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| A record entry list is ready for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis |
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 12:00 p.m. ET on Saturday July 4 with green flag scheduled for 12:08 p.m. ET.
Channel: NBC
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy will be in the booth. Marty Snider and Dave Burns will work pit lane.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 11:30 a.m. ET (90 minutes)*
Qualifying: 4:30 p.m. ET (Live coverage on NBCSN)
Saturday:
Warm-Up: 9:00 a.m. ET (30 minutes)*
Race: 12:08 p.m. ET (80 laps)
* - All practice and qualifying sessions are available live with the NBC Sports Gold IndyCar pass.
Penske's First Home Race
This will be the first race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway since Roger Penske's Penske Entertainment Group purchased the facility and the IndyCar Series from Hulman & Co. last November. What has been jokingly known as Penske's backyard after all his team's success at the facility is now legally his.
Penske's first home race comes in the form of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, a race Team Penske has won the last five years.
Simon Pagenaud picked up his third Grand Prix of Indianapolis victory last year after a breathtaking drive in the wet that saw him charge to the lead with just over two laps to go. Pagenaud's final pass came on Scott Dixon in turn nine, a place no one would fathom to make a move in the dry. Prior to that point in the race, Team Penske had led 23 laps with Josef Newgarden having led 20 before putting on slicks before the rain started to fall forced him to back another pit stop and knocked him to the back of field. Pagenaud led three laps under caution before that final restart.
Pagenaud is tied with Will Power for most Grand Prix of Indianapolis victories. Pagenaud and Power are the only two drivers to win the race, each sitting on three victories. Power does boast the better average finish at 6.2 with three victories and five top ten finishes. Every time Power has led the race, he has won it and he has won all three times from pole position. In the three races Power did not start on pole position, he finished worse than his starting position.
Pagenaud's average finish is only a half position worse than Power's at 6.7 and, outside of a retirement in 2015 due to a gearbox problem, Pagenaud has five top ten finishes and he has never started worse than eighth in this race. In fact, last year, Pagenaud won from eighth, the worst starting position for a Grand Prix of Indianapolis winner.
While Pagenaud and Power have outstanding track records in this race, the Grand Prix of Indianapolis is historically one of Josef Newgarden's worst events.
Newgarden has never finished in the top ten in this race. His best finish was 11th in 2017 and 2018. Those are the only two years he started in the top ten. Last year, he led 20 laps from 13th on the grid. In his prior five Grand Prix of Indianapolis starts, he led one lap. In terms of average finish, the Grand Prix of Indianapolis is tied with the Indianapolis 500 for Newgarden's worst average finish among active tracks at 15.8.
Heading into Indianapolis, Pagenaud leads the way sitting second in the championship on 40 points. Newgarden is three points behind Pagenaud after starting on pole position at Texas and leading 41 laps. Power is 13th in the championship on 17 points. This is the lowest Power has been in the championship since he was 14th after Phoenix in 2018. Meanwhile, Newgarden has been in the top five of the championship for 34 consecutive races and he has been in the top ten of the championship for 46 consecutive races. Newgarden has never been outside the top ten of the championship as a Penske driver. Pagenaud has been in the top four of the championship since his Grand Prix of Indianapolis victory last year.
New Ironman
With Tony Kanaan stepping aside, his consecutive start streak ends at 318 consecutive races and the new active leader in consecutive starts will be the IndyCar championship leader, Scott Dixon.
Dixon will attempt to make his 260th consecutive start this weekend, the second longest behind only Kanaan's streak. Dixon will do whilst leading the championship, sitting on 53 points after a dominating night in Texas a month ago. Dixon has never started a season with consecutive victories and only twice in his career has he started with consecutive podium finishes (2007 and 2012). The last time Dixon won consecutive races was when he won three-consecutive in 2013, taking victory at Pocono and sweeping the Toronto doubleheader.
Dixon has finished runner-up in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis the last three years. Last year's 39 laps led were the first time he led the race since he led one lap in 2015 during pit cycle. He has started in the top ten in all but one Grand Prix of Indianapolis, and that was when he started 18th in 2018.
The last race Dixon missed was the 2004 Milwaukee IRL race after a pair of accidents in practice and qualifying left him with a chipped bone in his right hand and an ankle sprain.
Two other notable active consecutive start streaks belong to Andretti Autosport drivers.
Marco Andretti has the third longest streak in IndyCar history at 235 consecutive starts. Andretti has not missed a race in his IndyCar career. His streak dates back to his debut at Homestead in 2006. He has yet to start or finish in the top ten for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. His best starting position was 11th in 2017 and he has finished 13th the last two years, his best result. Despite lacking a positive finish, Andretti has completed 500 of 501 laps in the history of this event.
Ryan Hunter-Reay could tie Jimmy Vasser for fourth longest consecutive start streak at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Vasser sits on 211 consecutive starts, and that was the record before Kanaan surpassed him at Baltimore in 2013. Hunter-Reay clawed out an eighth-place finish at Texas despite the setback of an electrical glitch on the grid, which caused him to start at the rear of the field and did enforce a drive-through penalty. Hunter-Reay has been wishy-washy in this event. He was second in the inaugural running and he was third in 2017, but he has started outside the top ten on four occasions and he has finished 18th and 17th the last two years. He has not led in this race since the inaugural race in 2014.
Fighting From Behind
With a 14-race calendar versus a 17-race calendar, and the Indianapolis 500 being the only double points race, drivers who did not have the best night at Texas find themselves in a deeper hole than usual after the first race of the season.
The most notable name is Alexander Rossi, who is 15th in the championship, 38 points behind Dixon. Like Hunter-Reay, Rossi suffered the same electrical problem at the start of Texas and was handed the same penalties. Rossi added insult to injury with a pit lane speeding penalty when serving his drive-through. This forced another trip down pit lane and another lap lost. Rossi could not get back on the lead lap.
For the first time since after Phoenix in 2017, Rossi finds himself outside the top ten in the championship. He has also not led a lap in the last eight races. The Grand Prix of Indianapolis has not been Rossi's greatest race. He has never started better than eighth, but he did have three consecutive top ten finishes prior to last year, with his best result being fifth. Rossi has finished outside the top ten in three of his last five starts after having 19 top ten finishes in the prior 20 races.
Graham Rahal was another Honda driver to suffered glitches on the grid in Texas and it set Rahal just as far behind as Rossi. Rahal is 17th in the championship, 40 points off Dixon, and Rahal is burrowed in a rut. He has finished outside the top ten in the last four races. His last top five finish was fourth at Road America last year and his last podium finish was third at Texas last year.
In the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Rahal has five consecutive top ten finishes, but his finishing position has been declining each year. He was runner-up to Power in 2015 but he has finished fourth, sixth, sixth and ninth since. Last year, he did start seventh, his best start on the IMS road course.
Felix Rosenqvist was the second-best car of the night at Texas until he was caught in lapped traffic and a desperate move to get around James Hinchcliffe in turn two sent Rosenqvist into the wall. Instead of entering Indianapolis second in the championship on 40 points, Rosenqvist is 20th on ten points.
The Grand Prix of Indianapolis was a site of Rosenqvist's first IndyCar pole position last year, but he faded in the race, finishing eighth after leading 15 laps.
Takuma Sato had made 169 consecutive starts entering Texas, the eighth longest streak in IndyCar history, but for the first time in Sato's IndyCar career he was not on the grid after his qualifying accident. With Sato back at zero, he will have to fight from 24th in the championship on six points. He has finished eighth, 12th and ninth in the championship the last three seasons and 24th is his worst championship position since he was 24th after Barber in 2010, his third IndyCar start.
Sato has never started in the top ten for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, but he has started 11th the last two years. He was the ninth-place finisher in the first two editions of this race, but he has yet to improve on that result.
Holiday Guests
With this being the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, a few more entries have been attracted for this holiday race. This will be the largest Grand Prix of Indianapolis with 26 entries.
James Hinchcliffe is back for his second start of 2020. Like Texas, Hinchcliffe will be in the #29 Gensys Honda for Andretti Autosport. Hinchcliffe was 18th at the season opener. He drove for Andretti Autosport in the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis, but his race ended early after a piece of debris hit him in the head, knocking him out of the race on lap 57. His best Grand Prix of Indianapolis finish was third in 2016.
Sage Karam returns to the grid with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in the #24 Wix Filters Chevrolet. This is Karam's first race since driving for Carlin at Iowa last year and this is D&R's first race that wasn't the Indianapolis 500 since São Paulo 2013. Oriol Servià drove to a fourth-place finish that day.
This will be Karam's Grand Prix of Indianapolis debut and his first IndyCar race on a natural-terrain road course since Mid-Ohio 2015. Karam's only race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course was the 2014 IMSA race, the Brickyard Grand Prix. Karam was runner-up with Scott Pruett driving for Chip Ganassi Racing behind the #5 Action Express Racing entry of Christian Fittipaldi and João Barbosa.
Spencer Pigot will drive the #45 Shield Cleansers/Mi-Jack Honda for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Citrone/Buhl Autosport partnership. Pigot made his first three IndyCar starts with RLLR in 2016, which included the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. He was 11th that day and since he has finished in the top ten in two of his last three Grand Prix of Indianapolis starts. He picked up a fifth-place finish last year, his best result at this race. Pigot has completed 337 of 337 laps in his four Grand Prix of Indianapolis starts.
Rookie Rebound
While Oliver Askew had an encouraging IndyCar debut at Texas with a ninth-place finish, two of the other rookies are hoping things only go up in their second starts.
Rinus VeeKay spun after getting high in turn two, and VeeKay collided with the innocent bystander, and fellow debutant, Álex Palou, who had exited pit lane after making his first pit stop. Both cars were out of the race after 36 laps.
Race aside, VeeKay had a rough day at Texas. The Dutchman completed only 11 laps in practice before he spun in turn four after clipping the apron. This kept him from making a qualifying run and forced him to start at the rear of the field.
Palou had a positive debut weekend. He was the quickest rookie in practice and qualifying and he was faster than his Dale Coyne Racing teammate Santino Ferrucci by just under two-tenths of a second.
Askew and VeeKay have both made six Road to Indy starts at the IMS road course. Askew swept the 2017 U.S. F2000 races, finished second and fourth in Pro Mazda and second and third in Indy Lights. VeeKay was sixth and second in U.S. F2000, third and 14th in Pro Mazda and third and first in Indy Lights, with his victory coming from pole position.
Dalton Kellett will make his IndyCar debut this weekend in the #14 K-Line Insulators Chevrolet for A.J. Foyt Racing. Kellett is scheduled to drive eight races this season for A.J. Foyt Racing, seven will be in the #14 Chevrolet with Kellett shifting over to an additional entry for the Indianapolis 500. The Canadian made 126 starts in the Road to Indy from 2012 to 2019. In his Indy Lights career, Kellett scored zero victories, eight podium finishes and 16 top five finishes. He did make 13 starts on the IMS road course across the three Road to Indy Series. His best finish at the track was in his first start at the track, fourth in the first Pro Mazda race in 2014.
Fast Facts
This will be the 54th IndyCar race to take place on July 4 and the first since 2010, when Will Power won at Watkins Glen.
The previous two July 4 races were in 1982, the inaugural Grand Prix of Cleveland, which Bobby Rahal won, and in 2004 at Kansas, which Buddy Rice won driving for Rahal Letterman Racing.
There has been an IndyCar race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. On July 4, 1910, Joe Dawson won the Cobe Trophy Race, an 80-lap, 200-mile race around the 2.5-mile oval. Bob Burman was second with Ray Harroun in third.
Last year, Simon Pagenaud became the second consecutive driver to win the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and Indianapolis 500 in the same year. Will Power did it the year prior.
Last year, Pagenaud became the sixth driver to win on both the oval and road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, joining Alex Lloyd, Jack Harvey, Dean Stoneman, Colton Herta and Power.
Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi, Takuma Sato and Oliver Askew could all become the seventh driver to win on both the oval and road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Marco Andretti, Newgarden, Herta, Harvey, and Askew could become the first driver to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indy Lights and IndyCar.
Honda has not won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis since the inaugural race when Simon Pagenaud won driving for Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports.
The driver who has led the most laps has won four of six Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The exceptions are Pagenaud in 2014, who led six laps, and Pagenaud in 2019, who led five laps.
One of the top five finishers has started outside the top fifteen in every Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
The average starting position for a Grand Prix of Indianapolis winner is 2.667 with a median of one.
The average number of lead changes in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis is 8.8333 with a median of 9.5.
Three Grand Prix of Indianapolis have had ten lead changes or more.
The average number of cautions in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis is two with a median of two. The average number of caution laps is 8.5 with a median of nine.
The most cautions in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis was four in 2014. The fewest was zero in 2017.
Four of the previous six Grand Prix of Indianapolis have had a caution on the first lap; all four of those have occurred between the starting line and turn two.
Possible Milestones:
Ryan Hunter-Reay needs to lead 55 laps to reach the 1,600 laps led milestone.
James Hinchcliffe needs to lead 24 laps to reach the 800 laps led milestone.
Graham Rahal needs to lead 12 laps to reach the 400 laps led milestone.
Predictions
Alexander Rossi gets off the snide but has to fight off at least two Team Penske drivers. Josef Newgarden will finally get a top ten finish in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Felix Rosenqvist bounces back and finishes in the top five. Scott Dixon will also be in the top five. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has what the team would describe as a frustrating weekend. Álex Palou will be the top rookie and top Dale Coyne Racing driver. Rinus VeeKay completes more than 47 laps. Dalton Kellett will be the bottom of his qualifying group. Patricio O'Ward will not run into the back of another driver at the start. Jack Harvey will spend fewer laps running in the top three. There will not be a need for wet tires during the race. Sleeper: Charlie Kimball.
