The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding marks the third full season that Firestone is providing alternate race tires with sidewalls made with natural rubber sourced from guayule desert shrubs.

These tires are marked with a green sidewall and are used at all temporary street course races, including the 14-turn, 1.8-mile downtown St. Petersburg circuit.

This year’s green sidewall alternate tire is operating differently than year’s past, which could dramatically alter strategy for Sunday’s 100-lap race.

In preparation for this season’s temporary street circuits, Firestone intentionally provided a softer and faster-wearing alternate compound. This new compound will provide more grip but will wear more quickly, providing a bigger drop-off gap between the primary and alternate tire.

“It's going to create an interesting race,” Marcus Ericsson of Andretti Global said. “I think the engineers hate it. I think fans might love it. Going to spice things up. It's going to be tricky.”

Last year’s winning strategy saw Pato O’Ward start on the alternate tire and pit on Lap 28 for another stint on the green sidewall rubber. He pitted for the final time on Lap 66 to run the final 24 circuits on the Firestone primary tires that are more durable.

In 2023, Ericsson started on the alternates and pit on Laps 30 and 70, both times to put on new Firestone Firehawk primary tires. Scott McLaughlin produced a similar strategy in his 2022 race win, starting on alternate tires but putting on primary tires during his Lap 27 and Lap 64 pit stops.

All 27 teams on Sunday must use one set of primary and one set of new (sticker) alternate tires for at least two laps in the race. That has many in the paddock believing the race could become a three pit stop event, with choosing when to use the alternates versus the primaries the most challenging decision.

“I think for what Firestone done has done, kudos to them,” Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon said. “They can make a tire that lasts, but I think in the way of racing and making it spectacular and really fun to watch and also difficult for the teams in the cars, to throw something in there like this, I think is good.

“I don't know if there's anybody on pit road, thinking about a two-stopper. We will, of course, but I think it's going to be extremely tough to get over 30 laps. I think it's going to be tough to get more than 15 or 20. So we'll see how that goes. The Chip Ganassi Racing cars are always very good on degradation. Hopefully that plays true, to give us a bit more of a window to work with.”

Dale Coyne Racing driver Rinus VeeKay and Team Penske driver Will Power both question if a four-stop strategy could be in play for the drivers starting midpack and further back. The conflicting mix of strategies between years is creating havoc, and that’s a good thing.

“Everybody knew what to do with strategy last year,” VeeKay said. “Right now, people are chasing their setups, and that's what strategy is about. You take risks, and you're looking at all the data you have and you make a decision. I think strategy becomes way more important now with this being the case. I think it's what racing should be like.”

Drivers Want To Entertain First FOX Audience

The anticipation is high that the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg is the dawn of a new era.

FOX Sports has used aggressive preseason promotion to kick off its first season of coverage. This includes edgy, creative commercials promoting series stars Josef Newgarden, Alex Palou and O’Ward during numerous FOX broadcasts, including its telecast of Super Bowl LIX, which attracted a record 127 million viewers.

Most of the 27 drivers competing in Sunday’s season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding (noon ET, FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network), feel a responsibility to put on a thrilling 100-lap race for the expected infusion of new watchers.

“You have a lot of egos, like in a cage for like, six months,” Team Penske’s McLaughlin said before winning the NTT P1 Award for Sunday’s race. “It’s a term of exuberance, you could say, but it’s just part of it. There's a lot of nervous, nervous energy, as well.”

Ericsson won this race in 2023 and noticed the extra attention FOX Sports has delivered to the series.

“I think FOX is a tremendous partner for us, and it's exactly what we need now,” he said. “We need to put on a show to make sure everyone that tunes into the race tomorrow is going to see a show, as well, because that's going to keep people watching.

“Super thankful, and I'm just excited to be part of that. The INDYCAR SERIES has the best racing in the world. What we need is more eyeballs on that because everyone I know, they love it. It’s just to get people to give it a shot, and I'm hoping FOX gives that opportunity.”

Tough Day for Birthday Boy Power

Power turned 44 Saturday but didn’t have a great birthday behind the wheel of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

A mechanical issue in practice left two-time St. Petersburg winner Power 24th on the speed chart. In qualifying, he narrowly missed on advancing to the second round and will roll off 13th in Sunday’s race.

The fact he was in a race car on his birthday was a rare event.

None of his 302 INDYCAR SERIES race weekends occurred during his birthday, with the closest instances occurring in 2022 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg taking place on Feb. 27 and 2023 with race weekend March 3-5.

Dixon Searches for Elusive St. Petersburg Victory

Dixon has reached victory lane 58 times at 28 different tracks but is 0-for-20 on the streets of St. Petersburg. However, the six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion has four podium finishes in his last eight starts on this track, and his seventh-place finish last season continued his streak of finishing eighth or better every year since 2016.

“It would be big,” Dixon said of a St. Petersburg victory. “It's a place I've always wanted to win. I think we've come close several times. I think we've had seven or eight podiums.

“Got to keep knocking on the door, and hopefully it's going to open at some point. I know some years we came very close, and maybe if we hadn't made a couple mistakes or even two years ago with how the caution fell and we got caught out by the blend line that kind of really hurt.”

Maybe this weekend is the magic moment.

Dixon qualified his No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda sixth, the only CGR driver in the Firestone Fast Six.

Ganassi Celebrates 35 Years In 2025

Chip Ganassi Racing celebrates its 35th anniversary in racing in 2025. Throughout the year, CGR will celebrate this monumental achievement by looking back at many aspects of the team’s 23 motorsports championships, the more than 260 race victories and the great moments and the people that made it happen.

“When I look back on the 35 years, I know it’s because of the people that we have been able to consistently enjoy success, so any credit really goes to all of them,” Chip Ganassi said. “However, I must say that I look at us like a 35-year-old start-up company. Every year we need to redefine both our mission and vision. We reinvent ourselves, then regroup, and refocus. I think this is what has always kept us motivated.”

Among CGR’s 23 championships includes wins in some of the biggest races in the world, such as five Indianapolis 500 wins, eight victories in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, two in the 12 Hours of Sebring and wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400.

Odds and Ends

  • Colton Herta qualified second in his No. 26 Gainbridge Honda. The Andretti Global driver has qualified third, first, third, second, fourth and second, respectively, in his last six St. Petersburg starts. He won from the pole in 2021 and had three top-three finishes in four street course starts last season.
  • Meyer Shank Racing will share Row 2 with Felix Rosenqvist (No. 60 SiriusXM Honda) in third and his teammate Marcus Armstrong (No. 66 SiriusXM/Root Insurance Honda) starting fourth. MSR is the only team to have both cars make the Firestone Fast Six.
  • Two-time defending series champion Palou starts eighth in his No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. That his second-best St. Petersburg starting spot following a seventh-place start in 2023.
  • Seven of the top nine starters drive Honda-powered cars. But Chevrolet has won two of the last three years in St. Petersburg.
  • Three drivers earned their first career victories in St. Petersburg (Graham Rahal 2008, James Hinchcliffe 2013, McLaughlin 2022).
  • The last four St. Petersburg races were won by four different teams. Andretti Global with Herta in 2021, McLaughlin with Team Penske in 2022, Chip Ganassi Racing with Ericsson in 2023 and last year’s event won by Arrow McLaren driver O’Ward.
  • “FOX and Friends” will broadcast from the track Sunday with live hits on the hour beginning at 6 a.m. ET.
  • FOX Sports MLB studio analyst Alex Rodriguez will ride in the Fastest Seat in Sports to begin the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. Florida resident Rodriguez is a 14-time MLB All-Star and a 2009 World Series champion with the New York Yankees. The 22-year veteran ranks fifth on the all-time home run list with 696 and has hit more grand slams than any other MLB player in history.
  • Two members of the award-winning band Shinedown will proclaim the most famous words in motorsports – "Drivers, start your engines!" – for the Firestone Grand Prix presented by RP Funding on Sunday. Guitarist Zach Myers and drummer Barry Kerch of Shinedown – which hails from Jacksonville, Florida – will serve in this honorary role as grand marshals.