Month: August 2026

Markham, Ontario — A new street court tested the perseverance and patience of INDYCAR drivers Sunday. Marcus Ericsson, a driver who hasn’t won in nearly four years and nearly found himself out of a ride after this season but earned a contract extension last month thanks to his perseverance and patience, emerged victorious. Ericsson captured his first victory since March 2023 as he snapped a 63-race winless streak by claiming the inaugural win on the perilous streets of Markham, where the Ontario Grand Prix was relocated from Toronto’s Exhibition Place. Here are my takeaways: 1. Streak Snapped Ericsson indicated he felt that a win was coming with the performance this year, a 180 from last year when he finished 20th in the standings. A former Formula 1 driver and an Indianapolis 500 winner when at Ganassi, the Andretti Global driver entered Markham sitting ninth in the 2026 standings. “The thing in racing, you have to believe in yourself, right?” Ericsson said in his winners news conference. “I went eight years without a win when I went from F2, went in F1, then came to INDYCAR. It’s easy to give up and do something else. “I always feel like mental strength and that ability to push myself, even when things doesn’t go your way, it’s been one of my biggest strengths as a driver.” The 35-year-old driver led 21 of 90 laps, including the last five, after he easily passed a fuel-saving Romain Grosjean for the lead. It was likely a popular win considering Ericsson’s path the lat few years. “I don’t think there was any scenario last year where I would have won a race because I just wasn’t fast and I wasn’t happy with the way the car felt,” Ericsson said. “It was no one’s fault. Things didn’t work out. We were in a bad spiral. It comes from working hard, putting the work in. There’s nothing coming for free. You can’t after a season like last year sit around and think hopefully next year will be better.” 2. Streak Continued Romain Grosjean, who drives for Dale Coyne Racing, has no wins in 78 career INDYCAR starts since making the move from F1. His last victory in a single-seater car came in 2011 in a G2 Series race. “I cried a little, I’m not going to lie,” Grosjean said in his postrace news conference. “But control what you can control. … I did everything I could.” 3. Power Nearly Ruins Teammate’s Day Will Power finished third but nearly ruined Ericsson’s chance to win when the two had contact when Ericsson passed him in the hairpin. Power said he wasn’t trying to keep Ericsson from passing him. “I said [to my team], ‘OK, I’ll let him go on the backstraight so I can stay close to Palou,’” Power said in his postrace news conference about the contact. “He didn’t get the message, or it wasn’t quick enough for him. Miscommunication. I didn’t even look in my mirror. I just turned. Obviously at that point, I was upset because we lost such a gap.” Ericsson, who had pitted several laps later than Grosjean for his final stop and was several seconds behind at the time, said the contact was unfortunate and he and his teammate are good. “I was really eager to get by and sort of hunt down the leaders because I really felt like I had the pace to win,” Ericsson said. 4. New Track, Mixed Reviews It might not be much of a surprise, but those who had great finishes loved the track while those who wrecked did not. The biggest issue was the lack of any curved barriers, which meant that the walls all came to a point. A misjudgment could result in hitting a wall and end one’s day. Pole-sitter Louis Foster saw his race end after 42 laps and Kyle Kirkwood’s ended in similar fashion 11 laps later. “They didn’t come here with radius walls,” Kirkwood told me and other reporters. “That’s been the new normal for INDYCAR is radius walls at all the apex. “As you’re wrapping around the corner, you can’t see the points and they surprise you a bit. But it’s not like it was any different than the rest of the weekend. It just can catch you off guard.” 4 ½. Up Next: Freedom 250 The streets of Washington D.C. await INDYCAR drivers in what will be a spectacle in the nation’s capital on a 1.7-mile course. It will be one of the longest street-course races in decades at 250 miles with the start-finish line across from the U.S. Capitol.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

LATROBE, Pa. — Aaron Rodgers learned last season that he can’t outrun the clock. He’s slower in his 40s than he used to be. His arm strength isn’t there as consistently as it once was, either. It’s his mind, though, that really keeps him going at age 42, in his 22nd — and, as he vowed, his last — NFL season. It’s why his new (and old) coach, Mike McCarthy, is convinced they can make one more run at Super Bowl glory together. And it’s the quirky Rodgers’ best chance to out-maneuver the passage of time. “His mind’s incredibly sharp,” McCarthy, the Steelers coach, told me before practice on Sunday at St. Vincent College. “But I’ll be honest with you, his ball play in this camp has been top-notch. Obviously, I’ve coached a lot of football with him, but his ability to place the football … I’m not saying he lost any velocity on the ball, but if he has, it’s definitely made up for with his anticipation. “So he’s getting the ball where it needs to be, on time. He’s having a hell of a camp.” McCarthy would know. This may be his first season coaching his hometown Steelers, but he spent 13 wildly successful seasons as Rodgers’ head coach in Green Bay. They went to the playoffs eight times, won a Super Bowl together, and he helped Rodgers develop into one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play the game. The late-career reunion between the 62-year-old coach and his former protégé has been “super cool,” McCarthy told me. But it’s a lot more than just a trip down memory lane. He still sees Rodgers as a quarterback who can help him win. “It’s super cool, just to be able to be part of his final chapter. It’s awesome,” McCarthy told me. “But I think he definitely fits the culture here. So yes, I think it’s a great story. “But I think we just want to win. Let’s go win and do the things that we need to do to win. And he’s such a competitor. I love the time, once we cross the white lines, when we get to just go out there and compete. And he is one of the greatest to ever play the game.” Notice, he didn’t say “was” — a purposeful choice of words. Rodgers, by his own standards, was just OK last season, completing 65.7% of his passes for 3,322 yards, 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions. His age was showing, even as he dragged the Steelers to 10 wins and the AFC North title. He looked like a good quarterback overall, but not one capable of doing any of the magical things he used to do. But his mind, his processing skills and ability to see what others can’t in a defense, give him and the Steelers an enormous advantage. And that’s where the magic really happens, McCarthy said. “His mind is off the charts,” McCarthy told me. “His anticipation and ability to throw people open, his instincts … and he also matches it with his release, the way he’s able to get the ball out of his hands so quickly and throw through the open window where (defenders) are running through. That’s the way you have to play and win in this league, because people are always covered. It’s the job of the quarterback to throw them open.” Even in practice, it’s clear that Rodgers still does that better than anyone. He has the patience to let a play develop, the wisdom to see what is about to happen, and the skills to put the ball in the only place it can go. And after almost every rep on Sunday, he was talking to his coaches, receivers and linemen, explaining to them exactly what he saw. Whether it all translates into wins, a playoff berth, or even one last run at a Super Bowl, probably depends on Rodgers’ 42-year-old body, and whether he can keep it from breaking down. But don’t bet against that, even at his age, since he’s played near-full seasons in seven of the past eight years. And if he can do it one more time, then maybe — just maybe — his mind is what will matter most, and he and McCarthy have enough left for one more magical run. The Steelers’ defense was middling last season (17th in scoring), but they did have a surprisingly potent pass rush. It was “surprising” because they got 48 sacks (sixth in the NFL) despite a down year from T.J. Watt, their longtime star. He had only seven sacks — just his third season not reaching double-digits (and his worst total in a full season). It’s safe to say Pittsburgh expected more when it signed him to a three-year, $123 million extension last July. So he really needs to show that his two-year statistical decline isn’t irreversible even though he’ll be 32 in October. Last season, his sack total was still the third-highest on the team. Imagine how potent the pass rush could be if Watt — who had 19 sacks in 2023 and 11.5 in 2024 — gets anywhere near his old form. The Steelers need that from the eight-time Pro Bowler. They know their quarterback will need as much support as he can get. Backing him with an aggressive, disruptive defense, preferably led by Watt, might be the best thing they could do to help Rodgers out. “I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t think I could win a Super Bowl. Once you lift that trophy up, there’s nothing else in this business.” — Steelers coach Mike McCarthy told me Everything Is Riding On Aaron Rodgers’ 42-Year-Old Arm There’s a lot to like about this team that McCarthy inherited from Mike Tomlin. It’s the core of a team that won 10 games last season, after all. And they should get a boost from McCarthy. Nothing against Tomlin. He had a phenomenal record in Pittsburgh over the past 19 years. But it’s possible that what he was preaching probably got a little stale. To get that new-coach boost, McCarthy will need T.J. Watt to bounce back, so the defense can be a little bit more like it’s used to being in the Steel City. And the addition of Dowdle, who McCarthy developed into an RB1 in Dallas, could give Pittsburgh the running game it was missing last year. But winning all comes down to the same thing it came down to last year. The Steelers have an old quarterback, who’s not quite what he used to be. And they need a lot from Rodgers at age 42. He’s still good and smart and capable of some big plays. But he’s not the one-man show that he was a decade ago, or the error-free maestro he was five years ago when he won back-to-back MVPs. He’s no longer even a top 10 quarterback in the NFL. Last year, he was good enough to lead this team to the playoffs. But this year, the division could be much tougher if Lamar Jackson stays healthy in Baltimore and Joe Burrow is around for a whole season in Cincinnati. Getting to 10 wins again could be quite the challenge for Pittsburgh. Eight seems like a more realistic goal. And finishing better than third in the division could be pretty tough, too. First of all, Cleveland rocks. I don’t care what people say about it, it’s always been an underrated city. OK, not always, but it certainly has become one. And I’m sure Berea, Ohio — home of the Browns — rocks, too. If only it had a football team to match. I’m sure new Browns coach Todd Monken thinks there’s something positive about the team he’s assembling on the shores of Lake Erie, and I’ll travel three hours through the hills of Western Pennsylvania and the Ohio valley to find out — apparently through a horrendous rain storm that is about to hit. (By the time I get there, by the way, I’ll have driven almost 1,400 miles on this trip. I think I’ve passed 1,400 Sheetz gas stations along the way, too. Not nearly as many Flying J’s, though, so it’s probably good that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam sold all those.) Anyway, back to Haslam’s Browns: Myles Garrett is gone. There’s still no viable quarterback in place. It’s hard to have faith in either Shedeur Sanders or what’s left of Deshaun Watson. But people have underestimated and overlooked Cleveland the city, so maybe we’re all doing it to the Browns, too? I doubt it. But I’m certainly on the lookout for positives. I’m just not expecting to see many at practice on Monday afternoon.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports