By: Ashley McCubbin

There may be some new pavement at Road America, but that should not make you less excited to see what the NTT IndyCar Series has in store for this weekend. After all, the road course has produced six different winners in eight races.

2019 race winner Alexander Rossi could do it again as he led practice for the Sonsio Grand Prix on Friday by eight hundreths over the field. He followed up the checkered flag with a 19th in 2020, but has not finished outside of the top-seven in the three races since with a pair of sevenths. It also seems he has finally found the momentum with Arrow McLaren SP having scored a trio of top-five finishes.

Roman Grosjean, who is driving for the team that Rossi won with 2019 in Andretti Autosport, also knows his way around in finishing fifth and fourth for the best average finish (4.5) of active drivers. However, it cannot do anything for his confidence in posting only the 18th quickest lap of the session. He also has not been having the best of luck lately, with a trio of finishes outside of the top-10. There is hopes for a turnaround, though, as he scored a pair of runner-ups prior to those results – including one of those at another road course.

Alex Palou is the opposite of Grosjean right now with having everything going his way in his title defense, scoring six consecutive top-five finishes including a pair of victories, one of those earlier this month on the streets of Detroit. He has carried the momentum to Road America, timing in third quickest. Although he crashed out of the event last season, he had scored a top-seven in the three prior races, including winning in 2021.

Defending race winner Josef Newgarden hopes to gain some ground on Palou this weekend, currently ranked third in the points, 70 markers behind the lead. After winning the Indianapolis 500, he backed it up with a 10th at Detroit – which certainly did not help the situation in the standings. Fortunately outside of the victory, he has scored four other podiums in eight appearances, including another checkered flag in 2018. He was 16th in practice, by the way.

His Team Penske teammate Will Power performed well in Detroit, placing second to Palou after leading 14 laps. It was a great turnaround after placing 23rd in the Indianapolis 500. However, is he ready to turn the year around yet? Something to think about when you realize he was only 17th quickest in practice. He won at Road America in 2016, following it up with four more top-fives in the seven races following.

David Malukas hopes to stake his claim in his sophomore campaign, having put up the second quickest lap on the board in practice. It is much better, if you consider he was 16th in his first appearance at Road America. He also could use a good run after he has finished outside the top-15 in the five races since a fourth at Texas Motor Speedway.

Colton Herta, meanwhile, knows what it takes to get the job done at Road America, boasting the second best average finish of active drivers (fifth) following four straight top-five’s including a runner-up. He was only ninth in practice, though, which matches where he currently ranks in the standings with just one top-five in seven races this season. Remember when he was the most talked about next star of the series?

Marcus Ericsson is having an interesting pattern this season with his results – posting a podium, followed by a finish just inside the top-10 in repeated fashion to put him second in points. Fortunately, the pattern says he should be in the top-three when the checkered flag waves at Road America, backed up with the sixth quickest lap in practice. He also has scored four consecutive top-10’s at Road America, including a runner-up last year.

Felix Rosenqvist caught everyone off-guard when he picked up the checkered flag in 2020, but did not show the same familiar speed in practice as he was ranked eighth on the board. Still, he backed up the victory with a sixth last season and scored his first podium (third) on the streets of Detroit.