Astor Cup Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer In a feat that hasn’t been done since the 2008 merger, Alex Palou locked up the INDYCAR championship with a round remaining last Sunday at Portland. With just four seasons under his belt, Palou has two championships in his young career with only an Indianapolis 500 victory alluding him. While he’ll have to wait until next May to see if his fifth 500 attempt is the one he wins big, all eyes are on his incredible title campaign as his win in Portland marked his fifthRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Ore. – Over the next two weekends, two Chip Ganassi Racing drivers will duking it out for the Astor Cup. But only one will hoist the trophy as Alex Palou and Scott Dixon are separated by 74 points heading into Portland International Raceway. Both men are poised in bringing CGR its 15th American Open Wheel Racing championship. However, should Palou exit Portland with a 55-point lead, he’ll win his second INDYCAR title in three years. To put it into perspective, no driver has locked upRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer After 16 grueling and intense months of competition, the championship trail ends in Monterey. Out of the 25 full-time drivers that accepted the season-long challenge at St. Petersburg in March, only five remain that have a shot of hoisting the Astor Cup this Sunday. Of those five racers, they come from two race teams in Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing. Between championship leader Will Power to fifth-place Scott McLaughlin, the gap is 41 points. It rivals the 2003 championship battle where it also had fiveRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Ore. – Will Power will enter the season finale at Laguna Seca still as the championship leader after finishing second in Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland. This season has been a strong one for Team Penske with all three of their drivers winning a combined total of nine races. However, out of those nine victories in 16 races, the man leading the championship trail has one which took place at Belle Isle. Despite this, it has been a tale of strong consistency for Power, somethingRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer After a grueling, love-hate drama string of races, the NTT IndyCar Series had a much needed week off from the madness. Now they’re getting ready for the final three rounds of the championship trail, beginning with the final oval of 2022 at Gateway. A popular circuit amongst fans, the main headline involves the two protagonist from the crash fest at Nashville. In the closing laps, last year’s Gateway winner Josef Newgarden and the race’s media darling Romain Grosjean, tangled and it ended the latter’s afternoon. ThereRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The NTT IndyCar Series wrapped up its 2021 campaign with 46th Annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach last Sunday. Initially, the race was intended to be held in April but was postponed until late September, but what better race to cap off the 16-round odyssey than the sport’s biggest street circuit. When the dust settled, Andretti Autosport continued its dominance on the streets. Only this time, it was Colton Herta who owned the competition and went on to score his third win of the year.Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer LONG BEACH, Calif. – Pole sitter Josef Newgarden knew a shot at a third Astor Cup was a huge reach. He entered Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach third in points, 47 markers behind Alex Palou. After 85 laps, Newgarden finished second in both the race and championship, losing out to Palou by 38 points. Newgarden led opening 18 laps until pit stops shuffled the running order, handing over the lead to Helio Castroneves. From there, cautions bit Newgarden which allowed eventual race winner ColtonRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer LONG BEACH, Calif. – A lot has changed in the world since 2019. The three NTT IndyCar Series title contenders are no exception as their racing careers have also undergone change over the course of the past two years. When the checkered flag dropped at Laguna Seca that year, Josef Newgarden was celebrating his second INDYCAR title, which lifted a tremendous amount of stress off him. Current championship leader Alex Palou was racing in Japan’s Super Formula, along with Pato O’Ward, who was also racing inRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer LONG BEACH, Calif. – After 15 rounds of hard fought racing, the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series championship trail will end this Sunday. Destination? Long Beach – the site of the finale and the sports’ most prestigious street race. A tremendous amount of storylines will be settled. One of the major headlines is indeed who’ll be hoisting the Astor Cup after Sunday’s finale. One man who controls his destiny is championship leader Alex Palou. The Chip Ganassi Racing competitor who entered the sport last year as aRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Ore. – No driver from Mexico has ever led the NTT IndyCar Series championship this deep into the season. Not even Adrian Fernandez 21 years ago when he was in the title mix as he never led the championship trail. That all changed last month at Gateway when Pato O’Ward took the points lead away from Alex Palou. O’Ward finished second while Palou was collected in a multi-car accident. With just three rounds remaining, the gap between them is 10 points heading into the GrandRead More