After an offseason that lasted more than six months, the first race of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series schedule is in the books.
The 100-lap Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile (2.897-kilometer) temporary street circuit in St. Petersburg, Florida kicked off what is slated to be the series' first 18-race season since 2014, and it kicked off with a repeat winner, marking the fourth time since 2016 alone that a driver has won the St. Petersburg race in back-to-back years.
Here are five winners, five losers, and five overreactions from the season-opening street race.
5 IndyCar winners from St. Petersburg
Alex Palou
As Marty McFly once famously said, "Hey, I've seen this one! This is a classic!" – and that's certainly how it seems. Just when you think Alex Palou can't get any better, he goes and embarrasses everybody who just spent six months scheming to try to stop him. Sunday, June 23, 2024 is still the most recent date on which somebody other than the 28-year-old Spaniard led the IndyCar championship standings, extending his all-time record.
Dale Coyne Racing
Just one team placed 100% of their cars in the top 10 on Sunday, and that team was Dale Coyne Racing. They did it with a rookie in Dennis Hauger and with a veteran in Romain Grosjean who hadn't competed in two years. It was a great start to the year for a team that always seems to punch above their weight.
IndyCar
The fact that there isn't a massive break between the opener and the second race, for the first time in what seems like forever, is great news for IndyCar. While TV ratings from St. Petersburg aren't in yet, if they're even remotely close to what they were a year ago, that should bode particularly well for upcoming races at Phoenix Raceway, Arlington, and beyond.
Rinus VeeKay
Rinus VeeKay made headlines a year ago in St. Petersburg for a come-from-behind drive to put Dale Coyne Racing in the top 10 after having been signed just a few weeks prior. He had more time to prepare for his first race with Juncos Hollinger Racing, and he again made it count, driving from 19th to ninth.
Team Penske
After a season in which they suffered 15 combined DNFs, Team Penske simply needed to get the 2026 season started without a disaster. Scott McLaughlin took pole and placed second, Josef Newgarden rallied from 23rd to seventh, and David Malukas recovered from an exploded tire to finish 13th. No other team had all three of their cars even in the top 19.
5 IndyCar losers from St. Petersburg
Nolan Siegel
It would be a massive surprise if Zak Brown isn't already on the phone getting a feel for possible replacements. Nolan Siegel finishing in the top 10 in the standings feels way too unrealistic, and that was the ultimatum given to him by Tony Kanaan this past offseason. He finished 20th on Sunday, worst among drivers not directly involved in wrecks.
Mick Schumacher
Mick Schumacher didn't even get to run a lap in his series debut, thanks to a rookie move by a driver who has been in the series for four years. Sting Ray Robb is a great dude, but there are clearly better candidates for that Juncos Hollinger Racing seat. Unfortunately, money matters more than talent, and Santino Ferrucci also paid the price for that here.
Will Power
Nothing went right for Will Power in his first race weekend with Andretti Global. Two incidents in the exact same part of the track did him in. Quite frankly, I was looking forward to seeing him make him first pit stop with the much-maligned pit crew of what used to be Colton Herta's No. 26 team, but he didn't even make it through the first stint. Was Team Penske truly right to move on when they did?
Scott Dixon
While everything seems to be going right for teammate Alex Palou, an uncharacteristic mistake by the No. 9 team left Scott Dixon with a DNF due to an improperly attached wheel. He also only qualified 16th to begin with. Is an extension of his record-breaking 21-year win streak truly inevitable, or is this the beginning of the end of one of the great IndyCar careers of all-time?
Ed Carpenter Racing
Ed Carpenter Racing came on strong at the end of the year in 2025, but the opening weekend was a struggle, if not a massive letdown. Alexander Rossi qualified last and Christian Rasmussen had a spin that left him well down the order. Neither driver finished in the top 15.
5 IndyCar overreactions from St. Petersburg
The championship battle is over
We get it; Alex Palou has become an oval ace now too. But with Phoenix Raceway as the host of the season's second race after having not hosted a race since 2018, there is definitely some uncertainty, and it wouldn't be completely surprising if IndyCar has a new points leader at this time next week. Also, of the four races removed from this year's calendar, three are at tracks where Palou won a year ago.
"It's just one race"
Ironically, an underreaction is an overreaction here. History shows that if your driver underperformed in the season opener, he isn't winning the championship. Just once this century has a driver placed outside the top eight in the season opener and gone on to win the title. That was Scott Dixon in 2015. The average season-opening finish of the eventual champion, excluding Dixon's 2015 result (15th), during that stretch? 3.24.
Pato O'Ward isn't McLaren's No. 1 driver
While the No. 1-No. 2 driver dynamic in IndyCar isn't quite what it is in Formula 1, the fact that Christian Lundgaard passed Pato O'Ward on the race track and beat him to the podium by two spots, and at a track where O'Ward has previously won, sent a message. However, as we saw a year ago, O'Ward's newfound consistency allowed him to finish the season as the top Arrow McLaren driver in the standings. Just keep Papaya Rules the heck out of IndyCar, please.
IndyCar's standings mistake is alarming
Sure, it is, but it also isn't. In a series that has seen championships determined by tiebreakers before, yes, it is alarming that the standings IndyCar shared after the race were wrong. But the reason for the mistake was obvious, and it's hard to imagine the post-race points calculation process won't be tightened moving forward. They already corrected it, and mistakes happen.
There won't be 33 cars at Indy
This one isn't directly related to St. Petersburg, but St. Petersburg did officially confirm that Prema Racing won't compete full-time in 2026. If they aren't back by the Indy 500, the provisional entry list appears to be sitting at 32 cars. However, RACER.com indicates that there are teams willing to step up to bring that tally to 33 to preserve the 33-car tradition. No running of the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" has featured fewer than 33 cars since 1947.
Fox is set to provide live coverage of the Good Ranchers 250 from Phoenix Raceway beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 7. Start a free trial of FuboTV today and catch all of the action from the Avondale, Arizona oval!