'Dancing' champ Castroneves: Hinchcliffe the driver to beat - MotorSportsTalk

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) James Hinchcliffe and Helio Castroneves ditched the cars for costumes and went head-to-head – foxtrot-to-foxtrot, perhaps – for a televised showdown on the dance floor.

The IndyCar drivers teamed up this week to film a “dance-off” segment that should air on “Dancing With the Stars” Monday night on ABC.

Castroneves used fancy footwork to win the 2007 trophy that sits in his championship collection along with three Indianapolis 500 Borg-Warner trophies. Hinchcliffe, a fellow IndyCar driver, has earned rave reviews for dominating dancing that earned him a spot in the final week of competition.

Hinchcliffe and partner Sharna Burgess are scheduled for two dances on Monday. If they are not eliminated, the duo will dance for the championship on Tuesday night’s show.

Castroneves said Hinchcliffe could take the show’s version of the checkered flag.

“I’m very impressed, to be honest, the way he did it,” Castroneves said. “The way he did it, I feel that he has a phenomenal chance.”

Castroneves declined to reveal the danceoff winner during a visit Sunday to the NASCAR championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“You’ve got to watch,” he said, smiling.

Hinchcliffe has consistently been one of the top competitors on the show. “Dancing” judge Julianne Hough even told him: “You are hands-down the best male dancer we have ever had on this show!”

That’s quite the compliment – Hough was Castroneves’ partner when they upset Spice Girl Melanie Brown to win it all.

“I can only agree with her,” Castroneves said, the smiled and quipped: “I feel he does have a better partner.”

Castroneves said his appearance on one of America’s highest-rated television shows brought IndyCar a new group of potential fans and his popularity skyrocketed.

“A lot of people know me as the dancing champ, especially the flight attendants,” he said.

IndyCar just might have room for dual dancing champs.

“It’s great for the IndyCar series,” Castroneves said. “I can’t wait to see it. And vote.”

INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33. Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports

‘Dancing’ champ Castroneves: Hinchcliffe the driver to beat

Winner Josef Newgarden earns $3.666 million from a record Indy 500 purse of $17 million