Latest news with #IndyCar
Indianapolis Star
an hour ago
- Automotive
- Indianapolis Star
'Blown out of proportion': Nolan Siegel's radio rant no biggie for Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin
Nolan Siegel took responsibility for an expletive-laden rant on his in-car radio following a penalty for blocking at World Wide Technology Raceway. Scott McLaughlin and Siegel spoke privately after the incident, and the Team Penske driver said he believes Siegel's radio comments were "blown out of proportion." ELKHART LAKE, Wisc. — Nolan Siegel 's visit to Road America a year ago 'changed the course of (his) career.' Starting with Friday afternoon's practice at the National Park of Speed, the Arrow McLaren driver hopes he can put what's proved to have been a tough week behind him. The 20-year-old competing in his first full IndyCar season was caught unleashing an expletive-laden rant on his radio during Sunday's race at World Wide Technology Raceway in reaction to being given a drive-thru penalty for blocking race leader Scott McLaughlin as Siegel tried to hang onto his spot on the lead lap. Though it's certainly not uncommon for drivers to use their own colorful, inventive combination of four-letter words directed at drivers who've irked them or express their frustration or disagreement with a call from race control, Siegel took it one step further, yelling through his helmet for 'Penske to go (expletive) themselves' mixed into a series of repetitions of a two-word phrase — one of which starts with an "f" and the other a compound word whose literal definition is a male bovine's excrement. The aftermath of Siegel's tirade culminated with statements from both he and Arrow McLaren on Wednesday. The team noted it had addressed Siegel's radio communications with him privately and that 'the language expressed over our radio … does not reflect who we are as a team. We do not condone this behavior.' In his own apology, Siegel said there was 'no excuse for what (he) said and that he 'regrets letting down the incredible group of people who support me both on and off the track.' Hours ahead of stepping on track at Road America for the ninth race of the 2025 IndyCar season, Siegel said he felt he'd 'made everything right' over the last couple days and is working to maintain his composure in the cockpit moving forward — a trait he feels is important for any great racecar driver. 'What we're doing is extremely high-pressure, and there's moments that are extremely frustrating, and I think ultimately a big part of being a good racecar driver is staying strong in those moments,' he said. 'At the same time, if you look at any pro athlete, they have their moments of frustration, and unfortunately for me, it was caught on the broadcast. 'It's not something I can let happen again, and I will in the future work to stay more calm and not press the radio button. It was a culmination of a lot of frustrating things and a frustrating couple months. I need to not let that get to me.' The incident with McLaughlin was the pair's second tangle in as many races, following the Team Penske driver getting into the back of Siegel early on in the Detroit Grand Prix and spinning out McLaughlin, who was given a stop-and-go penalty at Detroit for the contact, contended Siegel broke incredibly early and played some role in the incident, sparking a back-and-forth on Twitter between McLaughlin and Arrow McLaren team principal Tony Kanaan. Not long after Sunday night's race at WWTR, Siegel and McLaughlin met privately off to the side in between Arrow McLaren's transporters and 'cleared the air.' Though he hadn't heard Siegel's radio statements at the time of their chat, McLaughlin said he continued to believe Siegel's apology was honest and said he believed doing so publicly was unnecessary. 'It gets heated all the time. I'm no angel. It is what it is. I've blown up many times,' McLaughlin said. 'I just back the guy on what he said to me, face to face, before I heard (the radio comments), cause we all say stuff in the moment that doesn't necessarily mean that it's true, right? 'I think we should be very careful on how we (judge) outbursts on the radio. I get that it's important to be sportsmanlike and whatever, but I didn't take offense to it. You do get heated, and it's a thing that happens, but I thought it was blown out of proportion a little bit for what it was.' Siegel said Friday he had no recollection of the comments until it was replayed to him after the race, noting that by no means were the colorful comments 'a conscious thing,' but it also 'wasn't something I'm proud of.' 'No matter what, the penalty happened, and the stewards made their decision, and I have a lot of respect for (IndyCar stewards) Max (Papis) and Arie (Luyendyk) and have talked to both of them,' Siegel said. 'It was a mistake how I reacted in frustration in the moment and not something I should've done and not something I'm proud of. 'I have a lot of respect for Scott. I have a lot of respect for Team Penske. I have a lot of respect for the stewards and everyone who works in IndyCar. But to anyone saying how unacceptable it is, you're probably right, but at the same time, think back on everything you've done in your life, and maybe there's been a time when you've been upset and said something you didn't mean. I don't think there's anyone that can honestly say that that's never happened to them in life.' A year ago at Road America, Siegel was in the heat of an Indy NXT title battle while still moonlighting as an IndyCar driver for a couple weekends that year with Dale Coyne Racing before being given an opportunity to jump into the No. 78 of Juncos Hollinger Racing for the weekend, with team officials deciding Agustin Canapino was not mentally fit to compete. In doing so, he vacated his Indy NXT ride with HMD Motorsports for the weekend. In his off IndyCar weekend, he went and won Le Mans in his class for United Autosports — the sportscar team co-owned by McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown. In the interim, Siegel and his father Mark decided that with the Indy NXT championship unlikely to be achievable, the then-19-year-old would instead seek out a more robust IndyCar calendar for the remainder of 2024 and beyond. Though the team had only a month prior committed to having IndyCar rookie and ex-Formula 2 champion Theo Pourchaire race its No. 6 for the remainder of the season, Arrow McLaren opted to boot the young French driver for Siegel days ahead of the Laguna Seca race weekend. Now with a season's worth of races under his belt with the front-running team, Siegel continues to search for a level of consistency and performance expected of a team that has its other two drivers sitting second and fourth in the championship. Even more important though, Siegel said, is focusing on "the process" and execution and letting the chips fall where they may. Despite questions around Siegel's future, Arrow McLaren officials told IndyStar last weekend the team will maintain its full-time driver lineup for the 2026 season and has no plans to consider the possibility of luring away IndyCar's most valuable free agent: Team Penske's Will Power. Entering Road America, Siegel sits 21st in points with just one top 10 and three finishes of better than 19th, including a 13th-place finish at the Indy 500 that saw him crash on the last lap. 'It's fun looking back on how far I've come and how different I feel coming into this weekend,' Siegel said. 'I'm very much looking forward to getting back here under different circumstances in a stable environment in the Arrow McLaren car. 'We're gonna continue to focus on the process and not the results. We've had a lot of weekends where the result has been bad, but there's been a ton of potential. We've had really good pace and really good racecars. We've worked together well, and it just hasn't come together, so for me, I'm continuing to focus on doing everything in my power to make it a good weekend, and if it doesn't come for some other reason, then it is what it is, but if I can leave every weekend feeling like I did everything I possibly could to get a result, then I'm gonna be happy with that, and we're gonna fix whatever it is that's not allowing us to get it.'
Forbes
2 hours ago
- Automotive
- Forbes
IndyCar's Alex Palou: ‘What, Me Worry?' As Points Lead Shrinks To 73
Alex Palou, driver of the #10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, celebrates after winning the NTT ... More IndyCar Series 109th Running Of The Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 25, 2025. (Photo by) For most of the season, Alex Palou's No. 10 Honda at Chip Ganassi Racing sports the iconic red and yellow DHL colors. But this weekend at one of the premier resort areas in Wisconsin, the NTT IndyCar Series championship points leader has a paint scheme and sponsor that is a perfect fit for a weekend at the lake. It's Solo Cup, the iconic red, plastic cup that can be found at Fraternity Keggers, Sorority Parties, Basement Bashes, Softball Games or any places where a Keg on Ice is being tapped. And for the minors, the red solo cups work great with soft drinks, lemonade, tea and any other beverage that doesn't include alcohol. The Red Solo Cup means 'Party' and 'celebration', and Palou is hoping to celebrate a sixth victory in IndyCar with a win in Sunday's XPEL Grand Prix at Road America. 'Obviously it makes it super fun, and I think it's perfect timing, as well, for Solo to enter IndyCar for the first time and for us to run the car,' Palou said. 'I would say probably Road America is one of the coolest atmosphere tracks that you see, like kids are on vacation, they are camping, people are having fun there all around the track. 'It's probably the best weekend to start out with Solo. "Yeah, I don't know what I'm going to have yet in case we win, but that's something that hopefully it's a good problem to have after the race.' Toby Keith with a Red Solo Cup on July 5, 2019 — (Photo by: Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo ... More Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images) The late Toby Keith made the plastic cup famous in 2011 with his song 'Red Solo Cup' off the album 'Clancy's Tavern.' It was the only song on the album Keith did not write or co-write. 'I heard it from one of the engineers, yes,' Palou said when asked if he had ever heard the song? 'I was not familiar with the song before. 'I don't think it's a good idea that I sing, but I can play it if we win. So maybe that's close.' Cause For Celebration In 2025, the three-time NTT IndyCar Series Champion has much to celebrate. When Palou won the 109th Indianapolis 500 on May 25, it was his fifth victory in the first six races in 2025. His lead in the championship was a staggering 115 points, more than two full races worth of points. Just two races later, Palou's lead in the NTT IndyCar Series has dwindled from 115 to 73 after the June 15 Bommarito Automotive Group 500. But to borrow a phrase from the iconic Alfred E. Newman of Mad Magazine, 'What, me worry?' as he heads to Road America for the XPEL Grand Prix of Road America. Alfred E. Newman of Mad Magazine "I mean, keeping track of the points, like you always keep an eye on it, obviously, but I would say that focusing on the championship, that only goes on the last two races,' Palou explained his mindset. 'Whenever it's like you already know that hopefully you're in the fight or not. 'Hopefully it's only yourself and three other drivers and you know what you need to do, or you know who you need to fight for. 'Now we're fighting against everybody, so it just doesn't really make much sense to count points. It's good to have a look at them when you're leading and see that hopefully we can extend a little bit more the gap, but I think now -- the way we got here was by racing hard and going aggressive on strategies and trying to go for wins. 'I think that's the way we need to continue racing. Hopefully we can have a look at who we're racing against towards the last two, three races of the year.' Palou started ninth and finished eighth last Sunday night at the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway. Prior to that, he finished 25th in the 27-car field for the June 1 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix after he was punted into the tire barriers by David Malukas. 'I felt good at St. Louis even though it didn't really go smoothly in our way, but yeah, I'm excited for Road America,' Palou said. 'It's a place I love. It's a place that we've done really, really well in the past, and it's one of my favorite tracks in the calendar for sure.' Palou is a two-time IndyCar race winner at Road America, and he scored his first career podium finish at the 4-mile, 14-turn. Road course in 2020 when he drove for Dale Coyne Racing. Alex Palou, driver of the #55 Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh Honda, leads a pack of cars during the ... More NTT IndyCar Series Rev Group Grand Prix Race 2 at Road America on July 12, 2020 in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. (Photo by) 'I guess I had great cars there,' Palou explained. 'Honestly, even my first year with Coyne, I got my first ever IndyCar podium there, and I had a great car, great strategy, and then with CGR we've always been running very fast. 'Last year we kind of struggled a little bit, especially in the race with those three Penskes finishing one, two, three, and we were kind of there alone in fourth place. But I feel like this year hopefully we can get back on speed and try and fight for the win.' Team owner Chip Ganassi continues to believe Palou continues to get better season after season. 'It's the beauty of the sport that you can always get better at everything,' Palou said. 'You can always get better at going a little bit faster, getting more speed, just saving better the tires, saving more fuel, managing better how you are aggressive in defending or overtaking. 'There's so much stuff that you can always be a little bit better that I think there's no limit, and you can see that in amazing drivers like Dixon, Power, these guys that have been around for so long, and I think Power said the past weekend that he's been driving the best that he's ever done. 'I believe in that, and I think that it's the beauty of motorsports, that you can always keep on pushing yourself to try and be a little bit better. 'Where do I think I can get better? Well, everything. A little bit faster, hopefully better on short ovals, better on qualifying up front and defending moves or overtaking. I think there's always stuff that you can improve on.' Since the Indianapolis 500, Kyle Kirkwood has won both races and Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward has helped narrow the gap in points. Again, Palou is not worried. 'I said it before the 500 and after the 500, that the same way we won like four or five races in like a very short period of time, there could be somebody else could do the same because it's not impossible,' Palou explained. 'We've done it, so somebody else can do it, as well, and we've seen that with Kyle. I think obviously without his penalty at the 500 he would be even a lot closer. 'It didn't add any pressure at all just because I didn't ever think that it was done or it was ours or anything like that. I knew that we just had a perfect start of the season, and obviously you could see a big point difference. But yeah, I expect that it's going to get very tight. It's going to make it interesting. 'I just hope that we are there at the end to fight for it.' The diversity of the IndyCar schedule is evident from the past three four race weekends. On May 25, it was the Indianapolis 500 on the massive 2.5-mile oval. On June 1, it was the streets of Detroit on a short and tight street circuit. On June 15, it was the 1.25-mile short oval just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. This weekend, it's a track known as 'America's National Park of Speed' – the 4-mile, 14-turn Road America road course. 'I think that's what makes IndyCar so challenging, as well, is you go from a really small track at Indy road course, then you go to a superspeedway, then you go to the bumpiest track that we have in the calendar with Detroit and very tight walls, and then you go to St. Louis which is a completely different track and now you go back to Road America, which it's like going back to the circle of Indy road course,' Palou said. 'Preparation-wise, I would say for the driver it's not as hard as probably for the team, the mechanics, the engineers, getting the setup right and also building the car to, like, the different specs. 'But for the driver it's just amazing that you get to focus on different places and different techniques of driving. It just keeps you sharp, keeps you studying a lot, and I enjoy that. I enjoy that part a lot.' The new IndyCar chassis and engine package will likely be pushed back to 2028, which means the current Dallara chassis will be in action for 16 years. Again, Palou responded with a 'What, me worry?' answer. 'Honestly, at the end of the day, I don't care,' Palou said. 'Would I like a new car that looks a little bit better and has more power? Yes. But do I really care at the end of the day? No, I don't care. As long as everybody has the same exact car and the racing is good, I do not care what we do. 'I think it's important that whatever we do, it's good, and it's not going to affect our product, which is just fun racing, really close racing, and just like the pure IndyCar that we have. 'As long as we keep that in mind, if it delays one year, two years, I do not care, and hopefully that gives enough time to everybody like all the teams, Dallara, IndyCar, to come up with a great solution that everybody is happy about visually and also, like, speed-wise and power-wise. 'So yeah, at the end of the day, I don't care. As long as we all get to do the same, it'll be good.' For Alex Palou, the points lead may be dwindling, but with a maximum of 54 points available in each race, he has reason to say, 'What, me worry?' Alex Palou celebrates winning the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor ... More Speedway on May 25, 2025. (Photo by Michael L. Levitt/Lumen via Getty Images)
Time of India
10 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Who Is Mark Walter? Billionaire changing sports by owning teams from NBA to Formula 1
Who Is Mark Walter? Billionaire changing sports by owning teams from NBA to Formula 1 (Image via Getty) Mark Walter, who is a billionaire investor and the CEO of Guggenheim Partners, is no stranger to headlines, especially not for buying major sports ownership. He has teams in several leagues and different countries, and every year he has quietly built a sports empire that includes teams in baseball, women's hockey, European football, and motorsports. Now, he is (somewhat inappropriately) making headlines again. A new deal with the Los Angeles Lakers has valued the team at an unprecedented $10 billion. Which is extremely shocking for fans and insiders, but just reaffirming that Mark Walter is changing the entire landscape of sports globally again. Mark Walter now owns part of the Los Angeles Lakers After $10 billion deal On Monday, June 17, 2025, Mark Walter and his firm, Guggenheim Partners, agreed to acquire a major stake in the Los Angeles Lakers at a record $10 billion valuation, according to Front Office Sports. This deal is now the highest team valuation ever recorded in the NBA . Mark Walter is already the primary owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, which he and Guggenheim Baseball Management bought in 2012 for $2.15 billion. Mark Walter is also part-owner of the Los Angeles Sparks, the WNBA team, continuing his strong focus on top LA franchises. With this new Los Angeles Lakers deal, Mark Walter now holds a major share across basketball, baseball, and women's sports — all within the city of Los Angeles. Mark Walter's sports holdings include Chelsea FC and a 2026 F1 team Mark Walter's investments go beyond the U.S. In 2022, he co-led the group BlueCo along with Todd Boehly to buy Chelsea FC, a top soccer club in London. They also own RC Strasbourg, a football club in France. In 2023, Mark Walter expanded into women's hockey by purchasing the Premier Hockey Federation and merging it with other leagues, creating the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). The league's championship trophy is named the Walter Cup in his honor. In motorsports, Mark Walter's group TWG Motorsports will launch a Cadillac Formula 1 team in 2026. He's also involved in IndyCar, Formula E, NASCAR, and other racing series through deals with Andretti Global, Spire Motorsports, and Wayne Taylor Racing. As one sports executive told Front Office Sports, 'No one is doing what Mark Walter is doing — he's building something nobody else even imagined.' Also Read: Who is Mark Walter? The billionaire who acquired Los Angeles Lakers in biggest sports team deal in history Game On Season 1 kicks off with Sakshi Malik's inspiring story. Watch Episode 1 here
New York Times
14 hours ago
- Automotive
- New York Times
How to watch the 2025 IndyCar XPEL Grand Prix at the iconic Road America
As the NTT IndyCar season hits its midpoint, three names top the marquee for Sunday's XPEL Grand Prix at Road America: reigning series champion Álex Palou, two-time Elkhart Lake winner Josef Newgarden and defending race winner Will Power. The venue? A racing cathedral. Road America is celebrating its 70th anniversary, and its 4-mile, 14-turn layout remains as punishingly raw as it was in its 1955 debut: long straights, blind crests, massive braking zones and the infamous Carousel, where staying flat requires sheer bravery and absolute balance. Advertisement Venue: Road America — Elkhart Lake, Wis. Dates: June 20-22 Race coverage can also be streamed via the Fox Sports app. Fox is available over the air with a broadcast antenna. The championship chase is tightening. Palou still leads with 335 points, but Pato O'Ward (262) and Kyle Kirkwood (260) are closing fast. O'Ward has claimed four podiums so far in 2025 — three of them second-place finishes. Kirkwood is on a tear, with three wins (Long Beach, Detroit and his first oval at World Wide Technology Raceway). Road America is a bellwether. Since 2016, the winner here has finished outside the championship top three only twice, making this race far more than just a picturesque backdrop. Practice and qualifying carry weight. Last season's weekend was unusually tidy, but fans should heed the warning from 2023 — Palou, Dixon and Power all wrecked their cars in a single practice session before qualifying. Road America punishes hesitation and rewards nerve, making every session breathtaking. It's old-school, wide-open and worth watching start to finish. Expect a weekend as rewarding as it is ruthless. Read more from The Athletic's motorsports team ahead of this weekend's Grand Prix at Road America: 'There's some people who don't see or don't read the race early on. They probably look only at the first stint of the race and they don't look that it's a three-stop race. You need to get first at the end, not at the beginning. That's been something that has been working for me, but it's not that I invented it or suddenly I'm more intelligent than everybody else. I'm able to do that because I have a good car and a good team around me that makes me see that.' Streaming links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication. (Photo of Álex Palou: Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / Getty Images)
Daily Telegraph
14 hours ago
- Automotive
- Daily Telegraph
Supercars Darwin: Barry Ryan's frank verdict on fall of Erebus
Don't miss out on the headlines from Motorsport. Followed categories will be added to My News. Erebus chief executive Barry Ryan has offered a frank reflection on a crippling 18 months that has seen his title-winning team slip to last in the Supercars standings. After a fairytale start to the Gen3 era, which saw Erebus win both the drivers' and teams' titles in 2023, the squad has endured a string of well-publicised internal struggles. Will Brown defected to Triple Eight at the end of 2023, while reigning champion Brodie Kostecki missed the start of the 2024 season while in dispute with the team, which coincided with big name sponsors such as Coca-Cola walking away. Kostecki would later return and win the Bathurst 1000, however left to Dick Johnson Racing at the end of last season – along with both Erebus race engineers George Commins and Tom Moore. Will Brown left Erebus at the end of 2023. Picture: Brendan Radke Brodie Kostecki was another high-profile departure. Team principal Brad Tremain also left the squad at the end of 2024 with plans to pursue an opportunity in IndyCar in the US. That has prompted a significant, and ongoing, internal rebuild, highlighted by Ryan himself needing to take the race engineer role on Jack Le Brocq's car. It's been tough going for Le Brocq and rookie teammate Cooper Murray, too, with Erebus slumping to last in the teams' standings ahead of this weekend's Darwin Triple Crown. 'There's no hiding behind it; the last 18 months have been really hard on our team. Really hard,' said Ryan at Hidden Valley on Friday. 'Losing key people … our last rebuild was 2021 and we got Brodie and Will and no one believed, really, in that. And we won a championship two years later, and we won Bathurst the year after. 'We've gone back to where we were [in 2021]. 'It's hard on the team. To replace people like George, Tom and Brodie is really hard. Brad Tremain is going to kick goals in America. That's four key people out of the team, it's really tough to replace that. 'It's going to take time. We can't hide behind that. I can only do so much and the boys that I've had there for six, seven years can only do so much. 'Unfortunately I'm still race engineering, and I say that because I shouldn't be. I should be running the business. But until we can get the right person to do that role; we're trying to self-promote from within, we're trying to find an engineer we can just put in and be really successful. Cooper Murray was 11th in the second practice session in Darwin. 'It's a balancing act and I can't say I'm really enjoying it. We got to a point where we were beating Triple Eight and we wanted to be that team that was the best year in, year out. 'Massive respect to Roland Dane for what he did for that whole time he was there, and what they're still doing. We got there and we just couldn't keep the momentum. 'No matter what everyone thinks the reason is why. We just couldn't keep that momentum that teams like that can do. 'Anyway, it's a lesson learned, this whole situation. We'll try not to go through it again. 'We'll get there again. We're confident in our team. We've got a great bunch of loyal staff that want to stay on and want to see us get there again and win championships and Bathursts. 'We're still going to go to Bathurst trying to win there this year. We'll have the belief and we'll have the drivers than can do it.' Erebus showed signs of improvement on track on Friday, with Murray 11th in the second practice session and Le Brocq in 19th as Andre Heimgartner led the way for Brad Jones Racing ahead of Ryan Wood and Will Brown. This story was written by Speedcafe Originally published as Supercars Darwin: Barry Ryan's frank verdict on fall of Erebus
