IndyCars - Texas: The 2nd fastest race in North America happens this weekend

[MarkyS]

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The fastest multi-lap race in North America (and actually the world), is obviously the Indy 500, with lap average speeds often exceeding 235 miles per hour, but the 2nd fastest multi-lap race in North America (and actually the world) is not a Formula 1 race, not a NASCAR race and not a SportsCar race. It is the IndyCar race at Texas Motor Speedway, where the cars regularly exceed lap averages of 220 miles per hour. In fact, the 2-lap average record there, held by Charlie Kimball, is 222.556 mph, achieved during qualifying in 2017, but just last year Felix Rosenqvist for Arrow McLaren took pole with a 2-lap average of 221.110 mph.

Can anyone beat Charlie’s record in 2023, as we do…
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The PPG 375

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Texas Motor Speedway, just North of Fort Worth, is home to both NASCAR and IndyCar races and that has been the problem with the 1.5-mile SuperSpeedway in recent years. NASCAR got the track to put down a treatment called “PJ1” a number of years back to aid stock car performance there, and it did, but at the expense of IndyCar performance. The result was that IndyCars were unable to use more than 1 lane during the races and that had the effect of diminishing the competition and the show.

Last year, a number of IndyCars were sent out during practices to deliberately set down Firestone rubber to open up a 2nd lane and it worked better than anyone hoped. This year, ALL 28 IndyCars in the race will be a part of a special session to do the same thing. In addition, the track no longer uses PJ1 but instead uses a fast-wearing resin that SHOULD BE largely gone by the time the racing begins on Sunday.

Lastly, IndyCar is offering though not mandating some special flooring aero bits and pieces that will also allow the cars to stick well, though possibly at the expense of some straight-line speed. The engineers will need to figure out what is the best combination during practice. The results off all these efforts SHOULD BE the kind of neck-break, side-by-side racing that characterized the TMS IndyCar races of a few years back - some of the best racing anywhere on the planet.

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Texas Motor Speedway features 20 degrees of banking in Turns 1 and 2 and 24 degrees of banking in Turns 3 and 4 and a wide (minimum 60 feet) racing surface that beckons drivers to attempt to make incredible high-speed passes that take one’s breath away. There is NO OTHER SHOW like it. This race is 250 laps or 375 kilometers long.

This weekend, there are only two races on the schedule - the IndyCar race on Sunday and a NASCAR truck race on Saturday. As there are no IndyCar drivers in the tin-topper trucks, we will wish them safe and happy racing and concentrate all our attention on the IndyCar practices and qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday.

NASCAR Camping World Trucks

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The first time cars will be on track will be Saturday morning for the P-1 practice session, broadcast LIVE on Peacock Premium, starting at 9:00AM EASTERN time.

Let’s GET THIS GOING!!!

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M

[MarkyS]

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Saturday at Texas - The IndyCars come out for their first practice session…

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This was a busy session, as the cars and the engineers had only this session to decide how they will be trimmed out for qualifying, a few hours away. Temperatures were nice and cool and the speeds were incredible, with several cars exceeding the official track record.

Due to all the last-minute engineering options and fenagling it is hard to truly judge how fast anyone will be during qualifying, based on these results.

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Here was the order of speed for the IndyCars P-1 practice, with times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie; times are for 1 lap, as are speeds

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1 - Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske - time of 23.1690s for a speed of 223.747mph

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2 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren - time of 23.1948s for a speed of 223.518mph

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3 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren - time of 23.180s for a speed of 223.468mph

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4 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport - time of 23.2135s for a speed of 223.318mph

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5 - Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Steinbrenner - time of 23.2232s for a speed of 223.225mph

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6 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren
7 - Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing
8 - Takuma Sato, Chip Ganassi Racing
9 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
10 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing

11 - Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing
12 - Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises
13 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
14 - Will Power, Team Penske
15 - David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports
16 - Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport
17 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing
18 - Benjamin Pedersen [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises
19 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing
20 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing

21 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing
22 - Sting Ray Robb [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
23 - Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Autosport
24 - Agustin Canapino [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing
25 - Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing
26 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
27 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
28 - Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan

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Notable:

• The TOP EIGHT cars exceeded Charlie Kimball’s record, but they won’t be official laps until they are done in either qualifying or the race. Kimball’s record is also a two-lap average, not just a single lap.

• Scott McLaughlin dominated this race in 2022 and then was passed on the last lap in the last corner by teammate Josef Newgarden. It was a devastating loss for McLaughlin, though he bore it well. Expect him to make sure that doesn’t happen again, but Newgarden can claim ownership of this track, due to his 2 WINS. Other previous WINNERS here are Pato O’Ward (1 WIN), Graham Rahal (1 WIN), Ed Carpenter (1 WIN), Will Power (2 WINS), Helio Castroneves (4 WINS) and Scott Dixon with the mortgage in hand, with 5 WINS.

• There are 28 cars because Ed Carpenter is added to the field over the 27 that were on track for St. Pete. Rookie Marcus Armstrong is NOT here for Chip Ganassi as his budget did not allow for all the races of the season and he elected to sit out the ovals. In the # 11 CGR car instead for all the ovals - including Indianapolis - is oval-meister Takuma Sato, who was very quickly up to speed, despite a long lay-off since the end of the 2022 season.

• Last year AJ Foyt Enterprises had a terrific weekend going here, with rookie Kyle Kirkwood looking outstanding in the race, right up until he pushed it too far and over the edge, clobbering the wall. The Foyt boys still seem to have the measure of the track, as Santino Ferrucci was very fast this morning and rookie Benjamin Pedersen was quite comfortable, despite his almost total lack of oval experience. He was best rookie in practice at 18th.

• Kirkwood looked less assured in an Andretti car this morning, as did teammate Romain Grosjean, but the Frenchman is still trying to get used to ovals and has to ease up to top speed. Teammates Colton Herta and Devlin DeFrancesco proved the engineering for the team is good.

• Best team has to be Arrow Mclaren with all three cars in the TOP SIX. Worst team, on paper, anyway, are the guys from Rahal Letterman Lanigan, mired in the last three spots.

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Scott McLaughlin’s post-practice interview:

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

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Take a look at Dave Furst’s race preview:

2023 RACE PREVIEW // PPG 375

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Next up will be qualifying…

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M

[MarkyS]

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Saturday at Texas - The IndyCars are qualified…

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Single-car qualifying went off without a hitch, with no drama and no mistakes. The track was much warmer than it was this morning, as was the ambient temperature and that resulted in the expected reduction of lap times over the P-1 practice. Charlie Kimball’s 2-lap average record remains, but the pole was taken by Felix Rosenqvist for Arrow McLaren for the 2nd time in a row.

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Here is the way the IndyCars will grid for Season Round 2, with times for the TOP SIX: [R] denotes rookie; times are for two laps while speeds are the average of those two laps.

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Row 1

Pole - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren - time of 47.0708s for a speed of 220.264mph

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P2 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 47.1332s for a speed of 219.972mph

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Row 2

P3 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren - time of 47.1358s for a speed of 219.960mph

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P4 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske - time of 47.1700s for a speed of 219.801mph

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Row 3

P5 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren - time of 47.2090s for a speed of 219.619mph

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P6 - Takuma Sato, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 47.2328s for a speed of 219.508mph

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Row 4

P7 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
P8 - Will Power, Team Penske

Row 5

P9 - David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports
P10 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport

Row 6

P11 - Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport
P12 - Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Steinbrenner

Row 7

P13 - Benjamin Pedersen [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises
P14 - Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises

Row 8

P15 - Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske
P16 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing

Row 9

P17 - Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing
P18 - Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing

Row 10

P19 - Agustin Canapino [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing
P20 - Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Autosport

Row 11

P21 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing
P22 - Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing

Row 12

P23 - Sting Ray Robb [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
P24 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan

Row 13

P25 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing
P26 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing

Row 14

P27 - Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
P28 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan

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Notable:

• The qualifying order was determined by series points, with the lowest points guys going out earliest. That helped Felix, who was taken out early at St. Pete, as the track warmed at least 8 to 9 degrees between the start and the end of qualifying. His teammates were among the last to go out.

• There are no surprises in the TOP TEN, except that Scott McLaughlin wasn’t one of them. He will start P15.

• David Malukas was an outstanding driver here as a rookie in 2022 and he was outstanding again today, to get into this stellar TOP TEN group, besting everyone on the Andretti squad, the Meyer Shank squad, The Juncos Hollinger squad, the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Squad and the Ed Carpenter squad.

• Arrow McLaren has to be very happy with all three drivers in the TOP FIVE. Three of four Chip Ganassi guys made the TOP TEN.

• There were 5 Chevys and 5 Hondas in the TOP TEN.

• Best rookie was Benjamin Pedersen for AJ Foyt, on the same row with teammate Santino Ferrucci - a hell of a good run for Benjamin in P13.

• Despite not being in a car since Gateway, last season, Ed Carpenter was easily the best Chevy on his team. Rinus VeeKay was a big factor in the race, last year, so it’s a bit of a surprise that he didn’t do well in qually.

• Rookie Agustin Canapino bested many series veterans in his first-ever IndyCar oval qualifying. This guy is the real deal.

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Agustin Canapino comments on his first IndyCar oval qually session:

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

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Next up, the whole field will go out for a special practice to get some Firestone rubber down on the 2nd groove - the “highline” - hopefully to make it more racy on Sunday.

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[MarkyS]

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Saturday at Texas - The IndyCars hold final practice before Sunday’s race. …

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The final practice session was divided up into two sessions - one specifically to try to rubber in the highline on the track and one for the last chance to either gain information for the race or to adjust cars for either more speed or better traction - or both.

The highline effort was also divided into two groups of 14 cars each, to allow cars the freedom of space to go into the 2nd grove without pressure. Times are immaterial because no one was trying to top the time sheets. Rather, everyone was trying to see what was possible as far as using the 2nd or even 3rd groove of the track.

The only incident was when Conor Daly got very high coming out of Turn 4, hit a bump and spun right next to Benjamin Pedersen. Conor spun three times without hitting anything and Benjamin skillfully avoided hitting Conor.

Take a look:

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

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Following the highline practice was an hour of post-qualifying practice with the full field where anyone could go anywhere on the track they wished to go. As usual, this ends up looking a lot like actual racing, with cars testing themselves and each other at various places on the track at speed. Pit stop practice is also thrown in and that too looked like we were already racing.

As with any post-qually practice session, it is impossible to know what each driver and each team was trying to accomplish. Were they testing tire wear? Were they testing handling issues and fixes? Were they still seeking outright speed or race configuration? All we know for certain is they were NOT testing a qualifying set-up. So, the fast guys in such a session WILL BE among the fast guys in the race, but they may not be the ONLY fast guys in the race.

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Here was the order of speed for the IndyCar P-2 practice session, with times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie; times are for one lap as are the speeds

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1 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 23.3117s for a speed of 222.378mph

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2 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske - time of 23.3732s for a speed of 221.792mph

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3 - Takuma Sato, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 23.4579s for a speed of 220.992mph

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4 - Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske - time of 23.4712s for a speed of 220.866mph

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5 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport - time of 23.4775s for a speed of 220.807mph

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6 - Will Power, Team Penske
7 - Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing
8 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren
9 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
10 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing

11 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren
12 - Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport
13 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren
14 - David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports
15 - Agustin Canapino [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing
16 - Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Autosport
17 - Sting Ray Robb [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
18 - Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing
19 - Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
20 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing

21 - Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing
22 - Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Steinbrenner
23 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
24 - Benjamin Pedersen [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises
25 - Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises
26 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing
27 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
28 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing - no time

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Notable:

• Most of the fastest cars spent a lot of time exploring the highline, but no one was up there more than Pato O’Ward who seemed to be planning a highline race strategy. Don’t be surprised if he makes a lot of passes early in the race by going high.

• Speeds are higher than qually speeds because everyone is getting a tow out there with the traffic around them. It makes a huge difference, clearly.

• Unless it is used a lot, the highline will eventually become treacherous just because of the marbles that will be spit into it, so it will likely be used only in the first half of the race or in desperation.

• Josef Newgarden put in the most laps in practice at 106 while Helio Castroneves wasn’t able to run at all, due to a bad bearing in his transmission.

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Scott Dixon - a legacy of speed at Texas

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The race is scheduled for Sunday LIVE broadcast on NBC starting at 12:00pm EASTERN time with concurrent broadcast on Peacock Premium.

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This was the last on-track activity of the day.

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