Race Weekend Central

IndyCar Preview: 2015 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

Indycar 2015 St. Pete Juan Pablo Montoya Will Power Racing Credit John Cote

(Photo: John Cote/INDYCAR)

Last weekend the drivers in IndyCar finally got out of their own way (for most of the race) and held a decent event. After the messiness of St. Pete and the less than spectacular debut of the aero kits, followed by the rain-soaked race in NOLA, it was good to have some solid competition. With …

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IndyCar Disappoints 3 Races In

Indycar 2015 Nola Bourdais Hunter Reay Contact Credit Bret Kelley

Photo Credit: Bret Kelley

You may as well call it the Murphy’s Law IndyCar Series … Whatever could go wrong, has this season, providing a really flat and disappointing start to what was designed to be an exciting follow-up to the three really fantastic years that preceded it. With the development and introduction of the DW12, IndyCar reinvented itself …

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Happiness Is… Welfare, Sarcasm & Barber

2015 Bristol I Cup Kasey Kahne Window Vertical Credit Amy Henderson

Photo Credit: Amy Henderson, Frontstretch

In the column last week, Happiness Is railed against the concept of safety within NASCAR by questioning the rule change that allows teams to forego hitting all give lugnuts when slapping four fresh Goodyears on a car. Sure, allowing the teams to, in essence, police themselves has worked out so far in theory, which can …

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Open-Wheel Wednesday: Taking Stock of the 2015 IndyCar Season After 3 Races

Indycar 2015 St. Pete Juan Pablo Montoya Will Power Racing Credit John Cote

(Photo: John Cote/INDYCAR)

Open-Wheel Wednesday – This week is a group chat with Matt Stallknecht, Toni Montgomery, Huston Ladner, and Aaron Bearden.   Huston: What you got to start us off with? Anyone‏? Toni: Well let’s see there’s the new aero kits.‏ Matt: I’d say the aero kits have been a modest success thus far‏. Toni: I’d say …

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IndyCar Preview: 2015 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

Indycar 2015 St. Pete Juan Pablo Montoya Will Power Racing Credit John Cote

(Photo: John Cote/INDYCAR)

So if the debris-fest at St. Petersburg didn’t exactly get your IndyCar juices flowing, then it’s likely that the most recent race in Louisiana did even less to raise your excitement level. Though the organizers and teams, and surely James Hinchcliffe, won’t be calling the race a debacle, from a fan’s perspective the premiere in …

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Pippa Mann Confirms 2015 Indianapolis 500 Run

Pippa Mann Pink Indy 500

(Photo: Pippa Mann)

Verizon IndyCar Series driver Pippa Mann confirmed this morning that she will run the Indianapolis 500 with Dale Coyne Racing. Once again, Mann will sport her pink gear and car in support of breast cancer awareness through Susan G. Komen. This year’s race will be the fourth for the driver at the Brickyard. Last year, …

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Happiness Is… Bristol, The Beach & Bahrain

Indycar 2015 Nola James Hinchcliffe Frontstretch Paing Credit Chris Jones

Photo Credit: Chris Jones

Kyle Busch popped out of his groundhog’s hole this week, meaning that NASCAR will feature six more weeks of uninspiring racing. OK, Busch’s appearance may not have signaled such a thing, but surely his absence from the track does nothing to better the product. However, by meeting with the media, Busch did address one of …

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Open-Wheel Wednesday: A Moratorium on Racing in the Rain

Indycar 2015 Nola James Hinchcliffe On Track Credit Chris Owens

Photo Credit: Chris Owens

I’m not sure when or why it happened, but it seems that motorsports fans have developed a strange affinity for racing in the rain in recent years. And to be quite frank, the fascination confuses me. With the exception of Formula 1 and select sports car series, no series on the planet is currently capable …

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Couch Potato Tuesday: Waltrip Double Trouble in Texas

Indycar 2015 Nola Fans Sign Credit Chris Owens

(Photo: INDYCAR Media)

Oh boy, we’ve got a double dose of Waltrip this week in Couch Potato Tuesday. That’s never a great sign. Duck Commander 500 Even with the Robertsons hanging around Texas Motor Speedway last weekend, and everything that comes with them hanging around, the Waltrips once again stole the show in Texas. That’s not necessarily a …

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IndyCar Recap: 2015 Grand Prix of New Orleans

Indycar 2015 Nola James Hinchcliffe Thumbs Up Credit Chris Jones

Photo Credit: Chris Jones

In a Nutshell: James Hinchcliffe had the winning lottery number in a race so disjointed that the only real determining factor of the race’s final finishing order was a twisted combination of luck and strategy. Key Moment:  The second half of the race was essentially nothing more than a series of caution periods. On a lap …

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Pace Laps: Youth Prevails, Redemption in Vegas, Controversy & More

Indycar 2015 Nola Simon Pagenaud In Grass Credit Bret Kelley

Photo Credit: Bret Kelley

Xfinity Series: The Future Has Arrived – It only took nine races until Erik Jones drove a Joe Gibbs Racing car into Victory Lane. The soon-to-be 19-year-old outran two Cup Series veterans at Texas, and in doing so, gave JGR its first Xfinity Series win since Matt Kenseth‘s triumph in the season-finale last year. Jones’s victory …

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Beyond the Cockpit: Dale Harrigle, Bridgestone Motorsports’ Chief Engineer & Manager of Race Tire Development

Indycar 2015 Nola Francesco Dracone On Track Credit Bret Kelley

Photo: Bret Kelley

The Verizon IndyCar Series heads to a new venue this week in NOLA Motorsports Park. New venues can mean a lot of unknowns, but teams this weekend can go in knowing that the tires should not be one of them. A quick talk with the powers that be tells us why that side of the …

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