Under the Lights in St. Louis - IndyCar 2026 Round 9 Recap

The halfway point of the season comes on the short oval at Gateway, our third oval of the season. This track has been something of a mixed bag over the years, but it benefits significantly from being run under the lights. Let's look at some of the key stories from the weekend.

Newgarden Backs Into Another One

Like he did at Phoenix, Josef Newgarden got monumentally lucky with the way the race played out. It's not that he wasn't impressive, but he wasn't ever the best car in the field, and I feel like Marcus Ericsson would have beaten him in a straight-up race. The two red flags for rain affected the flow and rhythm of the race, and that fell in Newgarden's favor. That makes six wins for him at Gateway, and it's a great rebound after his rough crash at the 500.

A Statement Result for Ericsson?

The pressure is on for Ericsson. It's a contract year, and Dennis Hauger is already in the Andretti development pipeline. He needs statement results to prove that he deserves to hang on to his seat.

A 2nd place in a race that he should have won is a bit of a downer, but 12th to 2nd with 114 laps led is still a statement.

This is his only podium of the season so far and only his second top-5, so he still has some work to do, but this is the kind of performance he needs to have for the rest of the season to lock him in for another year, or maybe even longer.

Alex Palou Is... Evitable?

Chip Ganassi Racing took a gamble with Alex Palou and Scott Dixon, leaving them out long to try to finish the race on one less pit stop than everyone else. It would have worked out for them if it had rained a little harder during the second red flag. Instead, Dixon was forced to take emergency service under caution, the penalty for that dropping him back to 15th before he rallied back to 12th.

Palou, meanwhile, got the shorter end of the stick. He ran out of fuel on pit road, forcing him to coast all the way down to his box. Once there, the engine struggled to re-fire, and he lost two laps, ultimately relegating him to 17th.

It's rare to see Palou on the wrong end of a coin flip. He usually seems to be the luckiest driver in the series. The cosmos have decided that it's time for him to pay his dues. For his sake, I hope this clears the balance.

Heartbreak for Collet

With Hauger retiring before the green flag flew with mechanical issues, it should have been a breakout day for Caio Collet. Starting 20th, he had an incredible day, running in the top 10 most of the evening and even leading for a few laps. Unfortunately, a late-race engine failure brought all of that to a crushing halt.

This is one week off the heels of Chevy declaring the engine reliability issues fixed. With his teammate Santino Ferrucci having a strange power issue in final practice, I have to wonder if it's an Foyt-specific issue or if Chevy's engine woes aren't as solved as they'd like us to believe.

An Extended Reign for the Sultan of Sketch

The first of the silly season dominoes has fallen into place as Christian Rasmussen signed a multi-year contract extension with ECR this week. It's interesting that he got the deal finished so quickly, given that he hasn't had an especially impressive season so far. His best finish this year prior to Gateway was 14th. That finish did come at Phoenix, where he spent plenty of time at the front, but he was also at least partially responsible for the crash that ultimately took him out.

Regardless, he backed up the news by converting a 19th-place starting position into a podium finish. Those are the kinds of heroics we expect from him on the short ovals. Still, he only has two top-10 finishes on the road courses and hasn't shown much sign of improving there. I'd like to see him do better on the road and street tracks before I can call this a good signing, because right now he seems to be a one-trick pony.

The Championship Standings

Overall, Gateway put on a great show, but it also mixes up the championship standings. Alex Palou still holds on to the championship lead, but the momentum has been broken. There's blood in the water. Still, he's bounced back from things like this before. Heck, he did it earlier this season after the Phoenix DNF. Kyle Kirkwood is only 49 points back in the standings, but with Andretti's legacy of failure, I have to wonder if they can actually hold on to that spot. Time will tell. Don't look now, but we may have a legitimate championship battle on our hands.

As for the Rookie of the Year standings, Dennis Hauger gets away relatively unscathed thanks to Caio Collet's engine woes. The big winner is Mick Schumacher, who has somehow managed to close the gap down to 44 points. Not that I expect him to be a factor; barring monumentally bad luck, this is a fight between Hauger and Collet, and it's going to be an interesting one to see.