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| IndyCar begins a new decade in St. Petersburg |
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday March 15th with green flag scheduled for 3:45 p.m. ET.
Channel: NBCSN
Announcers; Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Marty Snider, Kelli Stavast, Robin Miller and James Hinchcliffe will work pit lane.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 10:45-11:30 a.m. ET (45 minutes)*
Second Practice: 3:00-3:45 p.m. ET (45 minutes)*
Saturday:
Final Practice: 10:45-11:30 a.m. ET (45 minutes)*
Qualifying: 2:40 p.m. ET (Taped-delay coverage at 10:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN)*
Sunday:
Race: 3:30 p.m. ET
* - All practice and qualifying sessions are available live with the NBC Sports Gold IndyCar pass.
Penske Going For Ten
Team Penske enters 2020 having won four of the previous six championship and it could not ask for a better place to start a season than St. Petersburg.
Team Penske has won nine of 16 St. Petersburg races, including four of the last six races.
Josef Newgarden launched his 2019 championship campaign with a strong St. Petersburg victory and Newgarden became the fifth different driver to win at St. Petersburg for Team Penske. He was also the first driver to win the championship after winning the first race in the season since Will Power did it in 2014. Newgarden could become the third consecutive driver to win consecutive St. Petersburg races. Juan Pablo Montoya won the 2015 and 2016 races, driving for Team Penske in both and Sébastien Bourdais won the 2017 and 2018 races with Dale Coyne Racing.
The lone Penske driver without a St. Petersburg victory is Simon Pagenaud, who is coming off being vice-champion in 2019, finishing 25 points off his teammate Newgarden. Pagenaud is entering 2020 with nine consecutive top ten finishes, with five top five finishes in his last seven starts. In eight St. Petersburg starts, Pagenaud has four top five finishes and six top ten finishes. He was twice runner-up in 2016 and 2017. While having good finishes, Pagenaud has only made it out of the first round of qualifying three times in his career at St. Petersburg. Two of those starts were on the front row in 2015 and 2016.
Will Power has one of the best qualifying records at St. Petersburg having qualified on the front row for the last five races and 10 out of 12 times at this track. While the qualifying record has been outstanding, the race record has not been as good. Last year's third place finish came after back-to-back years with finishes of 19th and tenth. He missed the 2016 race due to an inner-ear condition. Power is looking to tie Hélio Castroneves' record for most St. Petersburg victories at three. Power won this race in 2010 and 2014.
Andretti's Heavy Heart
This will be Andretti Autosport's first race since the passing of John Andretti, cousin of team owner Michael Andretti. John Andretti succumbed to his battle with colon cancer on January 30th. John drove three races with Andretti Autosport between the 2010 and 2011 seasons with his best finish being ninth at Kansas in 2010. Today would have been John's 57th birthday.
Alexander Rossi was the top Andretti Autosport driver in the championship in 2019 but he failed to lead a lap in the final seven races of 2019, had one top five finish in the final four races and dropped to third in the championship after spending much of it second behind Newgarden. Rossi has finished in the top five in the last two St. Petersburg races.
Colton Herta has been integrated into the Andretti Autosport fold with Harding Steinbrenner Racing merging with the team during the offseason and his season is already off to a rough start. The hauler containing Herta's car caught fire ten miles from the paddock in St. Petersburg on Wednesday morning. No one was hurt in the fire and the car was salvaged and will be used this weekend. However, the team did lose pit equipment and has had to scramble in late preparations for this race.
Herta is the most recent winner in IndyCar after a dominant victory at Laguna Seca. That victory, combined with a fourth-place finish at Portland, lifted him to seventh in the championship after being 14th after Gateway.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was eighth in the championship in 2019, his third consecutive season in the top ten of the championship, but it was the second time in three years he did not score a race victory. Hunter-Reay had only one top five finish in the final eight races of 2019, a third at Mid-Ohio. His only other podium finish in 2019 was third at Austin. It was the first time Hunter-Reay had fewer than three podium finishes in a season since he had two in 2010.
Marco Andretti turns 33 years old on Friday and he will be looking to get a little late present on Sunday. Andretti was 16th in the championship last year and did not score a top five finish over the 17 races. He has only three top five finishes in the last four seasons. He has not had a top five finish at St. Petersburg since he finished third in the 2013 race.
Zach Veach will start his third full IndyCar season after finishing 18th in the 2019 championship. Like Andretti, Veach did not have a top five finish in 2019 and he had only three top ten finishes over the 17 races. He only started in the top ten on three occasions in 2019. He has finished 16th and 14th in his first two St. Petersburg starts.
Andretti Autosport has two victories at St. Petersburg. Dan Wheldon won this race in 2005, 1-2-3-4 finish for the team with Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti and Bryan Herta taking the remaining positions. James Hinchcliffe won the 2013 race for the team with the aforementioned Andretti taking third.
Familiar Faces in New Places
There has been plenty of movement this IndyCar offseason and here are some of the driver changes of note for the 2020 season opener.
Sébastien Bourdais was the top driver from the 2019 championship to have a ride change for 2020. Bourdais has moved to A.J. Foyt Racing after finishing 11th last year in the championship for Dale Coyne Racing. Bourdais will run St. Petersburg, Barber, Long Beach and Portland in the #14 Chevrolet for Foyt. Bourdais ended 2019 with seven top ten finishes in the final ten races but he did not have a top five finish after Barber last year. This is Bourdais' fifth team in his IndyCar career.
Bourdais isn't the only new driver at A.J. Foyt Racing. Charlie Kimball will return to full competition in the #4 Chevrolet, replacing Matheus Leist. Kimball made seven starts in 2019, all with Carlin, and he picked up tenth place finishes at Pocono and Portland. In his last 41 starts, Kimball has only one top five finish. This will be his tenth St. Petersburg start. His best finish was ninth in 2012.
After a rookie season with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Marcus Ericsson's sophomore season will take place at Chip Ganassi Racing in the #8 Honda. Ericsson moves over after finishing 17th in the championship with the highlight being a runner-up finish to Scott Dixon at the second Belle Isle race. Ericsson is moving to the team after having not finished in the top ten of the final seven races in 2019.
Conor Daly will be back for more IndyCar races, as he has taken over the road/street course portion of the schedule in the #20 Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing. Daly will also run the Indianapolis 500 for the team in an additional entry and it was announced earlier this week that Daly will drive the remaining four oval races in the #59 Carlin Chevrolet. He made seven starts in 2019 between Andretti Autosport, Carlin and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. This is only the third time he will have started at St. Petersburg. He was 13th in the 2016 race with Dale Coyne Racing and 15th in 2017 with Foyt.
Patricio O'Ward will get his long-awaited full IndyCar season in 2020. O'Ward will drive the #5 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP. Last year, O'Ward made seven starts with Carlin and his best finish was eighth at Austin. He also had fastest lap in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. This will be O'Ward first time at St. Petersburg in an IndyCar but he has won at this track in Pro Mazda and Indy Lights.
Class of 2020
St. Petersburg will have four drivers making their IndyCar debut and all three drivers comprise what will the 2020 rookie class.
Oliver Askew is the reigning Indy Lights championship and Askew will drive the #7 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP. In 2019, Askew won seven of 18 races and he had 15 podium finishes.The Floridan will make his debut in his home state and his Road to Indy statistics at St. Petersburg were respectable. He won in U.S. F2000 at St. Petersburg in 2017 with a second place finish. He had finishes of fifth and sixth in 2018 at Pro Mazda and last year he had a third place finish in the first Indy Lights race but contact in race two took him out after only two laps.
Rinus VeeKay was responsible for that contact with Askew and VeeKay follows Askew up to IndyCar. VeeKay will drive the #21 Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing after he was second in the Indy Lights championship, 21 points behind Askew. VeeKay won six races and had 14 podium finishes in Indy Lights. He was the 2018 Pro Mazda champion and swept the St. Petersburg races. In 2017, he had finishes of third and second at this track in U.S. F2000.
Álex Palou brings some more international flare to the 2020 rookie class. Palou will drive the #55 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing after spending 2019 racing in the Super Formula and Super GT championships. Palou was third in the Super Formula championship with a notable race victory in the wet at Fuji. He also had three pole positions, the most in the series. On top of his Japanese experience, Palou won in the GP3 Series at Abu Dhabi in 2015.
While not necessarily running the full season, Felipe Nasr will make his IndyCar debut this weekend in the #31 Chevrolet for Carlin. Nasr has spent the last two season in IMSA's prototype class and he will continue to compete in that class with the Action Express Racing #31 Cadillac. In his first two IMSA season, Nasr won a championship and finished second in the championship. Nasr has made 40 Formula One starts with his career best finish being fifth on debut in the 2015 Australian Grand Prix. His only foray in single-seater racing since leaving Formula One was three Formula E starts last year with Dragon Racing.
The last five rookies of the year in IndyCar have come from five different teams. Schmidt Peterson Motorsports took the 2016 honor with Robert Wickens. Dale Coyne Racing took the 2015 honor with Ed Jones. Ed Carpenter Racing has never had a driver win rookie of the year.
How Have We Not Talked About Scott Dixon?
Yeah! How has Marcus Ericsson been the only Ganassi driver included in the first Track Walk of the 2020? Let's rectify that!
Scott Dixon has never won the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg but a victory here would move Dixon into a tie with Dario Franchitti for second all-time in most different tracks won at. This would be the 24th different circuit Dixon won at in his career. Last year, Dixon was runner-up to Newgarden and it was his fourth runner-up finish at St. Petersburg having previously done it in 2006, 2007 and 2012. The only tracks where Dixon has more runner-up finishes but no victories are Barber and Chicagoland. He has six runner-up finishes at Barber and he has five runner-up finishes at Chicagoland.
While we are taking about Dixon, and we have already touched on Ericsson, let's finish with Felix Rosenqvist, the 2019 IndyCar Rookie of the Year. Rosenqvist was sixth in the championship last year and he had runner-up finishes at Mid-Ohio and Portland. His second place finish at Mid-Ohio was to Dixon by 0.093 seconds. Last year, Rosenqvist led 31 laps at St. Petersburg, his IndyCar debut, but he ended up finishing fourth after being cycled back due to pit strategy. Rosenqvist could become the first driver to win the championship the season after winning rookie of the year since Sébastien Bourdais was CART Rookie of the Year in 2003 and Champ Car champion in 2004.
The Streak Ends at 317
Tony Kanaan will not be on the grid for the 2020 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and it will end his record of 317 consecutive starts. This is the first race Kanaan has not started since the CART Belle Isle on June 17, 2001 when he suffered a concussion during qualifying.
During that 317-race stretch, Kanaan drove for Mo Nunn Racing, Andretti Green/Andretti Autosport, KV Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing and A.J. Foyt Racing. He won 16 races, including the 2013 Indianapolis 500, and he was the 2004 Indy Racing League championship.
This will be the first IndyCar race without either Tony Kanaan or Hélio Castroneves since the 1997 CART finale at Fontana.
With Kanaan retiring, the driver with the longest active consecutive start streak will be Scott Dixon at 258 starts and Marco Andretti has the next longest streak at 234 starts. Dixon's and Andretti's streaks are second- and third-longest all-time. Ryan Hunter-Reay has made 209 consecutive starts, the fifth-longest in IndyCar history and two starts behind Jimmy Vasser's 211 consecutive starts, which was the all-time record prior to Kanaan getting the record at Baltimore in 2013.
Road to Indy
All three Road to Indy series will be starting their 2020 seasons as well in St. Petersburg and all three will have doubleheader weekends.
Indy Lights has ten cars entered for the season opener and the notable name entering the series is Kyle Kirkwood with Andretti Autosport. Kirkwood has won the U.S. F2000 and Indy Pro 2000 championships in successive seasons. He has won 21 of 30 Road to Indy starts. He tested for Andretti Autosport's BMW Formula E team earlier this month in Marrakesh and was fifth quickest and he topped the Indy Lights preseason test at Homestead earlier this week.
Robert Megennis returns to Indy Lights for a second season with Andretti Autosport. Daniel Frost joins Kirkwood as Indy Pro 2000 graduates and Frenchman Tristan Charpentier rounds out the Andretti Autosport lineup.
Toby Sowery is the top driver from the 2019 championship returning to Indy Lights. Sowery has moved to Belardi Auto Racing and his teammate will be Indy Pro 2000 vice-champion Rasmus Lindh.
Santiago Urrutia is returning to Indy Lights for a fourth season after spending 2019 in the TCR Europe Touring Car Series. Urrutia has eight victories in 51 Indy Lights starts and he has finished in the top three of the championship in each of his Indy Lights seasons. The Uruguayan will drive for HMD Motorsports and his teammates will be David Malukas, who returns for a second season, and Antonio Serravalle, who moves up from Indy Pro 2000.
Exclusive Autosport is a new team on the Indy Lights grid and Nikita Latoschkin will drive for the team this season.
Indy Lights will race at 1:35 p.m. ET on Saturday March 14th and 1:15 p.m. ET on Sunday March 15th.
Indy Pro 2000 has a baker's dozen worth of entries for its season opener with the top two drivers from U.S. F2000 each having a ride for the 2020 season.
Reigning U.S. F2000 champion Braden Eves moves up to Indy Pro 2000 with Exclusive Autosport with Hunter McElrea entered with Pabst Racing. Eves is driving for a one-car team while McElrea will have Colin Kaminsky as his teammate. Kaminsky is moving up from U.S. F2000 as well.
Notable Indy Pro 2000 veterans Parker Thompson and Sting Ray Robb are back for 2020. Thompson moves to DEForce Racing while Robb returns with Juncos Racing. Thompson will have three teammates in Moisés de la Vara, Kory Enders and Manuel Sulaimán. Robb will have a new teammate in Artem Petrov, who moves over after running a handful of races with RP Motorsports.
RP Motorports won the championship last year with Kirkwood and the team has Swede Lucas Petersson and American Philippe Denes entered for 2020.
Sabré Cook will be entered for majority of the Indy Pro 2000 races with Team Benik, as she splits her time with his W Series commitments.
Charles Finelli rounds out the Indy Pro 2000 entries.
Indy Pro 2000 will race Friday March 13th at 1:25 p.m. ET and Saturday March 14th at 11:45 a.m. ET.
The largest Road to Indy field this weekend will be U.S. F2000 with 20 entries.
Cape Motorsports has produced nine consecutive U.S. F2000 drivers' champions. This year Cape Motorsports has four drivers entered. Reece Gold is the one returning driver for the team with Team USA Scholarship winner Josh Green joining the team. Michael d'Orlando and Kyle Dupell are the other two drivers in the team.
Prescott Campbell topped testing at Homestead with Exclusive Autosport and his teammate Christian Brooks was third at the test.
Christian Rasmussen was third in the championship last year and he returns but moves to Jay Howard Driver Development. Rasmussen's teammates will be Wyatt Brichacek, Christian Bogle and Nolan Siegel.
Eduardo Barrichello was second at the test and he will drive for Pabst Racing with Yuven Sundaramoorthy and Matt Round-Garrido as his teammates. Christian Shields rounded out the top five in the test and he will drive for Legacy Autosport. Exclusive Autosport has entered two cars for Mathias Ramirez and Kiko Porto.
U.S. F2000 will have race one at 12:30 p.m. on Friday March 13th with race two scheduled for Saturday March 14th at 12:40 p.m. ET.
Fast Facts
This will be the third IndyCar race on March 15th and first since Michael Andretti won at Homestead in 1998.
Last year, Josef Newgarden became the first driver to win the championship after winning the season opener since Will Power in 2014.
Last year, Josef Newgarden became the first driver to win at St. Petersburg in IndyCar and Indy Lights. He won the 2011 Indy Lights race at St. Petersburg.
Six other drivers entered for this year's IndyCar race have won at St. Petersburg in Indy Lights (Marco Andretti, Zach Veach, Felix Rosenqvist, Colton Herta, Patricio O'Ward and Rinus VeeKay).
Last year's St. Petersburg race was the fastest since the race expanded to 110 laps, 198 miles with an average speed of 95.572 MPH.
Graham Rahal and James Hinchcliffe are the only drivers to have their first career IndyCar victory come at St. Petersburg.
Graham Rahal and Josef Newgarden are the only two American drivers to have won the IndyCar race at St. Petersburg.
With 26 cars entered for the 2020 race, this matches the most St. Petersburg entries. The 2008 and 2012 races each had 26 entries.
The average starting position for a St. Petersburg winner is 5.6875 with a median of fourth.
The pole-sitter has not won at St. Petersburg since Will Power in 2010. The only other time the pole-sitter won at St. Petersburg was Hélio Castroneves in 2007.
Fourth starting position has produced five St. Petersburg winners, more than any other starting position.
A St. Petersburg winner has never started third.
Sébastien Bourdais is the only driver to win at St. Petersburg from a starting position outside the top ten. Bourdais won from 21st on the grid in 2017 and from 14th in 2018.
Since 2012, Chevrolet has won six of eight St. Petersburg races. Sébastien Bourdais is the only driver to win for Honda at St. Petersburg since 2012.
The average number of lead changes in a St. Petersburg race is 6.5625 with a median of seven. The most lead changes was 11 in 2018. The fewest lead changes was two in 2003.
The average number of cautions in a St. Petersburg race is 4.25 with a median of five. The average number of caution laps is 18.8125 with a median of 18 lap.
Every St. Petersburg race has had at least two cautions. Four of the last six St. Petersburg races have had exactly two cautions. The fewest caution laps in a St. Petersburg race was eight in 2017.
Possible Milestones:
Scott Dixon needs one victory in 2020 to tie A.J. Foyt's record of 18 seasons with at least one victory.
Will Power is one victory from pole position away from breaking a tie for fourth all-time. Power is tied with Bobby Unser with 16 victories from pole position.
Sébastien Bourdais needs to lead 47 laps to reach the 2,700 laps led milestone.
Ryan Hunter-Reay needs to lead 55 laps to reach the 1,600 laps led milestone.
Alexander Rossi needs to lead 81 laps to reach the 800 laps led milestone.
Takuma Sato needs to lead 91 laps to reach the 800 laps led milestone.
Graham Rahal needs to lead 12 laps to reach the 400 laps led milestone.
Conor Daly needs to lead 28 laps to reach the 100 laps led milestone.
Predictions
Felix Rosenqvist starts the season with a first-time winner and he does it with one Penske driver and one Andretti Autosport driver on the podium. Sébastien Bourdais will finish ahead of both Dale Coyne Racing drivers. Colton Herta rebounds with a top five finish. Ben Hanley does not finish two laps down. There will not be a red flag in qualifying that throws the grids out of sorts. Ryan Hunter-Reay will not suffer an engine failure. Sleeper: Patricio O'Ward.
