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IndyCar Insights: From the Capital to Cream Puffs · Fast Cars Fast Girls

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  Welcome to Fast Cars, Fast Girls. I'm Abby Meyer. I'm Sarah Proctor.
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  And we'll be your hosts this week.
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  Well, we've got to talk about the Freedom 250 and then two additional 250-mile
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  races that we've got going on in Milwaukee this weekend. And at the nation's
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  capital, it looked very pretty, very scenic.
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  It did. It did. It was cool to see the buildings in the background and all the
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  different monuments and things. And yeah, definitely a different place to have
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  a race than we've ever had before. So it was cool to see the backdrop of that.
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  And from talking to people at the track, the people that were there said it was very well attended.
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  Everybody they talked to had fun.
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  Yeah. Well, good. That's excellent. Well, let's run through these results.
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  All right. Our winner was Kyle Kirkwood and then Christian Lungard and Power were at podium.
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  And then Marcus Erickson finished fourth.
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  And finishing in the top five was Kiffin Simpson. Excellent.
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  Finishing in 6th was Nolan Siegel. Great result for him. In 7th was Scott Dixon.
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  8th is Joseph Newgarden.
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  9th, Kaio Collette. Another great finish for him.
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  In 10th, rounding up our top 10, is Ramon Gurjean. Then Nick Schumacher finished
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  11th, followed by Alex Rossi, Graham Rahal, Christian Rasmussen, and Dennis Hauger.
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  16th, Pato Award. 17th, Marcus Armstrong. then louis foster felix rosen and
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  uh alex below in 20th place very unexpected yeah that was very unexpected then we had santino ferrucci,
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  scott mclaughlin who he was going for it he was uh remus vk.
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  David malucas and stingray yes and unfortunately none of those five drivers
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  made until the end of the race.
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  And then if you saw the podium, they had a bald eagle up at the podium. Yeah, they did.
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  Yeah, and it actually pooped up there, too.
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  But you guys need to check out our Instagram, and they'll also be on some other socials, too.
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  But I got to interview Kyle today at the track, and he was talking about that.
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  So check that out. Yeah, make sure you check it out so you can hear how it was
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  to have a bald eagle that close.
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  Yes. I think it would intimidate me a little bit. They've got,
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  like, talons and a big beak.
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  I've got a healthy respect for birds of prey. Yes, but it would have been cool
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  if Kyle just would have lifted his arm up and it flew on there.
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  It would have been cool. Although I guess... The driver's suits have some sort of padding.
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  Yeah, I think he would have been okay. No, I was just thinking the bald eagle
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  is not actually a bird of prey. It's a scavenger, but it does still have sharp
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  talons and a big beak. Yes.
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  So there were a lot of cautions in this race, though. A lot of yellows. There were, but...
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  I mean, it was a better race than what people thought. And I liked the shot.
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  There's a couple shots that you could see the cars coming down the road,
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  and you could see the castle in the background. It was very scenic.
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  So if I would have been there, you would have had to pull me out of all the Smithsonian.
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  I get that. I get that. I can always spend more time there.
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  But yeah, it was cool to see the shots with the Capitol building in the background and all that stuff.
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  So it'll be interesting to see if we ever go back to D. Yep.
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  Well, and that was another topic of conversation today in the bullpen.
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  There's a lot of, should it be a one and done or should we do it or maybe do
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  it in another city and just do it one and done? We did it in Washington, D.C.
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  Maybe we do it in Philadelphia. Okay. And then maybe we move to Boston the next year.
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  And yes, I know Boston. They tried to do Boston. I get that.
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  But but we need to maybe we'll we'll be better this time we promise but so i
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  don't know but it's a good conversation starter so it is see what happens i like that idea,
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  of like yeah excuse me of like a rotating one-off it's kind of fun yeah maybe
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  we could go back to hawaii oh you know i.
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  Haven't tried to go so yeah i haven't been there in almost 10 years i'd go back
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  i'd happily go back But I would go. That would be cool. It would be.
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  All right. Well, on to this weekend here in Milwaukee. It is the Snap-on IndyCar
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  Weekend and the Snap-on Makers and Fixers 250.
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  On Saturday, and the Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 on Sunday, both of which are,
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  you guessed it, 250 miles. Yep.
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  And I will say the trophies are adorable. They are.
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  Like, they're made out of hardware, but they're so practical,
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  and they're super cute. I love it. I love a practical trophy.
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  I love a creative trophy, too. Just, yeah, things that are different than the other ones.
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  Nashville always has a great trophy. Yeah.
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  And the podium winner, get cream puffs and champagne. Ooh, gotta love a good cream puff. I like that.
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  Well, the Milwaukee Mile is a 1.015 mile oval in West Allis,
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  Wisconsin. It is on the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds.
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  And in addition to- It is awesome. And then in addition- Yep.
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  In addition to IndyCar racing this week, and we've also got Indy Next,
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  and their race is going to be 90 laps for a total of 91.35 miles.
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  Everybody knows that they have the hybrid deployment, which is unlimited, which is 135.
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  Our Firestone Tire Allotment are 14 sets of tires that they can use.
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  Throughout the whole weekend. Yep. Last year's race winner was Christian Rasmus
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  from ECR. Gotta love that. The pool winner last year was Alex Polo.
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  And the Indy Next poll winner last year was Dennis Hauger, which is our leading
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  rookie of the year right now.
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  Ooh, maybe this would be a good weekend for him. I would love to see that.
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  Well, as far as our qualifying records go, for the one-lap qualifying,
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  the NZT IndyCar Series, it was set on May.
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  30th of 1998 by Patrick Carpentier at 20.028 seconds or 185.5 miles per hour. Yes, and I remember him.
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  I do, too. um and it was
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  mark hotchkiss at 23.692 seconds or 151.952 miles per hour
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  and that was in june of 1996 the two lap qualifying record belongs to dario
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  franchiti with 42.7768 seconds,
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  or 170.840,
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  miles per hour, and that was June of 2011.
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  And in Indynext, you guessed it, Dennis Hauer again, 47.877 seconds or 152.639 miles per hour.
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  We all know that it will be covered by Fox Sports, and it'll be also covered
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  by IndyCar Radio Network.
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  And today is Friday, August 28th, and we already had practice,
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  and it was a wild practice. It was. It was very wild.
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  We had a Kyle Kirkwood. Yeah.
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  Yeah, not the way that Kyle probably wanted to start his weekend,
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  that's for sure. No, but I feel like it was 50-50 from my end.
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  Yeah, I can agree with that. So, as far as what's going on tomorrow,
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  we've got practice for Indy Necks at 8 a.m.,
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  and that's going to be on and then at 10.05 is qualifying, because it's only
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  a one practice weekend, and we already had it. So, qualifying at 10.05 and,
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  And then at 11.35, qualifying for Indy next. Yes, and the qualifying,
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  though, for IndyCar is the two-lap qualifying.
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  The first lap, the fastest first lap, is going to qualify for the first race.
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  And the second fastest qualifying will qualify first for the second.
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  Is it, it's not that it's like first and second facets. It's just the first
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  lap is for the first race. The second lap is for the second race. Correct.
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  Yeah. And then, oh, and you can watch qualifying on, and then at 1.30 tomorrow,
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  Fox is going to be on air. And these are all local time, so this is all in central time.
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  So 1.30 Fox on air. 1.45 is the Snap-on Makers and Fixers 250 Drivers Start Your Engines command.
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  And 1.50 is Green Flag. And then we come back for more fun on Sunday.
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  And at 9.15, we've got the IndyCar Series warm-up.
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  At 10.01, the IndyNext Firestone, the Milwaukee Mile Driver,
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  Start Your Engines Command.
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  10.06 is Green Flag for IndyNext on FS1.
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  And Fox goes on air at noon on Sunday for IndyCar. 12.15 is when we get the
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  command to start the engines. And at 12.20 is Green Flag.
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  Here's some fun facts. Alex Plo leads the IndyCar Series Championship with three
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  races to go for the fourth time in his career.
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  Pillow also led the championship with three races to go in his championship-winning
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  season in 2023, 2024, and 2025. Pillow has led the point standings after 11
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  of the 15 races this season.
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  Pillow is attempting to win the fifth series championship and tie Sebastian
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  Gorday's record of four consecutive titles, which he won in 2004 through 2007.
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  If Pillow clinches Saturday, he'll be the first driver to clinch the IndyCar
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  Series Championship, with two races remaining in the consistent seasons.
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  There are five drivers still mathematically eligible for the IndyCar Series
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  Championship, which is Alex Pillow, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lungard,
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  David Malukas, and Pato Award.
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  Any driver who trails the points leader by 108 points or more the following
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  the race will be eliminated from contention.
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  Since the first IndyCar Series race at Milwaukee in 1939, 19 drivers have won
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  the Milwaukee Mile in their IndyCar Series championship winning season.
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  Will Power back in 2014, Ryan Hunter-Way in 2012, Daria Franchitti in 2011,
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  Sebastian Bourdais in 2006, Alencer Jr.
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  In 1990, in 1994, Nigel Mansell back in 1993, Michael Andretti in 1991, Rutherford in 1980.
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  A.D. Foyt in 1964 and 1980, O.Lennard in 1972, Unser in 1970, Theo Andretti in,
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  1966, Drew Ward back in 1959 and 1962, Jimmy Bryan in 1956, Chuck Stevenson in 1952, A.B.
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  Benton House in 1951, Johnny Parsons in 1949, Ted Horn in 1947, and Rex Mays in 1941.
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  Wow. Yeah, and the key championship point statistics Since 2008,
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  the drivers who have led the championships with three races to go have won the
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  championship 12 times, which is Scott Dixon in 2008 and 2018,
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  and 2020, Dario Franchitti in 2011,
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  Will Power in 2014 and Simon Pagino in 2016, Joseph Newgarden in 2017 and 2019,
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  and Alex Blow in 23, 24, and 25. that. Okay.
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  The 91 points that separate Alex Plo and Kyle Kirkwood are the third largest
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  point margin since 2008.
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  Prior to this season, the average lead with three races to go since 2008 was
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  only 39.1 points, which is kind of wild.
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  So it's almost three times as high as, or maybe two and a half times as high
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  as the average. So I would still love to see, I would really enjoy seeing Kirkwood
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  come back from being that many points behind though. That would be pretty cool.
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  It would be one heck of an underdog story.
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  I know those Androity Global crew members were still working when I left tonight,
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  and I know it's going to be a long night, but I know they'll bring it together.
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  They sure will. We got to see what they can do, but you got to remember,
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  you got to out-qualify below.
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  For two races. Although Palo has a grid penalty.
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  As does McLaughlin and Malukas. Yes. So we got to see.
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  It just depends. Who knows? It's IndyCar. Crazier things have happened. Very true.
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  Very true. Well, who do you think is going to be on our podium?
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  Like, we're going to do race one or race two or just who we think in general
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  might be. Let's just do in general. Yeah.
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  Newgarden, because he's the short oval king. Hato. Good choice.
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  Because, yeah, he's won Milwaukee before, and I got to go with Palo.
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  He's going to be hard to beat. And yes, I want Kyle to be up there too,
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  but it's just too wide open.
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  But I would also be okay with some other random winner as well.
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  Yeah. So I'm going to say Pato as well. I'm going to say Dennis Hauger.
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  That's a good one. He was running good today.
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  Yeah. And I think Joseph Nugern's a good bet.
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  It is a short oval, and he's the only team member not getting a grid penalty,
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  so it's probably your best Penske bet.
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  Though I wouldn't mind Lucas. He's still looking for that win.
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  He is. Lucas is still looking for that win. I know. I really thought he'd have a win by now.
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  I'm sure he did, too. Yes. So it'll happen.
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  I'm sure it's coming. Well, and this is Scott Dixon's last race with Ganassi
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  at an oval, and he started his career at the Milwaukee.
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  A mile it's a wild thought it is just seeing that little tidbit out there which is super wild it is,
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  end of an era yes end of an era for sure crazy crazy all right well we've got
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  a busy day tomorrow so anything else we need to add on nope oh well there's,
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  stuff going around twitter about dressing who you are oh yeah also,
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  also know dress comfortably.
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  Wear closed-toed shoes, especially if you're going to be in the pits.
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  Yeah, it's a requirement because it's a safety thing. But otherwise,
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  wear what makes you happy and what you're comfortable in. Fuck what anybody
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  else thinks. Yes, just we're all girls. We should all lift each other up.
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  Yeah. There's no set thing. There's not a dress code for a racetrack.
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  No. We all get to express ourselves and wear whatever we want.
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  So you wear whatever makes you feel good.
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  And if you work for a team or work for the media, you have a little bit other
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  standards. But as long as you're within those standards and, you know. Yeah.
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  I mean, I think that I'm pretty creative with my outfits. They're still professional,
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  but they're fun. I mean, I've done the fan thing. I've worn shorts,
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  a shirt, and a baseball hat.
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  Yep. I've done the sundress thing with a sun hat. Come as you are. Absolutely.
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  All right. Well. If you see us at the track, say hi.
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  Make sure to say hi. We'll get a photo together so we can show off our awesome
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  racetrack fashion. Yes.
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  And also, there's a video on there that Mr. Pato Award. Oh, yes.
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  But also, we do have to acknowledge that the late, great Dolly Parton passed away.
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  And she was one of my favorite people. I'm not usually that upset by celebrities
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  passing away, but I am very sad about Dolly.
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  Yeah, that was like, I saw it at work and I like broke it to all my like people
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  at my job. And yeah, we were all just like, yeah.
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  And then when we were driving through Chicago, I saw a billboard and it was
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  actually of Dolly Parton. And it said, find the good in everybody. Kindness passing on.
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  I like that. But I did ask Cotto if he had a favorite Dolly Parton song.
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  Good old Jolene is his favorite. I love it. It was love that you got him to
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  sing Jolene. It was great. It was great. It was fantastic.
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  Absolutely. Yes. It made everybody giggle in the media room. I bet so. I bet so.
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  It was great. I love that. And if he wins, I would really love him to sing Jolene
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  again from the media center. I think he has to.
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  We should request it in the post-race conference if he hasn't already done it.
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  Yes. We should demand it.
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  Yes. Oh, excellent. Well, I think that'll do it for Sarah Proctor.
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  I'm Abby Meyer, and we'll see you at the racetrack.