Background and series news
The 2.2-liter engines used in the series had hybrid technology implemented after the original plans to debut a new 2.4-liter hybrid engine formula were postponed to 2027. [1] The original plan was to introduce the hybrid powertrain at the start of the season in St. Petersburg, but on December 7, 2023, IndyCar announced a delay to its introduction, until after the Indianapolis 500. [2] IndyCar announced on May 14, 2024, that the new hybrid powertrain would debut at Mid-Ohio. [3]
This was the final year of IndyCar's current television contract with NBC Sports, which began in 2019 and was extended in 2021. [4] [5] For 2025, the series' television coverage moved to Fox for all races. [6]
New race restart procedures were introduced for 2024. On restarts, a new "restart line" was introduced, which drivers had to pass before making overtaking attempts. The rule was introduced in response to a large number of incidents in 2023 that occurred from cars attempting to overtake early on race restarts. [7]
For all oval events, the series mandated new, stronger rear suspension uprights on all cars. The new components were introduced in response to an incident during the 2023 Indianapolis 500 where a rear wheel assembly broke free from a car (specifically the Andretti No. 27 of Kyle Kirkwood who got collected by the spinning Arrow McLaren No. 6 of Felix Rosenqvist) and was launched over the catch fence meant to contain cars to the race circuit. [8]
Season report
Opening rounds
The 2024 season opened as usual with the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, where Team Penske's Josef Newgarden took pole position ahead of MSR's Felix Rosenqvist. [101] He started the race on the harder tires and held his lead over Rosenqvist on soft tires. The opening part of the race saw most drivers save fuel, before CGR's Marcus Armstrong hit the wall to bring out a caution. When the field pitted, the tight pitlane saw Newgarden have a slower stop. He lost out to Rosenqvist and Andretti's Colton Herta, but it only took him a few laps on fresh soft tires to move into the lead again. McLaren's Pato O'Ward followed him through and shadowed him throughout the rest of the race. The final pit stops then saw Herta rise to third, but a poor restart after a caution dropped him behind the Penskes of Scott McLaughlin and Will Power. [102] Weeks after the race, IndyCar disqualified Newgarden and McLaughlin and penalized Power by ten points for the illegal use of push-to-pass. This meant O'Ward won the race ahead of Power and Herta. [103]
The non-points paying $1 Million Challenge at Thermal offered an altered weekend structure: the field was split in two groups, with CGR teammates Rosenqvist and Álex Palou topping the qualifying sessions of their respective groups. [104] Two heat races were held, one for each group. The first heat race began with chaos when Herta and CGR's Scott Dixon crashed, taking out JHR's Romain Grosjean. Rosenqvist kept first place ahead of McLaughlin and Newgarden. The second heat race was without incident, as Palou led from start to finish ahead of his teammates Marcus Armstrong and Linus Lundqvist. The top six of each heat race advanced to the final. After strong starts by Palou and McLaughlin, who jumped to second, the order remained largely static. Drivers had to take extreme measures to conserve tires, so Palou led McLaughlin and Rosenqvist home. [105] The event drew mixed feedback, with drivers enjoying a change in format, but many also feeling the championship could have switched things up more. [106]
Round three, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, saw Rosenqvist take MSR’s maiden IndyCar pole position. [107] His race pace was less convincing though, as he spent the opening part of the race dropping down the order. The Penske pair of Newgarden and Power led Andretti's Marcus Ericsson, before a caution on lap 16 caused a split in race strategies: Power and Dixon pitted under caution, which saw them move into the lead when the rest of the field stopped. During that phase, Dixon was able to pass Power before the pair made their next stop. Newgarden, still the leader on his strategy, came out second after his last stop, ahead of Herta and in pursuit of a fuel-saving Dixon. The five seconds between the pair soon evaporated, with Herta and Palou also closing up to create a four-car battle. Newgarden and Herta then collided in the final corner, with the former dropping to fourth. This delayed the lead battle just enough to enable Dixon to win by 0.9 seconds. [108] With O'Ward down in 16th, Dixon took the championship lead.
Next up was the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix, which McLaughlin started from pole position ahead of Power. [109] The pair held their spots throughout an early caution, before Power ran off track on lap 23 and RLL's Christian Lundgaard was able to pass him. The Dane then kicked off the first round of stops, with Power and McLaughlin following suit. When McLaren's Alexander Rossi lost one of his rear wheels to cause another yellow on lap 43, the leaders opted to pit again, shuffling Palou into the lead. Another caution followed to bring McLaughlin up the order again. He retook the lead when the last remaining car pitted on lap 70, before making his final stop with 15 laps to go to come out ahead of Power and Palou. Lundqvist took third place from Palou shortly before a late caution set up a two-lap dash to the finish. McLaughlin controlled that final part to claim the win, with Lundqvist taking his maiden podium. Dixon had a difficult race that ended 15th, while Herta - who recovered from a crash to finish eighth - took the standings lead. [110]
The Month of May began with the Sonsio Grand Prix and Palou narrowly beating Lundgaard to pole position. [111] The Dane however got the better start and moved into the lead at the first turn of the race. Power in third was the first to make his opening stop, with the top two following two laps later. Stopping earlier allowed Power to move past Palou into second, so he tried the same approach on the second round of stops and pitted first again. Lundgaard covered him off straight away to stay in front of him, but Palou stayed out a lap longer. The Spaniard then delivered a brilliant inlap that, coupled with a quick stop and a faultless outlap, saw him take the lead. During the final round of stops, Power was then able to surpass Lundgaard to claim second. After a late safety car Power pushed to take the lead but almost lost out to Lundgaard when Palou defended his first place. Points leader Herta made the most out of a bad qualifying to rise from 24th to seventh, but still dropped to third in the standings behind Palou and Power. [112]
McLaughlin claimed pole position for the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500 with a record four-lap pole speed. [113] The race was delayed by four hours because of rain, and when it got underway, McLaughlin led his teammates Newgarden and Power throughout the opening stages. The first half of the race saw five safety car interruptions, with attrition high across the whole field. Multiple Honda-powered cars suffered engine issues and Herta crashed from second place on lap 88. Dixon, McLaughlin and Newgarden then swapped the race lead multiple times, before Power was the next frontrunner to crash his car on lap 147 and McLaughlin was hit with a clutch issue. Rossi and O'Ward had entered the fight for the lead by that time, both passing Dixon to set out after Newgarden. O'Ward took the lead with five laps to go before Newgarden retook it. O'Ward moved back into the lead on the final lap, but Newgarden pulled off an astonishing move two corners later to become the first back-to-back Indy 500 winner since Hélio Castroneves in 2002. [114]
Mid-season rounds
Newgarden only had a week to celebrate his win before the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, where Herta was fastest in a disrupted qualifying session. [115] After the usual chaos at the start, the first caution came out right after the drivers on soft tires had made their first stop. Another caution came out on lap 33, with Herta pitting under yellow two laps later. Shortly after, it started to rain, and most of the field opted to pit for wet-weather tires. This saw Lundgaard, Andretti's Kyle Kirkwood and Dixon shuffle to the front after they stayed out - the right decision, as the rain soon started easing off while the race was still under caution. Kirkwood took the lead at the restart, before another caution enabled the drivers on wet tires to return to slicks. A flurry of cautions, restarts and subsequent cautions followed, with Dixon pitting with 44 laps left and then shuffling to the front. Another masterful fuel-saving display by Dixon saw him defend this lead, first from Kirkwood and then from both Ericsson and Armstrong, to take the win and the points lead. [116]
Lundqvist overcame wet conditions and a stoppage after a heavy crash for Newgarden to take his maiden pole position at the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America. [117] His advantage was short-lived, however, as he was rear-ended and spun around by Armstrong into the opening corner. This saw Kirkwood take the lead before McLaughlin overtook him at the subsequent restart. He led until the first round of stops, where Newgarden overcut his opposition to move into second and Kirkwood dropped back. Dixon and Power were behind them, before Dixon dropped down the order when his softer tires fell off, leaving the Penske trio at the top. Another round of stops followed, with McLaughlin defending his lead again. Crucially, Newgarden was able to pit onto hard tires, while McLaughlin and Power had to run softs, so he was able to claim the lead later in the stint. The final sequence of stops then saw Power stay out longer to overcut his teammates and take his first win since 2022. This also saw him take the championship lead by five points over Palou. [118]
Next up was the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, where Palou took pole position while points leader Power only managed 15th. [119] Kirkwood took the lead from Palou through the opening sequence of corners. He held on to a narrow sub-one second advantage through the first pit stop cycle until Rossi, who was the last to pit, overcut three cars to climb to the top. When a caution came out on lap 35, Rossi opted to take his second stop, allowing Palou back into the lead. He led O’Ward and Grosjean at the restart, before the Frenchman took second from the Mexican. The next round of stops saw Herta and Rossi move back in front of Palou, but the Spaniard on fresh soft tires made quick work of the leading pair to retake the lead by lap 64. He held that advantage through the final pit stop cycle. The race ended in multiple successive cautions, but Palou managed the restarts and held on to take the win. Power was able to recover to seventh after running off track at the start, but still had to cede the championship lead to Power by 23 points. [120]
The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio saw the introduction of the hybrid technology, and Palou took the first hybrid-powered pole position. [121] The hybrid’s first laps were under caution though, as Dixon had to park his car during the warm-up laps with an issue with said system. Palou led O’Ward and MSR’s David Malukas until the first pit stop cycle, where Malukas stalled to drop out of contention. O’Ward was faster than Palou throughout the second stint and closed the gap to the lead before electing to pit again on lap 54. When Palou came in a lap later, he had a slow stop, so O’Ward took first place. With McLaughlin in third, Palou began hunting O’Ward. He had caught him with 15 laps to go, just as the Mexican caught up to two backmarkers. The gap for the lead soon dropped below half a second. With the track offering little opportunity to pass, he was unable to lap the cars in front, but it also helped him hold Palou back to take the win. Power had to endure another tough weekend and finished eleventh, now 48 points behind Palou. [122]
Hybrid issues plagued qualifying at Iowa, with multiple drivers unable to deploy energy from their hybrid systems. Herta and McLaughlin shared pole positions. [123] Herta led the opening part of the Hy-Vee Homefront 250, throughout an early caution, before another interruption on lap 80 prompted the leaders to take their first stop. McLaughlin came out in the lead, while points leader Palou stalled in the pitlane. After being unable to overtake McLaughlin, Herta started struggling on his tires. He came to pit road on lap 175, just as Palou spun across the start/finish line and crashed into the wall. This inconvenient caution removed Herta from contention, with McLaughlin leading O’Ward and Dixon to the restart. Two more cautions and a waved-off restart left the field with twelve laps to go, in which McLaughlin held off O’Ward to win his first oval while Newgarden moved past Dixon into third. With Palou classified in 23rd, his only positive was that Power had another bad race and finished in 18th, keeping the damage to Palou’s points lead minimal. [124]
A day later, the Hy-Vee One Step 250 began in rather similar fashion, as polesitter McLaughlin led Palou through the opening stint of the race before pitting on lap 96. Palou came in on lap 100, just as a caution came out. This cycled Power to the front and handed him a cheap pitstop that shuffled him to second. The front remained static at the restart, before Power began pressuring Palou after the halfway point. He did not make a move though, waiting for a better opportunity. That came through the second round of stops, where he kept out a lap longer than Palou and spent less time on pit road to come out in the lead. Power managed his lead through oncoming backmarker traffic, keeping Palou in check to reduce his points gap to 35. [125] The final lap was marred by a huge multi-car pileup as Rossi ran out of fuel and he was hit by A. J. Foyt’s Sting Ray Robb, who vaulted into the air and rolled over. The ensuing 109G impact saw Robb momentarily lose consciousness, before he was airlifted to hospital and later confirmed to be okay. [126]
IndyCar’s only abroad event, the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto, saw Herta take pole position, while Palou was hit with a penalty and had to start 18th. [127] The race start was immediately interrupted by a multi-car crash into the first turn, but when things got going, Herta quickly built a comfortable gap over Kirkwood and Rosenqvist. All three came in to change tires on lap 33, with Rosenqvist then struggling to warm up his new tires before getting passed by Newgarden. The second stint was harder for Herta, as he had to manage a vibration with Kirkwood still staying right behind him. Palou initiated the second round of stops, where Newgarden lost a rear wheel and dropped down the order. allowing Dixon into third. Another multi-car pileup into turn 1 then caused a red flag stoppage after O’Ward spun around and was collected by A. J. Foyt’s Santino Ferrucci. The restart with 20 laps to go was interrupted again, before Herta led the field to his first win since 2022. Palou rose to fourth to extend his points lead to 49 points over Power. [128]
Closing rounds
The final stretch of races began with the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 and McLaughlin on pole position. [129] Both Malukas and Power were able to pass him at an early restart, before Power moved into the lead. He held that advantage throughout the first round of pit stops and multiple cautions, before Malukas suffered a clutch issue and fell to third behind McLaughlin. After the leaders pitted a second time, Ericsson and Dixon moved into the lead as they were on a different strategy. Power returned to the lead on lap 155 before stopping again, with McLaughlin able to retake third from Newgarden through that cycle. Malukas then made a decisive move on Power for the lead, with the pair colliding and Malukas retiring. That put Newgarden and McLaughlin back up front, and the ensuing restart saw chaos as Power rear-ended Rossi. A red flag came out, and Newgarden led McLaughlin and Lundqvist to the finish afterwards. Palou was fourth again, while Power was classified in 18th and losing ground in the championship fight. [130]
2024's last road course race was the BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland, where Ferrucci took his maiden pole position, Foyt's first since 2014. [131] Power started second and immediately took the lead into the first corner of the race, before a heavy crash for Dixon interrupted proceedings. Shortly after the restart, Palou moved past Ferrucci to take second. The American then was the first to pit on lap 31, but came back out into traffic that saw him lose touch with the leaders. The top two remained unchanged through the first stop, with Newgarden in third at the half-way point. The second round of stops saw Herta move into the lead momentarily, before he also pitted to hand the lead back to Power on lap 61. He continued holding a two-second lead over Palou as the Spaniard abstained from trying any overly chancy moves. The final round of stops then also brought no changes for the top three, with Herta, the only leading driver on a differing strategy, stalling in the pits. Power won by 9.8 seconds and was now 54 points behind Palou. [132]
The Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 double-header saw McLaughlin and Newgarden share pole positions. [133] McLaughlin led Lundqvist through the first stint of race one, with the Swede then taking the lead on lap 49. The leading pair pitted on lap 65 and 66, while Herta and O’Ward behind them were able to stop under caution on lap 87. This elevated them to second and third behind McLaughlin. O’Ward then moved past Herta and took the lead on lap 99. The second round of stops saw Newgarden and Palou move up the order as they undercut multiple drivers, before Newgarden collided with Ericsson and both retired. Palou, narrowly avoiding the incident, was second at the restart behind O’Ward and ahead of Power. During the last pit sequence, Herta lost a tire leading to a caution. This saw Ferrucci move up to third. He tried taking the lead, but failed and dropped to fifth. O’Ward won ahead of Power and Conor Daly, who secured JHR’s maiden podium after starting 25th. With Palou fourth, Power slightly reduced his points gap again. [134]
The penultimate race of the season began dramatic: Palou’s car broke down on the warm-up laps, causing the race to start under caution. On the restart, Lundqvist rear-ended Armstrong, who then pivoted pole sitter Newgarden into the barrier. Palou rejoined the race 29 laps down, while Power pressured McLaughlin and took the lead on lap 44. He remained in the lead throughout the next two pitstop cycles, before McLaughlin was able to get back in front during their third pit stops. Rossi and Dixon remained on track to take the lead of the race. A caution followed, and on the subsequent restart Power, who looked on his way to overhaul Palou in the standings, made a mistake and spun. He rejoined a lap down, while the fight for the win was now between McLaughlin, Dixon and Herta. The latter ran a differing strategy that saw him have older tires at the end, which meant he was unable to put up a fight. McLaughlin held Dixon behind him to win the race. Power came tenth and Palou 19th after high attrition, 33 points ahead of Power. [135]
Kirkwook took pole for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. [136] He defended against Newgarden at the start, while Power's title hopes faded due to a seatbelt issue that forced him to pit and put him several laps down. Palou surged from 24th to 17th in the opening part of the race. A first caution came on lap 56 after Rosenqvist crashed, with Newgarden leading on the restart. Herta soon challenged Newgarden for the lead, with both drivers on soft tires. A second caution on lap 89 reshuffled the field as Rossi took the lead after skipping a pit stop. Later, Malukas made an inside pass on Newgarden, but Herta overtook him for second. O'Ward led by lap 155 but handed the lead to Herta after a pit stop. With 10 laps to go, Malukas pitted, leaving Herta and O'Ward battling for the win. A late move while lapping Robb allowed Herta to take the lead from O'Ward to claim his maiden oval victory and second in the championship. Palou finished 11th, securing the title, while Power only managed to finish 24th, dropping to fourth in the standings. [137]
Álex Palou's third championship was not as dominant as his second, but once again characterised by a remarkable consistency that saw him finish in the top five 14 times out of 18 races. Still, Palou's rivals made a step closer to him than in the year before. Both McLaughlin and Power had runs that brought them close to threatening Palou, but with McLaughlin disqualified from St. Petersburg and Power failing to capitalise on both Palou’s mistake at Iowa and his technical troubles at Milwaukee, there never was a serious championship challenge. Away from the championship picture, IndyCar introduced the hybrid system, a technical change that brought a few initial issues and drew questions about its impact on the series’ amount of on-track action. [138] The Penske push-to-pass scandal also raised credibility issues, with many wondering if such an action could be an error or intentional. [139] Still, IndyCar’s final season on NBC drew continually high viewership numbers, even with the Olympic Games being prioritized by the network. [138]
Álex Palou 
Chevrolet 
Linus Lundqvist 
