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| Hélio Castroneves looks for his fifth Texas win and second consecutive victory in 2014 |
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. ET.
TV Channel: NBCSN
Announcers: Brian Till (Leigh Diffey is on Formula One duty at Montreal), Paul Tracy, Townsend Bell, Kevin Lee, Kelli Stavast, Jon Beekhuis and Robin Miller.
Race Notes
Race is schedule for 248 laps.
This is the first race night race of the 2014 season.
Twenty-two cars are entered with Mikhail Aleshin, Carlos Muñoz, Jack Hawksworth, Carlos Huertas and Juan Pablo Montoya all making their first IndyCar start at Texas.
IndyCar and Texas Motor Speedway have a one-year deal for 2014, meaning this could be the final time IndyCar runs at the 1.5-mile oval.
Race is schedule for 248 laps.
This is the first race night race of the 2014 season.
Twenty-two cars are entered with Mikhail Aleshin, Carlos Muñoz, Jack Hawksworth, Carlos Huertas and Juan Pablo Montoya all making their first IndyCar start at Texas.
IndyCar and Texas Motor Speedway have a one-year deal for 2014, meaning this could be the final time IndyCar runs at the 1.5-mile oval.
Will Penske or Ganassi Continue Their Dominance?
Since downsizing to one IndyCar weekend in the 2005 season, Penske and Ganassi have won eight of ten races to occur on the 1.5-mile oval. Hélio Castroneves picked up his fourth career Texas victory last year after leading 132 laps from sixth on the grid. Will Power picked up his first career oval victory in 2011 at Texas, winning the second race of the lone doubleheader to occur at Texas Motor Speedway. Sam Hornish, Jr. and Ryan Briscoe picked up Penske's other two victories since 2005 with Gil de Ferran winning his final career IndyCar start in 2003 driving for Penske.
Ganassi has two victories at Texas since 2005 with Scott Dixon winning from pole in his championship season of 2008. Dario Franchitti won the first race of the 2011 doubleheader. Ganassi's other Texas victory was Jeff Ward's lone IndyCar victory in June 2002 when he passed Al Unser, Jr. on the final lap.
The last non-Penske/Ganassi winners were by Tomas Scheckter for the now-defunct Panther Racing in 2005. Scheckter led 109 laps from pole position that night. Justin Wilson won his first career oval race at Texas in 2012 after then-Ganassi driver Graham Rahal brushed the wall coming to the white flag, relegating the American to second and handing Dale Coyne Racing their second victory in team's history.
Andretti Autosport is the only other active team on the IndyCar grid with a win at Texas. Tony Kanaan won the Texas race in June 2004 on the way to his lone championship. He led 145 laps after starting third with Dario Franchitti making it an Andretti 1-2 finish.
Can Ryan Hunter-Reay Rebound?
He went from Indianapolis 500 winner and Verizon IndyCar Series points leader to 16th and 19th at Belle Isle and dropping to third in the standings. Texas has not been the Texas-born Hunter-Reay's best track. In seven Texas starts, Hunter-Reay's average finish is 13.42 but he scored his best finish at Texas last year with a second place finish and that came after retiring in race two at Belle Isle and finishing eighteenth.
Retaking the points lead at Texas though maybe to great a feat for the 2012 IndyCar championship. The two drivers Hunter-Reay trails in the championship standings not only drive for Penske but Will Power and Helio Castroneves have average finishes of 7.666 and 6.625 respectively at Texas.
Who Can End A Drought?
Graham Rahal, Marco Andretti, Justin Wilson, Ryan Briscoe and Ed Carpenter haven't visited victory lane in a while.
Let's start with Rahal. Should he win another race in his IndyCar career, it would break Johnny Rutherford's 41-year old record for most starts between victories. Rutherford made 97 starts between victories at Atlanta in 1965 and Ontario in 1973. Texas will mark Rahal's 103rd start since his lone victory at St. Petersburg in 2008. We all remember's Rahal's brush in 2012 that cost him victory but his overall track record at Texas is dismal with an average finish of 15.83.
Marco Andretti will be making his 50th start since his 2011 victory at Iowa this weekend. He has racked up ten top-fives finishes since that victory including a fifth place finish last year at Texas after leading 57 laps. Andretti's previous Texas performances go back in forth. His average finish at Texas is 11.1 with four top-tens being counterbalanced by three finishes outside the top fifteen.
Justin Wilson's Texas win in 2012 is his most recent in IndyCar but he has been knocking on the door. Wilson has eight top-fives in thirty-four starts since his Texas win however he has only one second-place finish in that time frame. That came at Sonoma last year. Outside of his Texas win though, Wilson's best finish at Texas is fifteenth and his average finish on the 1.5 mile oval is 16.42.
Ryan Briscoe has only made sixteen starts his last victory but that is thanks to a part-time schedule in 2013. The last time the Australian led the field under the checkered flag was Sonoma 2012. While experiencing great success last year in sports cars (six LMP2 victories in eight starts in 2013 driving for Level 5 Motorsports in the final season of ALMS), Briscoe has only one top-five finish in IndyCar since his Sonoma victory. Texas could be Briscoe's breakout in 2014. He has finished on the podium at Texas in five of his seven starts at the track with an average finish of 4.28 all-time at Texas.
Ed Carpenter's last victory may have only been 20 starts ago but since he is only running ovals, his chances at victories are much fewer. He finished second at Fontana last year and was a contender for the Indianapolis 500 victory before having an accident with James Hinchcliffe with 25 laps to go. Carpenter picked up his career-best Texas finish last year by finishing fourth. Carpenter is always a contender on ovals. His average oval finish in 2013 was 7.16.
Fun Facts
The last pole sitter to win at Texas Motor Speedway was Ryan Briscoe in 2010. The pole-sitter has won at Texas on six occasions.
Justin Wilson's victory in 2012 from seventeenth is the furthest back a Texas winner has started.
This year's Texas race is the first IndyCar race on June 7th since 2008 when Scott Dixon won at Texas.
Scott Dixon needs to lead 246 laps to become the eighth driver to join the 4,500 laps led club.
Juan Pablo Montoya needs to lead 210 laps to become the twenty-third driver to join the 2,000 laps led club.
Ryan Briscoe needs to lead 65 laps to become the twenty-seventh driver to join the 1,500 laps led club.
Remember more facts can always be found at the Telemetry Center.
Prediction
Marco Andretti wins. Tony Kanaan and Ed Carpenter round out the top podium. Ryan Hunter-Reay recovers for a top ten but does not get the points lead. Top finishing rookie will be Carlos Muñoz. Penske puts two cars in the top ten. Mikhail Aleshin finishes ahead of his teammate Simon Pagenaud. Sleepers: Ryan Briscoe and Josef Newgarden.
