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  • Will Power wins rain-shortened race at Pocono

    Will Power wins rain-shortened race at Pocono

    After pitting from the lead on Lap 112, Will Power was able to come out ahead of Scott Dixon on the track after the pit stops. Power held on until Lap 128 when the race was red-flagged due to weather conditions including lightning in the area. With threatening skies and lightning around the track, NTT IndyCar officials declared the race official and Power as the winner of the ABC Supply 500.

    “If this cloud cover comes over and it doesn’t rain, it’s just not my year,” Power jokingly told NBC Sports. “I’m over the moon, had a few issues during the race and kept coming back. Full credit to the team, great car, kind of hung there and saved fuel, when it was time to go, I went. I was so determined, I really wanted to win. It’ll be my 13th year in a row winning races, I wasn’t thinking about that. I just simply wanted to win a race for Verizon.”

    “These guys worked their asses off all year and then, I just hadn’t had the results.”

    The ABC Supply 500 got off to a wild start. There was a big wreck in the tunnel turn as Takuma Sato’s car came down on Ryan Hunter-Reay. Alexander Rossi, James Hinchcliffe and Felix Rosenqvist were all involved. Rosenqvist’s car violently went up toward the catch fence while Sato went upside down.

    Miraculously, all drivers would be okay but were handed some additional penalties. Rossi, Hinchcliffe and Hunter-Reay each received a 10-lap penalty after working on their cars during the red flag, which is not allowed in IndyCar.

    “Takuma (Sato) just turned down on two cars and I was in it,” Rossi told IndyCar Radio. “I don’t know what the point of that was, what he was trying to accomplish. That’s what happened last year, I don’t know why people are making decisions like that. I didn’t get a good start, so it’s on me, I put us in that position. It’s just one of those instances, shouldn’t have been put in that situation, sucks that I did.”

    Sato gave his side of the incident.

    “Exit Turn 1, Ryan (Hunter-Reay) and I were racing together and the wheels, so Alex (Rossi) probably got something too. We overtook right and left, and there was one little issue. Once it caught them, it jumped on the car and were very crossed together, I kept on steering the wheel straight, but unfortunately, we tangled together.”

    Rosenqvist was later sent to a local trauma center for precautionary measures. Later in the broadcast, NBCSN reported that he was medically cleared after the incident.

    After a 45 minute red flag, the race resumed after repairs were completed in the Tunnel Turn. The next caution was not until Lap 40 in Turn 1 as Spencer Pigot was involved in an accident. The next caution occurred on Lap 74 for Colton Herta, as he was wrecked off the Tunnel Turn as well. On Lap 88, Rossi returned to the track to collect points.

    With the race off to a slow start, it was off to the long green-flag run that normally happens at Pocono. Dixon and Santino Ferrucci were pulling away from the field and the battle was on for the top spot with Power behind them. On Lap 106, green flag pit stops began to take place with Graham Rahal pitting, as well as Ferrucci.

    Dixon pitted one lap later on Lap 107, coming out ahead of Ferrucci. However, Power pitted on Lap 108 and came out second. He eventually passed Dixon for the lead on Lap 115. The IndyCar drivers got to race for 13 more laps before lightning was seen within a seven-mile radius.

    The cars were brought down pit road in case there was any potential to go back green. That was not the case, however, due to a band of storms approaching. IndyCar officials declared the race official and Power scored his first win of the 2019 season.

    Knowing that he was out of the championship hunt at this point in the season, Power was able to focus on winning instead of points racing.

    “Yeah, I kind of just let it go,” Power said to NBCSN regarding the championship. “It’s just not going to happen for me this year, just whatever. Still do my homework, we definitely had the car today, great stops, strategy was right. I worked harder this year than any other year. I was very determined, it just didn’t work for me.”

    The rain-shortened win was Power’s first victory of the season. It was also the 13th consecutive year that the Team Penske driver has scored a win each season, dating back to his first start in 2008.

    Power led once for 31 laps to earn his 34th career win, his third win at Pocono.

    There were four cautions for 23 laps, with 12 lead changes among four leaders.

    In the penalty summary, Takuma Sato was awarded a post-race penalty for avoidable contact. James Hinchcliffe, Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay received a 10-lap penalty for working on their cars during the red flag and Colton Herta also received a post-race fine for a pit safety infraction.

    Josef Newgarden continues to lead the points standings over Alexander Rossi by 35 points with three races remaining.

    Official Results

    1. Will Power, led 31 laps
    2. Scott Dixon, led 32 laps
    3. Simon Pagenaud, led 64 laps
    4. Santino Ferrucci
    5. Josef Newgarden, led one lap
    6. Ed Carpenter
    7. Sebastien Bourdais
    8. Tony Kanaan
    9. Graham Rahal
    10. Charlie Kimball
    11. Conor Daly
    12. Marcus Ericsson
    13. Zach Veach, One lap down
    14. Matheus Leist, One lap down
    15. Marco Andretti, Two laps down
    16. Colton Herta, OUT, Crash
    17. Spencer Pigot, OUT, Crash
    18. Alexander Rossi, 89 laps down
    19. Ryan Hunter-Reay, OUT
    20. James Hinchclifee, OUT
    21. Takuma Sato, OUT
    22. Felix Rosenqvist, OUT

    Up Next: The NTT IndyCar Series heads back to the Midwest on Saturday night August 24 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

  • NTT IndyCar Series Preview 2019- Pocono

    NTT IndyCar Series Preview 2019- Pocono

    The NTT IndyCar Series returns to the track this weekend after some time off since their Mid-Ohio race, a few weeks back. And with just four races remaining, the battle for the championship is heating up between Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi.

    Twenty-two drivers will make up the entry list and all 22 will make the field. Here are five potential drivers that might win Sunday’s ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway.

    1. Scott Dixon – This shouldn’t come as a surprise to most IndyCar fans. Dixon has been great at Pocono since the first race in 2013. In fact, he won the first race there that year. Since then, Dixon has yet to find victory lane but has finished inside the top-10 or five in those five starts. He came close to winning in 2017 when he led 51 laps; 2018 might have been his best chance when he finished third after starting 13th. While Dixon may be out of the championship hunt, fourth in the standings, -62 points behind, he can still spoil the party and add to his impressive IndyCar resume.

    2. Will Power – Power has made every Pocono start since the tracks first outing in 2013. However, it wasn’t until 2016 that he won his first Pocono race and then went on to win in 2017 for the second consecutive time. Power came close once again last year when he qualified on the pole and finished second after leading 16 laps. In all six starts, the Team Penske driver has been able to lead laps in every race. He led 15 laps in 2013, 69 laps in 2014, led two laps in 2015, led 55 laps when he won in 2016 and led 34 laps in 2017, for a total of 191 laps led and an average finish of 3.7.

    3. Josef Newgarden – The championship points leader is pretty impressive at Pocono. In six starts, Newgarden has five top-fives and six top-10 finishes with a best finish of second twice, in 2015 and 2017. The Tennessee native has 73 laps led with an average finish of 4.3. However, two things are eluding him. Newgarden has no poles or wins at the track. If he wants to extend his points lead on Sunday, he’ll have to have a good Saturday with qualification and starting on the pole.

    4. Alexander Rossi – Unlike Newgarden, Rossi has one win which came in last year’s race after starting third and dominating, leading all but 20 laps. The Napa driver has finishes of third in 2017 and 20th after wrecking out in 2016. Like Power, Rossi has been able to lead laps in every outing at Pocono despite his DNF in 2016. He has 228 laps led with an average finish of 8.0. Rossi will have to do the same as he did last year if he wants to close the points gap on Sunday.

    5. Simon Pagenaud – The Indy 500 champion has just one finish outside the top-10 that occurred in 2016 when he finished 18th and that was partly due to a crash that took Pagenaud out on Lap 157. Otherwise, Pagenaud has been decent at “The Tricky Triangle.” In his other five starts, the Team Penske driver has finishes of sixth twice in 2013 and 2014 and seventh in his first outing with Team Penske, leading 30 laps. In the last two races, Pagenaud finished eighth and fourth respectively. The No. 22 driver has an average finish of 8.2.

    The entry list is pretty much the same, other than Conor Daly returning to the field in the No. 59 for Carlin racing. it will be Daly’s first race back since Iowa where he finished 13th.

    Pocono Raceway has seen six races since their first race in 2013 under the IndyCar name with four different winners. Will Power is the only one to have won twice. Scott Dixon won in 2013, Juan Pablo Montoya won in 2014 and Rossi in 2018.

    The on-track action begins on Saturday morning with first practice at 9:30 a.m. live on NBC Sports Gold. NBCSN will then have qualifications at 12:30 p.m., lasting 75 minutes. The NTT IndyCar Series drivers will then have one more final practice session for the day at 4 p.m., also live on NBC Sports Gold.

    On Sunday, the drivers will take to the track for the seventh annual ABC Supply 500 with a green flag time of 2:45 p.m. live on NBCSN. The Drivers Start Your Engines command is slated for 2:39 p.m. The race will have 200 laps.

  • Pagenaud out-duels Rossi to win 103rd Indy 500

    Pagenaud out-duels Rossi to win 103rd Indy 500

    INDIANAPOLIS — All the talk about Simon Pagenaud entering the Month of May was his slow start to the season and that he’d be out of his ride at Team Penske if things didn’t turn around. After sweeping the Month of May, he’s now the points leader.

    On the final restart of the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 with 13 laps to go, Pagenaud pounced on race leader Alexander Rossi to take the lead heading into Turn 1. Rossi replied in kind the following lap, and Pagenaud took it and held it for the next seven laps. Coming to three to go, Rossi drafted and passed him on the front stretch to retake the lead. On the backstretch with two to go, Pagenaud followed suit, took it from Rossi for good, snaked his way down the backstretch on the final lap to break Rossi’s draft and score his fourth career victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

    “It’s been such an intense race. I believe we led the most laps of the race. The car was just on rails. The yellows came out perfectly. The stars are aligned. Man, wow, I’m seeing myself on TV with this. It’s pretty amazing. It’s a dream come true, a lifetime of trying to achieve this. So I’m just speechless. It’s just incredible.”

    It’s his 12th career NTT IndyCar Series victory in 127 career starts. He led a race high of 116 laps.

    2016 race winner Rossi finished runner-up and earned his 14th career podium in 56 career starts.

    In the end, the difference was “horsepower.”

    “That’s unfortunately the way it is,” he said. “(Pagenaud) did a great job. Obviously, he was on pole and led the most laps, but I think we had the superior car. We just didn’t have enough there at the end.”

    2017 race winner Takuma Sato, who was at one point a lap down, rounded out the podium (10th of his career).

    “My race, one stage it looked really tough,” Sato said. “We got some little issues after the first pit stop, so we had to come back, and then I think it got a lap down in 31st place.

    “But I think we had to do head down the job and recalculate. Our team did a great job to stretch the field and then get back to the pack. I think it took more than 100 laps. But I think it was brilliant, and after the restart, it was very exciting. Pato, P6, P5, P4 and finally got P3, and then I got everything I had. Obviously I have on board Alex, but we were just flying all over the place with the temperature, and it was a great battle. It is a little bit of a pity that we couldn’t challenge for the win, but we got third under some very difficult circumstances, I think.”

    Josef Newgarden and defending race winner Will Power rounded out the top five.

    Ed Carpenter, Santino Ferrucci, 2014 race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, 2013 race winner Tony Kanaan and Conor Daly rounded out the top 10.

    Race summary

    Simon Pagenaud led the field to green shortly before 1 p.m. Pagenaud led the first 32 laps before making his first stop of the day on Lap 33. Four different drivers took over the race lead before it cycled back to Pagenaud.

    This pattern of lead changes during green flag pit cycles continued until Lap 151, when Newgarden slingshot past Pagenaud entering Turn 3 to make the first on track pass for the lead of the race. He held serve until he pitted with 29 laps to go. During this pit cycle, a five-car wreck brought out the fourth caution of the race and set up the run to the finish.

    What else happened

    Colton Herta brought out the first caution of the race on Lap 6 when his car stalled on the access road in Turn 4.

    Kyle Kaiser brought out the second caution on Lap 73 when he got loose, overcorrected and hit the wall in Turn 4.

    Marcus Ericsson brought out the third caution on Lap 138 when he spun on entry and hit the inside pit wall.

    Who had a good day

    Santino Ferrucci earned his career best finish of seventh.

    Who had a bad day

    Scott Dixon, who entered the race second in points, was caught up in the five-car wreck with 22 laps to go and suffered front wing damage.

    Nuts and bolts

    The race lasted two hours, 50 minutes and 39 seconds, at an average speed of 175.794 mph. There were 29 lead changes among 10 different drivers and four cautions for 29 laps.

    Pagenaud leaves with a one point lead over Newgarden.

    IndyCar returns to action on Saturday on the streets of Belle Isle in Detroit, as part of the two-race weekend double-header Detroit Grand Prix.

  • Rossi comes up short in Indy 500 bid

    Rossi comes up short in Indy 500 bid

    INDIANAPOLIS — Alexander Rossi was asked what made the difference in the end that cost him in his duel with Simon Pagenaud in the closing laps of the 103rd Indianapolis 500.

    He said it was the horsepower differential between Chevrolet and Honda and the straight-line speed.

    “Obviously the 22 guys fully deserve it,” Rossi said. “They were on pole. He led probably 70 percent of the laps. Yeah, I mean, he was a deserving winner for sure.”

    The last caution particularly hurt him, as he was going to cycle out to the lead at the conclusion of the green flag pit cycle, having passed Pagenaud for said spot.

    “We were doing a lot better on fuel mileage than (Pagenaud) was, so that was the first kind of nail in the proverbial coffin.”

    On the final restart with 13 laps to go, Pagenaud pounced on him coming to the line and took the lead heading into Turn 1. He was able to match him for a few laps, and even took the lead with three laps to go. But with two to go, Pagenaud overtook him for the final time and won.

    “We didn’t have the speed out front,” he said. “I mean, I was flat for the last 15 laps, and there’s not much more you can do.”

    Bad luck basically sums up the day for Rossi at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In addition to the untimely caution, he suffered a slow stop because the fuel pump wouldn’t connect to his car. Then came his battle with the lapped car of Oriol Servia, who blocked him for multiple laps.

    “I think it was one of the most disrespectful things I’ve ever seen in a race car, to be honest,” he said. “He’s a lap down and defending, putting me to the wall at 230 miles an hour. It’s unacceptable. It’s unacceptable for him, and it’s unacceptable that INDYCAR allowed it to happen as long as they did.”

    At the end of the day, it was an excellent race to the win that he and Pagenaud put on. Maybe in time, he said he could take solace in that aspect.

    “Ultimately it was a good day for the team,” he said. “You know, I think that we put a huge focus all month as we always do on the race car. The car was by far the best in the field in terms of what we could do and pass at will when I needed to. I didn’t see anyone else doing that. So a huge testament to the whole Andretti Autosport organization for really my fourth year here giving me a car that was capable of winning.

    “So that’s a great thing, and I’m very, very thankful for that.

    “But as I said, leading up to this many times, once you’ve won this thing once, the desire to win just ramps up exponentially every year, so it sucks to come this close and really have nothing that we as a team could have done differently. I’m proud of them. I’m proud of the effort that they always put in, and yeah, when we get No. 2, it’s going to be probably a huge explosion of emotions because we all want it really bad.”

    He leaves Indianapolis third in points, trailing new points leader Pagenaud by 23.

  • Windscreen coming to IndyCar in 2020

    Windscreen coming to IndyCar in 2020

    INDIANAPOLIS — Ever since Justin Wilson’s death at Pocono Raceway in 2015, windscreens on race cars in the NTT IndyCar Series was an inevitability. Five years later, that inevitability becomes a reality.

    In the midst of Carb Day festivities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar announced that Red Bull Advanced Technologies will develop a windscreen, dubbed the Aeroscreen (though IndyCar President Jay Frye implied during the announcement that a different name is coming) as a means to enhance driver cockpit protection. The Aeroscreen makes its debut in 2020.

    “…we’ll have a prototype in probably 30 days, and we’ll have real pieces in another 60 days,” Frye said. “Get them on cars this summer to test, and then at some point we’re going into the off-season around November so we’ll have one for each entry.”

    According to the press release announcement, it will be “a polycarbonate laminated screen that includes an anti-reflective coating on the interior of the screen, an anti-fogging device through an integral heating element and possibly tear-offs…” It’ll be supported by a titanium framework, similar to the Halo design currently used in Formula 1.

    Scott Dixon says the piece that comes down in front of the driver’s view is “something you won’t notice too much.”

    “It’s very similar to the addition that we have right now as far as line of sight for the driver,” he said. “But I think it — until we get it into running conditions through the summer months, we’ll obviously pick up some differences. But I think this adds more to it. It’s structurally more sound. It is higher, creates obviously more room for error, as well. So I think it’s just a far better piece that has been improved from the original concept.

    The “addition” that Dixon’s referring to is the Advanced Frontal Protection (AFP), the three-inch trapezoid placed just in front of the driver that’s designed to deflect debris, such as tires, away from a drivers head.

    What happens to the AFP in 2020?

    “The AFP device comes off, and the frame for this screen just bolts on to it, so it’s in the same spot,” Frye said. “So that’s already been done. So the cars are already equipped to take on this frame by taking off the AFP device.”

    The Aeroscreen — in development since 2016, as Red Bull was working with the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) — is similar in design to those tested in 2016 at ISM (Phoenix) Raceway. The proposed design, however, is taller in the rear to provide greater protection to the drivers head.

    “So part of our work has been to study previous crashes in the IndyCar Series and to detect where the helmet position was during those crashes,” said Ed Collings, Red Bull Advanced Technologies head of composites and structures. “One of the important parts of our design is that we don’t put a very rigid structure in a position where the helmet could make contact in a high-G instant. So in order to deliver that, we’ve created an exclusion zone where this device, this protection system does not come into — doesn’t enter that zone so it wouldn’t impede the driver’s head. So it’s important that we haven’t introduced any compromises by adding this assembly on to the car.”

    Unlike the windscreen tested in 2016, this design might produce a little drag on the cars. While IndyCar will test to see if that difference can be mitigated, the safety value outweighs the drag factor.

    While it deviates a ways away from the “traditional open cockpit look” that’s a hallmark of open-wheel racing, aesthetics were taken into consideration and IndyCar thought Red Bull’s design “looked very cool.”

    “Remember when we did this car a couple years ago, we would put out sketches of the car to the fans to see what their opinion was, and then we’d put out a rendering of the car, so this car, remember we kind of reverse-engineered it where we did esthetics first and the performance was second,” Frye said. “So obviously we put all that effort into the aero kit, so we wanted to make sure the screen matched that, and they’ve done a phenomenal job. It looks, I think you see, it has a fighter jet kind of look to it, so we’re excited about that.”

    The designing of a windscreen came as a result of Wilson’s death at Pocono in 2015, when he was struck in the head by a nose cone that came off Sage Karam’s wrecked car.

  • Pagenaud ends drought in the rain at Indy

    Pagenaud ends drought in the rain at Indy

    INDIANAPOLIS — During his time with Peugeot Sport’s sportscar program, Simon Pagenaud was forced to test in wet weather conditions (be it natural or manually wetting the track) to practice racing in the wet.

    “…we did days and days of reliability just going around the circle, and we would do days in the rain, days in the dry, days on soft tires, days on medium, days on hard,” Pagenaud said. “It was amazing the amount of testing we did and the laps. So I did drive a lot in the rain in my career, but quite frankly, in France, it rains all the time, especially where I’m from. So I’ve done a lot of laps in the rain in my career. I always loved it. The first few laps I did in rain I crashed a lot, but I was fast, so I just had to figure out how to dial it back a little bit, and it’s working.

    He demonstrated the results of said testing, as he went from fifth to first in the final 17 laps on the Grand Prix course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

    Following the final restart of the sixth annual IndyCar Grand Prix, Pagenaud commenced his drive through the field. With six to go, with only three seconds of push to pass (P2P) remaining, Pagenaud used it, outbraked and overtook Jack Harvey heading into Turn 1.

    “…when it started raining, obviously had no knowledge of the track, no knowledge of our setup in the rain,” he said. “I thought, okay, the sports cars have been racing a lot in the rain, a lot of racing in the rain, so I thought I’m just going to attack right away and see. And right away I noticed our car was much better now that it’s on the braking, so I could really attack and get the tires hot quickly, and that’s how I jumped a lot of people right away, and then I gained confidence.

    “Then I noticed that other people were struggling with tire wear, and we didn’t. So then I kept on pushing but was still trying to keep the tires underneath me. But yeah, it was just incredible to see the pace we had in the rain conditions. I took a lot of risks for sure, maybe more than Dixon needed to take some risk because we were in a position where I can take some risks right now and the car was so good that I just gave it 100 percent, 100 percent every lap.

    Then he turned his attention to race leader Scott Dixon. He cut the lead from 5.1 seconds with six to go to 3.9 with five to go, then 1.8 with four to go and half a second with three to go.

    With two to go, he pulled to Dixon’s bumper at the end of Hullman Boulevard (Turn 7). As they rounded Turn 8 and 9, he powered around Dixon’s outside and usurped the lead and drove on to his 12th career victory in the NTT IndyCar Series.

    “Honestly in the last two laps to go, I almost started out saving second, and then all of a sudden I realized, wait, I’ve got too much pace for this, and we caught Scott by a lot, and I guess you call it the penultimate lap, the one before the last, and when I realized that I had a shot, but I was out of Push-to-Pass, so my only chance was to get him on the infield,” he said. “But quite frankly, none of the passes I made today I planned. I just drove with full instinct mode, and it worked out.”

    It’s his third career victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and first since Sonoma Raceway in 2017 (snaps a 22-race winless streak).

    Dixon, who led a race high of 41 laps, finished second for the 43rd time in his career.

    “…it was generally a pretty good day,” Dixon said. “We had some good pace.

    “Conditions were really tricky all day, but a lot of fun actually. I think it’s always hard to tell with a circuit like this, especially after the kind of sealant they put on some of the portions of the oval, how tough it’s going to be once you start to get some moisture on there. But all in all, the Firestone red tires, I never got to the blacks, had a ton of grip and it was a lot of fun.”

    Harvey, who’s previous career best finish was 10th, rounded out the podium in third.

    “It was a bit more of a handful than I probably would have hoped for,” Harvey said. “It looked like we were running pretty good in the dry. I mean, I thought it was the best start I’ve had in IndyCar, too; to be able to split Felix and Scott at the start was pretty solid. And then I think we ran on pace, top 3 in the dry. Car was great.

    Matheus Leist and Spencer Pigot rounded out the top five.

    Ed Jones, Will Power, Felix Rosenqvist, Graham Rahal and Santino Ferrucci rounded out the top 10.

    Race summary

    Rosenqvist led the field to green at 3:50 p.m. After a caution for a wreck in Turn 14, Dixon bested his teammate on the restart and took the race lead.

    “The start was a little tricky, kind of misjudged it with Felix, and actually the 60 car had a great start,” Dixon said. “So kind of just fought in line there and was seeing how it was going to play out. The restart we got that really good jump, got both the 60 and the 10, kind of set us out.”

    From there until the final caution, drivers pitted for new tires at random intervals to maintain as much grip as possible, with the threat of rain looming.

    Tony Kanaan was the first to jump to full wets on Lap 55, but was roughly 30 seconds slower than the race leader.

    Helio Castroneves followed suit on Lap 60, but spun on pit exit and stalled his car in the grass in Turn 1. Everyone ducked onto pit road within seconds of his spin to switch onto wets, before the caution flew on Lap 61. This set up the run to the finish.

    Who had a good day

    After starting 21st, Matheus Leist earned his career best finish with a fourth.

    Who had a bad day

    It wasn’t a great day for the two drivers at the top of the standings.

    Alexander Rossi’s day was all but ruined on the start, after contact with Patricio O’Ward.

    Later in the race, points leader Josef Newgarden’s crew lost control of a tire and it rolled out of the box and stopped next to the outside pit wall.

    He was sent to the tail-end of the field on the ensuing restart, as a result.

    Nuts and bolts

    The race lasted two hours and 26 seconds, at an average speed of 103.254 mph.

    There were 10 lead changes among six different drivers and three cautions for 15 laps.

    Newgarden leaves with a six-point lead over Dixon.

  • IMS President Boles explains why Brickyard 400 returns to July in 2020

    IMS President Boles explains why Brickyard 400 returns to July in 2020

    INDIANAPOLIS — May is the month of the year around which the NTT IndyCar Series revolves. It begins with the IndyCar Grand Prix on the grand prix circuit of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Then on Memorial Day Sunday, the cannon fires at 6:00 a.m. (which indicates the gates are open) and over 200,000 people pour into the facility to drink the day away, take in a concert in the Snake Pit and watch the annual running of the Indianapolis 500. Afterwards, the turnaround at Indianapolis begins for the next major event, the Brickyard 400; be it in September this year or on Independence Day weekend in 2020.

    On March 26, 2019, NASCAR announced that as part of its major schedule realignment, the Brickyard 400 will take Daytona International Speedway’s spot on Independence Day weekend in 2020. This comes only two years after it was moved from late July to Richmond Raceway’s slot in mid-September.

    SEE ALSO: NASCAR announces 2020 schedule

    Aside from the lackluster quality of the racing, especially compared to the Indianapolis 500, one of the biggest reasons cited for the Brickyard 400’s well documented declining attendance was the extreme heat in summertime July.

    “…one of the things, when we moved to September, we said there were two things that were really important,” track president J. Douglas Boles said. “One was getting out of the heat. The other one was we wanted a weekend that meant something, and so last year and this year were the last race leading into the Chase, or the playoffs, the last race of the regular season.”

    Given this, one might wonder why it’s moving back to July.

    At his press conference Friday at Indianapolis, Boles said that NASCAR approached them with several options, which included Independence Day weekend, as it looked to align its schedule in a manner that would “grow the sport of NASCAR racing,” and that the decision was a joint one between NASCAR and Indianapolis. He also noted that the track was “limited in the number of dates that worked for their schedule.”

    “When we looked at the date options we had, July 4th has a lot of impact,” he said. “…it’s a weekend that means an awful lot from our country’s standpoint. You think about we kick summer off on an important American weekend, so if we can kick it off for IndyCar and have NASCAR on an important American weekend, that felt really good to us.”

    While heat was an obvious issue, he believe that “a lot of other activities” can overcome that (what that entails, he didn’t mention).

    The move to Independence Day weekend in 2020 brings with it a short turnaround between the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day Sunday and the Brickyard 400. There’s concern that the short turnaround might cannibalize the Indianapolis market. That’s not new for the track, however, as from 2004-2007, Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix ran in late September, three weeks after the Indy 500.

    “In a lot of ways our staff is excited about it because you can just think about those two huge events all right together, so it’s a little bit longer run where when we’ve been late in July or even in September, we get through May and then there’s a little bit of lull and then you pick back up,” Boles said. “So, it comes with challenges and opportunities, and we’re really focused on the opportunity that it brings, and I think we’re going to find that the recall of July 4th for fans is going to be easier to remember when the Brickyard is.

    “And the one positive that we haven’t talked about is we’re not going head-to-head with the NFL, we’re not going head-to-head with the Colts, and I think at the end of the day, we’re going to find that this weekend works out okay.”

  • Dixon earns final podium spot, after blocking call on Rahal

    Dixon earns final podium spot, after blocking call on Rahal

    Scott Dixon parked his car right in front of Graham Rahal on pit road in the staging area, following the final lap of the NTT IndyCar Series’ annual trip to Long Beach, Calif., because he believed Rahal would lose the final podium position for blocking him on the backstretch.

    And he was correct, because race control came on the radio moments later to announce that Rahal made an illegal block which moved Dixon up to third.

    Dixon had a run on Rahal exiting Turn 8 and racing down the backstretch on the final lap of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, when Rahal moved down the track to block his advance.

    “I moved right as quick as I could, out of the corner, as you can see,” Rahal said to Marty Snider of NBC Sports, pointing at a TV monitor. “Then I gave him a lane.

    “By the rules, you’re allowed to make your move, which I did, on the exit of the corner, and that was it.”

    “As the rule is, you can’t come back to defend if somebody is already there,” Dixon said. “And that’s what happened.”

    Rahal didn’t deny that he blocked. He even out-right admitted that he did.

    “You’re allowed to block in this series,” he said. “You’re allowed to make a move. I made a move. That’s allowed.”

    Rahal said afterwards that it wasn’t a tough result to swallow, because his used red front tires were shot, and that he had no grip, but he wanted an explanation for what was wrong with his move.

    “The problem is we see such large discrepancies in what is a block, what’s not a block.

    “It’s fine. We just need to go forward and understand it better.”

    At the end of the day, however, while he believed he deserved third, he was happy with the good points day.

    “We haven’t had a lot of luck this year,” he added. “So I’ll just take it as it is and move on.”

    For Dixon, the podium finish salvaged a pit road mistake, where the crew couldn’t fully connect the fuel hose to the car for a few seconds. Running the start of the race on used reds wasn’t the right call, according to Dixon.

    “Definitely the last stint was strong for our car. It’s unfortunate we had the fuel probe issue. I think we could’ve had a great race for second there.”

    Dixon leaves Long Beach third in points, 33 back of Josef Newgsarden. Rahal leaves in ninth, 76 back of Newgarden.

  • Rossi puts on clinic in Long Beach

    Rossi puts on clinic in Long Beach

    LWe were all just living in Alexander Rossi’s world on Sunday, as he won on the streets of Long Beach for the second year in a row.

    The Andretti Autosport driver dominated from pole position, from the drop of the green flag, as he led all but six laps to win the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

    His 20.236 second margin of victory is the largest at Long Beach since Al Unser Jr. beat Scott Pruett by 23 in 1995.

    Even at a track where he’s led nearly 150 laps over the last two years, he didn’t think he’d be this dominant.

    “We knew it was going to be a really hard fought battle, but the NAPA Auto Parts crew gave me such a great car.

    It’s his fifth career victory in 54 career starts in the NTT IndyCar Series. He’s the eighth driver to win in back-to-back years at Long Beach. It’s also the 200th victory for Andretti Autosport.

    Points leader Josef Newgarden finished second, his 25th career podium finish.

    Following a last-lap blocking penalty assessed to Graham Rahal, Scott Dixon overcame a pit road miscue to round out the podium.

    Rahal and Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded out the top five.

    Rahal said the call was “not that tough to swallow,” as he was going to lose the position if he didn’t block, because his used red front tires were all used up.

    “I had no braking grip whatsoever,” he said.

    Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Takumo Sato, James Hinchcliffe and Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the top 10.

    Who had a good afternoon

    Despite the last-lap blocking penalty, Rahal earned a top five finish for the second time this season. It ties his best finish of the season.

    Dixon rebounded from a pit road miscue on his final pit stop, when his team couldn’t get the fuel hose to connect, to salvage a podium finish.

    Who had a bad afternoon

    After a strong start to the season, including a win at Circuit of the Americas, Colton Herta retired from the race, after suffering damage to his front wing from snapping loose and hitting the wall in Turn 9.

    He’s finished last in back-to-back races.

    What else happened

    The only caution of the race flew on the first lap for a three-car incident in Turn 2, that involved Spencer Pigot, Jack Harvey and Marcus Ericsson.

    Nuts and bolts

    There was one caution for four laps and five lead changes among three different drivers.

    Newgarden leaves with a 28-point lead over Rossi, who overtakes Dixon for second in points.

    IndyCar returns to action on May 11 in the IndyCar Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, to kick off the Month of May that leads up to the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500.

  • AJ Foyt Racing Exits Early At Texas

    AJ Foyt Racing Exits Early At Texas

    Both AJ Foyt Racing entries have exited the DXC 600 at Texas Motor Speedway as rookie Matheus Leist and Tony Kanaan are the first retirees of the race.

    On lap seven, Leist’s No. 4 entry lost power before catching fire. Leist exited the car once it came to a stop in turn three before the car was engulfed in flames. Leist was uninjured in the incident.

    Shortly after, the No. 14 of Kanaan brushed the wall off of the second turn and spent a lengthy amount of time on pit road before returning to the track. Kanaan made a couple of laps before pulling back onto the pits and exiting the car.

    Kanaan and Leist will finish 21st and 22nd respectively. We will keep you updated as the race progresses.