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| After seven years, IndyCar makes its Austin debut |
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday March 24th with green flag scheduled for 1:40 p.m. ET.
Channel: NBCSN
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Jon Beekhuis, Kelli Stavast, Marty Snider and Robin Miller will work pit lane.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 11:15 a.m. ET (45 minutes)*
Second Practice: 3:05 p.m. ET (60 minutes)*
Saturday:
Third Practice: 11:00 a.m. ET (45 minutes)*
Qualifying: 3:00 p.m. ET (Live coverage on NBCSN)
Sunday:
Race: 1:40 p.m. ET (60 laps)
* - All practice and qualifying sessions are available live with the NBC Sports Gold IndyCar pass.
Will Testing Results Carry Over?
IndyCar has already been to Circuit of the Americas on an official capacity, as the track hosted IndyCar's official preseason test in the middle of February.
During those two days, one driver was on top for three of the four sessions and Colton Herta was that driver. The Harding Steinbrenner Racing driver topped the preseason test with a time of 106.6258 seconds in the second session of the weekend and his top time was 0.2277 seconds faster than Alexander Rossi. Rossi's top time came in the final session of the two-day test and Herta was second to Rossi in that session by 0.1466 seconds.
Rossi and Herta both had top ten finishes at St. Petersburg, they both advanced to the second round of qualifying and had it not been for an interference penalty on Herta, both drivers would have started in the top six. While Rossi had a less than spectacular race going from sixth to fifth, Herta started 11th and worked his way to an eighth place finish in his second career start.
To the surprise of no one, Will Power was third fastest at the February test but he was a half-second behind Herta's top time. Power is coming off a third place finish at St. Petersburg, his first podium finish in a season opener since he finished second at St. Petersburg in 2015. Power has finished in the top five in first two races of a season four times in his career and on all four occasions both finishers were on the podium.
Ryan Hunter-Reay and Simon Pagenaud rounded out the top five at the Austin test with Felix Rosenqvist, Graham Rahal, Scott Dixon, James Hinchcliffe and Santino Ferrucci rounding out the top ten.
Hunter-Reay is coming off his fifth mechanical retirement since the 2016 season. His engine expired after 19 laps at St. Petersburg. His 23rd place result at St. Petersburg is his first finish outside the top twenty on a road/street course since he finished 21st in the first Toronto race in 2014 and it is his worst road/street course result since he was classified in 23rd after an accident at Long Beach in 2013. Only twice in Hunter-Reay's career has he not had a top ten finish in the first two races, his rookie year in 2003 and 2011.
Pagenaud picked up his 11th consecutive top ten finish while Rosenqvist finished fourth on debut after leading 31 laps. Rahal has only two top ten finishes in the last seven races after he had ten top ten finishes in the 11 races prior to that. The only time Dixon has won the second race of the season was when he won at Phoenix in 2016. He has only had podium finishes in the first two races of the season twice in his career and in both years both finishes were runner-up finishes. Those years were 2007 and 2012.
While Hinchcliffe and Ferrucci were both in the top ten, their teammates were not. Marcus Ericsson was 14th in the test, about two-tenths outside the top ten but Sébastien Bourdais was 18th, almost a second off Ferrucci. Bourdais' engine failure at St. Petersburg gave him his worst finish in a season opener in his IndyCar career.
Another notable strugglers in the February test were Chevrolet teams not named Team Penske.
The best non-Penske Chevrolet in the test was R.C Enerson in 16th driving for Carlin and Enerson will not be at the Austin race. Instead, Carlin will enter the #31 Chevrolet for Patricio O'Ward, who will attempt 13 races this year, including in a third Carlin entry in the Indianapolis 500.
Of the Chevrolet drivers that were at the test, Matheus Liest led the cellar dwellers in 19th and he was ahead of only one Honda, Zach Veach. The final five drivers on the timesheet drove Chevrolets. Ed Jones was 21st, just ahead of Max Chilton, Spencer Pigot, Tony Kanaan and Kyle Kaiser. Jones is coming off a broken finger suffered from his accident at St. Petersburg. Kaiser was 2.2 seconds behind Herta. Kaiser will make his season debut this weekend in the #32 Chevrolet for Juncos Racing.
Is the Top Ten Already Decided?
With one race down, it is easy to start looking ahead and see who has positioned themselves well for a championship run and what drivers are fighting an uphill battle.
Josef Newgarden won the season opener and the 2017 champion has started out ahead of the field while the annual title contenders Dixon and Power are right behind him. Rookies Rosenqvist, Herta and Ferrucci all started the year with a top ten finish and even part-time but regular competition Jack Harvey scored a top ten result at St. Petersburg.
With a mixture of notable names and new faces in the top ten in St. Petersburg, how much will change from the season opener to the season finale at Sonoma?
Last year, nine of the top ten finishes at St. Petersburg were in the top ten of the final championship standings. The one change was Ed Jones fell out of the top ten and Pagenaud moved in. While you may think that suggests the 2019 season might already be decided, it should be noted that last year was just the second time since the creation of CART in 1979 that only one spot in the top ten changed from the season opener to the season finale. The other year was the 1996 CART season where Robby Gordon dropped out and rookie Alex Zanardi ended up finishing third in the championship. There has also not been a season since 1979 where there was no change in the top ten from after the season opener to the final championship standings.
Since the 1979 CART season and including all the seasons of the split, the average number of different drivers in the top ten of the championship from the season opener to the final championship standings is 3.83 with a median of four. The largest change in the top ten has been six and that has happened on nine occasions since 1979, the most recent being in 2011.
Last season was the first time since reunification that there were not multiple changes in the top ten from the first race to the final standings. In the 11 seasons, five seasons had three changes, two seasons had four changes and two seasons had five changes.
Who falls out of the top ten? Since reunification, mostly the drivers that finish at the back of the top ten, as 21 of the drivers that finished eighth, ninth or tenth in the season opener did not finish in the top ten of the championship. In that same time period, only 11 drivers that finished in the top five of the season opener did not finish in the top ten of the championship. Of those 11 drivers, only four finished on the podium in the season opener and those four drivers were Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2009 and 2016, Vitor Meira in 2010 and Sébastien Bourdais in 2017 after he missed majority of the season due to injury.
In eight of the last 11 seasons, the driver that finished eighth in the season opener did not finish in the top ten of the championship, more than any other top ten finishing position. The three drivers that finished eighth and finished in the top ten of the championship were Tony Kanaan in 2008, Carlos Muñoz in 2016 and Josef Newgarden in 2017.
What does any of this mean in 2019? One, if you are Colton Herta you should be a little nervous. Two, it does not rule out the likes of Graham Rahal, Marco Andretti, Hunter-Reay and Bourdais, four drivers who all finished in the top ten of championship in 2018 but did not finish in the top ten at St. Petersburg, of turning their seasons around but it points that turnover could be less than anticipated and if the likes of Rosenqvist, Herta, and Ferrucci keep up their form throughout the remaining 16 races a veteran face could be looking at a less than desirable championship finish at Laguna Seca.
First Time Visits
Since the start of the 21st century, 20 different racetracks have hosted an IndyCar race for the first time. With Austin being the 21st new track of the 21st century, let's look back at some of these other tracks and what happened in their first IndyCar race and what has happened in the the years since their first IndyCar race.
The first new track of the 21st century was Kentucky, which held its first IndyCar race on August 27, 2000 and Buddy Lazier won the race driving for Hemelgarn Racing.
The following year saw Richmond, Kansas, Nashville and Chicagoland all join the IRL schedule in that order. While Richmond did host a race in the 1946 season when the AAA sanctioned the championship and when what are now considered sprint car races counted toward the title, this was IndyCar's first trip to the paved, 0.75-mile oval and Lazier won that race. Eddie Cheever won at Kansas driving for his own team but Lazier won again at Nashville and his brother Jaques scored his only IndyCar victory in the inaugural Chicagoland race driving for Team Menard.
In CART, three new circuits were on the 2001 schedule. Cristiano da Matta won the season opener for Newman/Haas Racing at a new street circuit in Monterrey, Mexico. The other two new races were oval races in Europe. The Lausitz round is infamously remembered for the Alex Zanardi accident and Kenny Bräck won that race driving for Team Rahal. The following week CART went to Rockingham and the race was remembered for rainy conditions that washed away nearly all the practice and qualifying sessions. Despite the lack of track time and a shortened race distance, Rockingham put on what is considered one of the best races of the 2000s. Bräck led most of this race but Gil de Ferran remained on the Swede's heels. De Ferran made a daring pass on the final lap and took the victory for Team Penske.
St. Petersburg held its first IndyCar race in 2003 and Forsythe Racing's Paul Tracy won that race during a transitioning time for CART. Two years later, Edmonton and San Jose held their first IndyCar races, both of which were won by Sébastien Bourdais of Newman/Haas Racing. The 2007 season opened on a new street course in Las Vegas. In what was the first race for the Panoz DP01 chassis, Will Power took his first career victory on Easter Sunday. Champ Car returned to Europe that year with races at Zolder and Assen. Bourdais took the victory in Belgium but it was Justin Wilson taking the victory in the Netherlands for RuSport.
The IRL made its first tripped to Iowa in 2007 and in a race with many accidents, Dario Franchitti took the victory with the Andretti Green Racing driver holding off his teammate Marco Andretti by 0.0681 seconds.
In 2010, IndyCar returned to Brazil with a street race in São Paulo opening the season. Ryan Hunter-Reay led much of this race in wet-to-dry conditions but Will Power took the victory with Team Penske after his passed Hunter-Reay with four laps to go. Two races later Barber Motorsports Park hosted its first IndyCar and again, an Andretti Autosport car led a fair amount of the race with Marco Andretti's strategy change giving him the lead for 58 of the 90 laps but he was forced to make a pit stop late and it allowed Hélio Castroneves to get another victory for Team Penske.
Baltimore made its debut on the IndyCar schedule in 2011 and the course was remembered for train tracks that ran perpendicular to the front straightaway. This forced a chicane to be added to the course before practice and Power won this race leading 70 of 75 laps.
The inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis was held in 2014 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and Simon Pagenaud took the victory driving for Sam Schmidt's team. The Frenchman led only six of 82 laps. The following year saw IndyCar make its debut at NOLA Motorsports Park and, in a sloppy wet race that was run mostly behind the pace car, it was again Sam Schmidt's team, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, taking the victory with James Hinchcliffe having led 16 of 47 laps and only making one pit stop.
The bad news is of the 20 new circuits since the start of the 21st century, only four of those tracks are still on the IndyCar schedule: St. Petersburg, Barber, the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and Iowa. Nine of the events were held four times or fewer, including four races that were held only once.
The good news is six circuits did host ten races or more. The bad news is St. Petersburg is the only one of those six races still active. Barber will host its tenth race this year.
On the results side of things, 14 different drivers won the inaugural races at these twenty tracks. Buddy Lazier, Bourdais and Power have each won three inaugural races in the 21st century. No other driver has won multiple inaugural races. Eleven different teams have won inaugural races with Team Penske and Newman-Haas Racing each having won four times. Hemelgarn Racing won three times and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports has won twice. Andretti Autosport and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing are the only other active teams with a victory in an inaugural race.
Chip Ganassi Racing has not won the inaugural race at a track since Juan Pablo Montoya won at Chicago Motor Speedway, the 1.029-mile oval, in 1999.
Indy Lights
Austin also marks the second round of the Indy Lights season and it will be another doubleheader.
Zachary Claman and Rinus VeeKay split the races at St. Petersburg but Claman enters as the championship leader after he finished second to VeeKay in the second race and the Canadian has 57 points, nine ahead of the Dutchman. Toby Sowery is ten points behind Claman after finishing second and third at St. Petersburg. David Malukas had a pair of fourth place finishes and he is fourth in the championship on 38 points with Oliver Askew rounding out the top five on 37 points after he finished third in the first race and started on pole position for race two but was eliminated in turn two after contact with VeeKay.
Julien Falchero is on 30 points, one ahead of Ryan Norman and two ahead of Robert Megennis. Lucas Kohl is ninth on 26 points and Dalton Kellett rounds out the championship on 24 points.
During February testing, Askew was the fastest ahead of Falchero, who tested with Andretti Autosport, VeeKay, Norman, Claman, Megennis, Malukas, Logan Sergeant, who tested for Carlin before deciding to race for Carlin's Formula Three operation, Kellett, who tested for Carlin and Kohl.
The first Indy Lights race will be at 1:45 p.m. ET on Saturday March 23rd and the second race will be at 10:10 a.m. ET on Sunday March 24th.
Fast Facts
This will be the fourth IndyCar race to take place on March 24th and first since James Hinchcliffe won at St. Petersburg in 2013.
Circuit of the Americas will be the seventh Texas track to host an IndyCar race and Texas is now tied with Indiana and Colorado for eight most different circuits to host a IndyCar race by state.
This will be the 61st IndyCar race held in the state of Texas.
Six drivers on the IndyCar grid have raced at Circuit of the Americas. Spencer Pigot and Kyle Kasier ran in Pro Mazda at the track in 2013. Pigot finished second in race one but did not complete a lap in race two. Kaiser had finishes of eighth and sixth that weekend. Marcus Ericsson is the most experienced of the six having started the United States Grand Prix four times with his best result coming last year when he finished tenth. Max Chilton and Alexander Rossi both started the United States Grand Prix once. Chilton started and finished 21st in the 2013 race and Rossi started 17th and finished 12th in the 2015 race. Patricio O'Ward won the Prototype Challenge class with James French in the 2017 IMSA race.
This will be the first IndyCar race at Circuit of the Americas but in seven Formula One races all seven have been won from the front row with three victories from pole position and four from second position.
Between Grand-Am, American Le Mans Series and IMSA, the pole-sitter won five of six races with Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas winning the 2014 race from third on the grid.
In five FIA World Endurance Championship races from Circuit of the Americas, the overall winner started first, fourth, second, third and second.
The average number of lead changes in Austin's seven Formula One races is 3.714 with a median of five.
In the six Grand-Am/ALMS/IMSA races, the average number of lead changes is 4.333 with a median of 4.5.
The average number of lead changes in the five FIA WEC races at Austin is 8.4 with a median of nine but all of those races were 6-hour events, likely close to three times longer than this weekend's IndyCar race.
The average number of safety car periods in the seven Formula One races is 0.428 with a median of zero. The average number of laps behind the safety car is 1.857 with a median of zero.
Only two Formula One races at Austin have had a safety car. In 2013, the safety car was deployed once for four laps and in 2015, it was deployed twice for nine laps.
In the six Grand-Am/ALMS/IMSA races, the average number of cautions is 1.833 with a median of two. The average number of caution laps is seven with a median of 8.5.
Chip Ganassi Racing is one victory away from 107 victories, which would tie the team with Newman-Haas Racing for second most in IndyCar history.
Possible Milestones:
Ryan Hunter-Reay needs to lead 45 laps to reach the 1,500 laps led milestone.
Graham Rahal needs to lead 21 laps to reach the 400 laps led milestone.
Predictions
Alexander Rossi gets another victory and this one comes from the front row. Honda has at least four of the top six starters but the other two are Penske drivers and one is Will Power. Patricio O'Ward qualifies ahead of his Carlin teammate by at least four positions and he at least the third best rookie in the final results. There will be an incident in turn one on lap one but no more than three cars are involved. Ryan Hunter-Reay gets back in the top ten, as does Graham Rahal. Sleeper: Colton Herta.
