Story By: ANNE FORNORO / AJ FOYT RACING – MILWAUKEE, WI – The return of the NTT INDYCAR Series to the historic Milwaukee Mile did not disappoint as the first race of the Hy-Vee doubleheader had the fans on their feet and not in their seats.
Providing quite a few thrills was Santino Ferrucci in the No. 14 Phoenix Investors Chevrolet as he sliced and diced his way through the field rim-riding one lap and slipping underneath cars the next.
Ferrucci foreshadowed his car control in qualifying when he had a “moment” on his first lap after a big wiggle going through Turns 1 and 2. With lap one determining the starting grid for Race 1 of the doubleheader, Ferrucci qualified 22nd. He started 19th due to three cars ahead of him having to take nine-spot grid penalties for unapproved engine changes.
From the start Ferrucci put on a show going from 19th to 13th in just seven laps. By lap 57 he had moved into the top 10 and he was seventh after the first round of pit stops. He was particularly strong on restarts and a caution on lap 83 for Katherine Legge’s spin created his first opportunity. After pitting under yellow, he came out in eighth but two cars, Scott McLaughlin and Ferrucci’s teammate Sting Ray Robb in the No. 41 Goodheart Chevrolet, did not pit. They were one-two respectively.
When the green flag dropped on lap 95, Ferrucci was still eighth but the next lap he passed three cars; he moved into fourth on lap 97, posting his fastest lap of the race. He continued to run there until the next round of stops when he pitted on lap 141. He came out in seventh but moved to fifth when the yellow came out for the crash involving Josef Newgarden and Marcus Ericsson who were fighting for the lead.
On the next restart, Ferrucci lost three spots fighting for fourth and dropped back to eighth but in the space of eight laps he clawed his way back to fourth. The final round of pit stops came around lap 184 and Ferrucci ducked in on lap 186 and was being serviced when the caution waved for the final time because Colton Herta lost a wheel on track.
During that caution Ferrucci moved into second as four of the six cars on the lead lap pitted. A wave-around before the restart put 15 cars back on the lead lap. Ferrucci ran second for 28 laps (eight laps under yellow) before Will Power passed him. The pass sent Ferrucci high and he lost third to Conor Daly as he recovered.
Ferrucci diced it out with point leader Alex Palou for fourth but was able to hold onto fourth to post his best finish of the season. It was his first top-five and ninth top-10 in 2024.
“Honestly, I can’t thank this team enough,” Ferrucci said afterwards. “We knew we had a good car. We didn’t hit it right qualifying, definitely had it right (tonight) especially in the middle of that race. Man, we were moving around. Honestly, hats off to (Conor) Daly. Obviously, we probably aren’t each other’s favorites, but give credit where it’s due. Good to see him on the podium and he drove a hell of a race. I felt like there were a couple of us out there on restarts driving all over the place. Honestly, it was dirt racing style. We were throwing sliders into (turn) three. It was awesome.
Asked about his confidence in his car, Ferrucci replied, “I just really trusted the right rear. I knew I could throw it down into (turn) three flat out, turn it in, and set it, and the thing would not just slide out from under me or push up into the car above me. Honestly, hats off to our engineering crew again. Just killing it. Can’t wait for tomorrow. We start a little bit further up, which will be nice. It’ll be a little different in the heat. Obviously, when it got a little cooler, we kind of lost the overall balance so I’m looking forward to that.”
As well as Ferrucci’s race went, the same could not be said for Robb. Starting 20th, he had pitted with the leaders on lap 61 and was running 18th when the caution came out on lap 83. He did not pit when most of the field ducked into the pits on lap 87 so he was in second place during that caution and the first green flag lap afterwards. On older tires, he eventually slipped back to 22nd by the time he pitted on lap 128.
He was running 19th when he made his third and final stop on lap 184. Unfortunately, as he was coming into his pit stall Nolan Siegel was released from his. Robb tried to stop from hitting Siegel and in doing so, slid into his own new tire which resulted in a stop and go penalty. Siegel hit Robb anyway damaging Robb’s rear wing end fence, adding insult to injury. Robb finished 23rd.
“I think we really missed the mark on that second pit stop,” the 22-year-old said. “The one that
promoted us to second is the same one that hurt our day. What really hurt us was the No. 6 car getting released into us on pit lane and then hitting our rear wing and knocking that off. It screwed us two times on pit lane, then we got a stop and go penalty for hitting our tire trying to avoid contact with him. Just a really dumb day. Not much to write home about. I think the best thing we can do is forget it and not take lessons we learned today because there was nothing to learn and move on to tomorrow. I think our pace is not terrible. We are starting in a decent place and hopefully can race forward.”
Pato O’Ward won the race, his third of the season. Power finished second to mathematically have a chance at catching points leader Palou who finished fifth behind Daly and Ferrucci.
Team President Larry Foyt summed up the evening race, saying, “It was a thrilling race for car 14. Santino put on a great show, made some amazing passes, and the guys did a great job in the pits. And we really had a shot for a top three, if not a win, but just came up a little bit short. For some reason, the car lost some balance on the last set of tires, but we’ll take a fourth place. It’s a great points day for the 14 car. Sting Ray was doing a great job. Unfortunately, they were hit in the pits, and it ended a good run for Sting Ray. We know we have fast cars, so we’re going to give it another go tomorrow.”
Tomorrow’s second Hy-Vee 250 will see Ferrucci start 12th and Robb will start 21st. The race will be broadcast by the USA Network and streamed on Peacock starting at 2:30 p.m. ET.