PORTLAND, Oregon – Colton Herta clinched the pole position for the Grand Prix of Portland Saturday afternoon in a wild qualifying session that saw all of the top three drivers in the championship standings miss the Fast Six.
On his final lap of the Firestone Fast Six, Herta posted a 57.8111 second lap, which was enough to narrowly take the top spot away from Will Power.
“I can’t believe we pulled it off,” Herta told NBC Sports. “It’s always a good day when you can beat Will Power in the Fast Six.”
Herta’s had plenty to smile about over the course of the weekend at Portland. On Friday, he was fastest in practice 1, and earlier in the day Saturday, he was fastest again in P3. In his relatively short career, Portland has already become one of Herta’s favorite tracks.
“I love this place,” Herta said. “I had my first IndyCar test here, so obviously it means a lot to me.
“To have a second career pole here is even cooler. Hopefully we can add a second career win.”
With Herta clinching the pole, Power would have to settle for second. Still, Power has no issue with a front-row starting position.
Power, going on a “one-and-done” strategy in the final round, locked his brakes entering Turn 1 on his lone flying lap, which flat-spotted his right front tire. Power ended the session just a mire 0.0192 seconds behind the pole.
“It was my fault for not warming the brakes a bit more,” Power said. “It’s tough when you go out and you have to pump it out straight away. You don’t get any temp in the brakes here because there’s no braking zones.
“But P2, you can definitely win from there. We’ll just go for it tomorrow.”
Scott Dixon qualified third, while Jack Harvey, Felix Rosenqvist and Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded out the top six qualifiers.
Alexander Rossi qualified seventh, which was the highest qualifying position for any of the top three championship contenders.
Fellow championship hopefuls Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud fared no better, as both failed to advance from round 1. Newgarden and Pagenaud will start Sunday’s race 12th and 18th, respectfully.
"You can't make a mistake, and I made a couple of them."
A few mistakes cost Josef Newgarden a spot in the Fast 12, opening the door for his closest @IndyCar competition to gain valuable points in the championship battle. pic.twitter.com/sqhl2ne6jS
“You can’t make a mistake, and I made a couple of them there,” Newgarden said. “I got wide in the curb coming off [Turn] 7, and dropped a tenth [of a second] on one lap, and then dropped another tenth on the final corner of the next.
“That’s Portland. That’s how it was last year, and I figured it was going to be that way this year.
“We’ll just go racing now.”
Live coverage of the Grand Prix of Portland begins tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
LE MANS, France — The V8 engine of the NASCAR Chevrolet Camaro has a distinct growl that cannot go unnoticed even among the most elite sports cars in the world at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
When the Hendrick Motorsports crew fired up the car inside Garage 56, NASCAR chairman Jim France broke into a huge grin and gave a thumbs up.
“The only guy who didn’t cover his ears,” laughed seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson.
France has been waiting since 1962 – the year his father, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., brought him to his first 24 Hours of Le Mans – to hear the roar of a stock car at the most prestigious endurance race in the world.
A path finally opened when NASCAR developed its Next Gen car, which debuted last year. France worked out a deal to enter a car in a specialized “Innovative Car” class designed to showcase technology and development. The effort would be part of NASCAR’s 75th celebration and it comes as Le Mans marks its 100th.
Once he had the approval, France persuaded Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear – NASCAR’s winningest team, manufacturer and tire supplier – to build a car capable of running the twice-around-the-clock race.
The race doesn’t start until Saturday, but NASCAR’s arrival has already been wildly embraced and France could not be more thrilled.
“Dad’s vision, to be able to follow it, it took awhile to follow it up, and my goal was to outdo what he accomplished,” France told The Associated Press. “I just hope we don’t fall on our ass.”
The car is in a class of its own and not racing anyone else in the 62-car field. But the lineup of 2010 Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button and Johnson has been fast enough; Rockenfeller put down a qualifying lap that was faster than every car in the GTE AM class by a full three seconds.
The Hendrick Motorsports crew won its class in the pit stop competition and finished fifth overall as the only team using a manual jack against teams exclusively using air jacks. Rick Hendrick said he could not be prouder of the showing his organization has made even before race day.
“When we said we’re gonna do it, I said, ‘Look, we can’t do this half-assed. I want to be as sharp as anybody out there,” Hendrick told AP. “I don’t want to be any less than any other team here. And just to see the reaction from the crowd, people are so excited about this car. My granddaughter has been sending me all these TikTok things that fans are making about NASCAR being at Le Mans.”
This isn’t NASCAR’s first attempt to run Le Mans. The late France Sr. brokered a deal in 1976, as America celebrated its bicentennial, to bring two cars to compete in the Grand International class and NASCAR selected the teams. Herschel McGriff and his son, Doug, drove a Wedge-powered, Olympia Beer-sponsored Dodge Charger, and Junie Donlavey piloted a Ford Torino shared by Richard Brooks and Dick Hutcherson.
— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) June 7, 2023
Neither car came close to finishing the race. McGriff, now 95 and inducted into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame in January, is in Le Mans as France’s guest, clad head-to-toe in the noticeable Garage 56 uniforms.
“I threw a lot of hints that I would like to come. And I’ve been treated as royalty,” McGriff said. “This is unbelievable to me. I recognize nothing but I’m anxious to see everything. I’ve been watching and seeing pictures and I can certainly see the fans love their NASCAR.”
The goal is to finish the full race Sunday and, just maybe, beat cars from other classes. Should they pull off the feat, the driver trio wants its own podium celebration.
“I think people will talk about this car for a long, long time,” said Rockenfeller, who along with sports car driver Jordan Taylor did much of the development alongside crew chief Chad Knaus and Greg Ives, a former crew chief who stepped into a projects role at Hendrick this year.
— 24 Hours of Le Mans (@24hoursoflemans) June 7, 2023
“When we started with the Cup car, we felt already there was so much potential,” Rockenfeller said. “And then we tweaked it. And we go faster, and faster, at Le Mans on the SIM. But you never know until you hit the real track, and to be actually faster than the SIM. Everybody in the paddock, all the drivers, they come up and they are, ‘Wow, this is so cool,’ and they were impressed by the pit stops. We’ve overachieved, almost, and now of course the goal is to run for 24 hours.”
The car completed a full 24-hour test at Sebring, Florida, earlier this year, Knaus said, and is capable of finishing the race. Button believes NASCAR will leave a lasting impression no matter what happens.
“If you haven’t seen this car live yet, it’s an absolute beast,” Button said. “When you see and hear it go by, it just puts a massive smile on your face.”
For Hendrick, the effort is the first in his newfound embrace of racing outside NASCAR, the stock car series founded long ago in the American South. Aside from the Le Mans project, he will own the Indy car that Kyle Larson drives for Arrow McLaren in next year’s Indianapolis 500 and it will be sponsored by his automotive company.
“If you’d have told me I’d be racing at Le Mans and Indianapolis within the same year, I’d never have believed you,” Hendrick told AP. “But we’re doing both and we’re going to do it right.”
Fans gather around the NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that is the Garage 56 entry for the 100th 24 Hours of Le Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe (Chris Graythen/Getty Images).
General Motors is celebrating the achievement with a 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Edition and only 56 will be available to collectors later this year.
“Even though Chevrolet has been racing since its inception in 1911, we’ve never done anything quite like Garage 56,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “A NASCAR stock car running at Le Mans is something fans doubted they would see again.”
The race hasn’t even started yet, but Hendrick has enjoyed it so much that he doesn’t want the project to end.
“It’s like a shame to go through all this and do all this, and then Sunday it’s done,” Hendrick said. “It’s just really special to be here.”
