Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Driver Devlin DeFrancesco climbs into his Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport/Powertap Hydrogen car, awaiting his run during IndyCar track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill., on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
Driver Christian Lundgaard (30) comes out of turn 1 as he pilots the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing/Shield Cleansers car during Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Driver Dalton Kellett (4) of the A.J. Foyt Enterprises/K-Line Insulators team passes high gas prices as he comes out of turn 2 during Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Driver Kyle Kirkwood of the A.J. Foyt Racing/Sexton Properties car dons his helmet for a run during IndyCar track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill., on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
Ben Frederickson is a sports columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. You can follow him on Twitter (Ben_Fred), Instagram (benfredpd) and Facebook (BenFredPD).
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Devlin DeFrancesco faced down death and won long before he first strapped himself into a racecar capable of speeding 230-plus miles per hour.
He was born 15 weeks premature. He spent the first four months of is life in a Toronto hospital’s incubator. By 6, he was racing go-karts. And now he’s a 22-year-old rookie IndyCar driver on a two-pronged mission. One, win races. Two, raise funds for the women’s and children’s programs at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, the hospital that helped save his life.
Pretty incredible story, isn’t it?
DeFrancesco hopes more learn it after he wins the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 next Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway.
It would not be the first time he has mastered our region’s unique oval better than his competition.
When the Indy Pro 2000 Championship circuit was here back in September 2020, DeFrancesco won his race at WWTR, posting his fastest lap on his final lap in order to hold off challengers. He has since graduated to the big show. But this is still a familiar stage.
“It’s a huge thrill, always, to drive here,” DeFrancesco said this week after his testing session at the track in advance of next Saturday’s race.
Factor in that familiarity and the confidence it creates and DeFrancesco seems like a smart pick to make his first NTT IndyCar Series top-10 finish this weekend.
He’s just one name to know for St. Louis sports fans who are leaning into racing more now that WWTR owner Curtis Francois continues to bag big events.
The jostling at the top of the IndyCar Series standings is tight and tense. The timing of next Saturday’s race should be put in the proper context. It’s the first of the season’s final three.
Will Power, who has one of the best names in sports, leads Scott Dixon by just six points. Power, the IndyCar Series champion in 2014, has been a championship runner-up four times around his lone championship. He’s oh so close to his securing his second first-place series finish. But Dixon is gaining ground. He climbed into second by winning the most recent IndyCar race in Nashville. He’s aiming for his seventh IndyCar Series title.
Still very much in the mix is two-time IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden, and that’s important to mention here, because he arrives ranked fourth and with the experience of having won three of his six races at this track. Dixon won here in 2020. Power won here in 2018.
Just 33 points separate fifth-ranked Alex Palou from Power.
For context, when Dixon won the series championship back in 2015, he was 48 points back with three races remaining.
Everything is up for grabs, and down-the-stretch jostling is turning up the temperature on off-track drama.
Defending series champion Palou is wrapped up in an awkward dispute about which team he will race for next season, a story that has provided a fascinating test case for team chemistry. He’s with Chip Ganassi Racing at the moment. He wants to go to McLaren Racing next. A lawsuit is in progress to determine the validity of a 2023 contract option Ganassi Racing wants honored. That probably makes for some awkward team meetings in the interim.
Romain Grosjean, ranked 14th and Newgarden have fresher beef. Newgarden crashed into Grosjean in Nashville’s crash-littered race their last time out. The disagreement about Newgarden nudging Grosjean into a wall on a restart late in the last race spilled over into social media and could pop up on the track.
If you’re not into the racing, the soap-opera side of IndyCar series is pretty compelling.
And then there is the big name everybody knows, even if your only connection to high-stakes racing is attempting to survive Highway 40 traffic.
Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson is in next Saturday’s field. He hasn’t raced here since NASCAR’s Xfinity Series was held here in 2001. He’s ranked 22nd, one spot ahead of DeFrancesco.
“He’s taught all of us a thing or two,” the 22-year-old DeFrancesco said about 46-year-old Johnson. “He’s been getting better on the road courses and street courses. But he’s really one to learn from and to watch on all of the ovals.”
One week until we get to watch what should be a fun one.
Driver Dalton Kellett (4) of the A.J. Foyt Enterprises/K-Line Insulators team heads into turn 1 during Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Driver Kyle Kirkwood of the A.J. Foyt Racing/Sexton Properties car dons his helmet for a run during IndyCar track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill., on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
Driver Dalton Kellett (4) of the A.J. Foyt Enterprises/K-Line Insulators car leads Christian Lundgaard (30) of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing/Shield Cleansers car out of pit row during Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Driver Christian Lundgaard (30) comes out of turn 1 as he pilots the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing/Shield Cleansers car during Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
The A.J. Foyt Racing team tunes the Sexton Properties No. 14 car during Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill., on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
Driver Dalton Kellett (4) of the A.J. Foyt Enterprises/K-Line Insulators team passes high gas prices as he comes out of turn 2 during Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Driver David Malukas (18) of the Dale Coyne Racing/HMD Motorsports heads into turn 1 during Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Driver Kyle Kirkwood (14) of the A.J. Foyt Racing/Sexton Properties car awaits his run in pit row during Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Crew members push the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing/Shield Cleansers No. 30 car to pit row during Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill., on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
Driver Dalton Kellett (4) of the A.J. Foyt Enterprises/K-Line Insulators car removes his helmet after his run during Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Driver Callum Ilott (77) of Juncos Hollinger Racing awaits his run during Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Driver Devlin DeFrancesco climbs into his Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport/Powertap Hydrogen car, awaiting his run during IndyCar track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill., on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
Driver Callum Ilott of Juncos Hollinger Racing rides a scooter over for Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Indycar Series teams line pit row for track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Driver Dalton Kellett (4) of the A.J. Foyt Enterprises/K-Line Insulators car heads into turn 1 followed by Christian Lundgaard (30) of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing/ Shield Cleansers car during Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Driver David Malukas (18) of the Dale Coyne Racing/HMD Motorsports car takes the track during Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Driver Kyle Kirkwood (14) of the A.J. Foyt Racing/Sexton Properties team heads into turn 1 during Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Ben Frederickson is a sports columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. You can follow him on Twitter (Ben_Fred), Instagram (benfredpd) and Facebook (BenFredPD).
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
The sonic blast of engines returned to World Wide Technology Raceway for the first time in two months Thursday, business as usual as IndyCar teams tested the track in preparation for an upcoming race.
Dixon, 42, will arrive for Saturday’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 having won the most recent race, at Nashville, and is in the middle of a championship battle that could see him land his seventh title.
Driver Devlin DeFrancesco climbs into his Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport/Powertap Hydrogen car, awaiting his run during IndyCar track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill., on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
Driver Christian Lundgaard (30) comes out of turn 1 as he pilots the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing/Shield Cleansers car during Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Driver Dalton Kellett (4) of the A.J. Foyt Enterprises/K-Line Insulators team passes high gas prices as he comes out of turn 2 during Indycar Series track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Driver Kyle Kirkwood of the A.J. Foyt Racing/Sexton Properties car dons his helmet for a run during IndyCar track testing at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill., on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in preparation for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.