Colton Herta leads IndyCar’s Friday practice at Iowa Speedway

By Jul 17, 2020, 3:35 PM EDT
Chris Jones/IndyCar
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Colton Herta set the pace for Iowa Speedway practice Friday, turning a 171.990 mph lap in his Dallara-Honda to lead the NTT IndyCar Series in the first session of a race weekend doubleheader.

Conor Daly was second, followed by Will Power, Santino Ferrucci and Josef Newgarden.

Rounding out the top 10 were Simon Pagenaud, Scott Dixon, Rinus VeeKay, Marcus Ericsson and Tony Kanaan, who will be returning with A.J. Foyt Racing this weekend after missing three races.

Click here for full results from Iowa Speedway practice Friday.

Herta drives for Andretti Autosport, which has won seven of the past 13 races at Iowa. Herta still is seeking his first victory this season after leading Iowa Speedway practice Friday.

But the No. 88 Dallara-Honda driver is ranked second in the points standings as the only driver to finish in the top 10 of all four races.

TODAY IN IOWA: All the information here

WEEKEND SCHEDULE: When cars are on track Friday and Saturday

COSTLY MISTAKES: COVID-19 causing unforced team errors this season

Next up is a qualifying session (5 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Gold) that will determine the starting lineups for both races on the 0.894-mile oval.

The first lap will determine a driver’s starting order for Friday; the second will set the grid for the Saturday. Both races will be shown at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

There were five drivers eligible for an extra 30 minutes of practice in a rookie session — Alex Palou, VeeKay, Pato O’Ward, Oliver Askew and Jack Harvey.

All but Palou have raced at Iowa before, though, in at least one Road to Indy ladder series race. Askew won from the pole in USF2000 in 2017, and O’Ward won an Indy Lights race at Iowa in 2018.

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

By May 29, 2023, 6:01 PM EDT
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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