Devlin DeFrancesco Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor INDIANAPOLIS – It’s been a day for Graham Rahal. After starting the morning with the fastest speed in practice, the driver of the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda backed it up in qualifying to secure the pole for the Gallagher Grand Prix – his first since Detroit in June of 2017. A stretch of more than six years. Though he had some qualms with the way his car was driving at certain points through qualifying, the end result is no doubt a stark contrastRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor INDIANAPOLIS – Is this finally Graham Rahal’s weekend? The driver of the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda has certainly made positive strides in that direction to start off the Gallagher Grand Prix weekend on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course as he finished the first practice session of the day at the top of the board. Rahal’s lap of one minute, 9.842 seconds was enough to allow him to take the fast time during the 90-minute session, just ahead of Arrow McLaren driver FelixRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor INDIANAPOLIS – No attack, no chance. Takuma Sato, the 2020 winner of the Indianapolis 500, paced Friday’s Carb Day practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, flexing his muscles in the final track time before the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing on Sunday. Driving a Chip Ganassi Racing Honda this season on just the ovals, the two-time Indy 500 champion paced the session at 227.855 mph ahead of his teammate, six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion and 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon. Will Power timedRead More

By Phillip Schmitz, Staff Writer FORT WORTH, Tex. — For the first time since 2009, Takuma Sato isn’t a full time driver in the NTT IndyCar Series, racing just the oval portion of the 2023 schedule for Chip Ganassi Racing in the No. 11 Niterra Honda entry. Sunday marked Sato’s first race of the season at Texas Motor Speedway — a weekend that started out strong for him. He was eighth fastest in morning practice and qualified sixth for the PPG 375. However, once the race began, so did Sato’s problems.Read More

By Phillip Schmitz, Staff Writer FORT WORTH, Tex. — If this weekend offered any sort of a reference stick for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for the Indianapolis 500, to say they missed the mark would be a complete understatement. The trio of Graham Rahal, Jack Harvey, and Christian Lundgaard were the slowest three cars in practice on Saturday. Qualifying didn’t yield anything better with Rahal qualifying in 24th, while Lungaard and Harvey qualified in 27th and 28th. It wasn’t that long ago this team was near the front of the order.Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Tex. – Thrice as nice. For the third time in his career, Josef Newgarden found himself in Victory Lane at Texas Motor Speedway, holding off a hard-charging Pato O’Ward down the stretch in Sunday’s PPG 375 to earn himself another cowboy hat. In what was one of the most hotly contested races at the 1.5-mile oval in recent years, deciding which driver would come away victorious was up in the air from the time the green flag dropped all the way to the checkered.Read More

By Phillip Schmitz, Staff Writer FORT WORTH, Tex. — Team Penske’s Scott McLaughln went fastest in opening practice for the PPG 375 at Texas Motor Speedway with a 223.747 mph average lap. The New Zealand native was followed by the Arrow McLaren duo of Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi on the speed charts. “A little bit bamboozled at the start of the run,” McLaughlin said of practice. “She was slipperier than a pocket full of pudding, you know, on the outside of Turn 1 there. We got through all that kerfuffleRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor MADISON, Ill. – As the sun was setting at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on Friday, a new challenger emerged in final practice, as Graham Rahal put his Honda on the top of the board. Rahal’s lap of 25.319 seconds (177.728 mph) was enough to bump six-time champion Scott Dixon from the top spot with only a few minutes remaining in the session, marking a steady progression through the day for the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team as he was seventh fastest inRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor MADISON, Ill. – If there’s one constant in life, it’s that Will Power is very good at qualifying and winning poles. At World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway he added to his legacy, capturing the pole for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 – his 67th career pole – to move into a tie with the legendary Mario Andretti for the all-time lead. As the points leader, Power rolled off last during Friday’s qualifying session, laying down a two-lap average of 182.727 mph to bump Marcus EricssonRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – A day full of action at Texas Motor Speedway concluded on Saturday afternoon with one final hour of practice for drivers and teams to get their cars dialed in for the XPEL 375. When the checkered flag flew on the session, Josef Newgarden was on top of the leaderboard with a lap of 23.235 seconds (223.108 mph). After starting the day off 14th in first practice, Newgarden’s result in final practice marked a steady progression throughout the day for the Team PenskeRead More