The 2026 Good Ranchers 250 was an NTT IndyCar Series open-wheel race that was held on March 7, 2026, at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. It was the second round of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season and the first race at the track since 2018. The 250-lap event was won by Josef Newgarden of Team Penske, with Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood finishing second and Newgarden's teammate David Malukas in third.
Malukas drove the fastest lap of qualifying and earned his first career pole position. He led the first 72 laps before a round of green-flag pit stops concluded with Pato O'Ward assuming the lead. O'Ward only led ten laps before Christian Rasmussen, who was handed a penalty early in the race, overtook him on the 108th lap. Rasmussen then became a strong contender to win the race, as he consistently managed to maneuver around other drivers and reclaim the lead. However, his performance was heavily tempered when Will Power pushed him into the wall while attempting to block him, and he was eventually forced to relinquish the lead to Kirkwood on lap 242. Newgarden, racing with fresh tires, passed Kirkwood two laps later and secured his first win of the season and the 33rd of his career.
The race had four cautions and 18 lead changes between nine drivers. With 16 races left in the season, Álex Palou, the points leader entering the event, crashed on lap 21 and fell to fifth in the standings, while Newgarden assumed the lead.
Background
Phoenix Raceway, a low-banked tri-oval race track in Avondale, Arizona, was once a staple on the American open-wheel car racing calendar, having hosted 64 races since 1964. However, track officials decided not to renew their contract with the IndyCar Series following the 2018 event, citing low attendance. In August 2025, motorsports magazine Racer reported that the series was planning a return to the track for the 2026 season. A month later, IndyCar announced their 2026 schedule and revealed their race in Phoenix was to be held on March 7 in conjunction with the NASCAR Cup Series and O'Reilly Auto Parts Series races. The race's distance of 250 laps and was announced in December, along with its title sponsor, American meat company Good Ranchers.
Of the 25 drivers entered for the race, only five of them had previously participated in an IndyCar Series race at Phoenix: Scott Dixon (2016 winner), Josef Newgarden (2018 winner), Will Power, Graham Rahal, and Alexander Rossi. To help drivers become acquainted with driving at Phoenix Raceway, an open testing session—titled the Unser IndyCar Open Test, in honor of the Unser family—was conducted by IndyCar at the circuit on February 17–18. David Malukas posted the fastest speed of the session on February 17 at within its final hour, with Team Penske teammate Newgarden in second. Rookie driver Caio Collet was involved in the lone session of the day, when his car slid into the turn-four SAFER barrier. Rossi was quickest in the morning and afternoon sessions on February 18, with speeds at and , respectively. Forty-nine minutes into the afternoon session, Marcus Ericsson made contact with the front stretch wall.
Heading into the race, the second of 18 and the first on an oval track in the 2026 season, Álex Palou led the Drivers' Championship with 53 points, 11 more than second-placed Scott McLaughlin and 17 ahead of Christian Lundgaard in third. Kyle Kirkwood's 32 points placed him fourth, and Pato O'Ward stood fifth on 30 points. Palou, the winner of the preceding Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, was set to make his 100th career start; he remained modest about his approach for the race, stating: "I tend not to have much expectations. I’m pushing. I’m giving everything I have. I like to be in the car." Christian Rasmussen highly anticipated the event because of his prowess on ovals in the 2025 season and the test in February, which he felt "went really well for ECR." Former Formula One racer Mick Schumacher hoped to redeem himself following a first-lap crash at St. Petersburg.
Practice and qualifying
Two practice sessions preceded the race on Saturday; both were held on Friday, with the first lasting 60 minutes and the second 90 minutes. The first session on Friday morning was led by Malukas with a time of 20.5005 seconds, with O'Ward in second, Newgarden in third, Rasmussen in fourth, and Power in fifth. Felix Rosenqvist caused the only stoppage of the session twenty minutes in when his car spun backwards and slammed the wall exiting turn two, heavily damaging the left side of his car.
During qualifying, which was held three hours and five minutes after the first practice session concluded, each driver was required to complete two laps, and the cumulative time of the laps would determine their starting positions. The qualifying order was set by entrant points standings, with the lowest entry in the standings going on-track first and the highest going last. Malukas won the first pole position of his career with a time of 41.0530 seconds, almost two tenths of a second quicker than Newgarden, who qualified alongside him on the grid's front row. Rahal and Schumacher, both driving for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, took the next two positions, marking the first time that two of the team's drivers qualified within the top-five in an oval race since the 2005 Peak Antifreeze Indy 300. The remaining spots in the top ten were occupied by Scott McLaughlin, Rossi, O'Ward, Rinus VeeKay, Nolan Siegel, and Palou, while the rest of the grid lined up as: Kirkwood, Sting Ray Robb, Marcus Armstrong, Ericsson, Dixon, Louis Foster, Lundgaard, Rasmussen, Kyffin Simpson, Romain Grosjean, Santino Ferrucci, Dennis Hauger, Collet, Rosenqvist, and Power. The latter two drivers were forced to take the last two positions because Rosenqvist's team was unable to complete repairs to his car in time, while Power crashed into the turn-two wall on his second timed lap. Power later stated that his knee hit the dashboard of his car upon impact.
The second practice session on Friday afternoon began with the 25 drivers being split into two groups and allotted 15 minutes of track time per group before a 50-minute session was conducted for all drivers. Newgarden's lap time of 21.4699 seconds topped the session; second-place Armstrong was six-hundredths of a second slower, while O'Ward, Palou, and Malukas rounded out the top five. The session went without incident, though Grosjean suffered electrical issues which hampered his performance.
Qualifying classification KeyMeaningRookiePast winner
+ Final qualifying results Driver Team Engine Time 1 12 David Malukas Team Penske Chevrolet 41.0530 175.383 1 2 2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet 41.2493 174.548 2 3 15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 41.3810 173.993 3 4 47 Mick Schumacher Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 41.4587 173.667 4 5 3 Scott McLaughlinTeam PenskeChevrolet 41.5109 173.448 5 6 20 Alexander Rossi ECR Chevrolet 41.5252 173.389 6 7 5 Pato O'Ward Arrow McLaren Chevrolet 41.5359 173.344 7 8 76 Rinus VeeKay Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet 41.5589 173.248 8 9 6 Nolan Siegel Arrow McLaren Chevrolet 41.6196 172.995 9 10 10 Álex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 41.6234 172.980 10 11 27 Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Global Honda 41.6479 172.878 11 12 77 Sting Ray Robb Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet 41.7305 172.536 12 13 66 Marcus Armstrong Meyer Shank Racing Honda 41.7551 172.434 13 14 28 Marcus EricssonAndretti GlobalHonda 41.7721 172.364 14 15 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 41.8425 172.074 15 16 45 Louis Foster Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 41.9025 171.827 16 17 7 Christian Lundgaard Arrow McLaren Chevrolet 41.9664 171.566 17 18 21 Christian Rasmussen ECR Chevrolet 41.9728 171.540 18 19 8 Kyffin Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 41.9974 171.439 19 20 18 Romain Grosjean Dale Coyne Racing Honda 42.1512 171.439 20 21 14 Santino Ferrucci A. J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet 42.2096 170.814 21 22 19 Dennis Hauger Dale Coyne Racing Honda 42.3983 170.577 22 23 4 Caio Collet A. J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet 42.9474 169.818 23 24 60 Felix Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing Honda — — 24 25 26 Will Power Andretti Global Honda 20.6734 174.137 25 Source:
Race Live television coverage of the race in the United States began at 1:00 p.m. local time (UTC−07:00) and was aired on Fox. Play-by-play commentary was provided by Will Buxton, with analysis from former IndyCar Series drivers Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe and NASCAR Cup Series driver Joey Logano. As other cars drove off pit road to commence their warm-up laps, Grosjean's car was pushed to its pit box with a clutch issue, forcing him to retire without completing any laps. Malukas maintained his pole position advantage at the start, while Palou made his way to fourth place and Schumacher dropped to 11th by the fourth lap. Malukas held a lead of almost two seconds over Newgarden when on the tenth lap, Hauger, who had improved to 16th, spun backwards on the back stretch and barely avoiding hitting the inside wall, prompting the first caution flag of the race.
Most of the drivers in the latter half of the field made pit stops under the caution period. Rasmussen, Simpson, Ferrucci, and Rosenqvist were sent to the rear of the field by IndyCar officials for improperly entering their pit stalls. Malukas led the field back to speed at the lap-20 restart, followed by Newgarden, Rossi, Palou, and VeeKay. Palou was overtaken by Rahal in the third turn, but as VeeKay attempted to make a pass, Palou's car drifted up the track and collided with VeeKay, sending them both into the outside wall on the front stretch; the second caution flag was flown on lap 21 as a result. Palou sustained enough suspension damage for him to step out of his car and exit the race. After green-flag racing resumed on the 30th lap, Malukas pulled away from the rest of the field, gaining a 0.9-second advantage over Newgarden by lap 55. Meanwhile, Rasmussen used the outside line to pass numerous drivers during the green-flag stint, advancing as high as fifth place by the 62nd lap.
The first cycle of green-flag pit stops began with O'Ward on lap 68. After Rasmussen passed Rahal for fourth, the top three drivers conceded their positions to make stops, allowing Rasmussen to assume the lead on lap 73. Malukas' right-rear tire made slight contact with McLaughlin's left-front tire as the former merged back onto the circuit. Four laps later, Rasmussen gave up the lead to Armstrong, who himself pitted on the 85th lap and handed the first position to Dixon for eleven laps. Hauger was among the last to make a stop during the cycle, giving up the lead to O'Ward on lap 98. Rasmussen charged by Malukas on the inside line in the first turn to take third place that same lap, and made a similar maneuver to pass McLaughlin for the second position two laps later. O'Ward's lead of three seconds was quickly diminished by Rasmussen, who drove to the right-hand side of O'Ward to take the lead on lap 108.