Tag: NTT Indycar Series

Gallagher Grand Prix Race Preview

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Today’s Indycar Schedule: All Times Eastern

Gates Open 8:30 AM

9:30 AM – 11:00 AM ET Practice 1 Peacock

1:00 PM – 2:15 PM ET Qualifying Peacock

NASCAR practices run in between the Indycar sessions.

Indycar once again gets to be a guest in their own house. The Gallagher Grand Prix, a part of Brickyard Weekend, is somewhat a leftover from the pandemic years when Indycar scrambled to build a schedule.

There are just four on track sessions for the series, which completes its entire program around 2:30 tomorrow afternoon.

The IMS road course has been dominated by Team Penske drivers, who have have won eight times on this layout. Will power leads the way with five, including his victory in the 2021 race on this weekend. He is the heavy favorite again.

The NTT Indycar Series has had great momentum this season with really good racing and improved attendance at most tracks. I hope the off track drama involving Alex Palou and his Chip Ganassi Racing Team, and to some extent McLaren, can be shoved completely out of the way for a couple days.

I think that may be hard, as all eyes will be on Palou’s performance and the team’s strategy. Palou has finished sixth, sixth, and 13th in his last three races and is 44 points behind leader Marcus Ericsson.

A Change at the Top?

Will Power trails Ericsson by just eight points and he has a good chance to retake the top spot tomorrow. In May, Power finished third and Ericsson fourth in the GMR Grand Prix. Power also won the pole for that race.

Will Power can take the points lead at a track where he has dominated

The results in May gave Power the points lead, which Ericsson took over two weeks later by winning the Indianapolis 500. How ironic should Power take the lead for the second time at the same track.

Will Newgarden Race?

Late Thursday afternoon, the Indycar medical staff cleared Josef Newgarden to drive in this morning’s practice only. He will undergo another evaluation afterwards to determine if his weekend can continue.

Newgarden is third in points, 34 points behind. Missing a race would be a severe blow to his title chances, but the health and safety of the drivers has to take priority here.

Rookie Battle Tightening

Christian Lundgaard’s DNF Sunday and David Malukas’ eighth place finish shrunk Lundgaard’s lead to just four points in the rookie standings. I think Malukas will take the lead after tomorrow’s race. He has matured quickly after a difficult start to the season.

Consistency from AMSP?

Pato O’Ward had a win and a second place last weekend. Felix Rosenqvist finished seventh Sunday after crashing out of Race 1 at Iowa. The team has had difficulty stringing successful weekends together. If O’Ward is to make a run at the title, a series of strong results is imperative.

Notes

I think this is Power’s race to lose. The end of the season is setting up with some intramural team battles. Team Penske has Power and Newgarden , Ganassi has Ericsson, Scott Dixon, and Palou is still in the mix.

Tomorrow will be Alexander Rossi’s last race for Andretti Autosport at IMS. It’s sad to see his time at the team end on such a sour note. Rossi won the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie in 2016 with Andretti.

IMS has scheduled a major announcement at 11 AM this morning in the Dex Imaging Media Center. I suspect a new series is coming to the track in 2023.

Newgarden Cleared for Practice

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A statement from the NTT Indycar Series:

Newgarden crashed on while leading on lap 235 of Sunday’s HyVee Salute to Farmers 300. He was released from the track medical center, then later lost conscious and received a cut to the back of his head.

Santino Ferrucci remains on standby should Newgarden not be allowed to continue after tomorrow morning’s practice.

Gallagher Grand Prix Fast Facts

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Race weekend: Friday, July 29 – Saturday, July 30Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course (clockwise)
Race distance: NTT INDYCAR SERIES 85 laps / 207.3 miles
Push-to-pass parameters: 200 seconds of total time, with a maximum time of 20 seconds per activation.
Firestone tire allotment: Five sets primary, four sets alternate (Note: A sixth set of primary tires is available to any car fielding a rookie driver.)Twitter: @IMS @INDYCAR, #GallagherGP, #IndyCar
Event website: www.ims.com
NTT INDYCAR SERIES website: www.indycar.com
2021 race winner: Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet)
2021 NTT P1 Award winner: Pato O’Ward (No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet), 1:10.7114, 124.167 mph
Qualifying lap record: Will Power, 1:07.7044, 129.687 mph, May 12, 2017 (Set in Round 3 of knockout qualifying)
NBC Sports race telecast: Noon ET Saturday, July 30, NBC (live). Leigh Diffey is the play-by-play announcer for NBC’s coverage of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, alongside analysts Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe.
Peacock Premium Live Streaming: All NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice sessions and qualifying will stream live on Peacock Premium, NBC’s direct-to-consumer livestreaming product. and NBC’s Gallagher Grand Prix race telecast will be simulcast on the streaming service, while Peacock Premium’s exclusive post-race show – featuring driver interviews, podium ceremonies and post-race analysis – will be streamed following the race.
INDYCAR Radio Network broadcasts: Mark Jaynes is the anchor alongside analyst Davey Hamilton. Chris Denari, Jake Query, Nick Yeoman and Michael Young are the turn announcers. Ryan Myrehn, Brad Gillie and Brett McMillan are the pit reporters. The Gallagher Grand Prix race (noon ET Saturday) and all NTT INDYCAR SERIES practices and qualifying sessions air live on network affiliates (race only), SiriusXM 160, racecontrol.indycar.com and the INDYCAR App powered by NTT DATA.
At-track schedule (all times local):
FRIDAY, JULY 29 (All times are local)
9:30-11 a.m.: NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice (90 minutes), Peacock Premium
1 p.m.: Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award (three rounds of NTT INDYCAR SERIES knockout qualifications), Peacock Premium(Live)
SATURDAY, JULY 30
8:15-8:45 a.m.: NTT INDYCAR SERIES warmup, Peacock Premium
Noon:
NBC on air12:23 p.m.: “Drivers, start your engines”
12:30 p.m.: Gallagher Grand Prix (85 laps/207.3 miles), NBC (Live)
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Championship facts:
Marcus Ericsson leads the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship with five races to go for the first time in his INDYCAR SERIES career. Ericsson, who took the points lead at Road America in June, has led the point standings after six of the 12 races this season.
Since the first INDYCAR SERIES race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course, the winning driver has won the INDYCAR SERIES championship twice: Simon Pagenaud in 2016 and Scott Dixon (2020-Race 1).
Key championship point statistic: Since 2008, the championship leader with five races to go has gone on to win the championship eight times. Those drivers were: Scott Dixon (2008, 2018 and 2020), Dario Franchitti (2011), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2012), Simon Pagenaud (2016), Josef Newgarden (2019) and Alex Palou (2021).
Point differential: The eight points that separate Marcus Ericsson and Will Power is tied — with the 2009 season – for the second-closest point margin with five races remaining since INDYCAR SERIES racing was unified in 2008. Before this season, the average lead with five races to go since 2008 was 43.7 points.

Six drivers have competed in every INDYCAR SERIES race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course – Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato. All are entered this year.
Team Penske has eight wins on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020-Race 2, 2020-Race 3, 2021-Race 2). Andretti Autosport, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing and Arrow McLaren SP are the only other teams to win at the track. Andretti Autosport won the GMR Grand Prix with Colton Herta in May, while Ed Carpenter Racing won in 2021-Race 1 with Rinus VeeKay. Chip Ganassi Racing won with Scott Dixon in 2020-Race 1, and Arrow McLaren SP won the inaugural race in 2014 with Simon Pagenaud when it was known as Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.
Five NTT INDYCAR SERIES Rookie of the Year contenders – Devlin DeFrancesco, Callum Ilott, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard and David Malukas – are entered. All five raced in the GMR Grand Prix in May.
Milestones: Helio Castroneves will attempt to make his 370th INDYCAR SERIES start, which would break a tie with A. J. Foyt and give him sole possession of third on the INDYCAR SERIES all-time starts list … Scott Dixon will attempt to make his 301st consecutive start, the second-longest streak in INDYCAR SERIES history … With his next win, Dixon will break a tie with Mario Andretti and take sole possession of second on the INDYCAR SERIES all-time victory list with 53 wins … With his next pole position, Will Power will tie Mario Andretti for the INDYCAR SERIES record for most career poles with 67 … With his next win, Power will tie Michael Andretti for fourth on the INDYCAR SERIES all-time victory list.
 

Iowa Wrap Up: This is How You Oval

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Indycar photo by Chris Jones

Before last weekend, Indycar at Iowa Speedway was some of the best racing no one came to watch. The big crowds in the early years had dwindled to a bout a third of capacity, typical of oval attendance everywhere. Iowa did not have a slot on the 2021 schedule.

Thanks to Hy-Vee, Indycar returned to Iowa, big time. The activation and programing drew two sellout crowds. The event will be back in 2023 and 2024.

In March, details about the weekend were laid out by Bud Denker of Penske Entertainment and Randy Edeker, CEO of Hy-Vee. I posted about it in this story.

From March-\https://thepitwindow.blog/2022/03/08/a-way-forward-for-ovals/

Everything they said would happen did happen. The track and grounds looked cleaner than I had ever seen t. The turn one and four suites gave the track a classy look.

Sponsor Activation

In addition to the copious Hy-Vee signage, the company had a mobile store at the track with some grocery items and some camping supplies. If a desired item wasn’t stocked, Hy-Vee would deliver it to the fan at the track.

I visited a couple of their stores after i left the track. There were at least a half dozen cut outs of Jack Harvey’s Hy-Vee sponsored car displayed throughout the store. In addition signs with the logos of the two races hung prominently near the entrances and exits and above shelves. A racing related merchandise displayed greeted shoppers as they came in.

I don’t know the exact amount of money Hy-Vee put into this weekend, but it was substantial. I heard they weren’t interested in Return on Investment, but I think they got their money’s worth.

Indycar could use a couple more sponsors putting this kind of effort into the series.

Fans

While both days were sold out, the spectators in my area were different each day. I talked to several people Sunday who had never been to a race of any kind before. I’m positive some of them will return next year.

I have also heard some fans who did not come this year are making plans to some in 2023.

Were the concerts more of an attraction than the races? Perhaps in some cases, but the grandstands were filled for the races.

One of my concerns was that the crowd would filter out after the first concert and return for the post race performance. I was wrong.

This is the first oval race outside of IMS that I have been to, and I’ve been to a couple of them, where the atmosphere had the same buzz as the 500.

Keeping the Plan Going

The series now has a template for a successful oval weekend. Will ovals not currently on the schedule now have an interest in bringing Indycar to their venue? Will a certain track in the south that had an Indycar race this spring take notice or do they not care whether the series returns?

Can Iowa Speedway and Hy-Vee sustain this dame level of energy for the next two years? As great a success as last weekend was, the real proof comes in years two and three.

I could see this event becoming the Hy-Vee company picnic, similar to what Honda does at Mid Ohio for their employees.

I would very much like for the Saturday race to take place at night, but I’m not sure now if that would help attendance without one more support race.

Ferrucci on Standby for Newgarden

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News bulletin from Team Penske:

MOORESVILLE, NC – Team Penske has announced that Santino Ferrucci will be on standby for INDYCAR SERIES Championship contender Josef Newgarden heading into this weekend’s race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Newgarden was released from MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center earlier this morning and returned to his home in Nashville. Per series protocols, Newgarden will be reevaluated by the INDYCAR Medical Team on Thursday to determine his status for the Gallagher Grand Prix. Should Newgarden not be able to race, Ferrucci will take the wheel of the No. 2 PPG Chevrolet.

Ferrucci has 43-career INDYCAR SERIES starts with four of these occurring at the IMS road course where he has two top-10 finishes.  His career best IndyCar finish is fourth, on four occasions, and he has made three starts in 2022, with two top-10 finishes.

The Spell Breaks; O’Ward Wins Iowa as Newgarden Crashes

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Deja Vu left the track with 65 laps to go, destroying any chance of a podium repeat from Saturday and smashing Josef Newgarden’s iron grip on Iowa Speedway. Pato O’Ward, who couldn’t figure out how get around newgarden Saturday, jumped to the lead and held on to win the Salue to Farmers 300.

Some Quick Thoughts

Another huge crowd saw another entertaining race. Not quites as god as Saturday’s race, but still an entertaining event.

Today’s win is the third time Pato O’Ward has won the second half of a double header. His fourth career victory came in his 50th Indycar start.

O’Ward’s last three oval finishes- 2nd, 2nd, 1st.

Has Andretti been replaced by Arrow McLaren SP in the Big Three? This weekend’s results-six of Saturday’s top 10 were from Penske, Ganassi, and AMSP. Today’s top 10 had seven finishers from those three.

Romain Grosjean was the star of the wekend for Andretti with two top 10s- 7th and 9th.

Great Drives-

Jimmie Johnson finishedfifth today. yesterday he led 19 laps before fading to 11th.

David Malukas ended the day eighth and cut Christian Lundgard’s Rookie of the Year lead to four points.

Marcus Ericsson barely hung on to the points lead. He leads Power by eight points and Newgarden by 34. O’Ward is just 36 points behind.

I talked to several fans today who were at Iowa Speedway for the first time.One, a veteran race fan, was amazed at the racing. A couple was attending their first race ever, and they loved it.

I will have more later tonight and a full wrapup tomorrow afternoon. I Need to hit the roiad back home. This was a fantastic weekend, which I will talk about tomorrow.

Race Day, Part Deux

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Today’s Schedule:

SUNDAY, JULY 24
9:00 am Gates Open
12:10 pm – 1:00 pm Gwen Stefani Concert
2:00 pm – 4:30 pm NTT INDYCAR SERIES Race Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 presented by Google (300 laps) NBC, Peacock
5:15 pm – 6:45 pm Blake Shelton Concert

The weather will be much more pleasant today, with highs in the low to mid 80s.

Staring Lineup:

*Will confirm later, but Colton Herta is expected to receive a nibne place grid penalty for an engine change.

Yesterday’s crowd was announced as a sellout-38,000. As of last night, Indycar said that there were 800 seats available for today’s race. Wheteher they sell out or not, this weekend has been a smash success.

Pato O’Ward said yesterday that he used up his tires trying to get to Josef Newegarden. The team will look for a solution for today’s race.

“We were just extremely extremely loose. We need to we need to see what we can do better for tomorrow and not have that because it took a lot of pitstops to get it into a window where we can actually attack rather than just being a little bit of a passenger but yeah, really happy with our day,” O’Ward said.

Two of O’Ward’s Indycar wins came in the second race of a double header.

Results from Race 1

Notes

Rinus VeeKay had a sneaky fourth place finish Saturday. He started eighth and just quietly drove to fourth. VeeKay has two fourth place finishes in his last three races.

His teammate. Conor Daly, started third, but ended the day 19th. I think both Carpenter cars will have good days today.

Newgarden could complete the fourth double header sweep in Indycar history. The last time it happened was Detroit 2017 when Graham Rahal won both Detroit races.

We could see the same drivers on the podium today, but in a different order.