Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon became the first drivers to crash in the 2026 IndyCar season. The two former champions and Indy 500 winners found themselves in the barriers after separate incidents during Practice 1 of the St. Petersburg race weekend on Friday.
Dixon had an unusual incident during his first run on the soft, alternate tires. Entering Turn 9 of the 1.8-mile street circuit, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver had some oversteer. He over-corrected the move and went straight into the outside barrier of the left-hander. The front wing of his No. 9 Honda was completely damaged, and the left front tire was scraped.
“Before turning in, got loose, and over-corrected and lost it,” Dixon explained to FOX reporter Bob Pockrass after returning to the pit lane.” Luckily, it scrubbed off quite a bit of speed. ‘Coz normally when you hit the inside, you are flat out, and it hits pretty hard. So that one wasn’t too bad.”
Josef Newgarden’s crash was comparatively milder. The Team Penske driver’s car got loose and spun in the Turn 13 left-hander and went into the barriers before Turn 14. Fortunately, his car didn’t sustain any major damage as Scott Dixon’s did.
“I would say it’s more setup-related for us,” Newgarden explained in a post-practice press conference. “We tried something different on our car, and I just got loose to the corner. It’s pretty simple as that. Nothing on the track. It wasn’t anything track-related.”
2025 IndyCar Rookie of the Year Louis Foster was the third and final driver to crash in Practice 1 on Friday. The No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver had a front tire lock-up going into the Turn 14 hairpin and went straight into the barriers, damaging his front wing.
IndyCar Practice 1 results: Scott McLaughlin continues quick form around St. Pete second year in a row
Scott McLaughlin emerged as the quickest driver in IndyCar Practice 1 on Friday, with a lap time of 1:1.1020 around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile street circuit in St. Petersburg, Florida. The No. 3 Team Penske driver, who earned pole position at the track in 2025, completed 27 laps in the session.
He was the only Chevrolet driver in the Top 5, and one of four in the Top 10 alongside Christian Rasmussen (P8), David Malukas (P9), and Christian Lundgaard (P10). Felix Rosenqvist went quickest for Honda, only 0.064 seconds behind McLaughlin in P2. Reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou was sixth-fastest.
Among the three rookies of 2026, Dennis Hauger was quickest, slotting in 17th place. Mick Schumacher and Caio Collet occupied 23rd and 24th place on the 25-driver grid.
Practice 2 will take place 9:30 am ET on Saturday, followed by the NASCAR Truck Series race at noon, the Indy NXT qualifying at 3:30 pm ET and the IndyCar qualifying at 4:30 pm ET.
Edited by Yash Kotak
