IndyCar Preview: Gateway 500
- Dan Jones
- Jun 13
- 7 min read
Written by Dan Jones
Who's ready for some old-fashioned short-oval action? Well, you're all in for a treat, as IndyCar visits World Wide Technology Raceway (more commonly known as Gateway Motorsports Park) for Round 8 of 17 in the 2025 IndyCar season, which plays host to the first oval race of the year outside the Indianapolis 500. There's been several thrillers at Gateway in recent seasons, and with the title fight slightly more open than it once was, it's all to play for in St. Louis, Missouri.
What happened in Detroit?
IndyCar's annual visit to the Streets of Detroit brings drivers and fans alike back down to earth, just a week after the Indianapolis 500, and 2025 proved no different to recent years.
As it always is, Detroit was chaotic. There were five separate cautions (and who remembers that drought of three caution-less races we had to start 2025!), several further incidents, and 10 different lap leaders. All of that in addition to Álex Palou's scintillating run of form coming to an end in the Turn 1 barrier.
As was the case in the only other race so far in 2025 that Palou was not victorious, Kyle Kirkwood picked up the pieces for a fourth career victory - all of which have come on street courses. Kirkwood was impressive throughout the weekend, qualifying third and was comfortable in controlling the field once he got out front mid-way through - even if red flags and strategy difficult would be thrown at him.
A late caution caused by a crash for Callum Ilott elevated Santino Ferrucci into the lead, which he capitalised upon to take his career-best finish of second. Although, Ferrucci was later penalised for being under the driver ballast weight, which meant he forfeited 25 points in the drivers' championship.
It had been a difficult start to the year for Colton Herta, but he left Detroit with consecutive poles on the Motown streets as well as a first podium of the season, as he held off Will Power in the closing laps. It also marked a career-best finish for Kyffin Simpson in fifth, with the Cayman Islander being on the same strategy as Ferrucci.
Palou's mesmerising run of form to begin 2025, which saw him win five of the first six races came to an end after he was punted into the barrier by David Malukas. Although it would usually be a catastrophic day for the championship leader, Palou still maintains a 90 point gap at the top of the standings.
The race drew 1.061 million viewers, up 75% from the figure of that in 2024, with it being the most-watched Detroit race since 2021.
You can read the full race report here, the DIVEBOMB IndyCar Podcast's race review here and my gradebook here.
Palou's points gap remains sizeable over Pato O'Ward - who's having a quietly consistent run of form. Kirkwood's victory elevates him 12 points behind O'Ward. The season now approaches the midway mark, with some drivers still in unexpected positions in the standings, find Josef Newgarden in 12th and Marcus Ericsson in 19th as examples. Top ten in points are as follows:
Palou - 311
O'Ward - 211
Kirkwood - 209
Lundgaard - 205
Power - 175
Rosenqvist - 175
Dixon - 173
McLaughlin - 164
Herta - 157
Armstrong - 131
What you need to know about Gateway
As is the nature of the IndyCar calendar, we go from one end of the spectrum to the other. A slow, narrow, bumpy and uncomfortable street course around the Renaissance Centre in Detroit to a medium-speed oval at Gateway where drivers will be pushing the 200 mph mark - one of the ultimate tests of an IndyCar driver.
The oval is 1.25 miles (2.012 km) in length, and has the very unique feature of having a different radius and banking in each of the corners. Turns 1 and 2 have 11 degrees banking, but is significantly tighter and a slower corner. Turns 3 and 4 only reach 9 degrees in banking but is a much longer corner which will therefore mean faster speeds. It creates a setup challenge, as teams need to make their cars strong on both ends of the circuit.
Gateway has been hosting Indy cars since 1997, but dropped off the calendar in 2003 after three years apiece under the CART and IndyCar monikers. The circuit returned to the calendar in 2017 and hasn't missed a race since.
This event has been all about Team Penske since then. The team have been victorious in six of the nine races since it's return to the calendar, as well as taking seven of the nine pole positions - it has not missed one of those at Gateway since 2020.
Newgarden is the driver to beat at Gateway. He has won four of the last five at the circuit - including a 'spin and win,' last season, with the American bizarrely having his race resurrected by a caution he caused! The race was also notable for a late-race pile-up on the restart due to Newgarden tip-toing exiting Turn 4. IndyCar have since introduced measures to stop that from happening again.
Scott Dixon pulled out a vintage Dixon strategy performance on his way to victory in 2023, which added to his success in 2020 at the circuit. Power is the other active driver with a victory at Gateway when he found victory lane in 2018.
Sunday's race will take place under the lights at Gateway, which has been a welcome addition as many fans have been pushing for the series to host a night race on an oval. The circuit previously hosted races under the lights between 2017 and 2021 as well as 2022 when the race was postponed due to weather delays. The race will take place over 260 laps, which totals 325 miles of racing.
The series will also host a high-line session in order to improve racing by working the higher line. This has proved to be greatly successful in recent oval races, and created excellent racing at the circuit last season - despite the additional weight of the hybrid. This will mark the first weekend where drivers will return to a venue that they have already raced the hybrid at.
This weekend will also mark a 300th career start for Graham Rahal, who will become the 11th driver to achieve the milestone if he is to see the green flag on Sunday.
What to look out for this weekend?
As I mentioned, this race has been all about Team Penske in recent seasons - and the team really need it to be a good weekend. Due to Palou's dominance and Kirkwood's strengths on street courses the team haven't been victorious thus far in 2025, and neither have Chevrolet. It's been Penske's longest barren run to start a season since 2021.
But, if there was any weekend you'd pinpoint the team to turn their fortunes around, it would be this one. Newgarden has never finished lower than seventh, apart from when he crashed out of the race in 2023. Scott McLaughlin has finished second, third, fourth and fifth at the venue in just four visits, whilst Power boasts three poles and three podiums.
All three drivers need a good weekend for different reasons. Power continues to come under scrutiny on whether he'll retain his No.12 seat for 2025, despite being the top Penske driver. McLaughlin comes off the back of a dismal two races and needs to remind doubters that he is still one of the best in the series, particularly on ovals. Newgarden comes into the eighth race of the year with only three top 10 finishes and a lowly 12th in the standings which are not the standards expected of a two-time champion.
Could the championship fight be opened up further this weekend? It still feels that any championship battle remains unlikely at this point in the season due to Palou's points gap, but this is one of very few venues Palou has not claimed a podium at, let alone a victory. However, in his tenure at Chip Ganassi Racing, Palou's results at Gateway have improved year-on-year. His Indianapolis 500 victory finally answered the question on whether he could win on an oval, but it's important for Palou to add a short oval result to his pedigree too.
Palou's closest 'challenger' remains O'Ward, who has been very handy at Gateway in his career. O'Ward claimed a pair of podiums at the race in 2020 and picked up further runner-up spots in 2021 and 2023. The Mexican also finished fourth in 2022 - his lowest finishing position at the venue. He retired early on from proceedings last season with an engine failure.
It feels that if Palou is ever going to be caught, this weekend has to be a turning point before he heads into a stretch of rounds he has been very successful at previously. O'Ward's record at Gateway, as well as his general oval form bodes very well, whilst Palou must keep out of any danger - even if it isn't his fault, such was the case in Detroit.
Andretti Global have not traditionally run well at all at Gateway, and have not stood on the rostrum since 2018. However, their oval form has steadily improved, as shown by Herta's win at Nashville Superspeedway to close out 2024. This is going to be a telling weekend to see if that form has carried over or Andretti still have work to do to match the likes of Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske on ovals.
We have to give a mention to A.J. Foyt Racing too. They come off the back of successive runner-up finishes and this is David Malukas' best venue on the entire schedule. Malukas claimed a maiden podium in 2022 before following up with another the following season. He was also racing in contention for victory last season before he collided with Will Power. Malukas' Gateway record, as well as Foyt's oval form gives great optimism that a first career victory.
Timings:
Installation Laps: 10:20 CT (16:20 BST) Saturday
Practice 1: 10:30 CT (16:30 BST) Saturday
Qualifying: 14:00 CT (20:00 BST) Saturday
High-Line Session: 16:45 CT (22:45 BST) Saturday
Practice 2: 17:30 CT (23:30 BST) Saturday
Race: 19:22 ET (01:22 BST Monday) Sunday
DIVEBOMB will bring you all the news and updates throughout the weekend as well as post-race analysis. Will Penske's Gateway dominance continue? Will Palou's grip in the title slightly weaken? Can Malukas claim a first career victory? It's all eyes on the action under the lights at Gateway.
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