Today’s question: What is something under the radar to keep an eye on this weekend in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season opener, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding (noon ET Sunday, FOX, FOX Deportes, INDYCAR Radio Network)?
Curt Cavin: I keep asking myself, who is the next big thing in this series? In a season-opening race with loads of faces in new places, I keep coming back to Christian Lundgaard joining Arrow McLaren. I’m not ready to say the 23-year Dane can win Sunday’s race, but he has a street circuit victory in this series – in Toronto in 2023 – and has raced well in St. Petersburg (two top-11 finishes with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing). In this season opener, Lundgaard will drive for an organization that has excelled in St. Petersburg the past two years. Pato O’Ward finished second in 2023 and won last year’s race; Alexander Rossi finished fourth and sixth, respectively.
Eric Smith: I feel like I’ve been on the Scott Dixon storyline all offseason, and I’d be remiss if I stopped entering the 2025 season opener. Remarkably, Dixon has reached victory lane 58 times at 28 different tracks but is 0-for-20 on the streets of St. Petersburg. However, the six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion has four podium finishes in his last eight starts on this track, and his seventh-place finish last season continued his streak of finishing eighth or better every year since 2016. Also, among the last seven victories for Dixon, four have come on city streets (Toronto 2022, Nashville 2023, Long Beach 2024, Detroit 2024). The Chip Ganassi Racing driver boasted a series-leading 3.0 average finish on street tracks last season. Add it up, and I think he’s primed to earn his fourth season-opening victory, joining 2003 and again in 2008 at Homestead-Miami Speedway to go along with 2020 at Texas Motor Speedway. He won three of his six championships in those seasons.
Paul Kelly: There are two “under the radar” stories I’m watching this weekend, mainly due to competition tweaks and how they will affect team’s strategies. One is the switch in Firestone’s weekend tire allotment at each event, as each team will get an additional set of Firestone Firehawk alternate-compound tires and one less set of Firestone Firehawk primary-compound tires, with five sets each. This may force teams to manage their tires more carefully over the weekend, especially at circuits where the primaries show an advantage. But the main “down low” story I’m watching is the ability for cars to restart on track – and now in the pits – without the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team due to the new hybrid units. There was only one street course race last season after the hybrid debuted in July at Mid-Ohio, at Toronto, so we really haven’t seen how fewer yellows at fraught, bumpy street circuits like St. Pete will change team’s fuel and tire strategies. But there is almost one certainty: The onboard starters will create more green flag action, something everyone wants.