Scott McLaughlin (No. 3 Team Penske DEX Chevrolet) ended a long winless streak and the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season in style, dominating the Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey for his first victory in more than two years. Pole sitter McLaughlin won by 1.3739 seconds over the No. 27 Andretti Global Sam’s Club Honda of Kyle Kirkwood. The win was the eighth of McLaughlin’s INDYCAR SERIES career and his first since Sept. 1, 2024, in the second race of a doubleheader weekend at the Milwaukee Mile, snapping a drought of 36 races. “My little girl (Lucy, born in October 2024) hasn’t seen me win yet, and now she has,” McLaughlin said. “So, Dad’s coming home with a trophy, baby. Let’s go! These guys and girls at Team Penske have stood behind me the whole time. Congrats to Alex (Palou) on his fifth (championship), but we’re working hard to beat them, and today was a big step in the right direction.” Watch the Race Highlights here. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)
Kyle Kirkwood (No. 27 Andretti Global Sam’s Club Honda) finished second on Sunday.
(Photo by Joe Skibinski for Penske Entertainment)
(Photo by Travis Hinkle for Penske Entertainment)
(Photo by Chris Owens for Penske Entertainment)
Nikita Johnson dodged a first-lap incident in today’s 30-lap race and cruised to a distant second place in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR machine to clinch the season INDY NXT by Firestone championship and an INDYCAR SERIES career enhancement package. Johnson, from St. Petersburg, Florida, became the youngest champion in series history at 18 years, 3 months and 12 days old.
He finished 29 points ahead of season runner-up Enzo Fittipaldi in the No. 67 HMD Motorsports entry to clinch the first INDY NXT championship for longtime junior open-wheel team Cape Motorsports, owned by brothers Dominic and Nicholas Cape.
“It’s amazing,” Johnson said. “It’s good to finally show my emotions. I think a lot of people thought I was passionless, but I’m just emotionless when I drive, right? I just go out there and do the work. I’m happy that the work is done now, and I can finally go celebrate.”
Tymek Kucharczyk ran away to victory in the second race of the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey doubleheader in the No. 71 HMD Motorsports car one day after his title hopes in the INDYCAR development series were ended when he was hit and spun by a rival on the first lap. “Really proud of the work,” Kucharczyk said. “Everyone on the team did amazing. Big congrats to Nikita. What can I say? ‘What if’ if yesterday didn’t happen? But nevertheless, really proud of today. We maximized what we had."
Editor's Note: This is our dearly departed billboard, which we had at Road America for several years. Peter gifted the phrase "America's National Park of Speed" to the track, which now uses it proudly in all of its communications. -WG
Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG