Getting two of your three cars thrown to the back of the Indianapolis 500 grid is a bad look for any top IndyCar team. When you’re the team whose owner also owns the championship and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it’s even more complicated.

Matt Beer borrows The Race IndyCar Podcast Jack Benyon’s host chair so he can quiz Jack on the dramatic developments since Indy 500 qualifying in a bonus mini-podcast.

Exactly what Penske did, the crisis over series regulating the fallout from it has created, whether the bumped Jacob Abel deserves one of Penske’s places on the grid and penalised pair Josef Newgarden and Will Power’s chances of victory from the back of the grid are all debated.

Want ad-free listening? Get 75% off your first month when you join The Race Members' Club on Patreon today. Head to patreon.com/therace

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a stunning Sunday of Indy 500 qualifying action, Robert Shwartzman and Prema Racing gave us one of the storylines that will go down in the event’s long history, and he’s here to tell us about it.

Shwartzman discusses the difficulty in putting his lap together, how the team went from nothing to being in contention for pole, what set up up to be able to achieve this, and more.

JR Hildebrand - who calls Shwartzman’s Fast 12 run one of the most incredible things he’s seen at the Speedway, listen to find out why - joins to give a fascinating and in-depth look at how the hybrid unit has revolutionised this year’s event as well as breaking down Shwartzman’s performance.

There’s also a run down of some of the other key storylines from qualifying. Please not this was recorded just as the news of two Team Penske cars being put to the back of the grid was announced, so that will be properly addressed in the next episode.

Want ad-free listening? Get 75% off your first month when you join The Race Members' Club on Patreon today. Head to patreon.com/therace

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

IndyCar dominator Alex Palou joins this week’s The Race IndyCar Podcast, which also includes a full preview of the first week of Indianapolis 500 action as the event starts this week.

Alex Palou - who has now won four of the first five races of the 2025 season - discusses what it would be like to win the Indy 500, how the new hybrid unit could effect the quality of the racing on track, and how the recent test shaped his expectations for his level of competitiveness at this year’s event.

Indy 500 ace JR Hildebrand - now working for Arrow McLaren for the month - also joins to preview the event in more detail.

He gives his take on how the hybrid unit is being viewed by teams and how it will work in practice, Palou’s recent form, and he and Jack Benyon run through some underdogs and storylines to keep an eye on.

Want ad-free listening? Get 75% off your first month when you join The Race Members' Club on Patreon today. Head to patreon.com/therace⁠

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.