By Compass Contributor Ted Nesbitt
The NTT IndyCar Series wrapped up the 2025 season with two small oval tracks on back-to-back weekends run in middle America.
Sunday, 23 Aug. saw the IndyCars take to the historic Milwaukee Mile flat track at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds. Qualifying saw Cayman’s Kyffin Simpson struggle with a grid position penalty after an engine change from testing earlier in the week at Nashville. Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon also received the same penalty. Dixon started 14th and Simpson 27th after their penalties were assessed.
Ganassi teammate Alex Palou, who had already wrapped up the championship two weekends before in Portland, started on pole.
Simpson’s race was sadly unremarkable, as he never quite found the speed on the flat one-mile oval that his teammates did. Palou led most of the race, relinquishing the lead in the closing laps to the “loose but fast” Christian Rasmussen from Denmark in his Ed Carpenter Racing Java House Chevy.
Palou would finish second in his DHL Ganassi Honda and Dixon ninth in his PNC Bank Ganassi Honda. Simpson finished 20th in his Journie Ganassi Honda, one lap down from the leaders.
The IndyCar season finale was run on 31 Aug. at Nashville Speedway, also an oval but with banking to help in the corners, unlike Milwaukee. With the championship already decided, most were running for pride, with some drivers still trying to impress to find or retain a seat for next season.
Fan favourite Pato O’Ward from Mexico was looking to solidify second place in the championship and started his weekend well, winning the pole position on Saturday. Palou finished fourth in qualifying and Dixon claimed fifth. Simpson improved tremendously from his previous weekend, qualifying to start the race 10th.
Great wheel-to-wheel action throughout the field thrilled the fans on Sunday with some real battles going on throughout the field. Polesitter O’Ward sadly found the wall in his Arrow McLaren Chevy just past the halfway point, ending his day. In the closing laps, Simpson had a great duel with Penke’s Scott McLaughlin battling for third position as the laps wound down.
At the end, Penske’s Josef Newgarden won the race to salvage a smile after a very un-Penske-like season for the driver and team. Simspon’s teammate Palou finished second for the second week in a row, and Simpson finished fourth as McLaughlin narrowly denied him a spot on the podium.
“It was a crazy day,” Simpson said in a post-race interview.
“After Milwaukee, I was pretty frustrated with how that race was and how all the ovals had gone this year. We didn’t see much progress on the ovals all season up until now. Kinda everywhere, I felt very average. But here [in Nashville], when we were here testing, something felt more natural about it and it all just came together. Once you start further up, it helps everything.”
Looking back on the 2025 season, Simpson’s 17th place in the championship standings may seem underwhelming when you see his two teammates Palou and Dixon finish first and third respectively.
However, the young driver made great strides with some real bright spots – a solid run at the Indy 500 only to be caught up in someone else’s accident, a third place and podium on the streets of Toronto and finishing out the season with a fourth place on a tricky oval in Nashville. A strong qualifier most of the season, Simpson quite often showed up much more experienced drivers in both qualifying and race results.
With a strong team in Ganassi Racing backing and believing in him, the future looks bright for Simpson in IndyCar.
The 2026 IndyCar season kicks off 1 March on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.
