Happy Motorsports Christmas!
This Sunday will be the last time, for the foreseeable future, that the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500, and the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 are all on the same day. Feel free to use that as an excuse to watch racing all day 😉
Top Story of the Week: Rookie Robert Shwartzman Earns Shock Indy 500 Pole with Prema Racing
You thought I was going to talk about The. Scandal. with Penske? Once Doug Boles, president of both IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, mentioned they normally don’t look at the attenuator, which is there for safety because there is no impact on performance AND then Big Rog fired his three top Penske executives, I figured we can focus on the stories that make us fall in love motorsport.
Some of you might know Shwartzman. Previously competed in Formula 2 in 2020 and 2021 where he finished 4th and 2nd in the championship, respectively. He served as a reserve driver for Ferrari in Formula 1. He competed in the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship for AF Corse.
For 2025, Shwartzman races in the IndyCar series with IndyCar rookie team, Prema Racing. He hasn’t had the best of rookie starts with his highest finishes being P18 at The Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix and Sonsio Grand Prix.
But this weekend during qualifying for the 109th Indianapolis 500, he took pole position. He held off previous Indy 500 winners Takuma Sato and Scott Dixon, as well as Pato O’Ward, who was the runner-up in the 2024 Indianapolis 500. Shwartzman becomes the first rookie in 42 years to earn a pole for the Indianapolis 500. With that, Prema Racing becomes the first rookie team to hold pole position in 41 years. Did I mention he’s never raced an oval before?
To see this live was absolutely electric. Check out the video of him and the team’s celebration of pole position, it’ll bring a smile (and maybe a few tears.)
This is May.
The Rest of the Stories This Week:
- Tim Cindric, Two Other Executives Ousted by Penske in Rules Breach Fallout
- IndyCar Evolving Toward Officiating Revolution
- Oscar Mayer Wienermobiles to Race on the Oval Ahead of Indy 500
- ‘No Attack, No Chance’: Plug-and-Play Takuma Sato Goes for Third Indy 500 Win
- Double Trouble? Kyle Larson Faces Tight Timeline to Race Indy 500 AND Coca-Cola 600
- Breaking Down Monaco’s Two-Stop Tweak
- F1 Calls on Social Media Platforms to Set Up Fight Against Online Abuse
- Formula 1 Unveils Groundbreaking Disney Collaboration for F1 2026 Season
- What We Know About F1’s Future Schedule: 24 races, a Thailand Grand Prix, and Calendar Rotation
- Hit Netflix Show Drive to Survive Picks Up Prestigious Emmy Awards
- Meet the ex-Secret Service and FBI Guys Who Stop NASCAR’s Fights from Exploding
- NASCAR Announces Busch, Gant, Hendrick as 2026 Hall of Fame Inductees
- Third Ferrari Hypercar Confirmed for 2026 FIA WEC
- Extreme H Completes First Test of Paddock Power Solution
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