What To Know After Qualifying For INDYCAR Opener At St. Pete

St. Petersburg, Fla. — One of the biggest questions entering the 2026 INDYCAR season is: Will Team Penske rebound? And the answer going into the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Sunday (noon ET, FOX) is a little bit of apparently yes, and a little bit of not so sure. Scott McLaughlin won the pole for the race and his new teammate, David Malukas, who replaced Will Power, will start fifth. But two-time series champion Josef Newgarden, will start 23rd. So there are still many questions as the season kicks off Sunday. Here’s what to know: When is INDYCAR’s St. Pete green flag? The FOX coverage begins at noon ET with green flag slated for 12:29 p.m. ET. It can also be streamed live on the FOX Sports website, FOX One and the FOX Sports App. How long is the race? The race is 100 laps on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn course on the streets — and airport runway — of St. Petersburg. Is Scott McLaughlin on the pole a big deal? Absolutely. He finished 10th in the standings last year with one pole — also at St. Petersburg. He has a new strategist – former Newgarden strategist and former Penske executive Tim Cindric, who has returned to the organization in a role just for the race weekend. McLaughlin appears ready to take over as the organization leader after Will Power’s move to Andretti after a 17-year stint. He also has a new engineer in Raul Prados. “All the guys that I lost are some of my best friends, but they’ve gone on to cooler things for their careers, and I can only wish them well, and now I’ve got guys that can do just the same job, if not better,” McLaughlin said in his pole-winning news conference. “I felt like me and T.C., it was our first qualifying session together, and I was telling him in spots to stop talking. We’re sort of warming up to each other a little bit, and it was fun. There’s still a lot of things that we can work on as a group together, but this is a great start.” Who else stood out in St. Pete qualifying? Nearly the entire fast six (those who made it to the final round of qualifying) was a surprise. Only four-time series champion Alex Palou in fourth was expected. Marcus Ericsson was second, followed by rookie Dennis Hauger in third. David Malukas, who replaced Power at Penske was fifth and Romain Grosjean — a teammate of Hauger’s at Dale Coyne Racing — was sixth. Here is what they told me after qualifying Ericsson: “I performed at my maximum today, and I was really proud of that. The [team] did as well. They did a tremendous job. … It’s a huge result for us starting on the front row after last year. That was a bit of a disaster.” Hauger told FS2: “I wasn’t really expecting that, to be honest. … Definitely more than I could hope for.” Malukas: “I was trying so hard, and the car felt so good. … We did a lot of preseason testing — Sebring, Phoenix — [and] things were looking really good but you don’t really know until race day. Thankfully, we came here, and it seemed it all of that came together. We really needed that, pushed really hard for it and I think the rest of the season can be set sailing.” Grosjean: “We made some good progress. There are still some things we can improve. … Generally, I’ve been pretty happy with the car.” Who didn’t stand out? Two big surprises in the back two rows are Newgarden in 23rd and veteran Alexander Rossi in 25th. Both are expected to make some gains in the race. “We had a lot of traffic when we came out, and I didn’t want to hold anybody up and, honestly, I think that’s what bit us, just the sequencing is all off,” Newgarden told FS2 in an interview following qualifying. Who has wrecked this weekend? Several drivers have wrecked — Scott Dixon and Louis Foster on Friday and Will Power and Christian Rasmussen on Saturday. They still had OK qualifying results: Foster will start ninth, Power will start 13th, Rasmussen 14th and Dixon 16th. None of them had to go to back-up cars. I am hearing about new tire rules? Yes, this year teams must use at least two sets of the softer (red-lettered) tires during the race and at least one set of the primaries. Last year, they just had to use one set of the soft tires. “I think [the softs are] going to be good enough that you have to run on them long enough, but I think there is a cliff there [where they lose grip],” McLaughlin said. “But we’ll find out [in warmup] tomorrow morning.” Most drivers have said they will get the best idea of how long the soft tires will last before losing grip when they put on a set for the 30-minute morning warmup a few hours before the race. Will any stars be there? Among the celebrities expected are former Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden. Actor Rudy Pankow will get to ride in the fastest seat in sports — in the two-seater that paces the field prior to the race. What does this race mean? There have been 22 races at St. Pete. Six times the winner has gone on to win the title, including last year when Alex Palou won his fourth INDYCAR championship (2021, 2023, 2024, 2025).