The IndyCar Afterburn: St. Petersburg 2026

Today’s theme music: “Nissan Altima” by Doechii

Given the news headlines this weekend, it’s a bit of a strange moment to be writing an IndyCar newsletter. Nobody in their right mind is looking at America right now and thinking primarily of its championship open-wheel racing. However, if anything is going to keep me from going insane, it’ll be spending the next six months watching dozens of maniacs strap themselves into modern marvels of engineering and go flying around racing’s most diverse gauntlet of circuits, then scribbling down my thoughts on how it turned out. It’s cheaper than a therapist, and people seem to enjoy reading it, so I might as well keep it up.

As always, the National Championship trail started with our first street race of the year, the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Rain messed with the support races’ preparations on Friday, but that all gave way by Sunday for clear skies, record-breaking crowds, and a decently entertaining start to the season, albeit one with a dominant outcome. Without further ado, let’s get into the ups, downs, and all-arounds to see who swam in Tampa Bay and who sank to the bottom.

Palou defends the crown

This year, Álex Palou is on a quest to become the first driver to win four straight National Championships since Sébastien Bourdais did it on the Champ Car side of the Split. With Bourdais himself in attendance and working the undercard, King Kong became the first driver since Sea Bass to defend the local crown at St. Pete. The Spaniard started from 4th, and once he got a hold of the lead, he put the race in a chokehold, leading 59 laps and stretching out his lead to as much as 15 seconds until he reached an unreal 20 wins in 99 career IndyCar starts.

By getting as far ahead as he did, Palou  posted the biggest margin of victory in the event’s history. By winning this track twice, he put himself in elite company with names like Juan Pablo Montoya. By keeping this up, Palou’s place among legends will only become more enmeshed. 

Scotty Mac is back

For the second straight year, Scott McLaughlin scored the first championship point of the year by taking pole, but failed to convert it to a win. It won’t sting too much, though, because he still led the entire first stint of the race, good for 34 laps out front, then made turn 10 into his personal hunting ground, pulling multiple key passes there to ensure he came away with silver.

It’s an important moment of redemption for Scotty Mac, given that, in this race two years ago, the cheat codes installed on his car cost him a podium and ultimately the National Championship. The question now is if he can combine it with a year like the rest of his 2024 and get a more successful outcome.

Lundgaard threads the needle for 3rd

Christian Lundgaard had an incredible first year at McLaren, tripling his career podium count over the course of 2025, and his second year in papaya orange started even stronger. He was nearly inseparable from Pato O’Ward for much of the day, and the Mexican heartthrob did well for himself with a 5th-place finish, but it was the Dane who soared higher this time. Lundgaard’s string of clever overtakes allowed him to climb 9 spots, lead a lap on strategy, and ultimately secure podium trophy number 10.

Andretti take double disappointment

With Mario Andretti celebrating his birthday on Saturday, Andretti Global hoped to extend the party for him on Sunday. Initially, Marcus Ericsson looked primed to do it, stunning the field by qualifying on the front row, and he took a lap-leader bonus point while hanging in the podium places for the first two-thirds of the race. However, he stayed out too long at the end of his second stint, allowing both McLaughlin and Lundgaard to make overtakes that the Sneaky Swede never recovered from. While Ericsson still passed on even bigger misfortune to Marcus Armstrong, whose failed pass on Ericsson took the young Kiwi out of the podium fight, 6th place just isn’t as sweet as a podium trophy.

That left Kyle Kirkwood, who took the undercut for his second stop, with a chance to pick up the slack, and in his home race, he certainly gave it a go. The Floridian posted the fastest lap of the race, and he was running 2nd with just a few laps to go, but at that point, his fuel reserves started to dry up, allowing McLaughlin and Lundgaard to land another tag team attack. Ultimately, Kirkwood had to settle for 4th place and a Manufacturers’ Cup contribution.

Penskes recover in tandem

Team Penske are historically the kings of this track, entering this race with 11 total wins out of 22 runnings, and though their win percentage dropped below .500, the two drivers backing up McLaughlin each impressed in their own ways. Josef Newgarden overcame a dreadful qualifying by fighting all the way up the field, starting 23rd, peaking with a lap led, and finishing 7th to secure a +16 outcome, easily the biggest climb of the day.

Meanwhile, David Malukas qualified in 5th in his first crack at top-tier equipment, but pecked the wall hard enough early on that he had to limp to pit row for repairs. Rather than crumbling at this first real test in the #12, Lil Dave bore down and fought back, unlapping himself and ultimately finishing 13th. That resilience on bad days should translate to a much higher finish once Malukas gets a good day.

Coynes get their money up

Last year, it was a big surprise when Rinus VeeKay put a Dale Coyne car in 9th. This year, with VeeKay repeating that trick at Juncos Hollinger, Coyne’s all-new lineup took things even higher. Rookie Dennis Hauger and the returning Romain Grosjean both qualified in the Fast 6, which would normally be unthinkable for this team, but Hauger took it a step further by starting from P3, one spot ahead of the reigning emperor of the series. The Norwegian quickly slipped out of the podium places, but both Coynes proved their Saturday pace was no fluke, staying firmly in the top 10 all day long and ultimately sandwiching VeeKay on the final box score, with Grosjean taking 8th. Hauger, meanwhile, became the first driver to debut in IndyCar with a top-10 finish since Grosjean did it five years ago. If DCR can build on this, we may have new kings of the midfield on our hands.

The Sicko’s Guide to DNFs: Dixon’s knightly sacrifice

Our first crash of the year took place four turns into the race. Sting Ray Robb’s brakes locked up into the corner, he ran ex-teammate Santino Ferrucci into the tire barrier, and the debuting Mick Schumacher, with nowhere to go, ran right into it and ended up climbing on top of Ferrucci. Robb made it out of there, albeit with a stop-and-go penalty for 30 seconds that put him several laps down for the rest of the day, while the other two had to leave their cars and call it a day.

The day’s other caution, and ultimately a more pivotal one, came for Sir Scott Dixon. The newly-knighted six-time National Champion had already led a lap and was looking for one of his signature alternate fuel strategy runs, but on his first stop, the #9 crew failed to properly secure the right rear wheel. A few turns later, that tire ran off to join a family reunion the other tires were hosting in the barriers, but the sacrifice was not in vain. Because of when it happened in the pit cycle, race leader Louis Foster got caught out and had to try and normalize his strategy with a pit stop under yellow, allowing Dixon’s teammate Palou to quickly retake P1 and consolidate power from there.

Finally, Will Power got a delayed case, as he wrecked his own 45th birthday party by kissing the wall early and screwing up his rear suspension. The #26 crew he inherited from Colton Herta were able to repair it enough to send Power back out, and the Australian spent his next stint collecting data and grinding out a championship point from 30 laps down before retiring the car completely at the end of it.

Championship Collage: Palou, Hauger make first moves

As with last year, the National Championship lead opened by passing from Scott McLaughlin on Saturday to Álex Palou on Sunday. The big question is whether things will mix up next weekend or Palou will just get another Sun Belt snowball effect going like he did last year. 

The triangle dance for Rookie of the Year honors started with extreme highs and lows. Dennis Hauger jumped out to the early lead with his top-10 finish, Mick Schumacher sank to the bottom with just three turns of work, and Caio Collet kept it clean to put himself closer to the former.

In the battle for the Manufacturers’ Cup, Chevrolet landed the first blow by powering the pole, but Honda counterpunched hard with the win. The wings’ 1-4 to the bowties’ 2-3 means that Honda opens its title defense with an 11-point lead.

Finally, for those who wish the Winter Olympics were still going, the official unofficial Nations’ Cup kicked off with 14 flags flying in the mix and nine countries represented in the day’s top 10. Spain, New Zealand, and Denmark are our inaugural medalists, with the United States just off the podium, while Germany sits dead last.

Future Flames: Phoenix rises

As a reward for surviving six months of starvation, IndyCar fans will get an absolute feast of a March schedule. Next Saturday brings us the Phoenix 250, our first oval race of the year, as part of the Desert Double joint weekend with the top two levels of NASCAR. It’s also the first time since we lost Texas Motor Speedway that IndyCar will have an oval on the schedule before the biggest one of all in May.

Josef Newgarden enters with the local crown, having won the last Phoenix race in 2018, and he’s always a huge factor on these types of tracks. But between the reconfiguration and the formula updates since then, he’ll have to make just as many adjustments. Fellow Penske driver David Malukas will have all eyes on him, as he finally gets to apply his clear talent for oval racing with a top team’s equipment. The ultimate wild card, though, is Mick Schumacher, who’ll make his first ever attempt at racing without turning right.