IndyCars - Texas: Life begins again at night

+++

The IndyCars are starting their 2020 season tonight at the big oval of Texas Motor Speedway, as they do…

.

The Genesys 300 at TMS


.

.
.
.
While the pic above shows a healthy crowd, tonight the race will be under the lights and without fans in place, due to the Covid-19 virus.

The track is the 1.5-mile banked oval just north of Fort Worth, known for high speeds and multiple-line racing - a tough one for everyone, but especially the 3 rookies who will be in the field, as well as veterans Jack Harvey for Meyer Shank Racing and Pato O’Ward for Arrow McLaren SP, whose careers have never brought them here.

The entire race weekend is compressed into this one day as the 24-car strong field will do a two-hour practice, followed by single-car qualifying in the daylight. Then, the race will begin at 8:00pm EASTERN time which will still be daylight, but will turn to night before the checkered flag falls.

.
.
.

Here is the field with car numbers and types:

1 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, Chevrolet
4 Charlie Kimball, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet
5 Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren SP, Chevrolet
7 Oliver Askew [R], Arrow McLaren SP, Chevrolet
8 Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda
9 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda
10 Felix Rosenqvist, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda
12 Will Power, Team Penske, Chevrolet
14 Tony Kanaan, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet
15 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda
18 Santino Ferrucci, Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan, Honda
20 Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet
21 Rinus VeeKay [R], Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet
22 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske, Chevrolet
26 Zach Veach, Andretti Autosport, Honda
27 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport, Honda
28 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport, Honda
29 James Hinchcliffe, Andretti Autosport, Honda
30 Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, Honda
55 Alex Palou [R], Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh, Honda
59 Conor Daly, Carlin, Chevrolet
60 Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing, Honda
88 Colton Herta, Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport, Honda
98 Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta, Honda
.
.
.

LET’S GO!!!

.
.
.
M

+++

.
The IndyCars held their one and only practice this afternoon…

.
…Two hours in the heat of the day - and we have the results, with times for the TOP FIVE:

.
1 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:24.0006s for a speed of 215.995mph
DixonCapGrille-1940x1406_zpsgcmme5ss

.
2 - Colton Herta, Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport - time of 00:24.1689s for a speed of 214.491mph
Colton2_zpshzcudkhm

.
3 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren SP - time of 00:24.1875s for a speed of 214.326mph
PatoO'Ward150-4

.
4 - Zach Veach, Andretti Autosport - time of 00:24.1906s for a speed of 214.1906mph
36RD9467_zpseusfprru

.
5 - Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta - time of 00:241945s for a speed of 214.264mph
460x_zpsshixv0vg

.
6 - Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
7 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
8 - Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske
9 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
10 - Felix Rosenqvist, Chip Ganassi Racing

11 - Charlie Kimball, AJ Foyt Enterprises
12 - Will Power, Team Penske
13 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing
14 - Alex Palou [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Team Goh
15 - Oliver Askew [R], Arrow McLaren SP
16 - Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport
17 - James Hinchcliffe, Andretti Autosport
18 - Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing
19 - Tony Kanaan, A.J. Foyt Enterprises
20 - Conor Daly, Carlin

21 - Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport
22 - Santino Ferrucci, Dale Coyne Racing w/ Vasser Sullivan
23 - Rinus VeeKay [R], Ed Carpenter Racing
24 - Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing w/Andretti Technologies

.
.
.
Notable:

  • There were three incidents, as Rinus VeeKay for Ed Carpenter found the wall hard. Making it worse for the team, Ed Carpenter spun himself, shortly after, though with little contact. Ryan Hunter-Reay for Andretti Autosport also tagged a wall.

.
.
.
Qualifying will be on NBC-SN starting at 5:00 pm EASTERN time.

.
.
.
M

+++

.
The IndyCars are qualified!..

.
…and taking the pole for the first time in 2020 was Josef Newgarden - the WINNER of last year’s race and the 2019 series Champion.

.
Here is the way the IndyCars will grid for the Genesys 300, with times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie; time and speed are two-lap averages

Row 1

.
Pole -Josef Newgarden, Team Penske - time of 00:48.0578s for a speed of 215.740mph
06-06-Newgarden-Wins-P1-Award-TEX

.
P2 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:48.0806s for a speed of 215.638mph
Scott3_zpslgjllqwp

.
Row 2

P3 - Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske - time of 00:48.1193s for a speed of 215.464mph
Simon2-150_zpsok5awbb2

.
P4 - Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport - time of 00:48.3783s for a speed of 214.311mph
07-26-RHR-Yellow-Party-Founder_zpshyhupvsb

.
Row 3

P5 - Zach Veach, Andretti Autosport - time of 00:48.4530s for a speed of 213.981mph
Zach150_zpsf5y6t6pb

.
P6 - Will Power, Team Penske - time of 00:48.4645s for a speed of 213.930mph
DLY_3801_A_zps4boxbxdz
.

Row 4

P7 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
P8 - Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport

Row 5

P9 - Felix Rosenqvist, Chip Ganassi Racing
P10 - Tony Kanaan, A.J. Foyt Enterprises

Row 6

P11 - Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta
P12 - Charlie Kimball, AJ Foyt Enterprises

Row 7

P13 - Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing
P14 - Colton Herta, Andretti Harding Steinbrenner

Row 8

P15 - James Hinchcliffe, Andretti Autosport
P16 - Alex Palou [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Team Goh

Row 9

P17 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing
P18 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren SP

Row 10

P19 - Conor Daly, Carlin
P20 - Oliver Askew [R], Arrow McLaren SP

Row 11

P21 - Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing w/Andretti Technologies
P22 - Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan

Row 12

P23 - Rinus VeeKay [R], Ed Carpenter Racing
P24 - Santino Ferrucci, Dale Coyne Racing w/ Vasser Sullivan

.
.
.
Notable:

  • Takuma Sato spun on his warm-up lap and heavily damaged his car. They were trying to decide if they should try to repair or use a back-up when qualifying ended.

  • Also failing to post times were Rinus VeeKay and Santino Ferrucci. VeeKay wasn’t repaired from his practice crash on time but we cannot get a reason for Santino’s absence.

.
Left to right, Takuma Sato, Rinus VeeKay and Santino Ferrucci
indycar-phoenix-february-testing-2018-takuma-sato-rahal-letterman-lanigan-racing-honda_zpsovwygjsjRinusVeeKay150-3SantinoFerrucci150-2

.
.
.
The race is scheduled for broadcast on NBC live, with a pre-race show at 7:30 pm EASTERN and the race at 8:00 pm.

.
.
.
M

+++

.
Scott Dixon dominates for his 47th career IndyCar WIN…

.
The 39-year-old New Zealander proved once again to be the best series driver of his era with an exemplary race to the lead and then to the finish in the first race of the season - a fast and difficult race on an unforgiving 1.5 mile oval at Texas Motor Speedway.

.
Scott Win

.
His competition to take the lead was pole-sitter Josef Newgarden for Team Penske, whole led early but suffered a vibration that never abated, allowing Dixon and others to pass him, yet managed to eventually bring his yellow XPEL Chevrolet home in P3, just behind teammate Simon Pagenaud in the DXC Technology Chevy.

.
P2 Simon Pagenaud (left) and P3 Josef Newgarden
SimonPagenaud150-5JosefNewgarden150-3

.
But Dixon’s real rival for the last half of the race was his Chip Ganassi teammate Felix Rosenqvist who hounded the Kiwi for many laps but lost his car in a spin in an ill-conceived attempt to pass James Hinchcliffe for Andretti Autosport, two laps down at the time. The spin put Pagenaud and Newgarden in position to regain the lead but Dixon was simply unassailable.

Felix Rosenqvist - another lost opportunity
FelixRosenqvist150_zpszfb9cgwp
.

Coming home 4th in his best-ever oval finish was Zach Veach for Andretti Autosport, who was TOP FIVE all day long while Ed Carpenter for Ed Carpenter Racing recovered from several mid-race missteps to take 5th.

.
P4 Zach Veach (left) and P5 Ed Carpenter
edited-image_zpspjom8ruvAU1062463_zpse9e629b5

.
Perhaps the best drive from the back was delivered by Conor Daly who, subbing for Max Chilton (who will not drive ovals), took the # 59 Gallagher-sponsored Chevy to P6 from his P19 start for a delighted Trevor Carlin. Daly is usually the driver of the # 20 Chevy for ECR, but Ed Carpenter drives that car on ovals, leaving Conor free to sub for Chilton.

Conor Daly - super-sub for Carlin
Conor150_zpsv3ibd4wq

.
.
.
This was a great race but hampered by the condition of the track, which left far less track available to use than is usually the case at TMS. Nevertheless, the passers always found a way to pass. That’s what passers do and this race had its share of them.

The next race will be a month from now as the IndyCars go to race on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the Saturday before NASCAR’s Sunday Brickyard 400 on the 4th of July weekend. This is the first IndyCar / NASCAR joint race weekend. It’s a long time to wait but it should be FUN!

.
.
.
M