Round 9: Firestone 600, Texas Motor Speedway, 5th - 6th June, 2015.

[Salamus]

It was a good race. Nothing spectacular but still exciting.

It sucks that Pags couldn't stay near the top...his season has been a disappointment so far.

And what is going on with RHR? Both Andretti and Munoz have shown flashes of competitiveness but RHR has just struggled all season.

[JacobP]

It was a good race because I was expecting a good battle in the front top-four pack, which was running closely, but nothing happened. I think Penske cars probably had some problem with their setup, being unable to challenge TK and Dixon after the first few laps. Or maybe Chip Ganassi did superb overtime job with car setup after the loss to Penske cars at Indy 500.

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Congrats to Dixon. What an interesting race. Not one major incident, except for that phoney yellow.

I din't really pay attention to the race, since I was eating pizza with some friends at home. But I saw quite a few blocks and close encounters.

Anyway, cars were too easy on the corners, so there was no danger of spinning out.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Result:

1 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dallara/Chevrolet. 1h52m47.8511s
2 Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dallara/Chevrolet. 7.8000s
3 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske, Dallara/Chevrolet. 9.9446s
4 Juan Pablo Montoya, Team Penske, Dallara/Chevrolet. 10.4608s
5 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport, Dallara/Honda. 26.0947s
6 Carlos Munoz, Andretti Autosport, Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
7 Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dallara/Chevrolet. 1 Lap
8 Ryan Briscoe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
9 James Jakes, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
10 Gabby Chaves, Bryan Herta Autosport, Dallara/Honda. 2 Laps
11 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske, Dallara/Chevrolet. 2 Laps
12 Sage Karam, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dallara/Chevrolet. 3 Laps
13 Will Power, Team Penske, Dallara/Chevrolet. 4 Laps
14 Sebastien Bourdais, KVSH Racing, Dallara/Chevrolet. 4 Laps
15 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, Dallara/Honda. 5 Laps
16 Takuma Sato, AJ Foyt Enterprises, Dallara/Honda. 5 Laps
17 Pippa Mann, Dale Coyne Racing, Dallara/Honda. 6 Laps
18 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport, Dallara/Honda. 7 Laps
19 Stefano Coletti, KV Racing Technology, Dallara/Chevrolet. 9 Laps
20 Tristan Vautier, Dale Coyne Racing, Dallara/Honda. Mechanical
21 Josef Newgarden, CFH Racing, Dallara/Chevrolet. Mechanical
22 Ed Carpenter, CFH Racing, Dallara/Chevrolet. Mechanical
23 Jack Hawksworth, AJ Foyt Enterprises, Dallara/Honda. Mechanical

Just looking at the results and despite Honda's aero-kits issues, it's not as if they are disgracing themselves. Ed Carpenter, an oval specialist who won last year and races a Dallara-Chevrolet, had a disastrous race, with both cars out. Despite the discrepancy, 5 Dallara-Hondas finished in the top ten, with Marco Andretti 5th.

[Paradise City]

It was an enjoyable enough race in parts albeit it didn't get spark and Dixon won it decisively. Alot of the typically fancied drivers are poor at Texas; they don't seem used to the oval.

[10TENTHS]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

It was an enjoyable enough race in parts albeit it didn't get spark and Dixon won it decisively. Alot of the typically fancied drivers are poor at Texas; they don't seem used to the oval.

The new aero and car setup played a much larger role. Power and Pagenaud started falling back dramatically as soon as the sun set, even though they were dominant early on. Ganassi and Dixon\Mike Hull in particular chose correctly.

Which drivers were you referring to? The guys that are the best oval drivers are the ones that finished up front (Dixon, Kanaan, Castroneves, Montoya, Andretti). Briscoe dropped back a bit in the final stint, but he still improved from 19th to 8th. Hunter-Reay's struggled all year and the practice crash probably didn't help.