The Inside Line

In this episode of The Inside Line, IndyStar motorsports insider Nathan Brown and co-host Joey Barnes start things off highlighting the novelty of Will Power’s win Sunday at Portland, what impact it may have on his future at Team Penske and what that future could (and should) look like. The pair then discuss the way in which Alex Palou clinched his fourth IndyCar title Sunday and the historic pace of the start to his career. They then break-down and opine on the controversial crash between Christian Rasmussen and Conor Daly, the lack of a call from race control why many drivers in the paddock are frustrated with the current state of race control. Nathan finishes off the podcast with updates on progress for 2026 races at Toronto and Mexico City and why the latter doesn’t appear to be as much of a ‘sure thing’ as immediately believed.

In this episode of The Inside Line, IndyStar motorsports reporter Nathan Brown and co-host Joey Barnes kick-off their post-Laguna Seca episode taking a look at the historical implications of Alex Palou snagging his eighth win of 2025, where that stands in history and where he could end up once the season ends. The pair also explain how Palou can go about clinching his 4th title in 5 years at IndyCar’s next round at Portland and how Pato O’Ward can stay alive, too. Brown and Barnes discuss an analyze the much-talked-about perceived miscues from race control involving a pair of on-track incidents that didn’t see yellow flags for 90 seconds during Sunday’s race, and then they dive into the Silly Season topics of the moment: whether Will Power will (or should) be replaced at Team Penske by David Malukas for 2026 and what Colton Herta’s chances are to secure a super license and give decisionmakers at Cadillac F1 a choice on whether to hand him a ride for the team’s debut season in 2026.

In this week's edition of The Inside Line, IndyStar motorsports reporter Nathan Brown and co-host Joey Barnes discuss the ways Toronto race winner Pato O'Ward and championship leader Alex Palou diverged, creating the potential for a title race down the stretch. Nathan and Joey also dove deep into the former's 2026 schedule sleuthing story from earlier in the week, and Nathan discusses how he expects many of the puzzle pieces to fit together.

IndyStar motorsports insider Nathan Brown an co-host Joey Barnes break down the on- and off-track successes and failures around IndyCar's Iowa Speedway doubleheader weekend in this episode of "The Inside Line." The pair first touch on the ways in which Pato O'Ward and Alex Palou bided their time en route to race wins and how Josef Newgarden and Team Penske saw them slip through their fingertips. Nathan and Joey then dove head first into the elephant in the room: the mostly empty grandstands and the underwhelming TV numbers and discussed why IndyCar's annual stop at Iowa has fallen so far in interest, who's to blame, what could be done to save it and ultimately what it's fate may be.

In this week's edition of The Inside Line, IndyStar motorsports insider Nathan Brown and co-host Joey Barnes dive into all the on and off-track drama in the wake of IndyCar's race at Mid-Ohio.

They start the episode taking a look at the moves and decisions that led to the exciting end-of-the-race battle between Scott Dixon and Alex Palou, and the two discuss whether Dixon has a shot at challenging A.J. Foyt's all-time IndyCar wins record. Then, they break down the oddity that has been this season for Team Penske and the streaks and themes that have made it one of the program's worst ever in its 50-plus years in the sport.

The pair also dive into the chatter around Josef Newgarden, why his post-qualifying media interaction became the story it did and do their best to clarify sentiments and assumptions around their own (as well as paddock-wide) reporting and story-writing involving Josef and Team Penske at-large over the last couple years.

They end this week's episode looking ahead to this weekend's Iowa Speedway doubleheader and why many in the paddock believe it will be more of the same of the lackluster passing opportunities of a year ago.

On this week's edition of The Inside Line, IndyStar motorsports reporter Nathan Brown and co-host Joey Barnes break down the strategy that fed into Alex Palou's sixth win of 2025. The pair then rank their top teams in the sport through the season's halfway point and debate where they'd have a winless Team Penske. Brown and Barnes also dive into the big topics of the week, including IndyCar's new car announcement, Arrow McLaren's hiring of Kyle Moyer and why the ratings fell off as much as they did after a strong post-Indy 500 run.

In this episode of The Inside Line, IndyStar motorsports reporter Nathan Brown and co-host Joey Barnes breakdown how Kyle Kirkwood earned his third win of the season at World Wide Technology Raceway and what proved to be his race-winning pass on runner-up Pato O’Ward. The pair also discuss Team Penske’s miserable race and where the team’s first win of the year will come — if at all. They also discuss the race’s ratings and what they mean and who they think could pick up their next career-first win in IndyCar.

In this week’s episode of The Inside Line, IndyStar motorsports reporter Nathan Brown and co-host Joey Barnes discuss Andretti Global’s dominant Detroit Grand Prix weekend that led to Kyle Kirkwood’s second win of 2025. The pair also dig into the ins and outs of Santino Ferrucci’s post-race tech inspection penalty, Zak Brown’s comments about needed changes in IndyCar, the TV ratings and what they mean and look at who might still be alive for a championship push other than Alex Palou.

In this week’s edition of The Inside Line, IndyStar motorsports insider Nathan Brown and co-host Joey Barnes break down everything that was in this year’s Indy 500, from Alex Palou’s late-race win — and the pass that made it so on Marcus Ericsson — to other standout performances and disappointing ones throughout the field. The pair also dive into the post-race penalties and what they believe IndyCar would’ve done had Ericsson won with an illegally modified car, as well as the Fox broadcast and IndyCar’s massive ratings win from it.

In the latest edition of The Inside Line, IndyStar motorsports insider Nathan Brown and co-host Joey Barnes breakdown the latest Team Penske-related drama since Indy 500 qualifying and discuss why ultimately Roger Penske made the major decision he did to fire his entire IndyCar leadership team. Later, Nathan and Joey work their way through their field and hand out their picks for Sunday’s Indy 500 and debate whether Josef Newgarden can still make history from 32nd on the grid.