been on street circuits. After qualifying 10th next to Palou, it didn’t look like that would change, but late in the race, Kirkwood’s lightning-quick pit crew once again gave him a massive jump on the competition. As the fuel numbers ticked down and those ahead pitted, the Floridian inherited the lead with five laps to go, and he blitzed to the end to take his second straight win, his third of the year, and perhaps most significant, his first IndyCar win on an oval.

Combined with a shockingly anonymous P8 for Palou, this run did wonders for Kirkwood’s chances of keeping up. Fleeting as it may currently seem, if he continues posting results like this, we might have a genuine slugfest on our hands.

“Plata” O’Ward silver once again

Time and time again, Pato O’Ward has been close to victory this year, and Gateway was no exception. He qualified 3rd, led three stints for a combined eight laps, and proved the final threat to Kirkwood, but that won’t be much comfort to him. Taking his third runner-up and fourth podium of the season is all well and good, but coming up short of the win so many times has to be getting to him—especially if, as he claimed, his own teammate Nolan Siegel had a hand in Kirkwood’s victory. That said, this certainly won’t be Pato’s last shot at victory, and he’ll surely try and use this as fuel next time out.

Rasmussen catches fire for bronze

Few things have come easy in IndyCar for Christian Rasmussen, and when he qualified 25th before his car briefly caught fire on pit row, it looked like the world was once again dealing him a bad hand. However, the young Dane was in unstoppable form, running the high line to great effect and making overtakes at a blistering rate. Even after he got booted to the back of the lead lap for going to the pits under yellow a little too early, Rasmussen just shrugged it off and made up all those places again.

Ultimately, it was all worth a handsome reward, as Rasmussen took his first career IndyCar podium and Ed Carpenter Racing’s first since Rinus VeeKay’s bronze in Alabama three years ago. He’s certainly the most shocking name to take a trophy home this year, but if he can bring this kind of form on the regular, he’ll soon become a familiar face at the post-race ceremonies.

Dixon pops up in 4th

By now, we’ve gotten used to Àlex Palou sneaking up and suddenly appearing in the fight for the win late, but this time around, a different Ganassi driver pulled that trick. By going slightly off the usual fuel strategy, Scott Dixon found himself ahead of the entire field by a full lap under the final yellow flag of the night. He took the chance to pit for free, meaning that when we went green for the final time, Dixon had the lead, the most fuel, and the freshest tires of anyone on track. It didn’t hold forever, and he was effectively out of the fight for the lead once he made his final stop on lap 230, but that bit of strategy was enough to give Dixon 43 laps led, a finish just shy of the podium, and his best result since that self-called silver in St. Pete. The Iceman isn’t quite the title threat he was last year, but with performances like this, he won’t be considered washed anytime soon.

Daly brings it for 6th

Juncos Hollinger brought Conor Daly into their fold for his ability to challenge for wins on ovals, and he certainly delivered. His opening run was something to behold, as he sliced and diced through the field to go 15th to 4th in the early going. His power sustained into the second half, as he led 36 laps before the day’s final yellow threw a wrench in his plans, but the Irish-American still posted a season-best 6th, which doubles as his best result since that feel-good podium in Milwaukee last year. If he keeps charging like this and the dice roll his way, he could well lead JHR to another podium as soon as our next oval stop in Iowa.

Prema see late surge

After shocking everyone with a pole at the 500, Prema Racing continued to show oval aptitude late in Gateway. Callum Ilott followed a slightly different fuel strategy than much of the pack, and that wound up handing him the lead with just eight laps remaining. Though he couldn’t make the numbers and had to pit, allowing Kirkwood to win, Robert Shwartzman picked up the slack and scored the team’s first ever top-ten finish in IndyCar. It’s another important milestone for the brand new non-chartered outfit, 

Malukas gets only a brush with success

If anyone in the paddock has a rep for showing out at Gateway, it’s David Malukas. The Illinois native put on a show in his home state, starting on the opening lap when he got a massive jump and stopped polesitter Will Power from ever leading a full lap. Malukas kept the fire up well into the night and led 67 laps, the most of the race and more than he’d led in his entire IndyCar career to that point. However, in a late battle with Kirkwood for 6th, Lil Dave kissed the wall just hard enough to bring out the yellow. His car escaped unharmed, but his drive never recovered, and Malukas ultimately finished 11th while teammate Santino Ferrucci went on to a third consecutive top-five finish. Still, Malukas put on the most serious challenge for a win of either Foyt driver so far, and he’ll have plenty of eyes on him the next time we go oval racing.

The Sicko’s Guide to DNFs: Team Penske’s hopes land upside-down

We open today’s Sicko’s Guide on an honorable mention. Four laps in, Devlin DeFrancesco appeared to end his own day immediately by hitting the wall and bringing out the first yellow. However, the damage surprisingly proved repairable, and in the process of running back to his car, the Canadian brake-checked and wrecked a Fox camera. That sacrifice must have been worth it, because despite falling several dozen laps off the lead, DeFrancesco still managed to finish ahead of everyone who crashed after him.

The first of those victims was polesitter Will Power. After finally snapping a streak going back to 2023 and resuming his place at the front of the field, the all-time king of qualifying had a shockingly abrupt end on lap 47, when he went too high in turn 4 and hit the wall. Power managed to limp all the way around to the pits, but his suspension was just too busted, handing the Australian an ignominious first-to-worst drive. The fact that Power coughed through his interview signals he might not have been at 100% physically, and hopefully whatever’s ailing him clears up in time for next week.

For teammate Josef Newgarden, that initially appeared to mean one less obstacle in the way. He looked set to own this track as he had in previous years and made several impressive moves to get to the lead. But right at the halfway mark of the race, that all vanished in the blink of an eye. As Fox was gearing up to go to commercial, Louis Foster hit the wall not far behind, then came spinning back towards the inside, and Newgarden, who’d already committed that way to avoid traffic had nowhere to run. By the time the network aborted the ad break and returned us to the track, Newgarden was upside down at the start-finish line, while Foster was back in the outside wall. Both drivers were thankfully okay—a testament to the engineering wonders of aeroscreens and SAFER barriers—but for Joey Plants, this failed defense of his local crown is yet another painful result in what’s been an absolutely snakebitten season.

That left Scott McLaughlin as Team Penske’s last hope, and he’d certainly threatened for the win all night long with 51 laps led. But ultimately, Scotty Mac’s left rear broke on its own, completing a total team disaster the likes of which Penske hasn’t experienced since before the Split.

Championship Collage: Kirkwood, USA close in as Shwartzman, Honda pull away

The National Championship is threatening to go from the Palou show to a two-horse race, but in the meantime, the Spaniard still sits 73 points ahead of closest challenger Pato O’Ward. Kyle Kirkwood is now two points behind Pato, a sign the Floridian still hasn’t quite worked off that failed tech inspection from the Indy 500. Christian Lundgaard remains fourth, while Scott Dixon rounds out the top five.

In the Rookie of the Year running, Robert Shwartzman’s P10 and Louis Foster’s massive crash have combined to blow things as wide open as they’ve been all year. Shwartzy now leads the reigning Indy NXT champ by 18 points, and if Foster’s nascent crashing streak continues, it might not be much of a contest.

Chevrolet’s attempts at a Manufacturers’ Cup defense took another painful blow, as despite Will Power’s pole and huge stretches where bowties occupied the entire top five, they still found a way to fumble the win away to Honda. I can only imagine that, somewhere out there, an Infiniti diehard who spent the early-Split IRL watching General Motors beat the brakes off their favorite marque race after race is pointing and laughing like a hyena.

Finally, in our official unofficial Nations’ Cup, another Kirkwood win means the defending champion United States are within five points of current leaders Spain. The fight is officially on if it wasn’t already, and another good result will put the Stars and Stripes on top of the ladder for the first time all season.

Future Flames: halfway down the Road

To continue our streak of circuits that ask completely different things of the drivers each weekend, next week takes us to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for the Grand Prix at Road America. With a winding four miles of action each lap, this series staple tests drivers and their fuel strategies in a way no other course can. As race 9 of 17, it also marks the halfway point of the season, and from here on in, the window to make something of this year will only get smaller.

The list of past winners reads like a who’s who of the American open-wheel elite, so naturally Àlex Palou is on the hunt for a local dynasty. If he takes this win, it’ll be his third at the track in five years. However, much like Barber, this is also a historically Penske-friendly track, and Scott McLaughlin will be very eager to join his teammates on the list of winners.