From Newgarden’s Bizarre Season To Palou Clinching: What To Know About Laguna Seca

Bob Pockrass

FOX Motorsports Insider

MONTEREY, Calif. — When there’s part of a track called the “corkscrew,” it probably means the location is around wine country and it probably takes some muscle to make it through.

That would be true of the track situated about 90 minutes south of San Jose.

Fans take in the cars at The Corkscrew in the NTT IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Monterey on June 23, 2024 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, CA

This weekend’s green flag is at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, where INDYCAR drivers will compete for 95 laps on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FOX).

The 11-turn, 2.238-mile course was a staple on the circuit in the 1980s and 1990s, with INDYCAR making its return in 2019 after a 15-year absence.

In the five races since the return, Alex Palou and Colton Herta have won twice at Laguna Seca; Scott Dixon won once. It was repaved in 2023.

Here are a few things you need to know going into the weekend:

Alex Palou Can’t Clinch, But …

Alex Palou can’t clinch the title this weekend, as he sits 99 points ahead of Pato O’Ward after losing 30 points to Pato last week at Toronto. To clinch the title, he would need to finish 162 points ahead of O’Ward (three races remain after this weekend) and the maximum points for a weekend is 54.

But there is a catch.

Alex Palou celebrates after winning Race 2 of the Iowa doubleheader

A driver gets five points to start a race. So in reality, if Palou is 147 points ahead of O’Ward, all Palou would need to do is start the final three races. To do that, Palou would need to get maximum points (win the pole and win the race), while O’Ward would have to finish in the back of the field.

“You never know what can happen,” Palou said Friday morning. “We’ve seen that with a bad weekend and a good weekend with your closest competitor, you lose those 30 to 35 points. So we cannot really allow ourselves to have weekends like that.

“Although it can happen, and honestly, we’ve been really lucky with strategies and our races this year. We need to try and get back on form and try and be good during the race.”

Pato O’Ward celebrates after winning his second race in three weeks

O’Ward just wants to keep it close.

“I think I can,” O’Ward said. “Is it going to be easy? No, not at all. But we’re just trying to make it interesting for everyone, keeping ourselves in the game.”

Newgarden On “Bizarre” Season

Josef Newgarden said he was initially afraid the crash at Toronto had broken his hands, as his wheel spun when being collected by Jacob Abel.

Abel’s car eventually ended up on top of the rear of Newgarden’s car.

“I don’t know what you do,” Newgarden said. “You’re on a street course, and someone’s headed towards the wall wrecking, and I only have so much time to react or move. Just sometimes you just can’t do anything.

“Maybe what you could say is I shouldn’t be back there. But how do you know? You’re going to get back there at some point.”

Josef Newgarden prior to the INDYCAR Series Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto

Newgarden has had a car on top of him and has been upside-down this season. He sits 16th in the standings.

“It’s so bizarre,” Newgarden said about his season. “I don’t even know how to speak to it.”

He couldn’t even characterize the season.

“It is what it is,” Newgarden said. “I can only control what I can control. Same with the team. I can’t imagine it stays like this forever. How could it? Maybe it does. I don’t know.

“If it does, though? It’s been a pretty good ride.”

Rinus VeeKay Rides Momentum

VeeKay earned his first podium finish of the season by finishing second at Toronto last week. That was his best finish since 2021 and the first podium for the Dale Coyne Racing team since 2023.

He will now try to build on that momentum.

“That was a really good podium. It’s been coming, but we’ve been qualifying like crap,” VeeKay said. “We’ve kind of been in the back, 18th and back, and it’s hard to really move towards a podium position from there.

Rinus VeeKay prior to the INDYCAR Series Sukup Race Weekend Race 1 at Iowa

“We needed to qualify well at Toronto. We did qualify ninth. That’s kind of on the border of going for that alternate strategy and making it to the front. That was good and the plan is to do that again. We’re in the point of the season where we know what we’re showing up with. We’ve gone past the trial and error.”

Hey, Look At Kyffin!

Palou’s teammate Kyffin Simpson, like VeeKay, is coming off a Toronto race on a high after a career-best third.

Simpson was 21st in the standings as a rookie last year. He is 14th this year, which is a huge jump.

Kyffin Simpson during the INDYCAR Series Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto

At the Indianapolis Grand Prix in May, Simpson said he felt he had turned a corner.

“Just everything’s kind of coming together for us,” Simpson said. “We’re in a good spot. We got some work to do on the ovals. As far as road and street courses go, I think we’re looking pretty good.”

Santino Ferrucci OK To Race

Ferrucci missed the Toronto race, as his team opted not to scramble to get a backup car ready, and he was nursing a bruised hand. But Ferrucci drove his fifth-wheel mobile home 1,700 miles from Texas to California and was in the paddock on Thursday and indicated that he’s ready to race.

The team has made a piece to go over his hand to protect it.

Santino Ferrucci will race this weekend at Laguna Seca

“[It’s so] I don’t hit my hand and re-injure it,” Ferrucci said. “I have 90 to 95 percent of my strength back in it. I definitely can feel it. It’s not like it doesn’t hurt or anything, but I’ll be fine to go.

“I’m ready. I’m just excited to be back at a race track, excited to be here in Laguna.”

Frerrucci sits 12th in the standings for A.J. Foyt Racing.

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.