Story By: ASHLEY KELLER / CHEVROLET – DETROIT, MI – In a historically unique event for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Team Chevy heads west to The Thermal Club for the non-points-paying second round of the 2024 season.
The Thermal $1 Million Challenge is the first race on the 3.067-mile, 19-turn Twin Palms layout for INDYCAR. Despite a weekend with no points on the line, this still is an important event for Team Chevy.
The manufacturer is carrying momentum from the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg into the $1 Million Challenge, having swept first through fourth in the season-opening event. The Bowtie Brigade also showcased strength through hard work and collaboration in the offseason.
With a strong run and solid finish in the first round of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, Santino Ferrucci, driver of the No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet for AJ Foyt Racing, discusses the upcoming unique weekend, with testing prior to the heat-race formatted event.
“I think testing is really important for us, especially with our new [technical] partnership, so having more of a two-day test followed up by sprint race weekend, I think, is really nice,” said Ferrucci. “It’s a little bit more fun. We get a couple more days in California. So I’m quite happy with the idea of the series to move forward with what they’re doing. I think that with the gains that we saw in St. Pete with the Chevy engine, it’s going to be quite good moving into Thermal.”
With prior heat-racing experience in his career, Ferrucci notes that while the format may be similar, the $1 Million Challenge will be different. “I feel like it’s going to race like a qualifying weekend. Basically, as if you made qualifying the racing. It’s very comparable to what we have now for qualifying procedure. Just instead of qualifying for lap time, you’re now racing.”
During the two 10-lap (or 20-minute) heat races, pit stops are only allowed for emergency service and teams are allotted one new set of Firestone Firehawks. The top-six finishers from the heat races will then transfer to a 12-car, 20-lap main event Sunday that will see a total purse of $1.756 million, the largest in NTT INDYCAR SERIES history outside of the Indianapolis 500.
The $1 Million Challenge race weekend at The Thermal Club near Palm Springs, Calif. kicks off with open testing from noon p.m. to 2 p.m. ET and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET on Friday. Saturday sees two additional open testing sessions from 12 p.m. ET to 2 p.m. ET and 4 p.m. ET to 6 p.m. ET, followed by qualifications at 8 p.m. ET. Heat events and the 20-lap all-star race air starting at 12:30 p.m. ET on Sunday on NBC. All test sessions and qualifications will be live on Peacock, INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 160.