Track Walk: Fontana 2015

IndyCar returns to sunny Southern California

After a week off, IndyCar is back in action as the eleventh round of the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season takes place at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. The MAVTV 500 is the second leg of the IndyCar Triple Crown. Juan Pablo Montoya enters as the championship leader and having won the first leg of the Triple Crown, the Indianapolis 500 make in May. This will be the 14th IndyCar race to take place at Fontana and first to take place in the month of June. This could be the final IndyCar race at Fontana.

Coverage:
Time: Coverage begins at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday June 26th. Green flag at 4:36 p.m. ET.
TV Channel: NBCSN.

Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Steve Matchett (Townsend Bell is racing at Watkins Glen) and Paul Tracy are in the booth with Kevin Lee, Jon Beekhuis, Kelli Stavast and Robin Miller working the pit lane.

Championship Picture
Juan Pablo Montoya has 374 points and holds a 27 points lead over Will Power. Montoya is one of three drivers with two victories this season. The Australian Power has won five pole positions including the last two. Scott Dixon is 45 points behind Montoya and won the most recent oval race at Texas. Dixon also won pole position for the Indianapolis 500 earlier this season. Hélio Castroneves makes it three Penske drivers in the top four of the championship as he sits 52 points behind Montoya. Graham Rahal is the top Honda driver, fifth in the standings with 283 points.

Sébastien Bourdais is sixth in the championship, nine points behind his former Newman-Haas teammate and 100 points behind Montoya. Marco Andretti trails the Frenchman by two points while the most recent winner in the Verizon IndyCar Series, Josef Newgarden is eighth on 268 points.  Tony Kanaan won last year at Fontana and returns with himself ninth in the championship on 244 points. Simon Pagenaud rounds out the top ten, 142 points back of his Penske teammate who is leading the championship.

Charlie Kimball is eight points outside the top ten in the championship. Carlos Muñoz is a further eight points behind Kimball. Takuma Sato is thirteenth with an even 200 points. Ryan Hunter-Reay is six points behind Sato. Gabby Chaves founds out the top fifteen with 168 points. James Jakes is four points behind Chaves.

Driver Changes
There are four driver changes heading to Fontana.

Ed Carpenter steps into the #20 Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet. Carpenter has finished on the podium in the last three Fontana races having won in 2012, finished second in 2013 and finished third last year. Carpenter has had two retirements in his two starts this season. Luca Filippi finished second in the #20 at Toronto, giving CFH Racing their first 1-2 finish.

Ryan Briscoe will be back behind the wheel of the #5 Arrow Honda for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Briscoe will be making his third start of 2015. He finished 12th in the Indianapolis 500 from 33rd on the grid and finished 8th at Texas from 19th. The Australian will be making his third start at Fontana. He finished 17th in 2012 and seventh in 2014. Conor Daly drove the car at Toronto and finished 12th.

Sage Karam is back in the #8 Big Machine Records Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing. Karam has made seven starts this season and has finished 12th in his last two starts. This will be Karam's first career start at Fontana. His lone Fontana appearance in Indy Lights came in 2013 where he finished 3rd, good enough for him to clinch the title. Sebastián Saavedra finished 16th at Toronto in the #8.

Pippa Mann will make her third start of 2015 as she will replace Rodolfo González in the #18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda. Mann finished 22nd at Indianapolis and 17th at Texas. This will be her second start at Fontana. She finished 25th in 2013.

Fast Facts
Juan Pablo Montoya has won four of nine 500-mile IndyCar races he has started.

Al Unser is the only drive to win the IndyCar Triple Crown having done it in 1978. That same year, Affirmed won the American Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. On June 6th, American Pharoah became the first horse since Affirmed to win the Triple Crown.

Chevrolet has won the last 16 pole positions dating back to last year. In that time frame, three races had the starting grid set by owners' points. The last Honda pole position came for Houston 1 where Simon Pagenaud won his first career pole position.

This will be the eight IndyCar race to take place on June 27th. The most recent race to take place on June 27th was in 2009 at Richmond and Scott Dixon won that race. That has been the most recent IndyCar race at Richmond.

Jimmy Vasser, Sam Hornish, Jr. and Adrián Fernandez each have two race victories at Fontana. Ed Carpenter, Will Power and Tony Kanaan are the only active drivers with victories at Fontana.

Chevrolet has won the last three Fontana races and five of the last eight. Honda has three victories at Fontana. Ford also has three victories at Fontana. Mercedes and Toyota each have one Fontana victory.

Only two of the previous 13 Fontana races have been won from pole position. Dario Franchitti (2005) and Will Power (2012) are the two drivers to accomplish that.

Only once has a Fontana winner started outside the top ten. Adrián Fernandez won from 13th in 1999.

Chevrolet has swept the top four positions in the last two Fontana races.

The least amount of lead changes in a Fontana race is 13, which occurred in the inaugural Fontana race in 1997, won by Mark Blundell. The average amount of lead changes in Fontana races is 30.769.

This will be the third IndyCar race of 2015 in which Steve Matchett will be a color commentator. Matchett was in the booth at Barber and Toronto. Josef Newgarden won both of those races.

Possible Milestones:
Should Will Power take the green flag, he will make his 150 IndyCar races.

Tony Kanaan needs to lead 164 laps to reach the 4,000 laps led milestone.

Will Power needs to lead 162 laps to reach the 3,000 laps led milestone.

Ryan Briscoe needs to lead 65 laps to reach the 1,500 laps led club.

Marco Andretti needs to lead 45 laps to join the 1,000 laps led club.

Ed Carpenter needs to lead 97 laps to reach the 400 laps led milestone.

Simon Pagenaud needs to lead 21 laps to reach the 300 laps led milestone.

Graham Rahal needs to lead 24 laps to reach the 200 laps led milestone.

Charlie Kimball needs to lead 5 laps to reach the 100 laps led milestone.

Josef Newgarden needs to lead 3 laps to reach the 100 laps led milestone.

Hélio Castroneves is one second place finish away from passing Bobby Rahal for second all-time in second place finishes. Rahal and Castroneves are tied with 37 runner-up finishes.

Dan Wheldon would have turned 37 years old on Monday. Can you name the drivers who finished runner-up to Dan Wheldon in his 16 IndyCar victories?

Predictions
Juan Pablo Montoya keeps his Triple Crown hopes alive and wins his fifth 500-mile race. Less than three Honda cars qualify in the top ten. One Honda will finish in the top five. There will be at least 22 lead changes. At least one driver will lead their first laps of the season during a pit stop cycle. At least one driver will either gain two positions in the championship standings or lose two positions in the championship standings after this race. Sleeper: Takuma Sato.

Musings From the Weekend: Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't

Summer is here. A nice bow has been placed on Spring 2015 and now it is summer's turn to take center stage. Someone hit the century mark this weekend. There was another endurance race in France. It was a great weekend for Nissan after an abysmal weekend at Le Mans. NASCAR keeps getting rained on and their top series was off. A certain Belgian keeps on winning. Nico Rosberg won the Austrian Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton making it a Mercedes 1-2 and Felipe Massa rounding out the podium. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.

Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't
Last Tuesday, the story broke that IndyCar could be on the verge of returning to Road America. When I first saw it I thought, "Didn't we just do this with Cleveland? Didn't we just have a story that Cleveland was on the verge of returning and that all turned out to be as good as ocean front property in Arizona?"

I am skeptical. I want Road America to return. Many people want Road America to return. Then there was the kicker: Road America's return would likely come at the cost of Milwaukee. IndyCar can't lose Milwaukee. The problem for Milwaukee is it has had three different dates the last three years. Of course the crowd size is going to fluctuate with that kind of inconsistency. Not to mention that this year's race will begin at 4:00 p.m. local time on a Sunday. Could they have picked a worse time for that race to start? The answer is no. Milwaukee needs one date and start at a reasonable time of day (perhaps brunch time). One date that would forever be known as Milwaukee weekend.

Milwaukee had that. It was the week after the Indianapolis 500. It needs that weekend back. NASCAR did the right thing this year after a decade of stupidly running the Southern 500 on a weekend that wasn't Labor Day weekend. IndyCar needs to put Milwaukee back to the week after the Indianapolis 500.

I know Belle Isle has claimed that weekend but deep down we all know Belle Isle could be any weekend from the middle of June to Labor Day weekend in terms of climate and draw the same type of crowd. Chevrolet wants it the weekend after the Indianapolis 500 and with Roger Penske in charge of the Belle Isle weekend he probably likes that it's the weekend after the Indianapolis 500 as well.

However, what if it's for the better of IndyCar to have Belle Isle be a weekend other than the weekend after Indianapolis? We have seen the schedule from hell the teams were up against this year. It was non-stop from May through the middle of June and the Belle Isle weekend was the midway point. Perhaps it would be better for the teams, both physically in terms of the human bodies that comprise race teams and in terms of equipment that Belle Isle move to another date in the summer.

IndyCar needs to release the vice grip that is currently on the IndyCar schedule. It is benefitting no one. It would have been one thing if IndyCar condensed the schedule to end by Labor Day if IndyCar was making billions of dollars a year, team members were making on average $85,000 a year and there were sixteen races on the schedule with an additional two dozen race tracks from around the globe lining-up to host an IndyCar race but IndyCar isn't making billions of dollars a year, team members aren't making on average $85,000 a year and tracks aren't lining up to bring IndyCar to town.

It is time for IndyCar and the bigwigs led by Mark Miles to realize they are not as powerful as they think they are and it is time to do what works for the best everybody, from the crew members who work on the cars to the track owners around the country to the drivers and teams owners.

Here is my proposed schedule for next year and this isn't a wild, nostalgia-glazed schedule. This is a realistic schedule.

March 20: St. Petersburg
MARCH 27: OFF
April 3: NOLA
APRIL 10: OFF
April 17: Long Beach
April 24: Barber
MAY 1: OFF
MAY 8: OFF
May 14: Grand Prix of Indianapolis
May 21-22: Indianapolis 500 qualifying
May 29: 100th Indianapolis 500
June 4: Milwaukee
June 11: Texas
JUNE 19: OFF
JUNE 26: OFF
July 2-3: Belle Isle
July 10: Toronto
July 16: Iowa
JULY 24: OFF
JULY 31: OFF
August 7: Mid-Ohio
AUGUST 14: OFF
August 21: Pocono
August: 28: Sonoma
September 4: Boston
SEPTEMBER 11: OFF
September 17: Road America
SEPTEMBER 25: OFF
October 1: Fontana

This is a schedule I think makes more sense than the abominations IndyCar produced the last two seasons. The first four races would take place over six weeks. We might need to find a replacement for NOLA. Perhaps Phoenix? Or Laguna Seca? Or Austin? We can worry about that later. There would be two weeks off before heading into the Indianapolis races. I put Milwaukee on a Saturday so it doesn't fall on Le Mans test day and it would allow the drivers to get to Le Mans if they needed to seeing as IndyCar would be off for the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 18-19.

There would be a five-week stretch from the Grand Prix of Indianapolis to Texas but there would be two weeks off after that. Belle Isle would be 4th of July weekend and be apart of a three-week stretch of races but that would be followed by two weeks off. After Mid-Ohio would be an off-week before a three-week stretch from Pocono to Sonoma to Boston. After Boston would be a week off.

Then would come Road America. While the people in charge of IndyCar are deathly and I mean DEATHLY and irrationally afraid of racing during American football season, all I can say to them is suck it up. For the better of the series, they have to do it. Now racing in football-loving Wisconsin isn't ideal, but racing on a Saturday made more sense than Sunday. First, you can't possibly go head-to-head with a Green Bay Packers game. That makes no sense. The Wisconsin Badgers are very popular but they are scheduled to play Georgia State on September 17, 2016. I think a race could have a chance against a non-conference game, especially if it's an IndyCar-Pirelli World Challenge doubleheader with it being the PWC season finale. Plus, with IndyCar and NASCAR both being on NBCSN, the IndyCar race could lead-in to a NASCAR Grand National Series race.

Slightly off-topic but IndyCar has to race in September and it would probably be smart if IndyCar raced somewhere that isn't football crazy in September. The first place that comes to mind is Portland, Oregon. Would a return to Portland be successful in September? I don't know but it's what came to mind and it's a city where IndyCar could be the premier event and not have to worry about having a college or professional football game hogging up the spotlight. To be fair, the Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer are huge in the city and if they had a match it would take away from the race but perhaps IndyCar and the Timbers could work together to make sure the race occurs when the Timbers are on the road. But I digress. IndyCar isn't returning to Portland anytime soon even if it makes sense to.

Back on-topic. After a week off following Road America, the season would end the first weekend in October, a Saturday night race at Fontana. And this race can't begin at 10:00 p.m. ET. The race would have to begin no later than 8:00 p.m. ET and buy the drivers sunglasses to deal with the setting sun. Hell, Sunglass Hut could sponsor the damn race. The only problem with this weekend would be it possibly falling the same night as Petit Le Mans, the final race of the IMSA season. Hopefully, the two series would be able to work something out so the two season finales don't go head-to-head, like they did in 2013.

The benefits of this schedule would be IndyCar does something popular and moves Milwaukee back to the week after the Indianapolis 500, Milwaukee and Road America would both be on the schedule and there would be enough spacing between the two races, there would be more off weeks during the season and the season would end in October at Fontana, a date Fontana has wanted.

IndyCar might want to end by Labor Day but the series can't end by Labor Day. It has strained the teams too much and has forced tracks to dates they never wanted. IndyCar needs to focus on being a racing series. IndyCar needs to accept that racing in September and October are what is best for the series even if it's not what the suits really want.

Fratelli d'Italia
While IndyCar has the prospect of choosing between either Milwaukee or Road America, Bernie Ecclestone is creating a similar situation in the Formula One world with the great motorsports nation of Italy.

The Formula One money czar is looking to have Imola return to the Formula One schedule but it may come at the cost of Monza. The 84-year old Brit is suggesting the two-famed circuits share the Italian Grand Prix on a rotating basis, similar to how the Nürburgring and Hockenheim shared the German Grand Prix up to this year. Imola hosted 27 Formula One Grands Prix but has not been on the Formula One calendar since 2006. Monza has hosted 64 of 65 Italian Grands Prix since 1950. The only year Monza did not host the Italian Grand Prix in that time frame was in 1980 when Imola hosted the famed race.

Just like IndyCar with Milwaukee and Road America, why doesn't Formula One go to both? Revive the San Marino Grand Prix and have Imola kick off the European portion of the Formula One season like it did for so many years. Instead of heading to Azerbaijan, a country with human rights records worse than Indiana Hoosiers football, have a second race in a country that is already Formula One crazy.

The talk about "money lacking" to save the Italian Grand Prix from Ecclestone is complete and utter crap. Formula One isn't hurting for money. Formula One isn't IndyCar where it lives and dies on sanctioning fees. It hasn't been that way for nearly two decades. Formula One, just like the NFL and the Premier League, lives on television revenue. Television revenue covers everything for Formula One. Sanctioning fees are just lining the pockets, the icing on the cake, the refrigerator, washer and dryer that come with your new home. Formula One doesn't need to worry about sanctioning fees and there is no reason why sanctioning fees increase every year. Formula One should work with tracks for the best deal for both sides; deals where both sides can make money and be happy or is that just too logical to actually happen?

What a World We Live In
After writing the two sections above, I find myself once again baffled at how all these major motorsports series from around the globe are in the same place: They aren't happy with themselves and others aren't happy with them.

As much as IndyCar needs to go to Milwaukee, Formula One needs to go to Monza and yet both are willing to rip each out and leave a hole in their respective quilts. NASCAR is having issues with aero packages. IMSA is in a state of uncertainty. The honeymoon ended at Long Beach for Pirelli World Challenge. World Rally teams are upset with the length of their events. Is anyone happy?

And yet we are coming off the greatest story of the last decade, perhaps two decades, in all of motorsports and that's Nico Hülkenberg, a full-time Formula One driver, bucking the trend of specialization in motorsports, running the 24 Hours of Le Mans and winning it with Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy. Hülkenberg's victory has created sparks, making people realize what once made motorsports great: Drivers bouncing around the globe, driving anything and everything and letting their talents shine on many different stages. Whether Hülkenberg's sparks ignite a fire of the top drivers globetrotting and getting behind the wheel of everything imaginable remains to be seen.

As much as I want to type that the FIA World Endurance Championship is the one major series in the world where everything is positive, we have the potential debacle that could be the 2017 LMP2 regulations close to becoming reality. And yet, despite the LMP2 issues, I am still going to say FIA WEC is the one major series where everything is going right. I look at FIA WEC and you manufactures allowed to be manufactures. The competition we've seen in LMP1 has been as close as it has ever been in the premiere prototype class and it is all coming with the three leading manufactures running producing three entirely different engine packages and the competition in GTE has been just good as in LMP1. To me, the strength of WEC is that the series is worried about being a motorsports series first. They aren't worried about television ratings. They let the manufactures be manufactures.

I think we as fans lose sight of why these series exist and why all sports leagues exists. These leagues and organizations were created for people to compete; for people of a certain skill set to go head-to-head. They weren't created to make billions of dollars in television revenue and millions of dollars off tickets and hot dogs. Over time though, people chose to watch these people compete in these many different sports and all of a sudden organizers found another way to make a few dollars. These organized professional leagues across many different sports weren't created to entertain us fans; we chose to watch. Now, however, it has become too much about the fans. We have lost sight of why these leagues exist. They are not to entertain, they are to allow for competition, whether people chose to watch is up to them but many chose to watch. However, more and more series are focusing on the "wow factor" and worried about getting attention while ignoring competition.

Instead of series trying to be something they are not, they should focus on who they are. Motorsports series should stop pandering, stop jumping up and down saying, "look over here! Look at me! Watch this!" and just be themselves. Do your own thing and people might start noticing a series' originality instead of trying to be another fish going with the flow.

Finally...
Going to end on European Formula Three and it has been a terrible last two rounds for the championship.

Let's go back to Monza on the final weekend of May where two of the three races ended under a red flag. The second race of the Monza weekend ended after multiple safety car periods. The first major incident occurring on lap four as Canadian Lance Stoll forced Italian Antonio Giovinazzi to the edge of the race track and caused contact. The incident flipped the Canadian multiple times. Both would get out of their cars under their own power. The incident that would end the race involved Michele Beretta, who clipped the back of another car on lap thirteen and it sent him into a barrel roll. He would also walk away and the race was called after 14 laps.

The first incident in the third race was on the start and involved American Ryan Tveter ran into the back of Fabian Schiller. On lap four, Canadian Lance Stroll proved exactly why paving over the exit of the Parabolica was a mistake as he drove himself and Dane Mikkel Jansen off course. Heading into turn one the following lap, Jansen clipped the back of Stroll, ending his race. The race was so bad that the stewards actually put the entire race under investigation and put up a graphic saying exactly that. Think about that. The stewards actually had to conduct an investigation into whether it was a good idea to be running that race at all and they called it after eight laps.

Fast forward to this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. In race two of the weekend; Stroll and Jansen were involved in another accident. This time on lap six. As the Canadian was leading the Dane heading down the Kemmel straight when Jansen made a move to the outside of Stroll and Stroll's teammate, Felix Rosenqvist in third made a look to the outside of Jansen. Stroll drove into the Dane, forcing Jansen into Rosenqvist and ending all three of their races.

That wasn't all. On lap ten, American Gustavo Menezes had a massive accident after being blocked heading down the Kemmel straightaway by Frenchman Brendan Maïsano. The Frenchman forced Menezes to track limits and Menezes clipped the back of Maïsano. Menaces race was over, Maïsano ended up finishing fourth.

The good news is penalties were finally handed down. Stroll was banned from taking part in race three and Maïsano was handed a three-grid spot penalty for race three. They both should have been banned for race three and Stroll should have to sit out at least the next round at Norisring in a week's time and Zandvoort in the middle of July. These poor driving standards isn't just a Formula Three issue, it is a general problem around all junior series around the globe. See Indy Lights at Toronto. Drivers have no problem forcing another car to the edge of racetrack or trying to slam the door on another driver entering a corner. The current generation of drivers has grown up at a time where their first taste of motorsports was likely on a video game where you can wreck a thousand times a day with no consequences whatsoever. Guess what? In the real world, you can't just hit restart when you have an accident. Someone is going to get hurt or worse if this quality of driving continues.

This is a very serious issue. You might be thinking, "it's just a Formula Three race, what's the big deal?" The big deal is that someday in the very near future these drivers will be in Formula One or IndyCar or DTM or FIA WEC or Blancpain GT or Pirelli World Challenge or IMSA. These drivers will enter the professional ranks and if they aren't punished for making moronic driving decisions now, they will continue to make them as they move up.

While you were probably thinking, "well these drivers causing the accidents are just the bottom of the barrel and won't make it to a professional series," you're wrong. Stroll and Maïsano are apart or were of the Ferrari Driver Academy.  They are top prospects and they have shown it on the track. Stroll and Maïsano finished first and second in the Toyota Racing Series this past January and February and Stroll won the 2014 Italian Formula 4 championship. They have talent but they need to hone in their skills.

I notice in these junior series that drivers don't realize how long a race is. Sure, these races are only a half hour or 45 minutes in length and compared to a Formula One or IndyCar race, which are close to two hours in length, they are shorter but that doesn't mean it's not a long race. There is a lot of time in a junior series race and drivers aren't making sure they at least bring the car home. They are driving as if every single lap is the final lap and that is a terrible strategy. It sounds great on paper but it's horrible. That's like if a quarterback acted like every pass was the final one of the game and it had to be a Hail Mary to the end zone. That quarterback would not make it very long playing like that and the same can be said for these drivers.

In junior series, the key thing is getting track time and these drivers won't get that if they keep running into each other four laps into a race. Drivers need to be sidelined if they are reckless and sidelined for a significant period of time to get that point across. I don't care that Lance Stroll's daddy is a billionaire. His son is driving like a dangerous idiot and he needs sometime away from the car to get the message that if he keeps driving like that, he will not be a racecar driver very long.

Winners From the Weekend
You know about Nico Rosberg but did you know...

The #23 Nissan GT Academy Team RJN Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 of Alex Buncombe, Katsumasa Chiyo and Wolfgang Reip won the Blancpain Endurance Series 1000km at Circuit Paul Ricard.

Stoffel Vandoorne continues his streak of winning GP2 feature races as the Belgian won his fourth consecutive of 2015 at the Red Bull Ring. Rio Haryanto won the sprint race. American Alexander Rossi finished sixth and eighth in the two races.

Luca Ghiotto and Óscar Tunjo split the GP3 races in Austria and Ghiotto took the championship lead with his victory and a fourth.

Chaz Mostert won the first V8 Supercars race at Hidden Valley Racing. Craig Lowndes won the second race and that was Lowndes' 100th V8SC victory. David Reynolds won the Sunday race. It was Reynolds' second career V8SC race victory. Mostert now has three career race victories.

Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea split the World Superbike races at Misano. Jules Cluzel won his second consecutive World Supersport race. P.J. Jacobsen finished second to Cluzel in WSS.

The #46 MOLA Nissan GT-R of Satoshi Motoyama and Masataka Yanagida won the Super GT race in Thailand. The #3 NDDP Racing with B-MAX Nissan GT-R GT3 of Kazuki Hoshino and Mitsunori Takaboshi won in GT300.

Yvan Muller and Sébastien Loeb split the WTCC races in Slovakia.

Erik Jones won the NASCAR Truck race at Iowa on Friday night. The Grand National Series race at Chicagoland was postponed due to rain to Sunday and Erik Jones won that race as well.

Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar heads to Fontana for 500 miles.
NASCAR is also in the Golden State except further north at Sonoma.
Formula E ends their inaugural season with a doubleheader in London.
MotoGP will run the Dutch TT.
DTM head to the Norisring.
Speaking of Road America, Pirelli World Challenge will be in Elkhart Lake this weekend.
IMSA will run the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen.
Paul Ricard is busy for a second consecutive week as WTCC heads to the track in southern France.

Musings From the Weekend: Brunch and More

Records fell at Le Mans. IndyCar had another wet-to-dry race. NASCAR had races in two different states hampered by rain. Marc Márquez has suddenly morphed into Takuma Sato. And World Rally was in Italy and I genuinely have no clue what happened there. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.

Rapid Fire
First, I will be taking a week off after Monday. Fresh off Le Mans and with IndyCar finally taking a week off and NASCAR taking a week off, I am going to take a week off. No posts for a week. Twitter will be mostly quiet for a week. I am taking a break. But I will be back.

This week I am just going to throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. If you like anything you read below, let me know on Twitter.

Most IndyCar races should begin at 11:00 a.m. local time. Why? Because it would be unique. IndyCar would become the brunch series. When you think brunch, you'd think IndyCar. Plus, people love brunch. I dare you to find someone who hates brunch. IndyCar needs something positive to associate with and brunch would be the perfect partner.

Races would be completed before NASCAR races start and that is crucial as NBC picks up the latter half of the NASCAR schedule. The Mid-Ohio IndyCar race will be on CNBC because NASCAR at Pocono will be happening simultaneously. If the Mid-Ohio race began at 11:00 a.m. it could be completed by 1:00 p.m. and could lead into Pocono on NBCSN, which could go green a little after 1:30.

What about support series? Run a few before and a few after. Take Toronto for example. Have U.S. F2000 and Pro Mazda prior to the IndyCar race. Then have the IndyCar race. After the IndyCar race could be Indy Lights, GT3 Cup Canada and Stadium Super Trucks. There could be a post race autograph session for the fans. Race would be over by 1:00 p.m. At 2:30 p.m., have a post race autograph session, fans could be out of there by 3:30 or 4:00 p.m. and home at a reasonable time for dinner.

Think of the sponsorship opportunities for brunch races. Pillsbury, General Mills, Tropicana, Folgers, Keurig, etc. And it would benefit viewers around the world. Instead of making European fan wait until 9:00 p.m. for a race to start, a race such as Toronto would begin at 5:00 p.m. in Europe. West coast races, such as Long Beach, would begin at 2:00 p.m. ET and 8:00 p.m. Central European. Texas and Iowa could still be night races. The Grand Prix of Indianapolis could still be Saturday afternoon and the season finale could be at another time but the remaining races should be held at brunch time.

Can IndyCar get rid of the morning warm-up session? It's an unnecessary 45-minute session and if the teams really wanted to save money they would support it being dropped as well. The morning warm-up is just another chance to damage equipment. There is nothing else that can be learned between qualifying and the race because no one is going to take a risk and try an entirely new setup at the last minute. Get rid of it. You would have more time for support races and the IndyCar race could start earlier.

We all know Ford is return to sports car racing with the Ford GT and Chip Ganassi is fielding the cars. I don't know if there are going to be two IMSA teams and two WEC teams or if it's going to be like Porsche where drivers run both IMSA and WEC but here is my idea for what Ford and Ganassi should do next year:

Have the full-time drivers be Joey Hand, Ryan Briscoe, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Kevin Éstre. All are solid drivers and experienced in GTE competition. For Le Mans, bring in Richard Westbrook and Andy Priaulx, two more drivers with loads of GTE experience. Then, depending on if the ACO gives Ford an invitation for a third Ford GT, run a car of Scott Pruett, Scott Dixon and Jeff Gordon. This would be a final hooray for Pruett before retirement. Dixon is a no brainer because he is a New Zealander and it will be the 50th anniversary of New Zealanders Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon winning Le Mans in the Ford GT40 Mk. II. Gordon is poetic. We know he has said he wants to run Le Mans and he says with Corvette because he has been in NASCAR and brand loyalty is shoved down everyone's throat. But offer him a chance to drive a Ford GT in its return to Le Mans and dare him to say no. Plus, it would be poetic because over two decades ago Gordon was driving for Ford and Bill Davis Racing and they let him go to Hendrick Motorsports and the rest is history. Money wouldn't be the issue, Ganassi and Ford will just have to be willing to part with it.

Winners From the Weekend
You know about Josef Newgarden and everything that happened at Le Mans but did you know...

Jorge Lorenzo won the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix, his fourth consecutive victory. Johann Zarco won in Moto2 and Denny Kent ended his winless streak in Moto3 at two.

Spencer Pigot swept the Indy Lights weekend at Toronto. Florian Latorre and Canadian Garret Grist split the Pro Mazda race. Jake Eidson and Nico Jamin split the U.S. F2000 races.

Kurt Busch won a rain-shortened NASCAR Cup race at Michigan. His brother Kyle won the second division race in his return to the series after suffering his leg injury at Daytona. Cole Custer won the Truck race at Gateway, which was significantly delayed by rain.

Sébastien Ogier won Rally d'Italia Sardegna.

Coming Up This Weekend
Formula One heads to Von Trapp country.
Blancpain Endurance Series will run 1000km around Paul Ricard.
V8 Supercars will spend the winter solstice at Hidden Valley Raceway.
The British Empire looks to continue their World Superbike domination at Misano.
Super GT makes their second trip to Thailand.
WTCC will be in Slovakia.

First Impressions: Toronto 2015

1. Sometimes they fall into your lap. That's what happened today. Race started in the wet, the track quickly dried and everyone switched to slicks. Josef Newgarden and Carlos Muñoz made pit stops, a caution came out for James Jakes stalling and they were in the catbird seat as the rest of the field had to pit. Muñoz unfortunately retired but Josef Newgarden went on to dominated and won his second race of his season and his career. Newgarden kept his nose clean, held everyone off and he wasn't caught by a caution. Sometimes they fall into your lap.

2. Luca Filippi finished second, his first career podium in IndyCar. He is a talented driver and this is what he can do. He has had some hiccups but he has four top tens this season. He made a very nice pass on Hélio Castroneves when it appeared Castroneves was going to come out behind Newgarden and it was a massive pass as Filippi's second gave CFH Racing their first 1-2 finish in the teams history.

3. Speaking of Hélio Castroneves, he finished third as he went somewhat off strategy and was able to pit and come out inside the top five. These are the races Castroneves puts together. He doesn't dominate races. He piles up top tens and that's what keeps him in the championship hunt. But while it keeps him in the hunt, it has yet to get him the title and only time will tell if it works this season. So far, though, Castroneves still has some ground to make up.

4. Will Power finished fourth. After everyone switch to slicks, Power wasn't a factor. He couldn't keep up with Newgarden and unfortunately for him, Castroneves was able to come out ahead of him after his pit stop. Power had a podium lined up and it just didn't come his way. He has had a good season after winning his championship but this isn't the Will Power we are use to seeing.

5. Sébastien Bourdais with a fifth at Toronto, his fifth consecutive top ten at Exhibition Place. It's been a solid season for Bourdais. He is constantly on the heels of the Penskes and he has a victory. It would not be surprising if he got another victory this season. As for the championship, it's probably just out of his grasp unless he wins out.

6. Tony Kanaan finished sixth. He led a few laps during the final pit cycle and that was it. Kanaan has never been a great road course driver. He is good on road courses and can run solidly in the top ten but he's not great. Look at the facts. He has two road/street circuit wins in his career and both came pre-reunification IRL. He can qualify in the top ten and stay there but he has never had it to turn a good car into a winning car on a road or street course. That might be tough for some of you to hear.

7. Juan Pablo Montoya scores his best career finish at Toronto with seventh. Prior to that, his best finish at Toronto was 18th. He loses a little ground in the championship but not a lot. Heading to three consecutive ovals (Fontana, Milwaukee, Iowa) could play right into his hand as he looks for his second IndyCar championship.

8. Scott Dixon finished eighth. He was never a factor in this one but he stayed out of harms way and he got a top ten.

9. Graham Rahal was the top Honda in ninth and he made some nice passes, including two in consecutive corners where he passed Takuma Sato in turn four after being side-by-side in turn three and then picked off Simon Pagenaud in turn five, a corner where passing is near impossible.

10. Takuma Sato finished tenth. Not bad. He kept his nose clean and it paid off.

11. Highlights from the back half of the field: Simon Pagenaud finished 11th after starting second. He needs a break. Conor Daly finished 12th after starting 19th. I understand why Schmidt Peterson Motorsports would hire Ryan Briscoe for the remainder of the season but someone has to give Daly a shot. Marco Andretti was the top Andretti car in 13th. As you know from above, Muñoz retired and Ryan Hunter-Reay had a problem on the final lap cost him a few positions. Jack Hawksworth finished 14th and Gabby Chaves was the top rookie in 15th.

12. After the disaster in NOLA, IndyCar has had three good races in the wet. Both Detroit races were pretty good and this one, which some predicted would be mostly laps under yellow, was pretty good. Now the teams get a much-deserved week off. Fontana rounds out June. It could be worse. It could have been Houston.

Porsche Scores 17th Victory in 83rd Le Mans

For the first time since 1998, Porsche has won Le Mans. The #19 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Nico Hülkenberg, Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy took the checkered flag, completing 395 laps, giving the German manufacture a record extending 17th Le Mans victory. Hülkenberg and Bamber win on their Le Mans debuts while Tandy wins in his third Le Mans start, first in the LMP1 class.

Tandy becomes the 30th different British driver to win at Le Mans, breaking a tie with France for country with most winning drivers for a nation. Tandy's win is the 42nd time a Brit has won at Le Mans and the United Kingdom is now tied with France for most wins for a nation. Bamber becomes the first New Zealander to win at Le Mans since Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon won the 1966 race in the Ford GT40 Mk. II. Hülkenberg is the 18th German to win at Le Mans and this is Germany's 29th Le Mans victory.

The #17 Porsche of Brendon Hartley, Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard came home second, one lap down and top of FIA World Endurance Championship eligible entry. The #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Benoît Tréluyer, André Lotterer and Marcel Fässler rounded out the overall podium, two laps down. The #8 Audi of Lucas di Grassi, Loïc Duval and Oliver Jarvis finished fourth, four laps down with the pole-sitting #18 Porsche of Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb rounding out the top five, eight laps back.

The #2 Toyota TS040 of Alexander Wurz, Mike Conway and Stéphane Sarrazin finished sixth with the #9 Audi of Filipe Albuquerque, Marco Bonanomi and René Rast in seventh. The defending world champions, #1 Toyota of Sébastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima finished eighth.

The #47 KCMG Oreca-Nissan of Richard Bradley, Matthew Howson and Nicolas Lapierre won in LMP2 and finished ninth overall. The KCMG Oreca started on pole in class and dominated the race. It is the first Le Mans class victory for all three KCMG drivers. Jota Sport made a valiant effort for back-to-back LMP2 victories at Le Mans but fell short, as the #38 Gibson-Nissan of Oliver Turvey, Simon Dolan and Mitch Evans finished second in class, tenth overall. The #26 G-Drive Racing Ligier-Nissan of Sam Bird, Roman Rusinov and Julien Canal rounded out the class podium, 11th overall. The top three in LMP2 all completed 358 laps.

Corvette overcame the adversity of having to withdraw the #63 Corvette after a practice accident on Thursday as the #64 Corvette of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor won in GTE-Pro, completing 337 laps and finished 17th overall. It is Corvette's first win since 2011. Gavin picks up his fifth class victory but first since 2006. This is Milner's second Le Mans class victory. He was apart of the winning Corvette in 2011. This is Taylor's first class victory at Le Mans, joining his father Wayne as a class winner at Le Mans. Like Porsche, the Taylor family's last Le Mans victory was in 1998 when Wayne won in LMP1 driving a Ferrari 333 SP with Eric van de Poele and Fermín Velez.

The #71 and #51 AF Corse Ferraris finished second and third in class. Davide Rigon, James Calado and Olivier Beretta take second with Gianmaria Bruni, Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella in third. The #51 was leading until two hours to go when they suffered a mechanical failure, forcing them into the garage for nearly a half hour. The #71 finished five laps back of the #64 Corvette with the #51 seven laps back.

The big surprise came in GTE-Am. The #98 Aston Martin had a two-lap lead entering the final hour but Paul Dalla Lana had accident with 45 minutes to go at the Ford chicane ending his hopes as well as those of Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda. The #72 SMP Racing Ferrari of Viktor Shaitar, Andrea Bertolini and Aleksey Basov won the GTE-Am class; completing 332 laps with the #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche of Marco Seefried, Patrick Demspey and Patrick Long finishing second, one lap back. The #62 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari of Jeff Segal, Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler, all Le Mans rookies, finished third in GTE-Am, two laps off the #72 Ferrari.

The next round of the FIA WEC season will be August 30th from the Nürburgring.

Morning Warm-Up: Toronto 2015

Will Power looks to take championship lead from Juan Pablo Montoya at Toronto

For the fifth time in 2015, Will Power will start on pole position. This is the Australian 41st pole position, tying him with Rick Mears for fifth all-time. Despite winning being a two-time winner at Exhibition Place, Power's average finish at Toronto is 9.6 with four consecutive finishes of 15th or worse before Power finished ninth and third last year. Simon Pagenaud makes it an all-Penske row one, his best start since starting second at St. Petersburg. Pagenaud's best Toronto is fourth. Juan Pablo Monotya makes it an all-Penske top three. The Colombian and championship leader has an average finish of 20.75 in four Toronto starts. Montoya's best Toronto finish is 18th. Scott Dixon will start fourth. He is looking for consecutive victories for the first time since 2013 when he won three straight by winning at Pocono and sweeping the Toronto doubleheader. Only once has Dixon won consecutive races in a season and not won the title; that was 2007. Last year's Toronto 1 winner, Sébastien Bourdais starts fifth. The Frenchman has four consecutive top ten finishes in Toronto. Luca Filippi rounds out the top six. This is the Italians best start since starting since starting sixth in Toronto 1 last year.

Hélio Castroneves starts seventh. The Brazilian finished second in at least one Toronto race the last two years but his average Toronto finish is 13.25 in twelve starts. Takuma Sato will start eighth. The Japanese driver has finished 20th or worse in five of seven Toronto starts but he did finish fifth in race two last year. Tony Kanaan starts ninth. He finished third and second last year at Exhibition Place. Graham Rahal rounds out the top ten. His father Bobby won the most recent IndyCar race to take place on June 14th. Bobby won at Portland on June 14, 1987. It was Bobby's first win of that season as he went on to win the 1987 championship. Josef Newgarden and James Jakes will round out row six. Newgarden has never finished in the top ten at Toronto while Jakes' best Toronto finish is eighth.

Carlos Muñoz starts 13th, which is the worst position a Toronto winner has started from. Muñoz's team owner Michael Andretti won from 13th in 2001. Jack Hawksworth starts 14th. The Brit finished sixth in Toronto 2 last year. Charlie Kimball rounds out the top fifteen. Kimball's first career podium came at Toronto in 2012. He finished second. The man Kimball finished second to in 2012 is the man who will join him on row eight, Ryan Hunter-Reay. The 2012 champion has yet to lead a lap in 2015.

Sebastián Saavedra starts 17th. He was set to advance to round two of qualifying but had his best lap invalidated for causing a yellow flag within the final five minutes of his group. Marco Andretti joins Saavedra on row nine. Andretti has six top tens in eight Toronto starts and his average starting position at Toronto is 15.5. Look for Andretti to make up some ground in the race. Rookies Conor Daly and Stefano Coletti round out the top twenty. Daly finished sixth in his most recent IndyCar start at Belle Isle. Coletti will make his debut at Exhibition Place.

Tristan Vautier will start 21st. He finished 19th and 16th in his only two Toronto starts in 2013. Gabby Chaves will start 22nd. The Colombian finished third and second in his two Indy Lights starts at Toronto. Rodolfo González will round out the grid in 23rd. The Venezuelan had an accident in qualifying that caused a red flag and negated his two fastest laps.

NBCSN's coverage of the Honda Indy Toronto will begin at 3:00 p.m. ET with green flag at 3:37 p.m. ET.

Track Walk: Toronto 2015

IndyCar heads to Toronto, the final street circuit of 2015

The 2015 Honda Indy Toronto marks the tenth round of the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. For the 31st time, IndyCar will head to Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Scott Dixon is coming off his second victory of 2015 and second career victory at Texas. He led a Ganassi 1-2 with Tony Kanaan finishing right behind him. Hélio Castroneves rounded out the podium at Texas.

Coverage:
Time: Coverage begins at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday June 13th. Green flag at 3:37 p.m. ET.
TV Channel: NBCSN.

Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Steve Matchett (Townsend Bell is racing at Le Mans) and Paul Tracy are in the booth with Kevin Lee, Jon Beekhuis, Katie Hargitt and Robin Miller working the pit lane.

Championship Picture
Juan Pablo Montoya remains the championship leader for another week as the Colombian and 2015 Indianapolis 500 winner sits on 348 points. Thirty-five points behind Montoya is his Penske teammate and defending champion Will Power. Scott Dixon is eight points back of Power. Hélio Castroneves is 62 points behind Montoya as Penske holds three of the top four position. Graham Rahal rounds out the top five, trailing Montoya by 87 points.

Marco Andretti is 93 points back in sixth and coming off three consecutive top five finishes. Sébastien Bourdais is 11 points behind Andretti. Eighth through eleventh in the championship are covered by two points. Josef Newgarden and Tony Kanaan are tied for eighth with 215 points. Newgarden owns the tiebreaker with his victory at Barber. Kanaan's second at Texas is his best finish this season. Charlie Kimball rounds out the top ten, a point behind Newgarden and Kanaan. Toronto is the sight of Kimball's first career podium, which came in 2012. Simon Pagenaud has 213 points in 11th.

Andretti Autosport teammates Carlos Muñoz and Ryan Hunter-Reay are 12th and 13th in the championship respectively. The Colombian has 208 points while the American has 183 points. Takuma Sato is 14th with 180 points. James Jakes rounds out the top fifteen with 155 points. Rookie Gabby Chaves is two points behind Jakes and Jack Hawksworth is 20 points back of his fellow countryman.

Can Bourdais Repeat?
The four-time champion Sébastien Bourdais has a victory this season and finds himself on the fringe of championship contention. Last year, Bourdais scored his first victory since returning to IndyCar in the first race from Toronto. The Canadian street circuit has been one of the better circuits to Bourdais with two victories, five podiums, seven top fives, ten top tens, four pole positions and an average finish of 5.18 in 11 starts in Toronto.

This season, Bourdais has the best average starting position for a non-Penske or Ganassi driver at 8.57. The Frenchman is one of four drivers to advance to the second round of qualifying in all five road/street course qualifying sessions this season but has only advanced to the Fast Six twice. Bourdais also has the seventh best average finish this season at 9.44.

Can CFH Bounce Back?
Most have overacted to CFH Racing's rough weekends at Belle Isle and Texas and have labeled the season as a disappointment to this point of 2015 despite Josef Newgarden being eighth in the championship and having picked up his first career victory at Barber. Luca Filippi has three top ten finishes, more than Mike Conway had in a dozen starts last season. The only difference is that Filippi's three top tens have been finishes of ninth, tenth and ninth while Conway's two top tens were each victories, one of which came at Toronto last year.

Filippi raced at Toronto last year for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and started sixth in race one but retired after 17 laps. In race two, the Italian had to start last because the field was set by entrant points and he finished on the lead lap in 16th despite causing a safety car and having a 30-second time penalty added for having work done when the pit lane was closed.

Toronto has not been kind to Newgarden. He was in position for his career in first Toronto start in 2012 but he was blocked by Simon Pagenaud in the closing laps, causing damage to Newgarden's car and forcing him to finish a lap down. In 2013, Newgarden stalled on the start in race one and he finished 23rd. In race two, Newgarden finished 11th. Last year, he finished two laps down in 20th in race one and finished 13th in race two despite leading seven laps.

Driver Changes
Conor Daly returns to the #5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda. Ryan Briscoe was in the car at Texas but the Australian is competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Daly finished 19th and sixth at Belle Isle in the #5 and he led 12 laps. Briscoe finished eighth at Texas meaning the #5 heads to Toronto off consecutive top ten finishes.

Sebastián Saavedra will return to the #8 AFS Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. The Colombian is back after suffering a foot injury in the Indianapolis 500. He replaces Sage Karam. This will be Saavedra's third start in the #8. In five starts at Toronto, Saavedra's average finish is 19.2.

Rodolfo González will return to the #18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda. The Venezuelan has made three starts this season and his average finish in those three races is 21st. He retired from both races at Belle Isle.

Tristan Vautier will be in the #19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda for the third consecutive weekend. The Frenchman finished fourth in race two at Belle Isle but he has averaged a finish of 17.25 in four starts. Vautier finished 19th and 16th in his only appearance at Toronto in 2013.

Road to Indy
All three Road to Indy series will be on track at Toronto.

Eleven cars are entered in Indy Lights. Schmidt Peterson's Jack Harvey leads the championship with 192 points and have won the last two races. Thirteen points back is Carlin driver Ed Jones. Juncos Racing's Spencer Pigot is 24 points back of Harvey with SPM's RC Enerson 56 points back of his teammate. Scott Anderson is 76 points back. Félix Serrallés sits on 111 points while Ethan Ringel has 108 points. Kyle Kaiser is two points behind Ringel with Juan Piedrahita a point back of Kaiser. Shelby Blackstock has 95 points.

Formula E championship leader Nelson Piquet, Jr. will make his Indy Lights debut driving for Carlin. Max Chitlon appeared at the first eight races but is at Le Mans driving for the factory Nissan LMP1 team. Notably absent from the Toronto entry list is 8Star Motorsports. Scott Hargrove finished fourth and sixth for the team at St. Petersburg and Sean Rayhall scored a victory, a second place finish and four top tens in five starts with the team.

Race one for Indy Lights will be at 4:45 p.m. ET on Saturday with race two at 11:45 a.m. ET Sunday.

Santiago Urrutia enters Toronto as the Pro Mazda championship leader with 201 points. Eight points back of the Team Pelfrey is Cape Motorsports' Neil Alberico. Juncos' Timothé Buret is third on 162 points with Andretti Autosports' Weiron Tan four back. Will Owen rounds out the top five with 142 points. Owen's Juncos' teammate and Canadian Garett Grist is seven points back of Owen. Pato O'Ward is a point back of Grist with Florian Latorre is two points back. Jose Gutierrez has 127 points with Canadian Daniel Burkett on 111 points. Dalton Kellett, the third Canadian in the Pro Mazda field has 110 points. A total of 18 cars are entered in Pro Mazda this weekend.

Pro Mazda will race at 1:35 p.m. ET on Saturday and 10:00 a.m. ET on Sunday.

Nico Jamin leads the U.S. F2000 championship with 233 points. The Cape Motorsports driver holds a 15-point advantage over Pabst Racing's Jake Eidson. Jamin's teammate Aaron Telitz is 30 points back in third. Anthony Martin sits on 168 points in fourth. Canadian Parker Thompson is on 125 points, fifth in the championship. Yufeng Luo has 108 points with Keyvan Andres Soori is a point back of him and Nikita Lastochkin on 104 points. Ayla Ågren has 100 points while Luke Gabin and Garth Rickards are two points back. Max Hanratty and Canadian James Dayson round out the entry list.

U.S. F2000 will race at 12:40 p.m. ET on Saturday and 9:00 a.m. ET on Sunday.

Fast Facts
This year's race at Toronto will be the 73rd IndyCar race in Canada. Of the previous 72 Canadian IndyCar races, 68 have featured at least one Canadian driver. The first four IndyCar races in Canada did not feature a Canadian, Mosport on July 1, 1967 and Mont-Tremblant on August 6, 1967.

This year's race will be the 13th IndyCar race to take place on June 14th. The last IndyCar race to take place on June 14th was at Portland in 1987 and won by Bobby Rahal.

This will be the first Toronto race to take place outside of the month of July. The previous earliest date for a Toronto race was July 7th in 2002. Cristiano da Matta won that race.

Four drivers have won at Toronto. Sébastien Bourdais has two victories (2004 and 2014 race 1) as does Will Power (2007 and 2010) and Scott Dixon, who swept the doubleheader in 2013. Ryan Hunter-Reay won at Toronto in 2012.

Seven of the previous 30 Toronto winners have come from pole position.

The average starting position for a Toronto winner is 3.633.

Mike Conway's victory in race two last year was just the second Toronto race to be won from outside the top ten. Conway won from 11th. The worst starting position for a Toronto winner is 13th, where Michael Andretti won from in 2001.

Can you name the Canadians who have won in IndyCar?

Possible Milestones:
Marco Andretti needs to lead 45 laps to join the 1,000 laps led club.

Graham Rahal needs to lead 24 laps to reach the 200 laps led milestone.

Charlie Kimball needs to lead 5 laps to reach the 100 laps led milestone.

Will Power could tied Rick Mears for fifth all-time in pole positions should he win his 41st pole position at Toronto. 

Hélio Castroneves is one second place finish away from passing Bobby Rahal for second all-time in second place finishes. Rahal and Castroneves are tied with 37 runner-up finishes.

Predictions
Sébastien Bourdais makes it consecutive years with a win at Toronto. A Penske car does not start on pole position. At least one Honda makes it to the Fast Six. At least one Honda finishes on the podium in the Honda Indy Toronto. At least two Ganassi cars finish outside the top fifteen. Gabby Chaves' top ten streak will end at two. Josef Newgarden's streak of finishes outside of the top twenty will end at two. Sleeper: Marco Andretti.