Round 2: XPEL 375, Texas Motor Speedway. March 19-20.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 2: XPEL 375, Texas Motor Speedway. March 19-20.

This weekend's race will be the 25th consecutive year Texas Motor Speedway has been on the IndyCar calendar. On June 7th 1997, the Indy Racing League held the "1997 True Value 500", the 6th round of the fledgling series at Texas Motor Speedway and it was the first night race in the history of AOWR. It was won by Arie Luyendyk, driving a Panoz G-Force-Oldsmobile for Treadway Racing.

From 1998-2004 the track hosted two races per season, with the first race held mid June and the second race held in October. In 2007, the race distance was increased from 500km to 550. In 2011, the 'Firestone Twin 275s' were held, made up of two 275km races, separated by a "halftime", with half points awarded for each race. The grid for the second race was decided by a random draw, which proved so unpopular the twin race format was scrapped the following year. In 2014, the race was further extended to 600km.

In 2001, CART added the "Firestone Firehawk 600" amd it was scheduled for April 29th, at TMS and which would have been Round 4 of a 21 race calendar. However, after practice and qualifying the race was cancelled, as drivers reported vertigo like symptoms and vision problems, after sustaining high lateral forces of 5.5G, while driving in excess of 230 mph or 370 km/h on the 24 degree banking. TMS sued CART, after it emerged CART officials had ignored repeated requests to test their cars before the race. This resulted in a legal settlement, estimated to have been around $5–7 million, which CART paid to TMS. Many pundits have cited the law suit and settlement as a key factor in CART's demise.

For the last two seasons, racing at Texas Motor Speedway has been affected by the corona virus. The start of the 2020 season was postponed and a number of races were cancelled, with the 2020 season eventually getting underway on June 6 at TMS. Last year, rather than having one 600km race, TMS held a double header, the Genysys 300 on Saturday May 1 and the Xpel 375 on Sunday May 2; both race distances were in miles rather than kilometers. This year is no exception, with TMS being moved forward from its usual place in June and hosting the second round of the 2022 season. However, this year will be a single race event.

Some Trivia:
Driver with the most wins: 5.
Scott Dixon: 2008, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2021.
Team with the most wins: 10.
Team Penske: 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2019.

Track Layout:


Length: 1.5 Miles (2.4 km)
Turns: 4

Lap record:
Paul Tracy April 28 2001. 0:22.542, 239.552 mph (385.521 kmh)
Team Green,
Reynard 01i-Honda HR-1 V8t,
CART FedEx Championship Series.



Last Year Race 1,

Genysys 300.
https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/n...i-1-2/6500589/

Pole:
Alex Palou,*
Chip Ganassi Racing
Dallara IR18-Honda HI21R Indy-V-6
*Qualifying was canceled due to rain. Consequently the starting grid was set on point standings.

Last year's winner:
Scott Dixon,
Chip Ganassi Racing
Dallara IR18-Honda HI21R Indy-V-6

Laps: 212
Distance: 300 Miles (482.803 Km)
Time: 1:45:51.3417
Average speed: 173.036 Mph (281.958 km/h)
Fastest lap: Marcus Ericsson - Chip Ganassi Racing, 23.6606 sec. Lap 124. 219.098 mph, ( 352.6040517 Km/h)

Cautions: 2
Laps: 56 - 70, 160 -173


Last Year's Race 2,
Xpel 375.
https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/n...texas/6501558/

Pole:
Scott Dixon,*
Chip Ganassi Racing
Dallara IR18-Honda HI21R Indy-V-6
*Qualifying was canceled due to rain. Consequently the starting grid was set on point standings.

Last year's winner:
Pato O'Ward,
Arrow McLaren SP
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet IndyCar V6

Laps: 248
Distance: 375 Miles (603.5 Km)
Time: 2:06:31.1155
Average speed: 169.36 Mph (272.558 km/h)
Fastest lap: Alex Palou - Chip Ganassi Racing, Lap 22 .23.8507 sec, 217.352 mph (349.794 km/h)

Cautions: 3
Laps: 1 - 18, 117 - 126, 190 - 196.

Broadcast:
NBC: March 20, 12:30pm ET, 5:30pm UTC
Sky Sports F1: 5:30pm GMT

[mstets]

Practice: 11 AM ET Saturday March 19


Qualifying: 2 PM ET Saturday March 19


Final Practice: 5 PM ET Saturday March 19

[NaBUru38]

Bad news: ESPN won't air the race in South America, it will be exclusive to Star+.

But that's not all: Star+ has got broadcasting rights for the Uruguayan First Division. Therefore, prices have raised here to US$ 25 per month, that's 12 hours of minimum wage.

I'm already paying cable TV and Netflix. Enough!

[mstets]

Interesting P1 results, though it's hard to judge qualifying pace with all the towing. Ilott in P4 was a surprise. Rahal commented after the session that he thinks the Penskes will be up front in qualifying.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Interesting. Except for Daly, Kellet and Hildebrand, all the other driver's times are up on last year's top practice time of 00:23.5451, 220.173 mph, set by TK.

[bjohnsonsmith]

A special session is to held today to work Firestone rubber into Texas Motor Speedway’s second lane. This comes on the back of PJ1 being used the track surface by NASCAR.


https://racer.com/2022/03/18/special...s-second-lane/

[mstets]

Qualifying results.

[rustyfan]

Nice job Felix!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Felix Rosenqvist on his first IndyCar pole.

Chevrolet will be pleased, getting three cars in the top four slots and so should the Captain, with Scott Mclaughlin getting second spot on the front row and Will Power on the second row in fourth.

Scott Dixon, who has won here a record 5 times is in 5th spot and Helio Castroneves, who has won here four times, is 6th. It should be very interesting at the front of the field.



VeeKay, Herta, O'Ward and Palou, are all together in 8,9,10 and 11 spots.

[gert]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Congrats to Felix Rosenqvist on his first IndyCar pole.

His second, I believe?

[mstets]

Originally Posted by gert

His second, I believe?

His first pole was in 2019 at the Indianapolis GP.

[mstets]

Relatively minor damage to the tub of Harvey's car as shown in the video here:


https://racer.com/2022/03/19/newgard...it-for-harvey/


I would hardly consider it "destroyed" as Pruett states. I've put destroyed Indycar tubs in dumpsters and would consider Harvey's simply "damaged".

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by gert

His second, I believe?

Indeed, I stand corrected.

[Hawkwood]

24th, 25th, and 27th for RLL? What on Earth happened there?

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Hawkwood

24th, 25th, and 27th for RLL? What on Earth happened there?

Wondered the same. Usually Rahal has a decent oval performance

[mstets]

Originally Posted by Hawkwood

24th, 25th, and 27th for RLL? What on Earth happened there?

Hard to imagine how they could have been so far off in qualifying. Lundgaard was 4th quickest in the post qualifying practice with Rahal 7th, but that was surely with tows. Both laps were 3 mph better than they turned in qualifying. Cars are evidently good in traffic but they had better be considering where they start. Harvey crashed in the session and damaged the tub, so will have to start in a spare car which hasn't been on track.

[Purist]

I'm really not sure how close to Devlin DeFrancesco I'd want to be in the near future, especially on an oval. When he's in the vicinity for 3 incidents in quick succession at one race, it doesn't exactly look good.

[mstets]

Originally Posted by Purist

I'm really not sure how close to Devlin DeFrancesco I'd want to be in the near future, especially on an oval. When he's in the vicinity for 3 incidents in quick succession at one race, it doesn't exactly look good.

There was the incident with Sato, what was the third? Rahal was quite diplomatic in his comments, said something to the effect that DeFrancesco was a great talent and would learn that TMS is not a place where 3 wide running is going to work out.


Pretty rough weekend for RLL with heavy damage to two cars. Amazing job by Ferrucci to bring the Hy Vee car home in the top ten after starting last. At one point he was looking like he might finish in the top 6 or 7 but seemed to fall off a bit near the end of the race.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by mstets

Amazing job by Ferrucci to bring the Hy Vee car home in the top ten after starting last. At one point he was looking like he might finish in the top 6 or 7 but seemed to fall off a bit near the end of the race.

I think he had older tires than everybody around him.


Pretty interesting race all around. I thought Scotty was going to be able to hold on for that final corner, but congrats to Newgarden. Last year nobody won for a second time until late in the season and we almost had the first two rounds won by the same driver! Also, remember how long it took Penske to win a race last season? They seem to have regrouped and improved!


edit: was Jimmy Johnson in this race? they hardly mentioned him...... Seriously though he did great!

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by Purist

I'm really not sure how close to Devlin DeFrancesco I'd want to be in the near future, especially on an oval. When he's in the vicinity for 3 incidents in quick succession at one race, it doesn't exactly look good.

I'd agree, for the moment. Texas is crazy. I'd like to see how he does at the next oval. Oh wait, next 'oval' is Indy. Yeah, avoid him for a bit. He has a lot of experience but I don't know him from a hole in the ground and he's 22. Let's see how he can adjust...

[NaBUru38]

Amazing finish! When I saw the backmarkers getting closer, I knew that Newgarden had a chance to overtake McLaughlin.


DeFrancesco was quite reckless when trying to overtake Rahal and Castroneves.

[justracing]

Not a lover of ovals generally but that was a really interesting race with a superb finish. Amazing that Scotty has adapted so quickly coming from an entirely different discipline.

[TheMightyM]

I wasn’t the only one that noticed the lack of a crowd at Texas Motor Speedway. Marshall Pruett wrote a column about this. A highlight:

Whether it’s doing a rental at TMS or simply combining its skills and resources with the track, something’s got to change before we return. The promotional failure at the ticket office was embarrassing in every imaginable way. IndyCar drivers and teams risk too much over those 248 laps to play in front of an empty house. They deserve better and so do the faithful who circle this event on the calendar every year and pray for a good race.

MP attempts to blame the track for this, including an early start time but he’s overlooking a critical issue — I’m not sure to what degree TMS is calling the shots here. Or at least all the shots.

The choice of dates was, well, highly problematic, as it was the same weekend as the 12 Hours of Sebring. But NBC had a time slot, so the race moved to March 20. It’s thus also quite possible that NBC also set or at least heavily influenced the time of the race as well.

And that’s the bigger issue — what’s good for NBC’s schedule may not be good for event profitability or, long term, IndyCar. Having logical schedules matters. IMSA is good at this. IndyCar seems quite willing to let television drive their schedule, to IndyCar’s detriment.

[mstets]

Originally Posted by TheMightyM

I wasn’t the only one that noticed the lack of a crowd at Texas Motor Speedway. Marshall Pruett wrote a column about this. A highlight:



MP attempts to blame the track for this, including an early start time but he’s overlooking a critical issue — I’m not sure to what degree TMS is calling the shots here. Or at least all the shots.

The choice of dates was, well, highly problematic, as it was the same weekend as the 12 Hours of Sebring. But NBC had a time slot, so the race moved to March 20. It’s thus also quite possible that NBC also set or at least heavily influenced the time of the race as well.

And that’s the bigger issue — what’s good for NBC’s schedule may not be good for event profitability or, long term, IndyCar. Having logical schedules matters. IMSA is good at this. IndyCar seems quite willing to let television drive their schedule, to IndyCar’s detriment.

In general I think it's good for the series that NBC has been adding races to their broadcast schedule even if they do dictate date and time of an event. Hopefully there won't be a Sebring conflict next year.


On another front, the stands were pretty sparsely populated at TMS. Attendance at COTA for the F1 race would seem to indicate that there are plenty of open wheel racing fans in the area. Have folks written off Indycar at TMS based on the last couple of events, or do they have no interest in Indycar no matter how good the racing is?

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by TheMightyM

I wasn’t the only one that noticed the lack of a crowd at Texas Motor Speedway. Marshall Pruett wrote a column about this. A highlight:



MP attempts to blame the track for this, including an early start time but he’s overlooking a critical issue — I’m not sure to what degree TMS is calling the shots here. Or at least all the shots.

The choice of dates was, well, highly problematic, as it was the same weekend as the 12 Hours of Sebring. But NBC had a time slot, so the race moved to March 20. It’s thus also quite possible that NBC also set or at least heavily influenced the time of the race as well.

And that’s the bigger issue — what’s good for NBC’s schedule may not be good for event profitability or, long term, IndyCar. Having logical schedules matters. IMSA is good at this. IndyCar seems quite willing to let television drive their schedule, to IndyCar’s detriment.

The Sebring conflict is a false argument, it has not conflicted in the past and yet no one attends. Highly doubt the option for Texas fans was travel to Sebring or Texas and watching Sebring the day before and going to the race on Sunday as a detriment to attendance is a garbage argument. Texas just isn't interested in any other slot so they're stuck with a spring race that no one cares about to have another superspeedway on the calendar. Can't do fall, COTA and football kill that idea, summer well I can't even begin to tell you why that's a non-starter so you're left with now. And getting on NBC is giant for the series, pretending that being on the OTA network is in any way bad for the series is basic misunderstanding of economics.

I watch most of the Indy season, may not all be live but Texas is a hard pass. Just zero interest in it and the shtshow it has become.