Juncos Hollinger Racing Claims First Top-10 Finish of 2026 at St. Pete
Juncos Hollinger Racing launched its 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES campaign with encouraging pace and a standout debut from Rinus VeeKay at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
The 100-lap contest around the 1.8-mile temporary street circuit has historically been a challenging one for the team. This visit to Florida began with high spirits, as both cars showed solid pace throughout the weekend’s practice sessions.
By the end of Practice 2, Sting Ray Robb and the No. 77 Goodheart Animal Health Centers Chevrolet was ninth on pace, just ahead of teammate Rinus VeeKay and the No. 76 Orion180 Insurance Chevrolet in tenth. Struggles began to emerge in qualifying, however. Rinus and Sting Ray filled the 10th row for Sunday’s 180-mile dash, qualifying their Dallara IR-18s in 19th and 20th respectively.
The pace shown in practice quickly translated into race form for VeeKay. With a new 2026 rule mandating two stints on the alternate tire at street circuits, strategy and execution carried even greater weight.
The No. 76 charged through the field early, gaining six positions in the opening stint alone. While continuing to find more pace, the No. 76 crew matched that effort in pit lane, nailing each pit stop. The team recorded the fourth- and fifth-quickest lap times of the race and executed the quickest pit stop of the event, underlining the strength of the overall package.
Pushing until the end, Rinus brought the car home in P9, earning JHR its first top-10 finish of the season.
Rinus VeeKay, driver of the No. 76 Orion180 Insurance Chevrolet: “That was a great race to start the season. We immediately committed to a three-stop strategy but some unlucky timing on a yellow gave us another pit-window to consider. Either way, I think we really maximized the race. I couldn’t have done it without the guys on pitlane, they did an incredible job on pitstops today, which made my job easier. We maximized everything that today gave us, and we’ve built some great momentum heading into Phoenix.”
Opening lap chaos claimed the No. 77, putting driver Sting Ray Robb on the backfoot. Undeterred, the 77-crew rallied to fix the left rear toe link and front wing damage suffered during the lap 1 incident. Sting Ray continued to fight with an understeer-prone car, ultimately bringing it home in P21.
Sting Ray Robb, driver of the No. 77 Goodheart Animal Health Centers Chevrolet: “Lap 1, turn 4, I still need to go back and take a look at what exactly happened there. I’m sorry to the No. 77 crew and the Goodheart team, they worked so hard to give me a good car this weekend. I think we had good pace once we got going again but wish we could’ve been fighting on the lead lap.”
Dave O’Neill, Team Principal of JHR: “St. Pete is always a tough race to open the season, and I’m really proud of the way this group executed across the board to start 2026 on a strong note. We saw the pace building through practice, and in the race Rinus showed what we’re capable of — six positions in the opening stint on a street circuit isn’t easy. With the new rule requiring two stints on the alternate tire, the pressure on strategy and pit execution was even higher, and our crew absolutely delivered. Every stop was sharp, and that gave us the track position we needed to fight inside the top ten.”
He continued: “To come away with P9 and our first top-10 finish of the season is a strong way to start the year, especially with Orion180 on board as primary this weekend. It shows the progress we’ve made over the offseason and the belief everyone has in this program. There’s still more performance to unlock, but we maximized what the race gave us and leave here with momentum heading to Phoenix.”
The 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season continues next weekend with the Good Ranchers 250, part of an INDYCAR-NASCAR doubleheader weekend at Phoenix Raceway. Catch the action live on FOX at 3:00 PM ET!