![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Palou-and-Veekay.jpg\")
Photo: Joseph Eigo\/TRE<\/p>\nThe opening weekend of the NTT INDYCAR Series is in the books with Alex Palou taking home the hardware. <\/p>\n
Photo: Joseph Eigo\/TRE<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what you should know after the opening round of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n
New Year Same Alex Palou<\/p>\n
What damage does six months away from an INDYCAR seat do for the defending champion? <\/p>\n
Absolutely nothing.<\/p>\n
Alex Palou wasted no time reminding the paddock who they chase. He begun his weekend by running top six times in both practice sessions. Those runs powered him for a Firestone Fast Six appearance on Saturday.<\/p>\n
He missed pole, even got out qualified by a rookie, but his fourth place grid slot marked his best ever on the street circuit. <\/p>\n
From there, his Chip Ganassi Racing strategists picked up right where they left off last season.<\/p>\n
Palou and his strategists executed a flawless overcut during the first pit cycle, capitalizing as the leaders battled in traffic. <\/p>\n
He took control on lap 39 and turned the rest of the afternoon into a clinic.<\/p>\n
Palou set off to a near 13 second lead, setting a new track record for margin of victory as he successfully defended his Firestone Grand Prix of St. Pete win from a year ago.<\/p>\n
If this is what a rusty Palou looks like, then the field is in trouble. <\/p>\n
Whether this signals a fifth championship loading, or simply a strong start before a tougher test like Phoenix this weekend, will have to sort itself in the months ahead.<\/p>\n
A Return to Form<\/p>\n
After a career worst 20th in the standings last season, a disappointed Marcus Ericsson attacked the offseason with purpose.<\/p>\n
By the time he arrived in St. Pete he looked like the marquee driver Andretti Global signed now two full seasons ago. <\/p>\n
A fifth-placed run in the opening practice session signaled renewed pace, and a second-place qualifying run only confirmed that.<\/p>\n
At the start of the race, Ericsson settled into second early. By the first pit cycle, his team executed brilliantly to jump leader Scott McLaughlin on pit exit. <\/p>\n
He captured the brief net-lead, albeit after slight contact with the outside wall out of turn ten on cold tires.<\/p>\n
His defense became more aggressive from there. <\/p>\n
An aggressive pass a few corners before on Marcus Armstrong then a further block heading down the front straight caused both drivers to commit errors into turn one. <\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the outcome proved too difficult to fully recover their podium chances from there.<\/p>\n
He ultimately crossed the line sixth, mirroring his final result from last year.<\/p>\n
The pace looked great. But in a pivotal contract year will the good results continue, or will Ericsson fold to pressures similar to 2025?<\/p>\n
The Little Team that Could<\/p>\n
Dale Coyne Racing entered February with personnel left to fill and seat up in the air.<\/p>\n
Shortly after the annual INDYCAR test at Sebring, they finally confirmed Romain Grosjean in the final seat.<\/p>\n
They arrived in St. Petersburg with more question marks than most of the paddock, but left with plenty of answers and attention.<\/p>\n
DCR knows how to excel at the street circuit. Not too long ago the team won back-to-back events with Sebastien Bourdais in 2017 and 2018. <\/p>\n
Even with the winning pedigree, few expected them to crack the Firestone Fast Six for the first time in four seasons. <\/p>\n
Rookie Dennis Hauger, the reigning INDY NXT champion, delivered a breakout drive. He stormed to third on the grid, missing pole by less than a quarter of a tenth while channeling his inner Robert Wickens on series debut.<\/p>\n
Grosjean, returning from his INDYCAR sabbatical, slotted in sixth proving his touch never left.<\/p>\n
Both drivers converted their strong starts into top ten finishes, Grosjean eighth and Hauger tenth, in the race signaling real potential.<\/p>\n
Now the challenge shifts to the return to Phoenix. Was St. Pete a one-off, or the start of something sustainable for Dale Coyne Racing?<\/p>\n
Championship Favorites Find the Front<\/p>\n
Alex Palou controlled the race, but failed to shake his championship rivals as much as he might have hoped.<\/p>\n
Oddsmakers list Palou as the clear favorite for the championship, yet the other title contenders limited the damage and kept the standings from tilting too far after one round.<\/p>\n
Scott McLaughlin backed up his pole with a podium finish. <\/p>\n
McLaren teammates Christian Lundgaard and Pato O\u2019Ward missed the Fast Six but charged forward in the race to finish on the podium in third and fifth.<\/p>\n
Kyle Kirkwood lacked his teammate Marcus Ericsson\u2019s qualifying speed and started 15th. <\/p>\n
He recovered to an amazing fourth in the race by saving his tires and avoiding losing lap time to traffic during the pit cycles.<\/p>\n
Josef Newgarden had the best rebound of all. After qualifying 23rd on Saturday he acted like a man on a mission in his climb through the field. His strong race pace combined with their sharp strategy helped him recover to seventh.<\/p>\n
While nobody matched Palou\u2019s dominance, his closest challengers executed when it counted most. <\/p>\n
They left St. Pete still within striking distance and ready to capitalize if he slips, especially heading to a short-oval this weekend.<\/p>\n
Rough Beginnings<\/p>\n
While several contenders left the weekend reassured, not everyone had welcoming starts to the new season.<\/p>\n
Mick Schumacher lasted only a few corners in he debut with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and finished last. A fate eerily similar to teammate Louis Foster last year.<\/p>\n
Scott Dixon suffered through an uncharacteristically messy weekend. He slid in qualifying to miss the second round, then lost a right-rear tire in the race and finished 23rd.<\/p>\n
Will Power\u2019s first outing with Andretti Global unraveled as well. <\/p>\n
A string of incidents throughout the weekend ended with a hard hit in Turn 10 wall that knocked him out and left him 22nd.<\/p>\n
Reluctantly for them, its only the first weekend. <\/p>\n
The veterans left the weekend seemingly unphased by the rough beginning and so did the veteranesque rookie Schumacher, as he looks to obtain more track time.<\/p>\n
Will the return to Phoenix Raceway for the \u201cDesert Double\u201d reset their poor starts or signal deeper struggles ahead?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The opening weekend of the NTT INDYCAR Series is in the books with Alex Palou taking home the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-176676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}