Category: Featured Other Series

In the final practice for the Velocity Prairie Thunder 250 at Auto Clearing Motor Speedway, it’d be L.P. Dumoulin topping the charts behind the wheel of the No. 47 WeatherTech Canada/Dellemare Dodge with a lap of 14.754 seconds.

The defending series champion had a great run last year in Saskatoon, scoring the victory. He has done well thus far this season, finishing in the top-10 in each of the four races thus far.

Scott Steckly, who led the first practice, was second quickest, only 0.014 seconds off of Dumoulin. He enters this event on a string of top-five finishes after finishing fourth at Sunset, fifth at ICAR and winning at EIR on Saturday night. In six starts at ACMS, he has posted two wins and five top-fives with an average finish of 5.5.

Gary Klutt, who won the season opener at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, was third quickest ahead of Mark Dilley. Dilley is looking for a good run as he has yet to post a top-10 finish thus far this season. Points leader Jason Hathaway rounded out the top-five.

D.J. Kennington was sixth quickest, followed by Matthew Scannell, Joey McColm, Alex Tagliani and James Van Domselaar.

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will qualify for Wednesday night’s  Velocity Prairie Thunder 250 at 7:15 p.m. EST with the green flag scheduled for 9:30 p.m.

In the first practice ahead of Wednesday night’s Velocity Prairie Thunder 250 at Auto Clearing Motor Speedway, it’d be Scott Steckly topping the charts with a lap of 14.866 seconds.

Steckly enters the event this weekend with momentum on his side after scoring the victory last Saturday night at Edmonton International Raceway for his first win of the 2015 season.

Marc-Antoine Camirand was second quickest, 0.045 seconds off of Steckly’s quick time, ahead of D.J. Kennington, Andrew Ranger and defending race winner L.P Dumoulin.

Sunset Speedway winner Alex Tagliani was sixth ahead of points leader Jason Hathaway, Joey McColm, Mark Dilley and Matthew Scannell.

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will have one more practice before qualifying at 7:15 p.m. EST ahead of the 9:30 p.m. EST green flag.

Leading the majority of the laps and having the whole field a lap down, Sebastien Bourdais was the class of the field en route to scoring the victory in the ABC Supply Co. Inc. Wisconsin 250 at the Milwaukee Mile.

“It was unbelievable,” Bourdais said. “It was what we were talking about yesterday and at this place sometimes you got it and when you do, it’s really good.”

Starting from the 11th spot, Bourdais would make his way to the front of the field, using pit strategy to gain the lead at lap 114 when he stayed out while others pitted. He then drove away from the field, continuing to extend his lead over to the run till he had the whole field a lap down. He would make a pit stop at lap 213 without losing the lead, but allowing some competitors to get back on the lead lap. A caution would fly at lap 222 of 250 for Justin Wilson blowing a motor, in which Bourdais stayed out again. He then led the final laps en route to the victory.

It marks his second win of the season and the 34th victory of his career.

“Pretty sweet,” Bourdais commented. “I know, like we say all the time, when we get the job done and beat all these guys, we have a great group of guys and sponsors.”

Helio Castroneves would finish second after having to start from the rear of the field due to missing qualifying as his team didn’t have the car in line in time.

“Certainly it was a tough one,” he commented. “It was difficult to pass. I was pushing, forcing, and moving. Juan (Pablo Montoya) was the hardest one to be honest. At the end of the day, it was a great race but Bourdais was really fast and just gone. I pushed as hard as I could, but just a little bit short. Got us some points for the championship and we’ll keep going.”

With his runner-up, he currently sits third in points, 69 points behind Juan Pablo Montoya – tied with Graham Rahal. Rahal would follow-up his win at Auto Club Speedway with a third place finish after running inside of the top-five throughout the day.

“It was good,” Rahal said. “We had scuff tires on there and I was worried a little bit about some guys having some sticker tires. Everybody keeps working hard and putting us in a position to succeed and the car was really good there. It’s just unfortunate that we got behind Bourdais and Castroneves there. Good day in points – that’s the whole objective right now.”

A big part of Rahal’s success came from how well he restarted, gaining multiple divisions in the first few laps after a restart.

“When I see a hole, I’m going to take it,” he added. “(Justin) Wilson left a hole on the inside and I knew my car was good on the bottom so I went for it. Like I said, right now we have to go and beat the guys and you’re not going to do that by sitting and being defensive.”

Juan Pablo Montoya continued his consistency, finishing fourth to stretch his points lead to 54 points ahead of Scott Dixon. He felt that he had a car early on that could’ve contended for the win.

“We could keep up with Bourdais pretty easy,” he added. “At the end, we made some changes and the car wasn’t as good. Everybody at Penske did a good job and we were able to gain some points.”

Montoya had to fight back after a pit road speeding penalty mid-race, in which he says was a result of the pit road speed button not engaging when he pushed it. Pole sitter Josef Newgarden rounded out the top-five after leading early, followed by Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Marco Andretti, Simon Pagenaud and Ed Carpenter.

Defending series champion Will Power found himself on the sidelines early after he got caught up in an incident with Ryan Briscoe. Briscoe would get loose in turn four, coming up the track and just barely catching Power. The result would be Power hitting the wall, nose first. Power slips back to fifth in points, 70 behind Montoya.

Following a dramatic, three-wide battling all race long event at Auto Club Speedway, the Verizon IndyCar Series will return to the track this weekend with the ABC Supply Co. Inc. Wisconsin 250 at Milwaukee IndyFest. With the oval being shorter and less banked, the racing should be more tame with less three-wide racing, but still highly competitive with the depth of competition in the field.

Graham Rahal enters this weekend with a boat load of confidence after breaking a 125-race winless streak with his victory at Fontana. It wasn’t a fluke victory, either, as Rahal has ran up front all season long and currently sits fourth in points, 73 points behind Juan Pablo Montoya. In six races at Milwaukee, Rahal has posted two top-fives and three top-10s.

“I’m excited for Milwaukee ahead and the chance to put ourselves in a good place in this championship going forward as well,” he commented. “With Courtney’s race (fiancée Courtney Force was runner-up in the NHRA funny car event July 2-5 at Norwalk, Ohio) and everything else, it’s been pretty busy since the win. I haven’t really focused much on the win as much as I have been thinking about going forward and doing well at Milwaukee because this is a big part of our season right now. It’s a big turning point for us as we need to do everything that we can to maximize our points, so really I haven’t thought about it too much. I have just been focused on what’s ahead of us. I have always loved The Milwaukee Mile. It’s a pretty tricky flat track. It has a lot of history in its own right and that’s what makes it special to go there and get to race at that track.”

Speaking of Montoya, he has also had success at Milwaukee, before, finishing second in last year’s event. Currently leading the points with a pair of wins and four podiums, the Columbian will hope to keep the consistency going after finishing fourth at Fontana.

“I have never been more upset with a second-place finish than I was last year at Milwaukee,” he admits. “We had such a good car that it was a shame that we couldn’t win the race, but Will (Power) was just that dominant that day. If I have a Verizon Chevrolet that is even close to how good that car was, I will feel really good about our chances this weekend. I enjoy racing at Milwaukee a lot. It’s a different feel than anywhere else we go because it’s a fairgrounds track. It’s just a cool place with a lot of history. I’m glad I have been able to win there at least once in my career (2000). Unfortunately, last year there wasn’t a lot of passing and, as a result, Will was able to lead so many laps. I’m very anxious to see what the new aero package and downforce levels do to the racing when we get back.”

While Montoya was left looking for the taste of victory, that honor went to his Team Penske teammate Will Power. Power is badly hoping that he can repeat to start making up the 46 points that separate him from Montoya currently. He also is looking to bounce back as a wreck at Fontana resulted in a finish outside of the top-15. In five starts at the Milwaukee Mile, he has three top-five finishes with an average finish of 6.8

“Milwaukee could not be coming at a better time for the Verizon Chevy team,” Power commented. “We need a race to really jumpstart the rest of our season and Milwaukee did that for us last year. The win there kind of cemented our spot as the championship frontrunner, even though we still had to take care of business the rest of the year. When you have a race like we did last year at Milwaukee, it can’t help but give you supreme confidence heading into this year’s event. I had a great feeling about that race at the start of 2014 – it was one that I circled on the calendar – and I feel the same this year. It really comes down to qualifying at Milwaukee because passing can be difficult there. If we can win another Verizon P1 Pole Award, I’m confident we can keep our Verizon Chevy at the front of the field and contend for another Milwaukee win.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay is also hoping to turn things around this weekend after being part of the dramatic last lap crash at Fontana with Ryan Briscoe. Hunter-Reay knows his way around Milwaukee, posting victories in 2012 and 2013. Currently sitting 14th in points, a victory would be a huge boost for the Andretti Autosport driver.

“We were just one lap away from a breakthrough result in Fontana, so hopefully we can put it all together this weekend at one of my favorite tracks, The Milwaukee Mile,” the past champion stated. “We’ve had success at this track in the past and it would be a huge achievement to join the short list of four-time winners at the famed 1-mile oval.”

Tony Kanaan enters this weekend with momentum after finishing second at Fontana while leading 23 laps. He has been good at Milwaukee in the past, posting two wins, seven top-fives and eight top-10s in 10 starts for an average finish of 6.6

“I think it was a good thing we had a weekend off after such an intense race in Fontana to regroup and put our focus back into the remainder of the season, especially Milwaukee,” Kanaan commented. “Over the years, I’ve had some strong finishes in Milwaukee and NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing has a lot of momentum coming off the last few races. This year’s race weekend schedule will be challenging with us practicing, qualifying and racing all in the same day. We’ll need to be on top of our game to make sure we have a good finish, hopefully another win, on the historic short track.”

His Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon is looking for a good run, as well, after winning earlier this year on a high-banked oval at Texas Motor Speedway and currently sitting third in points. Dixon enters the weekend with some momentum as he finished sixth at Fontana, and has the second highest average finish of active drivers with a 6.4. In nine starts at Milwaukee, he has scored a win, four top-fives and seven top-10s.

“Milwaukee might be the only place that is older than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” Dixon said. “Nothing has really changed over those hundred-plus years it’s been in existence. It has a lot of character and the track is definitely the toughest short track we go to – maybe even one of the toughest tracks that we’ve ever been to as a series, in my opinion. I was fortunate enough to win there in 2009 and had some great battles there with some podiums. But I’ve also had some dreadful days there, crashing two cars in four laps once in practice and qualifying and then going home before the race. I’ve had many highs and lows there, but as a city with the fans it’s definitely one of the top spots on the schedule.”

Battling for every position in the late stages of the race, the jocking back and forth for each position in the three, four-wide racing pack was full of action for the Verizon IndyCar Series drivers. Though sometimes, everything doesn’t go according to plan.

That played true on Saturday afternoon as Sage Karam would come down, making contact with Ryan Hunter-Reay. Hunter-Reay would then come down into Ryan Briscoe, pushing him into the grass. The result would be Briscoe’s car going up in the air, before landing down hard in the grass as the front-end digged in.

Both Ryans would be uninjured in the wreck.

“I wasn’t expecting (Juan Pablo) Montoya coming up – obviously he had a lane there. He came up and clipped the front of the car,” Hunter-Reay commented. “It was just pack racing; it was crazy up there. I didn’t have anywhere to go – I’m just glad Ryan is okay. That was nasty out there. It was looking like a good finish for the DHL car today and we’ll look to do that at Milwaukee.”

Briscoe was driving the No. 5 entry for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, filling in the injured James Hinchcliffe. Hinchcliffe suffered a left thigh and pelvic injury during practice for the Indianapolis 500 last month. He is out of hospital, going through the recovery process.

“First thing was to call my wife and tell her that I’m okay. I think she’s more distraught than any of us. I’m just thankful that I’m okay,” Briscoe said. “Nobody made that happen intentionally – the racing was close all day and unfortunately, something bad happened and we all are okay. I wish it didn’t. Starting second on the restart and having a shot to win, this isn’t the way we wanted to go out. it would’ve been nice to bring a strong result home.”

Despite the turn of events late in the race, Briscoe did have a sense of humor about it, checking out the scene of the wreck later that evening.

With his seventh top-five finish of the season in the 11 races thus far in 2015, Juan Pablo Montoya was able to stretch his points lead out some more ahead of Team Penske teammate Will Power. With only a couple months remaining of the season, Montoya now leads Power by 46 points.

Starting in the fifth spot, Montoya kept himself in the top-10 throughout the whole race, positioning himself for a solid points finish. While others dove for holes and raced aggressively for the lead, he admitted to USA Today that he gave up three or four positions on about 10-15 different occasions during the race, not wanting to get in the mix.

The strategy paid off as fellow championship contenders Helio Castroneves and Will Power fell out of the race, while Montoya was able to cross the finish line in the fourth spot. As a result, he has only finished outside of the top-10 in one race thus far this season with a 14th place finish at Barber Motorsports Park.

While the Columbian posted a strong finish, he wasn’t in the best of spirits post-race, upset with the pack style racing that the race featured.

“Honestly, I felt it was a little too stupid,” he stated. “When I saw Indycar yesterday, I told them that we shouldn’t be racing like this and sooner or later, someone is going to get hurt. But we had a good car and I did what I could do out there.”

After posting a one-two finish in the Honda Indy Toronto, CFH Racing was hoping to carry the momentum through the MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway, posting a strong finish for both of their cars. However, that wouldn’t be the case as a crash at lap 158 took both cars out of contention.

While running in the midst of the pack, Ed Carpenter would get loose and start sliding up the track, hitting his teammate Josef Newgarden and taking him up into the outside barrier with him. Both drivers were uninjured in the incident.

“I got into three with a pack of cars and didn’t really want to get in the second lane but got shoved down there,” Carpenter said. “There are just guys racing like crazy on these restarts. I would’ve left more room there if I knew someone was coming. It’s pretty unfortunately. Not much worse than getting in the a crash and taking out of my teammate.”

“It’s racing,” Newgarden added. “The only reason we got together was because we were next to each other at that moment. I could’ve lifted, too, but I had a full head of steam and didn’t want to get out of it.”

It marks a continuing trend of struggles on the ovals this year for the organization. Engine issues took the pair out of contention at Texas Motor Speedway earlier this month. Then last month in May, both drivers were involved wrecks before the Indianapolis 500 that saw their cars leave the ground. The biggest race of the season didn’t go much better as Newgarden finished ninth while a wreck took Carpenter out of the Indianapolis 500.

Carpenter stated after the event at Texas that their performance is an “embarassment” and they need to sort out the issues that they’re having, moving forward. With another two ovals over the next three weeks, that is even more apparent now after the troubles on Saturday.