IndyCar is at Texas Motor Speedway for the twenty-fifth time in the tracks seventeen year history. Justin Wilson looks to become the first driver to win back-to-back races at Texas and should he do so he would break his own record of farthest starting position for a winner. Last year, Wilson came from seventeenth to pass Graham Rahal with two laps to go after Rahal brushed the wall exiting turn four. Wilson starts twentieth tonight.
The front row is occupied by Will Power and Marco Andretti. Will Power has a win a Texas Motor Speedway. He won the second race of the Firestone Twin 275's in 2011, the only year a doubleheader was held at Texas Motor Speedway. Marco Andretti is looking for his first win since Iowa in 2011. Andretti has two top five finishes at Texas Motor Speedway.
Ryan Hunter-Reay starts third and looks to become the first Texas-born driver to win at Texas Motor Speedway. Hunter-Reay was born in Dallas. Dario Franchitti starts fourth looking for his second career win at Texas. He won the first race of the Firestone Twin 275's in 2011. EJ Viso starts in fifth position. Viso is looking for his first career victory. Three drivers have won their first career race at Texas (Billy Boat, Mark Dismore and Jeff Ward) however it was the only victory of their careers.
Helio Castroneves starts sixth and looks for his fourth career victory at Texas Motor Speedway. Castroneves is currently tied with Sam Hornish Jr. for most wins at Texas Motor Speedway at three. Josef Newgarden and Charlie Kimball make up row four. Kimball's best finish at Texas is twenty-third. Ed Carpenter and James Jakes rounds out the top ten. Carpenter's best finish at Texas is ninth on three occasions.
Scott Dixon and James Hinchcliffe start on row six. Dixon led 130 laps last year at Texas but had an accident while running second with 54 laps to go. Hinchcliffe has two wins this season but those are his only top ten finishes of the season. Tony Kanaan and Alex Tagliani make up row seven. While Kanaan won just two weeks ago at Indianapolis, Tagliani has not won since August 8, 2004 at Road America. Sébastien Bourdais starts fifteenth in his first oval race outside of Indianapolis in seven years and four days. That race was held at Milwaukee and Bourdais won after leading 117 laps. Oriol Serviá starts seventeenth in his first race for Panther Racing. His best finish at Texas is twentieth in four races.
Graham Rahal starts seventeenth. The Ohioan is fourteenth in points and is coming off back-to-back ninth place finishes at Belle Isle. Sebastián Saavedra starts eighteenth. His only starts at Texas were the Twin 275's where the Colombian finished twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth respectively. Pippa Mann starts a career best nineteen in his fourth career start. This is her first appearance at Texas Motor Speedway. She starts on the same row as her Dale Coyne teammate Justin Wilson.
Takuma Sato starts twenty-first though not making a qualifying run. A gearbox changed prevented the Japanese drivers from making an attempt. Simona de Silvestro, Simon Pagenaud and Tristan Vautier will round out the final three positions. All are serving ten grid spot penalties for engine changes.
Coverage of the Firestone 550 begins at 8:30 p.m. ET, live on ABC. This is the first IndyCar race shown on network TV in prime time.
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