INDYCAR

Caio Collet sent a message to the INDY NXT by Firestone field by leading pre-qualifying practice Saturday afternoon at World Wide Technology Raceway.

2024 series Rookie of the Year Collet, from Brazil, was fastest at 164.630 mph in the No. 76 HMD Motorsports car. He is seeking his first victory of the season as the INDYCAR development series contests its first oval race of 2025.

SEE: Practice Results

Veteran Myles Rowe was second at 163.871 in the No. 99 Abel/Force Indy car, followed by rookie Lochie Hughes at 163.648 in the No. 26 McGinley Clinic/USF Pro Championship machine of Andretti Global. Veteran Callum Hedge was fourth at 163.436 in the No. 17 Abel Motorsports car.

Championship leader Dennis Hauger of Andretti Global rounded out the top five at 162.980 in the No. 28 Nammo car.

Rookies Hauger and Hughes have combined to win all five races this season, with Hauger capturing four checkered flags to take a 38-point lead in the standings over Hughes.

Up next today is qualifying at 7 p.m. ET on FS2, the FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network. The 75-lap race starts at 4:30 p.m. ET Sunday (FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).

Shane van Gisbergen went to the top early in qualifying with a 1:32.776s lap in the No. 88 Chevrolet…and no one was able to beat it. This is the Trackhouse Racing driver’s second career pole and his first of the 2025 season. Sitting 33rd in the championship standings, he desperately needs a race win and this could be an opportunity for him to shake up the playoff standings.

He will be joined on the front row by RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece, who denied Trackhouse a front row lockout. He ended the session 0.064s adrift of SVG’s pole time. Preece hasn’t yet won a race in the Cup Series.

“We made some big swings last night. Our No. 88 Safety Culture Chevrolet was a bit better,” said van Gisbergen. “We had a lot more front grip, which is what I needed. But my laps were average.. like you’ll see everyone was beating me on the first-half of the lap, and then my lap gets good at the end. We had a lot of speed today, which is good. It’s been a great improvement. What a really cool achievement for us and a great start for tomorrow. I’m excited. That’s really cool.”

Ross Chastain ended up third in his best qualifying effort of the year, right behind his teammate (SVG). Ty Gibbs timed in fourth and Michael McDowell fifth.

Kyle Larson, Todd Gilliland, A.J. Allmendinger, Joey Logano, and home hero Daniel Suarez rounded out the top ten.

Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images

The 45-minute open qualifying session was structured more like practice, giving teams plenty of time to get out on track. It was not a mad dash to go out on track as drivers slowly trickled out, but inclement weather was a concern from the start.

The first incident was for a spin by Katherine Legge, who is making just her second career Cup Series start. The car came to a rest in the grass with no damage.

Chastain got within a tenth SVG and put the team cars 1-2 until Preece ended up getting between them, just 0.009s ahead of Chastain. Preece then went for a harmless spin immediately after the impressive lap.

Some drivers attempted to make a second run including Allmendinger and Christopher Bell, but neither were able to improve.

With 17 minutes left in the session, NASCAR red-flagged the session as it began to rain. Qualifying never resumed due to the light rain showers.

Drivers with some work to do include Chase Briscoe, who will start 19th, ending his run of three consecutive Cup poles. 23XI Racing struggled with Tyler Reddick putting forth their best qualifying effort in 22nd. Two Hendrick Motorsports drivers start outside the top-25 with William Byron 27th and Alex Bowman 29th. Bell is perhaps the biggest surprise, as he won the most recent road course race at COTA, but he only managed to qualify 31st.

Ryan Truex, who is filling in for Denny Hamlin and making his first Cup start in almost 11 years, qualified 36th in the 37-car field with Legge taking the final spot on the grid.

In Mexico City, NASCAR has placed tire packs around the track at the apex of several corners, even adding another one after the first practice session. While drivers may use as much pavement as they want in some areas, such as the exit of the final corner, NASCAR wants to avoid drivers cutting corners.

They’ve also painted yellow lines through the esses, and crossing that line will result in a stop-and-go penalty at a designated location around the track. But the addition of tire packs is a welcomed one for most drivers, who would rather focus on avoiding those than having to worry about the painted lines on the track.

Wallace in favor of tire packs

Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing Toyota

Photo by: Jam Media / Getty Images

 “I think it is good for us,” said Bubba Wallace when Motorsport.com asked about the tire packs in a Friday press conference. “Us Cup drivers, we push to find the limits of the race cars and the race tracks, and it seems like we are always revamping the race tracks to meet the driver’s needs – like, well the track needs to be wider here for us. Slow down, slow down and we can make the corner.

“We are taking a race track and making it ‘Cup cars 2.0’ and it doesn’t make sense to me, so I was a big fan of the tire packs. It forces you to stay on the track limits and I spent the majority of my time on the sim, staying tidy and staying on the racing surface, and I think hopefully that pays dividends for when we get on track later. But I’m a big fan of the tire packs, keeping us on line and keeping us on the racing surface.”

NASCAR is also being cautious about placing tire packs in the faster sections of the track. They infamously put a tire pack at the exit of the original Charlotte Roval chicane, which several drivers (including Wallace) clobbered in ugly practice crashes. So far, the tire packs have caused no issues in Mexico City.

Changing the way you approach the corner with tire packs

Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images

Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott was also asked by a different media outlet about track limits, noting how the tire barriers weren’t there when they practiced on the sim in preparation for this weekend.

“I ran laps (on the sim) where I was really aggressive running off the road and kind of taking advantage of different areas that I felt might be worth a little bit of time. But I would say the majority of laps that I ran, you know by choice, was just really staying inside the lines because I had a feeling that might be a little more of a reality,” said Elliott. “But, you know, there are some areas that I think you’ll take advantage of off the racetrack. I think the tire barriers have, especially through (turns) eight and nine or whatever numbers… I don’t know which track map you’re looking at, right, the numbers change. But the last two, that’s before you get to the stadium section, for clarity, the tire packs, where they’re located through that section, I think will significantly change how at least I was approaching that section in the sim.

“But … we have some practice to get some time on the track. I think everyone’s going to be super aggressive with taking every advantage that you can take and probably stepping over that line. And if you get caught, you’ll get caught, and you’ll learn what you can and can’t do. So my intention is to go and push the limits as far as I can push them. I’ll probably step over them, you know, at different points in time. And I want to know for sure what’s going to be called and what wasn’t.

Allgaier: “Any mistake can be a big mistake here”

Justin Allgaier, JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Logan Riely / Getty Images

Motorsport.com also asked reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier about the tire packs during his press conference appearance. The JR Motorsports driver said he and Michel Jourdain Jr. have been going over this very topic as he prepares for Saturday’s Xfinity race.

“For us, there are sections with track limits and there are sections without and I think it’s going to be interesting because we’re in a little bit of a moving target,” said Allgaier. “I think track limits can be relaxed or enforced harder based on how aggressive we are, and how much we’re trying to make in those sections. The tire packs, or the barriers that they’ve put in some of the different corners of the racetrack, I think are different than what I expected, until you see it and you feel it and understand it. I mean, even so, (even before making) a lap on track, I’m already changing my approach to a couple of different corners. That’s going to be something else that’s very interesting to me, is how do we race here? Where are the most effective passing zones?”

The tire packs also mean that drivers will have to be extra careful in minimizing mistakes as any off-road excursion could result in significant damage to the car.

“Any mistake can be a big mistake here,” noted Allgaier. “If you get off and you make a mistake, maybe other than turn one, it has the potential to be a big moment and damage to your car right so without really having the ability to go to a backup car, those are going to be important moments to not have, right.”