F1 marks 30th anniversary of Senna's death at Imola and Norris tries to follow up Miami win - Auto Racing (2024)

The Canadian Press - May 19, 2024 / 4:25 pm | Story: 488312

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. (AP) — Kyle Larson has arrived at North Wilkesboro Speedway for the start of Sunday night’s All-Star Race following a busy afternoon in which the NASCAR star qualified fifth for the Indianapolis 500.

Larson is seeking his fourth All-Star Race win, matching Jimmie Johnson for the most all-time.

Larson arrived at Wilkes County Airport via airplane, was transported by helicopter to the racetrack and then taken by golf cart to his hauler to begin preparations for the 200-lap exhibition race for $1 million.

Fans cheered his arrival into the track and he waved to them along the way.

“I'm glad to be here," Larson said on pit row before. “The atmosphere is awesome. Hopefully we can put on a good show and win here tonight.”

Larson hasn't turned in a lap on the newly paved track this week and will have to start at the back of the 20-car field because he wasn't here to qualify. However, he did win the All-Star Race and the Trucks Race here last year.

“I'm just going to try to learn as quickly as possible here at the beginning and try to get settled into a rhythm,” Larson said. “Then we can inch our way forward. It's 200 laps, so I think there is an opportunity to move forward.”

NASCAR and its broadcast partner FOX helped accommodate the sport’s star attraction and points leader by moving the start of the race back 16 minutes to 8:30 p.m. to ensure he would arrive in time after shocking some in the racing world by qualifying for the Fast 6 at Indianapolis.

Seventeen drivers qualified for the race based on their past accomplishments. All-Star Open winner Ty Gibbs and second place finisher Bubba Wallace advanced into the race on Sunday, along with vote winner Noah Gragson.

Joey Logano will start of the pole after posting the best time in qualifying on Saturday.

The two 60-lap heats which were supposed to determine the remainder of the starting lineup were washed out due to rain Saturday night, so the remainder of the field was set by qualifying order.

Larson dominated last year's race at North Wilkesboro by leading 145 of 200 laps and held an 11-second lead over the rest of the field at one point.

Hendrick Motorsports vice president of competition Chad Knaus marveled at what Larson was able to do in his first qualifying runs in Indianapolis in an open-wheel racecar against the best drivers in the world.

“We were watching him run and we were like, my gosh, I can’t believe this,” Knaus said. "I was like my goodness how did that happen? Very limited track time. Did a couple of tests. Was able to go up there and he holds a pretty good wheel as anybody I have seen. He is a phenomenal talent. He gets it. He is so emotionally stable. You can put him in just about any environment and he is going to excel.”

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The Canadian Press - May 19, 2024 / 3:19 pm | Story: 488307

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — For more than a month, Will Power has all but guaranteed that Team Penske would win the pole for the Indianapolis 500.

When the team was caught in a cheating scandal, it was messaging Roger Penske really wanted his driver to tamp down. The team was dealing with the disqualification of Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin from the season-opening race and Penske, owner of the race team, IndyCar, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy 500, really preferred his three-driver team to stay a bit under the radar.

Power remaining convinced though, even after Penske suspended four team employees including Team Penske president Tim Cindric, the strategist for defending Indy 500 winner Newgarden.

Well, Power was right along.

McLaughlin in the famed “Yellow Submarine” entry led a Team Penske sweep of the front row of Indy 500 qualifying with a new track record Sunday around the speedway. McLaughlin's four-lap average of 234.220 mph broke the mark set by reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou last year of 234.217.

Power qualified second and Newgarden was third as Team Penske swept the front row for the first time since 1988 when it did so with Rick Mears, Al Unser Sr. and Danny Sullivan.

“What a team effort this whole month and to see us come back from some adversity,” Penske said. "It shows how deep our bench is and I want to thank Tim Cindric and all the guys sitting home at this time because they were part of making this really happen.

“We're going to start with the cars in the right place. We haven't been this way since I guess 36 years ago. We dug deep and we delivered.”

Penske drivers led 192 of 200 laps that day and and Mears won in the “Yellow Submarine” car sponsored by Pennzoil. McLaughlin is in an identical car for the May 26 race and Team Penske recreated Mears' winning firesuit for McLaughlin to wear next Sunday in honor of the four-time Indianapolis 500 winner.

“And it was the Yellow Submarine, and Mears sat on the pole back when we had three cars on the front day, so special day,” Penske said.

Added McLaughlin: “Let's get this Yellow Submarine back in victory lane."

Power's prediction was based on how much offseason work had been put into Penske's quest to win a record-extending 20th Indy 500. It was irritating to his fellow competitors, which Alexander Rossi alluded to after qualifying fourth for Arrow McLaren Racing.

“I mean, it's a very good starting spot for the race and we'll move on from this,” Rossi said. “I'm annoyed. It's been a lot of noise from them but also a lot of motivation.”

Rossi was followed by Kyle Larson, who qualified fifth for his Indianapolis 500 debut. He is the fifth driver to attempt to compete in both the Indy 500 and NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.

As soon as Rossi bumped Larson from the pole, Larson headed to waiting SUVs to take his entourage to a helicopter on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway golf course to take Larson to North Carolina to race in NASCAR's All-Star race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. NASCAR moved the start of the $1 million race 16 minutes later to accommodate Larson's arrival.

“People used to say to me, ‘Can you believe Kyle Larson?’” said Jeff Gordon, the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, which is working with Arrow McLaren to field the No. 17 car and clapped from the timing stand when his qualifying run ended.

“I used to think the same way but I don’t anymore,” Gordon said. “He always steps up. He’s just fun to watch.”

Santino Ferrucci, who as a driver with A.J. Foyt Racing is benefiting from a new alliance with Team Penske, qualified sixth as Chevrolet drivers took all six spots in the Fast Six final group qualifying. The highest qualifying Honda drivers were Felix Rosenqvist of Meyer Shank Racing at ninth and followed by two-time winner Takuma Sato of Rahal Letterman Lanigan and Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global.

Chip Ganassi Racing failed to place even one of its five cars in the Fast 12 of Sunday qualifying, so the entire group had the day off.

Not so for the bottom four drivers in the field, which included former Ganassi driver Marcus Ericsson. He won the 500 for Ganassi in 2022 and was second to Newgarden last year, but left the team when Andretti made him a better financial offer in free agency.

But he's off to a terrible start with his new team and a crash in practice last week put the Swede in serious danger of not making the field of 33. He made a final run that got Ericsson in at 32nd and bumped Nolan Siegel from the field.

The 19-year-old then went out for one final attempt as Graham Rahal, who didn't qualify for the race last year, sat on the bubble. When it became clear Siegel's attempt would not leave Rahal with enough time to make a run should Siegel bump him, he angrily took off his helmet and watched and waited to learn his fate.

Siegel, who was the first driver to crash during Indy 500 practice sessions this week, crashed on his qualifying run and as 34th in the field did not make the race.

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The Canadian Press - May 19, 2024 / 2:44 pm | Story: 488299

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Graham Rahal sat in his car on pit row, sweating out yet another Bump Day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Marcus Ericsson, the 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner and 2023 runner-up, waited nearly 45 minutes for a chance to redeem an inexplicable mistake.

Then, in a cruel twist of fate, the angst of these two veterans IndyCar regulars vanished in a matter of minutes.

Nolan Siegel, a 19-year-old rookie, crashed on the final qualifying attempt to make the 33-car field Sunday, knocking him out of the next weekend's race — and assuring Ericsson and Rahal of claiming the final two starting spots in the series' biggest race.

“It's just all on me, I messed that up," Ericsson said after mistakenly taking his foot off the accelerator on the final lap of his first qualifying run. “I shouldn't be doing that with my experience. We're going to change the procedure, for sure.”

Siegel was bumped from the final starting spot on Ericsson's final attempt of the two-day qualifying weekend when he posted a four-lap average of 230.027 mph for No. 32.

He could have made it much easier on himself by correctly counting the laps after topping 230 on each of his first three laps in the earlier attempt. Instead, it became another chapter in an already chaotic week that included a crash Thursday. His latest miscue dropped his final lap seed to 195.411 and his four-lap average to 220.702, more than nine mph slower than the next slowest qualifier.

Some, naturally, wondered whether there was a mechanical problem with Andretti Global's No. 28 Honda. Ericsson later faulted himself.

Still, that didn't make the nearly 45-minute wait to requalify any less anxious for the Swedish driver. During that time, he heard IndyCar officials determine crew members had made unapproved changes to his car and the team sent him back onto the track with used tires to run cooldown laps. Finally, with about 7 1/2 minutes left in the hour-long qualifying session, Ericsson got the green light to try again.

This time, he got it all right. He kept his foot down the entire run and ended a chaotic week that included a crash during practice by knocking Siegel out of the race and putting a nervous Rahal back on the bubble — again — with about two minutes remaining.

It was just enough time for Rahal to ditch the umbrella keeping him cool for nearly 50 minutes inside the No. 15 Honda on a muggy, sun-drenched day and climb out so he could see for himself whether he would qualify — or get bumped — for the second straight year.

“I think this time around, I was a little calmer, probably because I've been there before,” Rahal said. “Similar stuff, you know. You're sitting there for an hour and you can't run again. The way the rules are written, you can't pull out of your (pit) box without withdrawing your time, so you are kind of at the mercy of everyone else.”

A year ago, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammate Jack Harvey bumped Rahal out of the starting field though he wound up starting the race as the replacement driver for Stefan Wilson, who was injured in a crash during practice the next day.

This time, he saw the promising California teenager who had recovered from his own crash earlier this week make a daring, last-ditch effort to get back into the starting field.

But when Siegel tried to top his first lap speed of 229.288, the car went high into the first turn, hit the wall exiting the turn and slid down the track before going back up the track and hitting another wall. Siegel climbed out of the co*ckpit without assistance and was quickly checked and released from the infield medical care center.

“I said it before and I'll say it again, I'm not going to go home because I lifted,” Siegel said. “I'm going to go home because I did everything I possibly could. Ultimately, that wasn't good enough and we went too far. So here we are.”

Nobody understands that better than Rahal.

“I know it sucks, I know that feeling," said Rahal, who shook hands with each of the four teams and drivers competing in the last chance shootout. “I just wanted to make sure they knew I appreciate them, and I know how hard it is.”

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The Canadian Press - May 19, 2024 / 11:11 am | Story: 488267

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Will Power experienced the seventh engine issue for Chevrolet in two days of Indianapolis 500 qualifying when his Team Penske entry sputtered Sunday during practice ahead of the afternoon pole shootout.

The manufacturer had six engine problems on Saturday, when Power joined teammates Scott McLaughlin and reigning Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden in sweeping the top three spots based on four-lap average speeds.

Honda hasn't had it much easier at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with seven engine changes since last weekend's race on the road course. Two of the engine changes were made for Graham Rahal, who openly has questioned if Rahal Letterman Lanigan teammate Takuma Sato has received a favorable top-performing engine from Honda.

Rahal, who was bumped from the field last year, is among four cars trying for the last three spots in the 33-car field Sunday. Sato is the highest-qualified RLL driver after going ninth Saturday, putting him among the 12 going for the pole.

Power, who leads IndyCar with a record 70 career poles, has never won it for the Indy 500, and he has said for more than a month that a Team Penske car will be leading the field to green on May 26 for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

“Pretty tired of hearing Will say it’s going to be a Penske front row, but yeah, we’re pretty motivated,” said Arrow McLaren driver Alexander Rossi, who also has Chevrolet power.

It didn't hurt McLaren's hopes when Power suffered what Chevrolet calls a “plenum event” during Sunday's practice.

“The engine just stops, it dies. It kills your speed massively,” Power said.

Chevrolet officials addressed the issue after six cars had the problem Saturday, and Kyle Larson and Pato O'Ward of McLaren both had engine changes. Also affected were Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter, rookie Christian Rasmussen and Agustin Canapino, who was on a flier of a qualifying attempt and about to make the Fast 12 until his engine hiccuped on the third of four laps.

The Argentine was screaming in Spanish in frustration on his radio and Chevrolet took full blame for the issue.

“We feel terrible. When we have an issue that is on us, we feel bad,” said Jim Campbell, the U.S. president of performance vehicles for Chevrolet. “It’s racing. When you have an issue, you’re either going to ignore it or dig in and work to fix it and mitigate it, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Campbell promised that General Motors would be working globally to address the plenum events, which IndyCar program manager Rob Buckner said involved components inside the engine that misfire on downshifts. The issue cost O'Ward a victory in the 2022 season-opening race when his McLaren seemed to briefly shut off.

“On top of the cylinder heads in the air inlet system of the engine is a plenum, and there’s some port fuel injectors up there," Buckner explained, "so while these engines are sustained high speed, that plenum is very full of fuel, and if we have any event over a downshift that can ignore that fuel, it ends up evaporating the plenum of its fuel air charge, temperatures rise rapidly, and to the driver it’s a perceived engine kill.

“They vary in duration. They vary in severity. Unfortunately here, the ones we had were very noticeable to the drivers," Buckner added. "Anything around Indianapolis is very noticeable to the drivers. It pretty much scrapped those runs, which we really hate for all those drivers that we impacted their day.”

Honda, meanwhile, staunchly defended its distribution of engines and implied that Rahal was speaking out of frustration when he was talking about the powerful engine that put Sato in the pole shootout.

Honda changed Rahal and Marcus Armstrong's engines last weekend, and Rahal has had a second engine change during Indy 500 qualifying prep. Alex Palou, last year's pole winner, and teammate Scott Dixon both had engine changes, as did Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kyffin Simpson. Pietro Fittipaldi of RLL also had an engine change, and Honda said all were for various reasons, though it has yet to have a plenum event like Chevrolet has experienced.

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The Canadian Press - May 19, 2024 / 7:34 am | Story: 488242

IMOLA, Italy (AP) — In the real world or the virtual world, Max Verstappen remains the driver to beat.

The defending Formula 1 champion held off a challenge from McLaren’s Lando Norris to win the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday and extend his standings lead.

Verstappen doubled up this weekend by taking part in an online 24-hour race, driving stints for his team from a simulator set up in the Imola paddock. He won that, too, making his F1 victory his second of the day.

Verstappen started on pole position and stayed ahead of Norris at the start but was put under pressure by the McLaren driver again near the end. He held on to take his 59th career win by less than a second.

“Especially the last 10, 15 laps, I had no grip any more. I was really sliding a lot. I saw Lando closing in,” Verstappen said. “It’s very difficult when the tires are not working any more and you have to go flat out, so I couldn’t afford to make too many mistakes. Luckily, we didn’t and super happy, of course, to win here today.”

On a weekend when F1 remembered Ayrton Senna, the three-time champion who died in a crash at Imola 30 years ago, Verstappen took his fifth win in seven Grand Prix races this year after having lost out to Norris in Miami two weeks ago.

Norris' second place Sunday underlined McLaren's credentials to be the closest challenger to Verstappen and Red Bull this season. “It hurts me to say it, but one or two more laps, I think I would have had him,” Norris said. “It would have been beautiful, but just not today.”

After waiting until his sixth F1 season for his first win, Norris found himself disappointed not to get back-to-back victories. “It’s still a surprise to say it’s frustrating not to win,” Norris said.

Charles Leclerc was third for Ferrari, the Italian team's first podium finish at Imola since 2006, ahead of his home race in Monaco next week.

It's never easy to overtake on the narrow Imola track, and risk-taking was further discouraged this year when asphalt run-off areas on key corners were replaced with gravel traps.

Leclerc closed in on Norris mid-way through the race but made a mistake and ran across the grass, losing time.

Oscar Piastri had qualified second for McLaren but was dropped to fifth because of a penalty for impeding Kevin Magnussen in a Haas. He got ahead of Sainz at the pit stops and finished fourth, ahead of the Spanish driver.

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and his teammate George Russell were sixth and seventh after a difficult weekend for Mercedes.

Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez started 11th after a mistake in qualifying and finished eighth. His main impact on the race was when he briefly held up Norris and Leclerc after their pit stops, indirectly helping Verstappen.

Yuki Tsunoda was ninth for RB and Lance Stroll took the last point in 10th for Aston Martin.

With the victory, Verstappen opened up a 48-point standings lead over Leclerc, who moved above Perez into second. McLaren was off the pace at the start of the season but has improved rapidly since and Norris is fourth, 60 points behind Verstappen.

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The Canadian Press - May 18, 2024 / 4:20 pm | Story: 488188

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Team Penske swept the top three spots in qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 on Saturday, with Will Power at the top of the list, giving a team under scrutiny a solid shot at winning the pole for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

Kyle Larson also qualified for his first career Indianapolis 500, making the Fast 12 and putting him alongside the Penske trio in going for the pole Sunday. Larson is the fifth driver to attempt the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, and he could get a dry run by following his pole run with a trip to NASCAR's All-Star race in North Carolina on Sunday night.

Larson is joined by two other cars from Arrow McLaren, one from Ed Carpenter Racing, one from Meyer Shank Racing, one from Andretti Global, two-time winner Takuma Sato of Rahal Letterman Lanigan and Santino Ferrucci of A.J. Foyt Racing in the pole shootout. That makes seven different teams comprising the Fast 12.

Many cars had engine issues Saturday, and even though nine Chevrolet drivers made the top 12, neither Chevy nor Honda were immune from qualifying problems.

Chip Ganassi Racing, meanwhile, didn't place a driver inside the Fast 12 as Honda struggled with speed. Alex Palou, last year's polesitter and the winner on the road course at Indianapolis last weekend, qualified 14th as the highest Ganassi car.

Palou, like teammate Scott Dixon, needed an engine change ahead of qualifying, and there was similar concern about Ganassi driver Kyffiin Simpson's engine.

But as Palou waited in line to make another run at the Fast 12, Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing rebounded from an early morning crash to snag the 11th spot with seconds remaining before the end of qualifying at 6 p.m. local time.

Last out was Graham Rahal, making one last attempt to crack the top 30 and lock in a place for the Indy 500. He was unable to do it, putting him in the bottom four among the 34 cars, and that quartet will battle for the last three spots on Sunday.

Among those trying to snag one of the final three positions are Marcus Ericsson, the 2022 winner who finished second last year. He crashed Thursday in his new Andretti Global ride and was overwhelmingly frustrated with his Saturday performance.

“This place has very high highs and very low lows,” Ericsson said. “I put myself in this position with my crash. The effort is there but it's tough, it's very tough.”

Ericsson will be battling Katherine Legge, the only female in the field, along with Rahal and Nolan Siegel for the last spots. Siegel flipped in Friday practice and the 19-year old has been struggling to bounce back since the frightening crash.

Rahal failed to make the race a year ago. He got his entry when Stefan Wilson broke his back in a crash in practice ahead of the race, and Rahal was picked as the replacement driver.

“I think all winter the boys have worked awfully hard and when you are on the shop floor, you don't really see all the results, you just work,” Rahal said. “These guys thrashed to get ready to Indy. When a car doesn't want to pull a gear, it just doesn't. When you've got a car like the guys in the front rows do, they don't have to do much. And when you don't, it's not so easy to ride.”

Meanwhile, the Penske trio dominated Saturday with their early runs.

Power turned a lap at 233.758 mph to take Saturday's top qualifying spot and put himself in position to win his first Indy 500 pole. Power is IndyCar's all-time leading pole-winner with 70 for his career, but never at the most prestigious race in world.

“It’s a nice box to tick, a very nice box,” Power said. “You know, it means nothing for the race, but it would be something very nice for me because we’ve been here so many times and been close so many times.”

Power was followed by teammates Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden, the defending race winner, both of whom have been entangled in a Team Penske cheating scandal dating to the season-opening race at St. Petersburg, Florida.

IndyCar detected about six weeks after Newgarden's victory in March that he and McLaughlin illegally accessed a boost of horsepower when they were not permitted. Both of their finishes were disqualified, all three Penske drivers were fined $25,000 — even though Power never used the manipulated software — and team owner Roger Penske suspended four team members, including Team Penske president Tim Cindric.

Cindric also is Newgarden's race strategist and considered one of the best in motorsports. Newgarden said even without him, the Penske entries have been ready for a long time as they try to give Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske a record-extending 20th Indy 500 victory.

“I thought we were this prepared the last two to three years,” Newgarden said. "I felt confident the last multiple years. The effort this last offseason has been the same as we’ve done every year. We’ve looked at everything, didn’t yield what we needed, we looked at everything again. Still didn’t yield it.

“We’ve been hammering this process and I think there were certainly things probably we were missing, and we worked so hard on everything else, it just elevated the program. I don’t think there’s any guarantees you’re going to see a Penske car on pole this weekend. I don’t know how you can say that.”

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The Canadian Press - May 18, 2024 / 9:24 am | Story: 488133

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Rinus VeeKay changed his fortunes with one late, daring Indianapolis 500 qualifying run Saturday.

It could change the trajectory of his entire season.

The 23-year-old Dutch driver overcame an early crash that forced crew members to scramble to repair the No. 21 Chevrolet and then jumped from 29th to 11th on the second-to-last run of the day to make his fifth straight pole shootout with a four-lap average of 232.419 mph. He bumped Colton Herta out of the 12th and final spot in the shootout as his mother prayed while watching.

“Wow, wow, just incredible," VeeKay said after his fourth and final qualifying attempt of the day. “Wow! What a job. I'll be driving tomorrow.”

For most of Saturday, it appeared VeeKay's four-year run of making the shootout was over.

His car wiggled going through the third turn on his first qualifying run, then spun up the track into the wall coming out of the turn, skidded between the third and fourth turns and hit the Turn 4 wall before coming to rest in the front straightaway. He limped to the medical truck but was checked, released and cleared to drive at the infield medical center.

Three hours later, Ed Carpenter Racing had the car repaired but it took two more attempts to earn one of the 30 spots available on the 33-car starting grid.

“It’s not ideal, but we made it happen and it’s pretty awesome,” VeeKay said.

Then, in the waning minutes of qualifying, VeeKay's team withdrew his speed and sent him back onto the track despite multiple Chevrolet-powered cars losing power during their runs Saturday.

But VeeKay, who has an expiring contract and no finishes higher than eighth this season, strung together laps of 233.448, 232.614, 221.957 and 231.653 to give himself — and Carpenter's team — another shot to win a pole. VeeKay has started, fourth, third, third and second in his first four 500 starts.

“Usually you don't expect the car to go out on the same day again, so great job by them," VeeKay said. "The speed out there was unexpected for most.”

CLOSE CALL

Aside from VeeKay, perhaps nobody had a more tenuous day than Katherine Legge, who posted a four-lap average of 230.244 on her first attempt to make the provisional field despite tapping the wall on the final turn of her last lap.

She completed the run in the No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing but almost immediately realized it wasn't likely to keep her in the top 30.

“It was terrifying honestly,” Legge said. “We've still got some work to do because we don't have the speed. But we have the (right) direction and we'll probably have to try again later.”

Legge did try again — three more times including right before VeeKay's final run — but failed to bump her way back into the race as she did last year when she avoided the last-row scramble by qualifying 29th. She's trying to make her fourth career 500 start.

She'll be one of four drivers competing for the final three starting spots. The others are Graham Rahal, 2022 Indy winner Marcus Ericsson and 19-year-old rookie Nolan Siegel.

Ericsson and Siegel both crashed during practice earlier this week. Rahal was the only driver not to make last year's starting field but wound up starting as the replacement driver for the injured Stefan Wilson.

ENGINE TROUBLE

The battle between engine manufacturers Chevrolet and Honda has been fierce, at times, through the years. But its typically been waged relatively cleanly.

That wasn't the case Saturday.

Chevy officials confirmed they had six cars — those driven by Agustin Canapino, Christian Rasmussen, Conor Daly, Carpenter, Pato O'Ward and Kyle Larson — suffer engine problems in qualifying.

Afterward, Chevrolet engineering program manager for the IndyCar Series Rob Buckner told reporters the engines didn't fail, they just lacked power in certain conditions and that they would be working all night to find solutions for Sunday.

“The engines are strong and great,” Bucker said. "We're looking for ways to mitigate it. Unfortunately, throughout the afternoon they were increasing in frequency, we don't have a full understanding of why. We will figure it out."

Chevrolet cars still claimed nine of the top 12 spots Saturday after taking eight of the first 12 spots last May.

Honda also has had some issues this month, including engine changes prior to qualifying with two Chip Ganaasi Racing driver — Scott Dixon and Alex Palou. Neither will compete for Sunday's pole. Dixon, a six-time series champ, the 2008 Indy 500 winner and a four-time 500 pole winner qualified 21st, the outside of Row 7 with an average speed of 231.851. Palou, the 2021 and 2023 series champ and this year's points leader, will start 14th with an average of 232.306.

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The Canadian Press - May 18, 2024 / 9:00 am | Story: 488131

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR is hoping a repaved track and some softer tires will make for more competitive short track racing for Sunday night’s All-Star race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

It can’t get much worse than last year.

After months of hype leading up to the first race at the renovated track since 1996, the All-Star race turned out to be a snoozer, with Kyle Larson running away with the victory and the $1 million prize. He was in front for 145 of 200 laps and at times led by nearly 11 seconds, or more than half of a lap on the .625-mile short track.

That caused Larson to boast afterward “that was an old school (butt)-whipping, for sure.”

And it didn’t make for compelling television.

But William Byron is optimistic that this year’s race will be much closer, with NASCAR experimenting with softer tires on the short track in what has been a rain-soaked weekend at North Wilkesboro.

“This place is so different and unique, we almost need a couple more practices to get everyone closer," Byron said. "I think there will be a lot of comers and goers, and the gaps will be closer because the pace is up and there is less falloff. But I still think it will be tough to complete the passes.”

HARVICK STEPS IN

Larson is still hoping to race Sunday night after spending the week preparing for the Indianapolis 500.

In the meantime, Kevin Harvick came out of retirement to drive Larson's No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet during practice, something he never anticipated happening.

“It’s definitely not the attire that I thought I would be wearing this year," Harvick quipped as he wore the Hendrick Motorsports fire suit.

But Harvick, who now works in the broadcast booth, said it has been a fun week.

His former employer, Stewart-Haas Racing, even helped out by sending the seats and seat rails Harvick used while he was racing for it so he would fit better.

“Sometimes there are phone calls that you react to different than others,” Harvick said. “When Rick (Hendrick) called and said what he needed and I said, ‘OK,’ everyone at Fox was kind enough to let us take the day to do what we needed to do.”

FILL OUT YOUR BRACKET

Chase Elliott said he's intrigued by NASCAR's experiment next year with an in-season bracket-style tournament, similar to what the NBA did this season.

“It sounds interesting, especially starting at Atlanta (Motor Speedway) with it now being a speedway thing,” Elliott said. "But yeah, I think it has potential to add some excitement to our year and doing something a little different. I don’t have any issues with that.”

BUESCHER VS. REDDICK

There could be some bad blood this weekend between Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick. Buescher went after Reddick on pit lane after last week's race at Darlington, where Reddick drove him into the wall, ruining his chances of winning the race.

"When you are racing for the win, you are racing for the win," Reddick said. “In that moment I was trying to think how I could take my car that was in second place to first place.”

Reddick explained that "the obvious thing is I drove in so deep that I needed the entire racetrack. I didn't have enough tire left to keep the outside lane open. So I'm just trying to learn for next time.”

BETTING LINE

Denny Hamlin is a 19-4 favorite to win the All-Star race, a slight favorite over the three-time champion Larson, according to BetMGM.

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The Canadian Press - May 18, 2024 / 8:30 am | Story: 488128

IMOLA, Italy (AP) — On a weekend commemorating Ayrton Senna, Max Verstappen matched the late Brazilian's record for consecutive pole positions in Formula 1 at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Verstappen made it eight in a row — seven this year — when his Red Bull topped qualifying on Saturday, just ahead of the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Miami GP winner Lando Norris.

However, Piastri was later penalized three grid places for impeding Haas’ Kevin Magnussen in Q1 and dropped to fifth, promoting Norris to the front row of the grid.

Verstappen's streak dates to the last race of last season, drawing the three-time defending champion level with Senna on eight consecutive pole positions.

“It’s 30 years since he passed away, so it is very special, and I am very pleased to get pole, and in a way it’s a nice memory to him,” Verstappen said.

“He was an incredible F1 driver, especially in qualifying. A great day for me, a great day for the team. I’m very, very happy.”

Senna's record has stood for 35 years. His streak ran from the final three races of the 1988 season through the first five of the following year.

Senna died in a crash at Imola during the 1994 race and there was a memorial on Thursday, while there have also been other events at the track to mark the 30-year anniversary of the death of the three-time world champion.

Verstappen looked unlikely to match his record when he struggled during all three practices — with his best position fifth in the second session.

However, no one could match his blistering pace in qualifying — although it was closer than it has been recently. Piastri was just 0.074 seconds behind, with Norris only 0.091 adrift.

“I honestly went into qualifying and I was like, ‘Well, if we can get a top five, I would be happy,’ because this weekend has been really difficult,” Verstappen said. "There was really no reference going into qualifying.

“But, yeah, it felt straight away a lot better. I felt more comfortable. I could attack corners finally a bit more and it all started to come together, and it really came together in Q3.”

There was disappointment for Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez, however, as he surprisingly didn’t make it out of Q2.

“What a mess,” Perez said, after finishing 11th.

Verstappen has won four of the six opening races and Norris said it would be “stupid” for someone to doubt the Dutch driver could turn his car's struggles around for the big occasions.

“I mean, you always try and take advantage of other people’s mistakes and struggles," Norris said. "And I know Max hasn’t had the smoothest weekend, but I think if anyone doubted Red Bull or him coming back and doing a good job in qualifying, they’re a bit stupid.

“So, yeah, we expected them to be back on track. Annoying to miss out to him once again in qualifying but we’re close, and I think we’re happy as a team with how we’ve all performed.”

It had been a good weekend for Ferrari as it appeared to have raised its game in front of its home crowd but Charles Leclerc could qualify only fourth, just ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. They will line up on the second row of the grid following Piastri's penalty.

Future Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton was eighth, two spots below his Mercedes teammate George Russell, and sandwiched between RB duo Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo.

Fernando Alonso will start in penultimate position following an unusually scrappy day. Even qualifying appeared in doubt after he crashed out of the final practice and sustained significant damage to the rear of his machine.

Only Logan Sargeant will line up behind Alonso after the Williams driver’s best time was deleted for exceeding track limits.

Qualifying was run under dry conditions with similar weather expected on Sunday.

Verstappen leads the F1 standings with 136 points, 33 clear of Perez and 38 clear of Charles Leclerc of Ferrari.

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The Canadian Press - May 17, 2024 / 3:03 pm | Story: 488052

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — All of the attention ahead of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 is squarely on Team Penske.

Not because Josef Newgarden is the defending race winner. Or because Will Power and Scott McLaughlin have been fast all week. Or because team owner Roger Penske, who also owns the series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, hopes that one of them can deliver his record-extending 20th trip to victory lane.

It’s because of the long shadow cast by a cheating scandal at St. Petersburg, Florida, that has followed Team Penske to the Brickyard. It is a “Fast Friday” tradition for Team Penske to open the day with a meet-the-team event led by the team president and the stable of Penske drivers.

But it was altered this year and mostly a sponsor appearance. Tim Cindric is, after all, one of four employees suspended by Penske because IndyCar found the team had illegal software on all three cars in the March season-opening Newgarden victory.

Once discovered some six weeks later, IndyCar disqualified Newgarden and McLaughlin, but rivals remain suspicious as the Penske cars enter the weekend as contenders to win the pole for the 108th Indianapolis 500.

“Were we satisfied with what happened? Absolutely not. No way. Was it handled correctly? That depends on who receives the serve,” Chip Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull said Friday. "But this is the Indianapolis 500, and we want to win this race.

“The less time we spend thinking about that ping-pong match, the better off we are as a team,” he continued. “Hopefully everybody learned from that. Hopefully the sanctioning body learned from that. Hopefully they do something about it going forward to make us all better. It’s amazing to me in this day and age that that happened.”

What happened has divided the paddock as Newgarden, a two-time series champion and the IndyCar poster boy, has admitted to using an additional boost of horsepower when it wasn't permitted during his March victory at St. Petersburg, Florida.

Now he's back at Indianapolis as the reigning winner but with opinion divided on whether Newgarden is a victim of miscommunication or a driver caught taking advantage of manipulated Team Penske software. All could be true, but the No. 2 team kept quiet when it learned he could override the push-to-pass system, and Newgarden admitted he used it illegally three times in his March victory.

He said he thought there had been a rule change and that's why he used the push-to-pass button illegally at St. Pete. But that's behind him and he posted the fastest four-lap engine in Friday's practice, the day teams get a boost of horsepower to prepare for Saturday and Sunday's two days of qualifying.

Newgarden's opponents have their doubts about what he knew and when, but Newgarden has found the build-up to qualifying and the reception at the speedway rather warm despite two days of rain.

“The fans are — they’re great around here, you know?" Newgarden said Friday. "Everybody knows what this race means. They know the significance. They follow closely and they’re very supportive. So it’s been a fun month so far.”

Penske hopes its fun come Sunday and his three cars are qualified inside the top three rows for the Indy 500. Power at Long Beach last month was adamant that a Penske car would be on the pole for the May 26 race based solely on the work Team Penske had put into its Indianapolis program.

“I feel like we have a great shot because we’ve worked so hard. I don’t think we’ve left anything on the table,” Power said. “I’ve said that for the last five years. I haven’t said we’d be on pole. I’ve said we have a good shot. This year I really feel like we’ve put everything together. I feel like one of our cars have a great shot at pole, if not all on the front row.”

Colton Herta posted the fastest speed of the day at 234.974 mph and was followed by Kyle Larson, Newgarden and McLaughlin.

Newgarden, McLaughlin and Power had the three best four-lap averages, which is the standard used in qualifying.

The Penske trio could be challenged by Larson, the 2021 NASCAR champion attempting to run both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. He's the fifth driver to attempt all 1,100 miles on the same day, and Tony Stewart in 2001 is the only driver to complete the feat.

He's trying to run through his own program with Arrow McLaren Racing, which is fielding the car in conjunction with Hendrick Motorsports, rather than pick the brains of veterans or those who have done “The Double” before him.

“I’d say it’s sometimes better not knowing things. You have a lot of bad things you remember, too,” former Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon said of Larson's reluctance to seek advice. “You've got to try to keep it fresh. I think that’s the fun thing about the sport, everybody chasing the same thing. It’s always kind of different.”

Once Larson locks himself into the field — spots 13 through 30 are confirmed Saturday, with a 12-driver shootout for the pole on Sunday — speedway officials are hopeful its the push needed to sell the 8,000 or so tickets that remain for the grandstands.

Should the grandstands sellout and only general admission and lawn seats remain, it wouldn't technically meet the standards needed for Penske Entertainment to lift the local blackout on race coverage. But Penske has been under scrutiny since the end of last season by rival team owners, and the push-to-pass scandal, and a big Indy 500 and the olive branch of lifting the local blackout could earn him some goodwill.

But Larson is likely to push the crowd to capacity, especially after his nonchalant reaction to turning the fastest lap of his life Thursday.

“It definitely feels faster,” Larson said of his lap at 234.271 mph. “But it's not like scary fast.”

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The Canadian Press - May 17, 2024 / 11:26 am | Story: 487998

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Chevrolet-powered cars from Team Penske and Arrow McLaren were flying in Indianapolis 500 practice on Friday.

Nolan Siegel was flying, too.

The 19-year-old rookie brought Fast Friday to a halt at Indianapolis Motor Speedway when he spun coming out of Turn 2, hit the outside wall and then caught air and sailed down the backstretch. The harrowing crash left Dale Coyne Racing frantically trying to put together a backup car for Siegel with qualifying for the May 26 race on deck this weekend.

“Disappointed,” Siegel said after he was released from infield care center. “Feel bad for the team. It’s been working so hard for so long for this. Just kind of threw it away. Not at all happy about that one.”

All the cars got a boost of about 100 horsepower Friday that they will use for qualifying, and it was reflected in the speeds, with Colton Herta of Honda-powered Andretti Global turning the day's fastest lap at 234.974 mph with the help of a slight tow.

Otherwise, it was Team Penske and Arrow McLaren flexing their muscles ahead of qualifying.

NASCAR star Kyle Larson, who will be trying to run the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, had the second-fastest single lap for McLaren at 234.271 mph. Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin were next for Penske, with Alexander Rossi and Pato O'Ward of the McLaren team sandwiched around Will Power, the third-fastest of the Penske cars.

Newgarden had the fastest four-lap average of 234.063 mph in a simulated qualifying run. McLaughlin and Power gave team owner Roger Penske a sweep of the three fastest four-lap averages ahead of Saturday's time trials.

“I think today is a good indicator,” said Newgarden, the defending race winner, “and we feel like we're in a decent spot. We're definitely in the mix, which is great to see. We've been working the last four years to get back in the mix in qualifying.”

Two-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou, who has come close to winning the Indy 500 the past three years, was left in a tough situation when his Honda-powered engine let go during practice. His team at Chip Ganassi Racing spent much of the afternoon swapping engines, and Palou was left to head into qualifying with a lot of uncertainty.

“No warnings, but I felt something that was not what I wanted to feel,” he said. “But it's OK. We still have time to go back out and hopefully put in a qualifying run. But these things happen when you are trying to find a maximum.”

Siegel's wreck came after Marcus Ericsson and Linus Lundqvist were involved in separate crashes Thursday. Ericsson went to a backup car for Andretti Global and struggled to find speed, while the Ganassi bunch was able to repair Lundqvist's car.

Siegel also expected his team to start preparing a backup car, but his wreck about 2 hours into practice didn't leave them much time. There are 34 cars trying to make the 33-car field; the top 12 on Saturday will advance to the pole shootout Sunday, when the four slowest will be left to their own showdown for the final three spots on the starting grid.

“It certainly doesn't do any good,” said Siegel, who has been a regular winner in the lower-level Indy NXT series but has limited IndyCar experience. “I'll look into what I can do differently. I'm fine. I feel like I can go back and have a chance at making the race at least, but certainly a setback we didn't need.”

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The Canadian Press - May 17, 2024 / 2:57 am | Story: 487925

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