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  • Newgarden claims victory at St. Pete, Dixon gathers Sixth IndyCar Championship

    Newgarden claims victory at St. Pete, Dixon gathers Sixth IndyCar Championship

    Josef Newgarden would claim victory for Team Penske to conclude the 2020 IndyCar season. Scott Dixon finished on the podium with a third-place run to claim his sixth IndyCar championship.

    “Happy to get a win out here,” Newgarden stated. “So proud of my team, they were on it all year. I don’t think I would change one thing that we did and they were perfect all season in my eyes. Just short, but a decent way to go into the off season with another victory and to hold our head up high.”

    Will Power and Alexander Rossi would lead the front row to the green flag. Power would pull a second gap over Rossi as the field tackled the Floridan street course.

    Laps later Rossi took the lead over Power as the No. 12 would struggle with downshifting. Colton Herta would later run down the Penske car as the No. 88 would pass Power on the outside into Turn One. James Hinchcliffe would follow in tow and also take a spot away from Power.

    Scott McLaughlin and Felix Rosenqvist would be one of the first drivers to pit early on. Rinus Veekay would also come in laps later. Not many would pit early on, but would keep their cars out on the track.

    As the drivers hit the Lap 30 mark, Dixon would bring his car down pit road. A great number of the drivers would pit laps later to ignite the pit cycle.

    Rosenqvist suffered a puncture on Lap 33 after contact with Santino Ferrucci. For Newgarden, he would be able to eke out Power as the cycle of stops concluded. As a result, he would be upwards in the fifth position, while Dixon would remain in 11th.

    Power’s issues would continue to grow as he would bring out the yellow on Lap 37. His car would go up into the marbles and hit the wall, sustaining massive left side damage to his No. 12, knocking him out of the running.

    Rossi would lead the field on the restart from Herta. Another yellow would shortly fly when Ferrucci’s No. 18 crashed into the Turn 2 wall. Conor Daly would experience some issues under yellow as his No. 20 would have a puncture on the left rear tire.

    On the restart, Rossi would have a good launch on Herta. The No. 88 would drop backward as Hinchcliffe would reel him in. At the back of the pack, calamity would strike as McLaughlin and Veekay would crash in Turn 1. The No. 3 would look underneath but spin out into the path of Veekay.

    Rossi would maintain his ground on the launch while Rosenqvist would try and get his lap back. Dixon would be stuck in a battle between Jack Harvey, Rahal, and Oliver Askew, with Dixon passing the three of them to get upward to the sixth position.

    Oliver Askew would get past Ryan Hunter-Reay for the ninth position. Hunter-Reay would continue to drop as he would fall outside the Top 10 at the end of Lap 54. Marco Andretti would begin to lurk forward as he would pass Rahal into Turn 1 to take seventh away shortly afterwards.

    Herta would overdrive the corner, losing two spots to Hinchcliffe and Newgarden.

    The No. 1 would come down pit road on Lap 66. Dixon would come in a lap later. Once again green flag pit stops would ignite.

    On Lap 70 Rossi would spin out of Turn 3, hitting the inside wall and bringing out the full course caution. Rossi’s crash reshuffled the order as many drivers would come down pit road.

    Herta would have the launch over Hinchcliffe with Alex Palou in third. Andretti and Sato would make contact, cutting the No. 98’s tire as he would crash into the barriers. A full course yellow would fly.

    Hinchcliffe would spin out under yellow in Turn 14 and hit Harvey’s car after attempting to merge back onto the racing surface.

    With 21 laps to go Herta would lead the field once again. However, Palou and Newgarden would pass the No. 88. Newgarden would muscle his way to the lead. Dixon would move his way up to third while Sebastien Bourdais and Simon Pagenaud would collide but with not much damage. Askew would hit the barriers after contact with Sato, bringing out another yellow.

    Newgarden would lead the way with 16 laps to go with Herta, Dixon, and Pato O’Ward rounding out the top spots. O’Ward would march up to second with a dive underneath Herta. On Lap 86 O’Ward would look for the lead into Turn 1 but to no avail. Herta would go wide and would drop outside the Top 10.

    With six laps to go Palou would hit pit road, Rosenqvist would also pit as they would have to top off on their fuel.

    Newgarden pulled the gap over O’Ward as he would win the finale at St. Petersburg. Dixon would finish in third and claim his sixth championship.

    “It feels really cool to finally celebrate something here,” Dixon said. “We have a lot of memories, some of them not so great. It’s nice to be in this situation to celebrate with loved ones. For me, it’s just the people that make this possible and this journey we’ve been on for so long now with this team. This is a great way to top it off this year.”

    Newgarden’s win marks the 17th win of his IndyCar career. Dixon’s championship run has made him just one championship short of tying the record set by A.J. Foyt’s seven.

  • Will Power breaks through at Mid-Ohio in Race 1

    Will Power breaks through at Mid-Ohio in Race 1

    Will Power and the No. 12 Team Penske finally secured their first track win at Mid-Ohio Saturday afternoon, in the first race of the doubleheader weekend.

    The Australian started on the pole and dominated the entire race, leading 66 laps and fending off his teammate Josef Newgarden for his first career win of the 2020 NTT IndyCar Series. A limited number of 6,000 fans were in attendance due to COVID restrictions.

    “It’s great. It’s been a pretty trying year,” Power said. “Obviously, for everyone it has. I mean, the circumstances are very tough with COVID-19 and all the social distancing that we have to do. But the fact that we’re out here racing and we have some fans is fantastic. We love to do it; we love to entertain, and we love to drive.

    “I’m so happy to have the Verizon No. 12 car in Victory Lane. And this is probably the first race, I reckon, in about 10 years that I have just gone hard. Every other race we save fuel and play a strategy game. Today I just said, ‘hey let’s just go hard, man. Screw this. We don’t want to get caught by a yellow. Let’s just run hard and use my raw pace and see what happens.’ And we won the race, so it was a great strategy.”

    In what seemed unlikely to happen, the Mid-Ohio 75 lap doubleheader was recently added to the 2020 schedule just a few days ago, when the Ohio state government cleared IndyCar to have two races on site.

    Leading up to the Honda Indy 200, Team Penske’s Will Power has not won a race through the first nine races aside from his two teammates Newgarden and Pagenaud.

    After setting a blistering lap of 1:06.334 in qualifying, Power set the pace early by leading Newgarden over two seconds. With Power and Newgarden battling for the lead, there was some action in mid-pack with Pagenaud and rookie Rinus VeeKay when Pagenaud spun after making slight contact with VeeKay. Then on Lap 8, four-time winner in 2020, Scott Dixon, made a thrilling move by splitting VeeKay and Andretti to take ninth in the running order. The New Zealander started 17th and was already in the top 10 by Lap 10. Meanwhile, on the same lap, Power had the lead by 2.3 seconds on Newgarden.

    Pit stops began as early as Lap 14 when Andretti was the first to pit. Newgarden pitted from second on Lap 20 with Power one lap later. Hoping to keep the lead during the cycle of stops, Power was able to come out in front of Newgarden exiting the pit lane. However, Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi used a different strategy by staying out longer and not pitting until Lap 26.

    Despite utilizing a different pit strategy, Power cycled into the lead and continued to lead his teammate Newgarden. Proving to have the best car on the racetrack, the Australian would stretch his lead over the next several laps without looking back. In fact, Power had the lead stretched to 6.2 seconds before making his final stop of the event. During those final stops, there was close action in the pits with Andretti Autosport teammates Rossi and Herta, as they nearly made contact with each other on pit road. The pit stop looked liked it could have been an unsafe release when Rossi exited the pit lane and Herta coming in shortly after. But no action was taken by IndyCar officials.

    As the race neared its end, and Power enjoying his lead of eight seconds, dark rain clouds started to loom in the background and posed a threat with rain four miles from the track.

    Nevertheless, the rain didn’t show up until after the checkered flag, which was perfect timing for Power who took the checkered flag for the first time at Mid-Ohio after 12 tries, with teammate Newgarden following in the second position.

     “It was a pretty straightforward day,” Newgarden said. “We kind of finished where we started, I was lucky to get by Ryan Hunter-Reay at the start. We missed the chaos. It would have been amazing if this rain would have come 10 minutes sooner. I don’t think I wanted this necessarily made a difference for us today, but it would have been fun to watch. Congrats to Will. He is still Will Power. He’s been knocked down a little bit and has had some tough times. So really happy for him.”

    Power led three times for 66 laps en route to his 36th career NTT IndyCar Series victory.

    There were no yellows thrown throughout the 75 lap event and four leaders among three different lead changes.

    Following the race, Simon Pagenaud was penalized twice. Once for avoidable contact with VeeKay on Lap 1, and the second penalty for a pit safety infraction which will be a post-race fine.

    Despite finishing 10th in Race No. 1, Dixon continues to lead the championship points standings by 76 points over second place Josef Newgarden.

    Official Results following Race No. 1 of the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course:

    1. Will Power, led 66 laps
    2. Josef Newgarden
    3. Alexander Rossi, led five laps
    4. Graham Rahal
    5. Ryan Hunter-Reay
    6. Felix Roseqnvist
    7. Jack Harvey
    8. Rinus VeeKay
    9. Colton Herta, led four laps
    10. Scott Dixon
    11. Pato O’Ward
    12. Alex Palou
    13. Conor Daly
    14. Santino Ferrucci
    15. Marcus Ericsson
    16. Max Chilton
    17. Takuma Sato
    18. Simon Pagenaud
    19. Oliver Askew
    20. Zach Veach, 1 lap down
    21. Charlie Kimball, 1 lap down
    22. Dalton Kellett, 1 lap down
    23. Marco Andretti, 1 lap down

    Up Next: The NTT IndyCar Series will complete their doubleheader weekend at Mid-Ohio with another 75 lap event on Sunday afternoon, scheduled for 1 p.m./ET live on regular NBC.

  • Felix Rosenqvist makes late-race pass for first career IndyCar win

    Felix Rosenqvist makes late-race pass for first career IndyCar win

    Felix Rosenqvist chased down rookie Pato O’ Ward in the remaining laps of the REV Group Grand Prix in Race No. 2 at Road America for his first career IndyCar win.

    Rosenqvist pitted with 13 laps to go to take black tires, while O’Ward pitted for red tires. With around five laps to go, O’ Ward started pushing harder trying to keep the Swedish driver in his rear-view mirror. By pushing hard and catching lap traffic, Rosenqvist erased a 5.5 seconds lead and passed O’ Ward for the win with two laps to go. It was all she wrote, as the Swedish driver held on for the victory in just his 21st start of the series.

    “It feels so good. It’s been a long time,” Rosenqvist said. “We’ve been close so many times. This race was for my 10 car crew, the NTT DATA crew. Also Honda. I’m really proud to be powered by NTT and Honda this year. It’s been really good. Every race just hasn’t had a lock, just hasn’t come together until now. Today we went all for it. Super pace, the car was fantastic. It’s four out of four for Ganassi, which is huge.”

    While Rosenqvist and O’ Ward were the talk of the game, when the laps started to wind down, race No. 2 of the doubleheader at Road America got off to a frantic start.

    A major pile-up occurred at the entry of Turn 1, which saw several drivers involved. When the wreck occurred, it looked as though Ryan Hunter-Reay just lost the car and slammed into the sand trap. However, after a replay was shown by NBC, Will Power in the No. 12 Team Penske machine, made contact with Hunter-Reay which sent him spinning. Power also made slight contact with Graham Rahal, who hit the wall hard after Hunter-Reay’s incident. Rahal crashed hard, but thankfully, he would be checked and released from the care center. Unfortunately, the Ohio native’s day was cut short and he was credited with a last-place finish.

    Due to causing the incident, Power was penalized for avoidable contact and sent to the back of the field. Conor Daly was also involved and awarded a penalty for avoidable contact as well. The day would go from bad to worse for the Dale Coyne driver as he was penalized again for working in a closed pit area. Daly would be served a drive-thru penalty. Santino Ferrucci received a penalty for avoidable contact too when he made contact with the No. 60 of Jack Harvey.

    After the early melee, two restarts occurred, but a full course caution flew on Lap 4 for Power as the No. 12 machine stopped on track when he hit a sign in Turn 13. The Australian brought the car down pit road for repairs after the contact and his Team Penske crew made a front wing change.

    Once the slow start was out of the way, O’Ward began to check out as the race leader by two seconds. The first round of green-flag pit stops took place on lap 11 when Josef Newgarden pitted for a scheduled stop. On Lap 15 during the pit stop cycle, O’Ward would pit from the lead and Rosenqvist stayed out an additional lap before he made his pit stop. At Lap 18, stops were completed and Power was the leader with O’Ward in second. With fresher tires, O’Ward made a clean pass on Power (when Power made a pit stop) and took the lead.

    Through the rest of the race, O’Ward and Rosenqvist would swap the lead with each other numerous times when both drivers made their pit stops. Though, Rosenqvist would try to stay out a lap later in hopes of gaining an advantage and coming out the leader once his stop was complete. On one of the initial stops, Rosenqvist faced problems when his Chip Ganassi Racing crew accidentally dropped the jack as the team was changing tires. Despite that issue, he kept a manageable pace 5.5 seconds back behind leader O’Ward.

    The Chip Ganassi driver began his late charge with eight laps to go. Rosenqvist cut O’Ward’s lead down little by little, lap after lap. With O’Ward the leader, he started to get into lap traffic, which eventually helped Rosenqvist cut the deficit. With five laps to go, Rosenqvist had the lead down to 3.2 seconds. O’Ward eventually used up his fresh Firestone tires and Rosenqvist was there with two to go. When the white flag flew, the Swedish driver had a one-second lead. Rosenqvist had a perfect last lap and got the checkered flag over O’Ward for the first time in his career. And with the victory, he gave Chip Ganassi Racing a weekend sweep, as teammate Scott Dixon won Saturday’s event.

    “It was a lot of hard-earned seconds there that we lost in the pit a couple of times,” Rosenqvist said about the miscue on his pit stop. “But we had so much pace. We kept closing in half a second every lap. And then when they said Pato (O’Ward) was on the used reds (Firestone alternate tires), you obviously get a lot of faith that he might drop off in the end, and that’s what happened. Just stay cool, and then we went for it, really. Used all my push-to-pass on one lap and got him. So, it was a really good fight with him there. Got a little squirrelly coming out of Turn 5 there, but good show and good fun. We came out of (stops) in clear air. Whenever this guy (strategiest Barry Wanser) gave us clear air, we were really fast. We showed that before. Amazing feeling.”

    By getting the victory, Chip Ganassi earned their 112th win as a team in the NTT IndyCar Series. Rosenqvist also became the first Swede driver to win in over 18 years, with Kenny Brack the last to do so at Mexico City in 2002.

    Rosenqvist led four times for eight laps en route to victory.

    There were two cautions for four laps and eight lead changes among nine leaders.

    In the penalty box, there were five penalties. Power, Daly, and Ferrucci were penalized for avoidable contact, and Daly penalized again for working in a closed pit. Dixon was penalized for a safety violation.

    Official Results

    1. Felix Rosenqvist, led eight laps
    2. Pato O’ Ward, led 43 laps
    3. Alexander Rossi
    4. Marcus Ericsson
    5. Colton Herta
    6. Santino Ferrucci
    7. Alex Palou
    8. Takuma Sato
    9. Josef Newgarden
    10. Charlie Kimball
    11. Will Power, led four laps
    12. Scott Dixon
    13. Simon Pagenaud
    14. Rinus VeeKay
    15. Max Chilton
    16. Zach Veach
    17. Jack Harvey
    18. Conor Daly
    19. Marco Andretti, 1 lap down
    20. Dalton Kellett, 1 lap down
    21. Oliver Askew, OUT, Off Course
    22. Ryan Hunter-Reay, OUT, Contact
    23. Graham Rahal, OUT, Contact

    Scott Dixon continues to lead the championship by 54 points over second place Colton Herta.

    Up Next: The NTT IndyCar Series heads to Iowa Speedway for another doubleheader scheduled to take place Friday and Saturday night July 17 and 18. Race No. 1 is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET live on NBCSN.

  • The NASCAR Xfinity Series prepares for historic weekend at Indianapolis

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series prepares for historic weekend at Indianapolis

    For over a century, Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been an epicenter of racing and has featured a festivity of crown-jewel races across different motorsports regions. From the United States Grand Prix in Formula One to the Indianapolis 500 in IndyCar and NASCAR’s Brickyard 400, the track presents the best of racing and entertainment for the fans, the competitors and the teams, especially those aiming to achieve and stamp their name as a winner at the historic racing venue and pressing their lips against the yard of bricks on the frontstretch with a victorious kiss. Now, for the 2020 Independence Day weekend, the 2.5-mile track in Indianapolis will feature a unique and historic schedule lineup to kick off its first racing events of this year.

    For the second time in the last three seasons, the NASCAR Xfinity Series will be introduced to a racing event on a track very familiar to its schedule, but with a twist. The twist comes in the form of racing at the venue on a layout that is both an oval and a road course. That will be the case on Saturday, July 4, when the Xfinity Series races on the famed racetrack’s infield road course and parts of its 2.5-mile speedway, including the frontstretch with the start/finish line and the yard of bricks, for its 13th event of the 2020 season known as the Pennzoil 150.

    The Xfinity oval-road course event at Indy features 14 turns, making it a 2.439-mile event, and will span 62 laps, 150 miles. Stage breaks for the race are scheduled on Lap 20, 40 and 62. While the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented NASCAR from allowing drivers and teams to run practice or qualifying sessions prior to a race, there will be two practice sessions on Friday, July 3, at Indy’s road course to prep the competitors and the teams in time for the main event on Saturday. Jeb Burton, driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports, will start on the pole based on a random draw for the series’ race with no fans in attendance throughout the weekend.

    Every competitor and team will receive a first-hand experience of the track’s layout for the first time during Friday’s practice sessions. In January, Matt DiBenedetto, driver of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Cup Series, took part in a one-day Xfinity testing session on Indy’s road course layout in Team Penske’s No. 22 Xfinity Series Ford Mustang, driven by Austin Cindric. Due to DiBenedetto’s test session, he will not be eligible to compete in this weekend’s series race.

    This weekend’s Xfinity race at Indy will also provide an opportunity for road course ringers like A.J. Allmendinger, Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric, and even hometown heroes like Briscoe and Justin Haley, to master their skills towards the historic track’s layout and stamp their names as the inaugural winner of NASCAR’s road course event at Indianapolis. For drivers like Cindric, Justin Allgaier, Ross Chastain and Michael Annett, this weekend comes with an opportunity for them to notch their first Xfinity Series win of the season and receive a free pass to the Playoff with the series reaching its midpoint of the regular season. For others like Myatt Snider, Brandon Brown and Jeremy Clements, this weekend comes with an opportunity to gain as many points and positions as possible, through aggressiveness or consistency, towards the battle for the top-12 cutline and towards the Playoffs. This weekend also features the return of Mike Wallace, a NASCAR veteran since 1990 who last competed in 2015, and the debut of Jade Buford, an IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and Rolex Grand-Am Sports Car competitor from Brentwood, Tennessee.

    The 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series has completed 12 races and has featured seven different winners, five of which are full-time series competitors and are guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs. With four wins, including last weekend at Pocono Raceway, Briscoe leads the regular-season series standings by three points over Noah Gragson and 33 over Chastain. Coming off his career-best fourth-place finish at Pocono, Snider holds sole possession of the 12th and final spot to the Playoffs by four points over Brown.

    The Xfinity Series has been racing at Indiana since 1982, but at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis through 2011. In 2012, the series made its debut at the 2.5-mile speedway as part of a doubleheader weekend with the NASCAR Cup Series, which has raced at the famed racetrack since 1994. From 2012 to 2019, five different drivers have won an Xfinity race at Indianapolis with Kyle Busch holding the most with four, including last season.

    While the experience of racing on an oval-road course layout at Indianapolis is new to NASCAR, it is not for the track along with other motorsports regions. Since 2014, the NTT IndyCar Series has raced at the track’s road course layout for the GMR Grand Prix, an event that runs two weeks prior to the Indianapolis 500 on the track’s 2.5-mile oval. From 2000 to 2007, Formula One raced at the Indianapolis road course for its annual United States Grand Prix, where names like Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Rubens Barrichello won. From 2008 to 2015, the track’s road course featured Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Motorcycle racing will return at the track for its MotorAmerica Championship of Indianapolis on October 9-11, 2020. The track’s road course has even held the Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational, a racing meet sanctioned by the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association. The Indy Lights, a development series sanctioned by IndyCar, was scheduled to race at Indy’s road course layout in early July, but the series’ season was cancelled and put in a hiatus until 2021.

    NASCAR, however, is no stranger in featuring an oval-road course venue to its schedule. Since 2018, Charlotte Motor Speedway utilized its infield road course configuration for a doubleheader weekend for the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series during the Playoffs. Known as the Charlotte Roval, the course measures 2.28 miles in length and features 17 turns between the infield course layout and multiple portions of the speedway’s oval-shape track. On March 4, 2020, Daytona International Speedway will host its annual Busch Clash race for the Cup Series on the speedway’s infield road course layout with parts of the speedway’s 2.5-mile high banks under the lights on February 9, 2021. NASCAR’s first oval-road course event at Daytona will mark the first of a six-day span of racing action leading up to the 2021 Daytona 500 on February 14. The layout has previously been used for the IMSA’s annual Rolex 24 at Daytona along with the annual Daytona 200 motorcycle race.

    The Xfinity Series will be part of motorsports’ history this weekend as this will mark the first IndyCar-NASCAR doubleheader at the same track on the exact date. With the Cup Series slated to run the Brickyard 400 on oval on Sunday, July 5, this weekend will be marked as a triple-header weekend between NASCAR and IndyCar. Prior to the Xfinity race on Saturday afternoon, the IndyCar Series will race its annual GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis road course layout on Saturday morning. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, IndyCar revised its schedule that included postponing the GMR Grand Prix from May to July 4, the exact date as the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ first oval-road course race on the track, and as the second race of the season for the series. Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud, the reigning Indianapolis 500 winner, and Will Power, the 2018 Indy 500 champion, remain the only two IndyCar competitors to win at the track’s road course layout in its six-year history. The IndyCar Series completed its first race of the season at Texas Motor Speedway on June 6, which was won by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon.

    The Fourth of July doubleheader will not mark the only IndyCar race at Indianapolis. With the revised schedule, the series will race for the third time at Indianapolis, second on the track’s road course known as the IndyCar Harvest GP, on October 3. The 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 on the track’s oval-shaped layout, which was initially scheduled to run on Memorial Day weekend, is scheduled to occur on August 23 with fans in attendance. Among the names who will attempt to make the starting grid for the race will be two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso, who will drive the No. 66 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet Dallara. The current and revised 2020 IndyCar Series schedule features 14 races across nine different tracks with seven races cancelled, among which includes the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama; the Grand Prix doubleheaders in Detroit, Michigan; the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas; the Streets of Long Beach, California; the Exhibition Place in Toronto, Canada; and the series’ anticipated return to Virginia’s Richmond Raceway.

    The upcoming NASCAR and IndyCar races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway serves as part of an eventful race weekend throughout Independence Day weekend. In other motorsports news, Formula One, which will celebrate its 70th anniversary of the first F1 season, will make its first anticipated start of the year at Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Styria, Austria, for the Austrian Grand Prix on July 5. It is the first of two races scheduled at Red Bull Ring with the F1 series to return the following weekend on July 12 for the Styrian Grand Prix. The start of the 2020 Formula One season was scheduled to commence in March, but was paused due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This Sunday will provide a first opportunity for the current F1 drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas for Mercedes, Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc for Ferrari, Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon for Red Bull Racing, Carlos Sainz Jr. for McLaren, Daniel Ricciardo for Renault, Kimi Räikkönen for Alfa Romeo Racing and Pierre Gasly for AlphaTauri along with Haas F1 competitors Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean to compete and make up for the loss time on the track. The current and revised 2020 F1 schedule features eight races across six countries with the rest of the schedule to be determined. Some countries like the United States of America, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, Russia and China have postponed their scheduled F1 races to unknown dates while others like Australia, Monaco, Singapore, France and Japan have cancelled their F1 races this year.

    In addition, the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season will resume on July 4 at Daytona International Speedway for the WeatherTech 240 spanning two hours and 40 minutes. It will mark the second SportsCar race of the season since the Rolex 24 at Daytona on January 25-26. There are 10 WeatherTech SportsCar races in 10 different tracks that are currently in schedule to occur through November 14 for the finale, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring at Florida’s Sebring International Raceway.

    The inaugural Pennzoil 150 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course for the NASCAR Xfinity Series will air on July 4 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC after IndyCar’s GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Road Course, which will air at noon ET on NBC. The NASCAR Cup Series’ Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will air on July 5 at 4 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Scott Dixon captures dominating win at Texas

    Scott Dixon captures dominating win at Texas

    When IndyCar was last on site at a racetrack, it was at the originally planned season opener in St. Petersburg back in March. Everything was going as planned until a few hours before practice started. Once more news came out about COVID-19, everyone in the world began shutting down, including major sporting leagues. IndyCar was sticking with their schedule before series officials called the entire race weekend and eventually parts of the season were either canceled or races were postponed.

    Fast forward to three months later, the NTT IndyCar Series drivers were back on-track for the season opener at Texas Motor Speedway, in what was a hot and steamy Saturday with temperatures well into the 90s.

    Hoping to continue his momentum and recent IndyCar dominance, Josef Newgarden qualified the No. 1 XPEL Chevrolet on the pole with a speed of 215.740 mph, while Scott Dixon was on the outside pole with a speed of 215.638 mph, just narrowly missing out on the pole position.

    Right up until the green flag, there was some pre-race drama. The No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing of Takuma Sato, crashed in the only practice session earlier in the day. Unfortunately, the team could not repair Sato’s car before the green flag flew. Due to the incident, the Japanese driver was credited with a last-place finish and was unable to start the race. Sato’s teammate, Graham Rahal, also faced issues with his car and spent a couple of laps in the infield when the event was underway. Rahal, however, got back on track but was eventually penalized for unapproved adjustments and for re-entry. Rahal was given a drive-through penalty after he returned to the track.

    The drama also continued with the Andretti Autosport team. Alexander Rossi in the No. 27 machine and teammate, Ryan Hunter-Reay in the No. 28 had problems of their own before the start. Though, despite not being able to start right away, both cars were able to get on the track before the green flag. However, Rossi and Hunter-Reay were also penalized for unapproved adjustments. Rossi was penalized again for speeding while serving his earlier penatly.

    Early on, Newgarden was the fastest car of the race and was keeping Dixon at a sizable pace. At Lap 11, Dixon made the pass for the lead and took the top spot from Newgarden. It was from that point on, where the Dixon domination began, but it wasn’t all that easy.

    Throughout the race, there 35 lap tire stints. Therefore, on Lap 35, it was mandatory for the drivers to come to pit road for a pit stop. Just a few laps before his pit stop, Newgarden had reported a vibration. In doing so, Newgarden pitted early in hopes of coming out ahead of Dixon on the track. After Dixon made his pit stop, he maintained the lead, but the first caution came out. Two rookies, Alex Palou and Rinus VeeKay were collected in a wreck off Turn 2. VeeKay’s car was way up in the marbles and came down in the middle of the backstretch. That is where Palou got involved, as VeeKay’s car would clip the No. 55 Dale Coyne Honda. While it was a heartbreaker for both of the rookies, the good news is, they were both checked and released from the accident.

    As the early caution flew, that still didn’t stop Dixon as the leader. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver would continue to extend his lead. In fact, Dixon had increased his lead over Newgarden by 4.5 seconds on Lap 70. Seven laps later, another caution flew for debris on the track. The leaders all came down pit road to make a pit stop. During the pit stop sequence, Team Penske driver Will Power stalled but eventually, Power’s car was restarted and he got back going.

    From Lap 86 to near the end of the race, there was a long green flag run. Dixon’s car continued to be the class of the field but he did have some challenges. His Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Felix Rosenqvist, provided a challenge to Dixon. At one point, Rosenqvist was on the back bumper of Dixon, where he decreased the lead to 1.8 seconds. Another challenge for Dixon was maneuvering lap traffic. The lap traffic caused havoc for him, as the New Zealander had a tough time lapping the field with around 30 to go.

    When the final round of green-flag pit stops pursued, Rosenqvist had pitted with 15 to go. While Rosenqvist pitted, Dixon continued to stay out and wait for the right time to pit. Dixon finally did so with around 12 to go. Hoping not to make a mistake that could cost him the race, the No. 9 driver made a clean pit stop and now he could set sail. Unfortunately, like earlier where Dixon had trouble getting around lap traffic, his teammate Rosenqvist, was sent crashing into the wall after racing with a couple of lap down cars. Despite the strong effort, Rosenqvist finished 20th.

    A late-race restart was set up with three to go. Unlike NASCAR, there was some lap traffic separating Dixon and the leaders. This created an advantage for Dixon and he pulled away from the field. The checkered flag flew on lap 200 and Scott Dixon took home his fourth checkered flag at Texas, the 109th victory for Chip Ganassi Racing in IndyCar.

    “I can’t thank the team enough, everybody at PNC,” Dixon said. “It’s such strange times right now, and I just can’t thank the team. It was such a team effort. We had a couple of mistakes at the start and throughout the race, but we recovered. It was awesome. Honda, they were huge with the power out there. It was just so fast. Any situation we were in we could just go for it. Huge thanks to everybody involved. Bummed that the fans aren’t here. We wish everybody was here to celebrate.”

    With the victory, the win ties him with IndyCar legend, A.J. Foyt and he is now five wins away from Mario Andretti.

    Team Penske drivers, Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden rounded out the podium finishers.

    1. Scott Dixon
    2. Simon Pagenaud
    3. Josef Newgarden
    4. Zach Veach
    5. Ed Carpenter
    6. Conor Daly
    7. Colton Herta
    8. Ryan Hunter-Reay
    9. Oliver Askew
    10. Tony Kanaan
    11. Charlie Kimball, one lap down
    12. Pato O’Ward, one lap down
    13. Will Power, one lap down
    14. Marco Andretti, one lap down
    15. Alexander Rossi, one lap down
    16. Jack Harvey, one lap down
    17. Graham Rahal, two laps down
    18. James Hinchcliffe, two laps down
    19. Marcus Ericsson, four laps down
    20. Felix Rosenqvist, OUT, Crash
    21. Santino Ferrucci, OUT, Mechanical
    22. Rinus VeeKay, OUT, Crash
    23. Alex Palou, OUT, Crash
    24. Takuma Sato, OUT, Did Not Start

    Up Next: The NTT IndyCar Series will have a few weeks off again, before visiting the famed Indianapolis on Saturday July 4 for the Indianapolis Grand Prix, scheduled for 12:15 p.m./ET live on NBC.

  • Interview – First Seasons: Tony Stewart

    Interview – First Seasons: Tony Stewart

    In this week’s interview highlighting driver’s first seasons, we caught up with NASCAR Hall of Famer, Tony Stewart. The Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner and former IndyCar Champion discussed his early IndyCar days that occurred in the 1996 – 1997 seasons.

    You entered the IndyCar Series in 1996-97 at the age of 25 for your first full season. What was it like entering the series when it was still young and getting the opportunity to drive for John Menard? Was it a dream come true for you?”

    TS: “Yeah, absolutely,” Stewart said. “I didn’t really know much about John (Menard) at the time. However, on January 2nd of 1996, I got home from Australia and had been racing over there during the winter. I went to bed at 4 in the afternoon because of the time change but got woken up by a phone call a couple of hours later and Terry Dolan (former Chevrolet Director, Motorsports Marketing and Activation) told me I needed to get on the first flight I could to go to Orlando the next morning.”

    “I said, ‘Terry, I just got home from Australia’ and he says, ‘I know but we’re going to go down and test an IndyCar for Team Menard Racing.’ I said, ‘you’ve got to be kidding me.’ So, I dumped out the dirty clothes, piled up a few clean clothes I had left and went down for the test session for three days.”

    “There was interest before I went to Australia because I had talked to A.J. Foyt and had done a test with him at Phoenix. But, I’d been working with the Laniers’ on the NASCAR side. They were fine with letting me run both (NASCAR and IndyCar), but Foyt wasn’t. I had to turn away the opportunity of working with my hero. To get to go down there (Orlando) and test was really cool.”

    Do you recall meeting John? If so, when did it happen?

    TS: “I didn’t even get to meet John (Menard, Team Owner) until the day of the race,” he said. “John wasn’t at the test, because he was running his business. I had met part of the team down there (during the test). To go down there for the race, I was totally a duck out of water and had never done anything except for the IndyCar stuff. I had no idea what the procedures were, so I had no clue what was going on. It was extremely overwhelming that whole weekend, you know, just meeting John, the team. We were really just a two-car operation and I was the third car. The guy who called the race for me was the parts manager. At the same time, it was a fun weekend. It was new for everybody and it was the first IRL (Indy Racing League) race for everyone.”

    Disney was a strong run for you by finishing second right out of the gate. Is there anything you recall about that first race?

    TS: “What I remember about it was practice seemed pretty sanitary,” Stewart said. “When you ran around there, it was kind of like testing for the most part. It was definitely warmer when we went back for the race. During the race, it didn’t take long to realize everyone was extremely loose. Looking back, I had a tough time getting off Turn 1 there because I was loose, and the pace had slowed down so much that when you were off the gas, and when that turbocharger kicked in, you had too much horsepower than what you were asking for. It was easy to shake the back of the car and I just remember how many times that happened. When you did that, it caught my attention during the race.”

    “It was so bad that my teammate (Scott Brayton), that he just parked it. He told me, I could not drive it anymore when I talked to him after the race. But as far as driving in the race, Turns 2 and 3 were pretty sane. However, the exit of Turn 1 was the slowest corner on entry. I remember that I just had a lack of knowledge about those cars and I think had I kept the turbo at a pace, it would have helped tremendously.”

    A few weeks later, you made your first start at the Indianapolis 500. What did it mean to you to make your first start with you being from the state?

    TS: “It was like being in heaven,” Stewart said. “Not because of the talk around us, but we did quite a bit of testing before we got to the Month of May. I remember the first day we tested, there were snow flurries and I questioned if it was safe to be out here. And the officials said, yeah, as long as it’s not getting the track wet.”

    “But, I remember we tried breaking rookie orientation in the least amount of laps, I still think we ended up doing that. During orientation, we ran a 237 mph average lap in practice, which was way over the track record at the time. Pretty much from that moment on, the media was following us for the entire month because of that.”

    Kind of take us through what it was like being in the garage area, on the grid, and the pace laps before the green flag. Was that overwhelming for you at all?

    TS: “The amount of people on race day for sure (overwhelmed me), because I had never been there,” he said. “On race morning, there were a lot of people. I pretty much stayed around Larry (Curry, crew chief) the whole time and followed his lead on stuff we had to do, you know, as far as mandatory things go. He was pretty calm about everything and that really helped me. It’s kind of funny because you would get caught up being a racecar driver, but also get caught up in the moment of being a race fan at the same time. It seemed as though the time leading up to the green flag took forever. I got to the point where I was thinking, ‘Can we please get in the car? I am losing my mind.’ By the time I got in the car, I was over ready.”

    You finished 24th in that race after starting on the front row and leading 44 laps and ultimately had an engine problem taking you out of the race. Was that a heartbreaker for you since that was your first Indy 500?

    TS: “Oh definitely,” Stewart said. “We realized early on that if it just stayed together, we were going to win this thing. At one point, I was told to have the boost turned all the way down and then we still weren’t satisfied with the pace. When I did that, I was actually going into Turn 1 and Turn 3. It got so bad that my lap times started to become inconsistent. The car was so easy to drive that we had so much speed left. All we had to do was finish. There’s not one percent of me that thinks that it wasn’t our race to win. It was our day, all we had to do was to keep it running.”

    Going into 1997, you got your first win at Pikes Peak and completely dominated the race, leading 192 laps. Does winning at Pikes Peak still mean a lot to you to this day? Do you ever go back and watch that specific race?

    TS: “You know, I haven’t watched,” he said regarding the race. “Maybe, I have caught clips of it at some point. I just remember leading the majority of the laps and the laps we didn’t lead were during the pit stop sequence. I honestly don’t remember a ton about it, but I wish I could. Aside from that, it was an awesome day. To say I won in an IndyCar was a huge accomplishment to me. My family was also there, which was very unusual. We actually drove up to Pikes Peak the next day.”

    At what point during the ‘97 season, did you and your team realize that you might have a shot at winning this championship? 

    TS: “It was probably with two races to go,” Stewart said. “We kind of realized that earlier in the year, but we were in the stages of a new car, new engine package. We would still occasionally have motor problems and trying to navigate around that. We didn’t really focus on points. We just took each event one at a time and focused from there.”

    You won the IndyCar title by six points that year. What did winning the title mean to you, despite the points battle being so close? I am also sure the post-race celebration was memorable.

    TS: “I wish I could remember it,” Stewart said jokingly. “It seemed as though I liked the Vegas track. For some reason, we got out of balance with the car and the car got tight during the race. I remember hitting the wall off (Turn) 2. Those cars are extremely fragile. To bump the wall like that is way different than a Cup car. So during the rest of the race, I questioned if anything was going to break on me. We kind of limped along there and had enough points to win it.”

    During that time, there was the CART/Indy split. Were there ever any offers that you received from the CART side to compete over there? 

    TS: “I did get an offer,” he said. I got an offer from Team Green Racing at the end of the ’96 season. Barry Green called me and offered me a full-time ride. It was kind of weird at the same time because I had only run eight races in NASCAR and only ran five IndyCar races. Literally, in two days, I got a call from Rick Hendrick to drive the No. 25 Cup car. I had never driven a full suspension car that I had to shift on a road course. During those eight NASCAR races I drove in, I just didn’t have very good luck. I felt like I wasn’t ready to make that next step. I thought it was a great opportunity and was flattered to get the call from Barry about the IndyCar deal. I just didn’t have the confidence to drive on a road course and also wasn’t ready to go on the Cup level.”

    When you look back on your IndyCar days, what are some of your fondest memories? 

    TS: “I think the team more than anything,” Stewart said. “I really enjoyed the guys at Menard. John and I weren’t super close, because he worked on the car for Robby (Gordon). I enjoyed the opportunity. I remember John taking me up to Wisconsin and we went up to race on the ice, and I enjoyed that day up there. I thought back at the end of my IndyCar career of what Larry Curry and John did for me. To sit there and take a chance on somebody that had never driven an IndyCar was something else. John didn’t have to go out on a limb to take a chance since he had great equipment. I was real appreciative of that. I had a lot of fun with those guys.”

    Some drivers keep memorabilia while some don’t. Are you a collector of your own merchandise and if so, is there anything in your collection that reminds you of your rookie season in IndyCar?

    TS: “I still have most of my helmets,” he said. “I don’t have every one of them, but I have my rookie year helmet. I have both of the helmets from ’97 that I wore on the way to the championship. I also have the double duty helmets from 1999 and 2001. The helmets are a big thing to me that I want to keep.”

    It’s hard to believe that it has been 24 years since your first IndyCar start. What would a 48-year-old Tony Stewart tell a 25-year-old Tony Stewart if you had the chance to time travel? Is there anything you would do differently? 

    TS: “I would have done it the same way,” Stewart said. “I felt like I was with the right organization. If I knew I was going to have the ability to time travel and learn what the problems were with the motor, I think taking some knowledge back to help with the motor liability with that side of it. We had a lot of chances to win in the IRL. I know three (wins) doesn’t show it. If I could go back to fix the motors, especially in ’96 and ’98, those two Indy 500s, I felt like we had cars capable of winning the race for sure.”

    *Special thanks to Misha Geisert for setting up the interview and for Tony Stewart for taking time out of the day.

  • Spin and win for Formula 1 star Lando Norris in IndyCar i-Racing Challenge at Circuit of the Americas

    Spin and win for Formula 1 star Lando Norris in IndyCar i-Racing Challenge at Circuit of the Americas

    Formula 1 star Lando Norris received an invite this past week to compete in Round 5 of the IndyCar i-Racing Challenge at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Norris qualified on the pole with Arrow McLaren SP and dominated the early portions of the race before spinning on Lap 16 off the final turn. However, it took pit strategy and focus to get back to the front, where Norris eventually took the lead and race win in his first IndyCar try.

    “It was not easy for sure,” Norris said to NBCSN following his victory. “It was a tough race, especially Pato (O’ Ward) closing down with new tires at the end. I didn’t think I was going to get back to the lead and I was kind of gutted. But, I got the call from my race engineer to keep pushing, then Will (Power) spun. I don’t know what happened to Will. That was the key basically was Will spinning to get me back to P1.”

    As soon as the IndyCar Challenge began, it was all Norris for the early parts of the event. With a competition caution on Lap 12, many drivers, including Norris, pitted. Though Power did not pit and stayed out to assume the lead prior to the caution.

    After the restart, Power led Felix Rosenqvist and Rinus VeeKay who held the top three spots. Norris had restarted in the sixth position after his pit stop. Unfortunately, after Norris had been charging through the field, all that track position was lost on Lap 16, where he spun off Turn 20 which is the final turn at Circuit of the Americas. Power would ultimately do the same thing a couple of laps later after his pit stop and almost took out his teammate Scott McLaughlin in the process. Despite the spin, Norris was already back up to second on Lap 20.

    In what was a pit strategy type race, the final round of pit stops began to take place with around 10 to go and McLaughlin was the first to pit. As McLaughlin pitted, Arrow McLaren SP driver and Lando’s teammate, Pato O’ Ward, held the lead over Lando and Ericsson. Ultimately, Norris went in for his final pit stop with eight to go from second.

    After pitting, Norris beat McLaughlin to the track and would cycle out to the lead if everything went to Norris’ favor. As the laps wound down, there were a couple of close incidents, as Rosenqvist spun right in front of Norris with four to go. Eventually, Norris took the lead and the race win but had to hold off O’Ward in the process.

    Official Results following Circuit of the Americas

    1. Lando Norris
    2. Pato O’ Ward
    3. Felix Rosenqvist
    4. Scott McLaughlin
    5. Santino Ferrucci
    6. Will Power
    7. Rinus VeeKay
    8. Marcus Ericsson
    9. Alex Palou
    10. Josef Newgarden
    11. Scott Dixon
    12. Felipe Nasr
    13. Colton Herta
    14. Alexander Rossi
    15. Simon Pagenaud
    16. Jack Harvey
    17. Graham Rahal
    18. Dalton Kellett
    19. James Hinchcliffe
    20. Chaz Mostert
    21. Max Chilton
    22. Ed Carpenter
    23. Tony Kanaan
    24. Sebasitan Bourdais
    25. Spencer Pigot
    26. Zach Veach
    27. Kyle Kaiser
    28. Oliver Askew
    29. Robert Wickens
    30. Conor Daly
    31. Takuma Sato
    32. Ryan Hunter-Reay
    33. Sage Karam

    Up Next: The “Dream Track” and the final round of the IndyCar i-Racing Challenge will take place at the virtual Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 2 at 2:30 p.m. ET live on NBCSN. There will be an Indy 500 qualifying session taking place on Wednesday. Currently, full-time IndyCar teams, IndyCar Challenge winners, and Indy 500 winners will be automatically locked into the race, as the rest of the starting spots will be filled up.

  • Interview – First Seasons: Graham Rahal

    Interview – First Seasons: Graham Rahal

    In this week’s interview, Speedway Media catches up with NTT IndyCar Series and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver, Graham Rahal. During the interview, we talk about his first season in the IndyCar Series and what he remembers about being a rookie. We also discuss whether there is anything he would change after all these years, his recollection of his first Indy 500, and what his 31-year-old self would tell his 19-year-old self.

    SM: You entered the IndyCar Series in 2008 at the age of 19 after completing a year in CART. What it was like transitioning from CART to IndyCar? Were there any differences between the cars and did it take some time getting comfortable with the IndyCar style car?

    GR: “The cars are very different, as you can imagine,” Rahal said regarding the difference between a CART and IndyCar. “They’re a little more of a challenge. The hardest part was there are a lot of very good drivers. In fact, Sage Karam and I were talking about this the other night. We talked about how we were all young and came into this deal, you know? We think we’re going to go out there and crush it, life is going to be good and easy. But then you go, wait a second. This isn’t like Star Mazda or anything else.”

    “The point being is the competitive nature and that’s the hardest part of our sport. There’s a lot of very good guys.”

    SM: Can you just talk about what it was like entering the series as a rookie at such a young age? Were there any nerves entering this series?

    GR: I mean, we all have nerves,” we said. “I think we all have nerves and we all understand that it’s a tough sport. My hope was to always race in IndyCar and be in the sport, all that sort of thing. How quickly does that take shape? You never know. That type of thing is always a question mark. But for me, I had hoped my opportunity was going to come. Thanks to Newman-Haas, it did come. It came at a young age and there was a lot to learn.”

    “If I look back today in some ways, I could have been too young. You know what I mean? I really didn’t fully comprehend what I had gotten into. Even though I spent my whole life around it, there’s a lot of learning left to be done when you first personally step foot into the series. But in trade, I enjoyed every aspect. I’ve had my good years and bad years. Certainly, it’s all I ever wanted. It’s the only dream I ever had was to be in this sport. I feel like I’m one of the lucky ones to see that through.”

    SM: I am sure when you entered the IndyCar Series for the first time, there were probably some high expectations with being the son of Bobby Rahal. What do you remember about that and if there was any hype, or criticism from the garage from other drivers? Or, were they very supportive? Was there a specific driver you got along with and sought advice from?

    GR: “I don’t think there was any criticism about it,” Rahal said. “I think everyone was pretty nice to me. For me, a lot of the guys had respect for my dad. I mean, it wasn’t easy. You know, you had the rookie orientation you had to take part of. The first time you go out on an oval, Tony Kanaan is going to scare you. He’s going to do it on purpose and he does it to teach you a lesson. You have to accept that and learn that, and take it for what it is worth, move on.”

    “I don’t think anyone was extra hard on me or anything like that. We were all kind of in it together.”

    SM: In your first season you got off with a bang by winning in your first start at St. Petersburg after starting ninth and leading 19 laps. Winning that race, I am sure had to have felt good. Describe what that race was like for you all these years later.

    GR:  “It means a lot,” he said. “I think it means the world to get that first win off your back. I kind of came up short for many years after that. In the midst of all that, I don’t think I would have changed anything. Why is that? We all learn at a different pace. My win kind of came quick, but then you need to reset. Take a step back and learn. You know, understand the value of what you’re doing, the importance of what you’re doing. How much it means and how hard you have to work for it.”

    “A lot of times when you come in, you win a race or a few races, you ultimately grasp what you’re doing. So yes, from my perspective, I was fortunate enough that it worked out. Obviously, I would have liked to not go eight years without a win, but at the end of the day everything happens for a reason.”  

    SM: After that race, you had some okay runs throughout your rookie season leading up to the Indianapolis 500. When the Indy 500 came, it was your first as a driver. What was it like in the weeks leading up to your first 500?

    GR: “Oh, I mean it’s huge,” Rahal said regarding the Indy 500. “It’s a crazy world to be in that position. I think the Indy 500 has always stood on its own, it stood out from the rest. I always enjoyed that aspect of having the honor to go race there. I was lucky enough to get that opportunity at a young age.”

    “The one thing I can say about Indianapolis is, I never took that one for granted. Going to Indy was always an eye opening experience and it will be forever. You know, right now and meet it, it’s like wow. We’re here.”

    SM: How did you prepare for the 500 in your first year?

    GR: “I’m one of the guys that likes to go back and watch old races,” he continued regarding the 500. “You learn to figure out what I could do better and differently. So, I am one of those guys that likes to take a step back and soak it all in and understand what it is all about.”

    SM: Looking back, it wasn’t the results you wanted after crashing out and being credited with a last place finish. Is there anything you would have done differently in the race to have a better finish?

    GR: “In my first year, we actually had an issue where the right front shock failed,” Rahal said. “I was lucky the way it happened on how it did. It could have been a lot worse. In my second year in 2009, it was a major screw up. In 2009, we had a really good chance of winning that race. That’s the race that opened my eyes up. You know, what am I doing, why did I screw up so badly?”

    “And the reason was, I was racing with Helio (Castroneves) a lot that day. I had tons of opportunities to pass Helio. I thought I was being patient and wise. On that specific day, our car was better than his. We were faster. I had a lot of opportunities to pass him and I didn’t. I crash out and who wins the race? Helio. I’ll never forget. I sat there after that race, like are you kidding me? How did that just happen? How did I let that opportunity go? It was a real lesson for me to understand how that race can change so quickly. I took that to heart and as I go forward, I think about that often.”

    SM: How long did it take to get over that race?

    GM: “Oh, it took a long time,” he added. “I could bounce right out of Indianapolis and go to Detroit, and take a lot of my frustration, anger out. Detroit was always a good opportunity at redemption.”

    SM: In every driver that I have talked to, they kind of wish they had another shot at a specific race or just another shot at a better finish, or erase a mistake. For you, is there any race that sticks in your mind about your 2008 season, where you wish you had another do over/chance?

    GR: “There has been plenty,” Rahal said. “I can’t really name one. I messed up on millions and you know, that’s the truth. I think everyone makes their mistakes and unfortunately for me, I made my mistake a few times.”

    “Probably if I look back, Milwaukee in ’08 was a good opportunity. We sat on the front row and we were very strong in the race, and I crashed. That’s when it started to hit me. Like, man you’re fast, but out of control. So that was a bad one. Richmond also comes to mind. I started on the front row and crashed. Those are hard, short ovals. Those two taught me really good lessons.”

    SM: It’s been several years since your rookie season in IndyCar. Do you have anything you look back on fondly or is it just all a blur to you?

    GR: “Well, there’s a lot of blur, but yes I have some memories,” he said. “I have always really enjoyed what I have done.”

    “When I look back at the initial years and the races that meant most to me, like Indianapolis was always extremely special. Because in that time, era, it is so weird for me to talk about it today. Indianapolis was about three-weeks long. You didn’t run every Monday and Tuesday. We practiced Thursday and Friday. So instead, Monday and Tuesday were all activities. Like for example, a drivers golf tournament. A charity golf tournament and another charity event, or a fashion show.”

    “All these things weren’t crammed into a week, where you can’t absorb any of it. So in that time, it was kind of a lot more fun because it was a lot longer to be able to take it all in. Nowadays, it’s a little harder to enjoy the Month of May because there is no time.”

    SM: An additional follow up to that. Some racers keep their memorabilia and some don’t. Do you have a specific piece in your collection that reminds of your rookie season?

    GR: “I don’t, but I have one of my first helmets back home,” Rahal said. “My first Indy 500 helmet. So often, I think about that. When I see it, I think it through and all that kind of stuff. Typically not a lot, but I’m not somebody who dwells on that stuff or thinks back about that stuff, if that makes sense? I kind of focus on the here and now. You know, what do I need to do today to be better?”

    SM: It seems hard to believe that your rookie season was 12 years ago. However, what would a 31-year-old Graham Rahal tell the 19-year-old Graham Rahal if you had the chance to time travel?

    GR: “Oh man, a lot,” he said. “I think patience is a virtue, you know that old saying? Also, take advantage of every opportunity that you get. Live it to the fullest. I tell this all the time to all the young guys. Taking an opportunity doesn’t mean you have to go out there and be the fastest guy. Opportunity means don’t make mistakes. That’s a huge deal. For me, that’s all I really think about and focus on nowadays. Each and every race weekend, make the most of it.”

  • Upcoming IndyCar developments show promise for 2020 season

    Upcoming IndyCar developments show promise for 2020 season

    One would think with the end of the season on September 22, IndyCar would go into hibernation until the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in March, but the news flow had other plans.

    Fan favorites James Hinchcliffe and Sébastien Bourdais no longer have rides in the IndyCar series at this time. However one thing bigger than most, Roger Penske bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the IndyCar Series, and IMS Productions. This is the biggest news for the series since the merger in 2008.

    For anyone who doesn’t know, Penske has more than just racing teams; he has car dealerships, Truck rentals, and has been successful in almost everything he has tried. Now he owns the series and has been given wholehearted approval among the owners in the series.

    What lies ahead for the future of the series? Penske has indicated that he wants to get a list of top-10 priorities together to see what needs to be done to help all the properties he has just purchased. We’ll see what those are before too long, but this is the best shot in the arm the series has has for a long time. With all due respect to the Hulmans, the previous owners of IMS and IndyCar, Penske has the capital and connections to make the improvements needed to these properties.

    While we wait to see what Penske does to his newest acquisitions, we’re also waiting to see Hinchcliffe is going to do. The writing was on the wall for his time at the now named Arrow-McLaren-Schmidt-Peterson Racing once they went to Chevy and apparently for Hinchcliffe’s appearance in the ESPN body issue. He had funding from Honda Canada and has a few personal sponsors, but it appears at this time they’re not enough for a full season, otherwise another Honda team would probably pick him up. He’d need at least six-to-eight million dollars to help fund a prospective team.

    The most recent news is that Bourdais will no longer have his ride at Dale Coyne Racing. Unlike Hinchcliffe, whose future is very much in flux, Bourdais does have plans for next year as he will be driving in IMSA in the Cadillac for the JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing team. This doesn’t preclude any possible part-time racing in IndyCar or other sportscar racing. With Peugeot returning to prototype racing in the next year, could he return for overall victory at Le Mans?

    Even with two popular drivers not having full-time rides, the IndyCar Series has a lot optimism going into next year and beyond. When the season kicks off on March 15, maybe we’ll have a clearer idea of what the season will entail.

  • Dixon and Pagenaud come up short in championship

    Dixon and Pagenaud come up short in championship

    Not too far off from Josef Newgarden were championship hopefuls, Scott Dixon and Simon Pagenaud. Pagenaud came into the final race of the season, third in the standings just 42 points back looking for the second championship of his career. It would be his first since 2016 and all Pagenaud needed to do was beat the other three, and win the race.

    For Scott Dixon to further elevate his legacy, he needed to win the race as well. Dixon was the longshot 85 points back, looking to go back-to-back in his career. Should Dixon have won, it would have been the sixth title of his legendary IndyCar career.

    Dixon had a really good starting spot of second heading into the season finale on Sunday. In what was a longshot, he would hope for Newgarden, Alexander Rossi and Pagenaud to fail early to see him winning the race. However, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver spent most of the event behind the back bumper of race leader Colton Herta.

    He never got to lead a lap, but realistically was still eligible to win the title if everything worked in his favor. But, Dixon’s title chances came to an end on Kap 51, as Ed Jones retired from the race due to a mechanical problem. With Jones out of the race, so was Dixon’s title chances as he was eliminated from title contention due to being too far back and all the bonus points being taken up by Herta.

    Still, despite the news, Dixon knew he only had one thing to do to cap the season off and that was to win. Having to fend off title challenger Pagenaud started to make it difficult for him to catch the race leaders. In the end, Dixon finished third and fourth in the championship, -63 back.

    “It was frustrating, we had a lot of drag in the middle and the end of each stint,” Dixon explained to IndyCar Radio. “We were tight there at the end, definitely put a lot of pressure on Simon (Pagenaud) there and we came close a few times. That’s hard racing. The manufacture points for Honda at the end there was pretty tight. So we had to make sure we stayed in front. It’s always nice to race for a podium and it’s fantastic to race with Simon, he’s a great driver. He definitely had a very fast car today.”

    Despite being the longshot, Dixon will end the 2019 season with two wins, 10 podiums and 214 laps led.

    For Simon Pagenaud, he was chasing down Dixon late in the going as it appeared Pagenaud had finally found something that made his car work. There was one close moment in the race, where him and Alexander Rossi barely made contact with each other, which made IndyCar officials take the incident under review.

    With the close call, the officials determined no action and the drivers kept on jockeying for position. Pagenaud’s car started to rally late and caught Dixon. He was trying all he could to pass him, realizing he still might have a shot to win the title. However, Dixon kept Pagenaud behind him and the laps ran out of time, as Pagenaud finished fourth in the race, second in the championship -25 behind his teammate and champion Josef Newgarden.

    “First of all it was an amazing race, very happy we could give a show to the fans, you guys came en mass,” Pagenaud said to IndyCar Radio. “I want to thank you, we all want to thank you for being here for supporting us as a sport. Just an amazing year for Team Penske. I get the (Indy) 500 and Josef (Newgarden) gets the championship, it’s pretty much a perfect picture for us.”

    “I gave it everything I had. The car was amazing and fantastic. I tried to give everything I had to the DXC Technology car. It was tough to pass (Scott) Dixon for sure. We had a great battle, but not enough in the end. Nonetheless, 2019 has probably been my best racing season so far.”

    Simon Pagenaud will end the season three wins including winning the Indy 500, four podiums and three pole position, along with 268 laps led.