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Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg, FL - March 1, 2026

JOSEF NEWGARDEN No. 2 ASTEMO CHEVROLET

START: 23RD 
FINISH: 7TH  
POINTS: 7TH (-26)
 

RACE RUNDOWN: After a difficult practice and qualifying session on Saturday, Josef Newgarden finished seventh in Sunday's season opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. By avoiding an opening?lap crash after starting from the 23rd position, Newgarden immediately picked up spots and positioned himself for a more strategic race. Working with new race strategist Jonathan Diuguid, the two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion raced his way through the field and entered the top 10 as the race moved into its second half, leveraging both strong tire performance - particularly once the red alternates emerged as the favored compound-and efficient pit sequencing. As strategies balanced out across the field, Newgarden battled his way up to the seventh position at the race's end. By virtue of 16 spots gained, Newgarden was awarded the "Josten's Biggest Mover of the Race" Award. The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner will set his focus on the one-mile oval at Phoenix Raceway, where he is the most recent race winner from 2018.

NEWGARDEN'S THOUGHTS: "Just what you need on a day like today-just execute. Pit stops were incredible. The best I've seen in years.  The strategy was pretty standard, but it was a good day for our strategy.  Just what we needed to do. Nothing went against us, and we tried to use our speed in the Astemo Chevy when we could to climb.  You just have to be happy with a day like this. It's a shame how tough the weekend was.  I wish we could have had made more of it by starting up front."

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN No. 3 DEX CHEVROLET

START: 1ST 
FINISH: 2ND  
POINTS: 2ND (-11)
 

RACE RUNDOWN: Scott McLaughlin nearly placed his DEX Chevrolet in Victory Lane at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg for the second time in his career, ultimately finishing second on Sunday afternoon. The New Zealand-American driver led the field to the green flag by taking his second consecutive pole position at St. Petersburg, adding another to his Team Penske record of 71 top qualifying spots. McLaughlin would hold the lead of the race for the first 35 laps before making his first trip to pit lane on Lap 36. He would cycle back to the third position following all stops. McLaughlin would briefly retake the lead prior to his second and final pit stop of the day, and would move into the second position with just seven laps remaining. Unfortunately, the gap was too large to the leader as McLaughlin crossed the line with a solid, second-place finish.

MCLAUGHLIN'S THOUGHTS: "Obviously you want to be top step. I think that was a solid day for the DEX Chevy. I think we maximized our strategy. I think it was going to go one way or the other with tires. I maybe thought the black tire could have probably performed a little bit better in that first stint, but yeah, my car just didn't probably turn that tire on well enough. Wanted to pull a gap, but I was also trying to save fuel and make it a two-stop in some ways. It was a difficult first stint, and then I sort of got stuck behind the Andretti guys when they were losing their tires. I thought our car was really good. Just probably was a little bit hidden today just where it was position on track, but that's okay. Like I said, I think we maximized our day. No mistakes. Pit road was great. Yeah, just good start."

DAVID MALUKAS No. 12 VERIZON CHEVROLET

START: 5TH  
FINISH: 13TH  
POINTS: 13TH (-36)
 

RACE RUNDOWN: David Malukas and the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet team came to the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg looking to produce solid results in their first race weekend together. While an early incident in the race left the team in a tough position, Malukas and the team rebounded well to finish the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season opener in the 13th position. Malukas placed his Verizon Chevy in the Firestone Fast Six on Saturday afternoon after displaying plenty of speed during the practice sessions. As the race began, he dropped one spot over the opening lap before a quick caution period brought the action to a halt. On the ensuing restart, Malukas and Romain Grosjean make slight contact that resulted in a flat spot to the left front tire on the Verizon Chevy. After a few laps of racing around the tough St. Pete circuit, the tire began to come apart and forced Malukas to pit lane. He would lose a lap in the process, but through determination and a fortunate caution at the mid-point of the race he was able get back on the lead lap to salvage a solid, 13th-place finish. 
 

MALUKAS' THOUGHTS: "We made a mistake early on that made our tire explode and sent us to the back of the grid.  Had a really strong recovery and got it back to P13 so we actually scavenged some sort of points. Not the start that we wanted, but I learned quite a bit. There is a lot of learning curves there from a race perspective. I think with the whole new crew, everything new, it is a big learning curve for the rest of the season. Not the start we wanted, but upward from here."

The second round of the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule will see the series return to Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, March 8, the first race at the one-mile oval since 2018.