Indy Car: Open Wheel Wednesday Texas Edition

This week's Izod Indy Car Series Race takes place at Texas Motor Speedway.  Texas is always one of the most exciting tracks on the schedule.

Every year, side-by-side racing is intense and photo finishes are a byproduct of it.

This year’s race will be the most exciting yet for the Izod Indy Car Series.  The new double file restarts, the close racing action and the new duel race format will create some great racing.

This will be like restrictor plate racing for NASCAR, but better.  Each 114-lap race will have action the whole way.  Bruton Smith and the boys down at Texas Motor Speedway could be on to something with the duel event.

 RACE INFORMATION

• Firestone Duel 275k- Texas Motor Speedway- 8pm ET on Versus

• 1.5-mile track with a dogleg on the front stretch
• 24 degree banking in the corners
• 191,122 capacity seating
• Track Record- Paul Tracy- 22.542 seconds
• This is the first Duel event in Izod Indy Car Series history.
• Each race consists of 114 laps.
• Each 114-lap race will reward half the original points, and half the prize money.
• The first race's starting positions will be determined by qualifying speeds on Friday.
• The second race's starting positions will be determined by a blind draw during the 60 minute break in between the races.
• Texas Motor Speedway used to host two Izod Indy Car Series races per year from 1998-2004.  NASCAR won a lawsuit in 2004 and Texas Motor Speedway had to take away the season finale Indy Car race in the fall and make it a Cup date.

 Past Champions

1997- June Arie Luyendyk* originally Billy Boat, but scoring error gave Luyendyk the win

1998- June- Billy Boat

         September- John Paul Jr.

1999- June- Scott Goodyear

         September- Mark Dismore

2000- June- Scott Sharp

         September- Scott Goodyear

2001- June- Scott Sharp

         October- Sam Hornish Jr.

2002- June- Jeff Ward

          September- Sam Hornish Jr.

2003- June- Al Unser Jr.

         September- Gil de Ferran

2004- June- Tony Kanaan

         September- Helio Castroneves

2005- June- Tomas Scheckter

2006- June- Helio Castroneves

2007- June- Sam Hornish Jr.

2008- June- Scott Dixon

2009- June- Helio Castroneves

2010- June- Ryan Briscoe

POINTS STANDINGS:

1. Will Power 194

2. Dario Franchitti 178

3. Oriol Servia 150

4. Tony Kanaan 135

5. Scott Dixon 129

6. Graham Rahal 120

7. Ryan Briscoe 114

8. J.R. Hildebrand ® 113

9. Alex Tagliani 110

10. Mike Conway 102

11. Vitor Meira 96

12. Marco Andretti 95

13. Takuma Sato 94

14. Simona de Silvestro 92

15. Danica Patrick 92

16. Justin Wilson 88

17. Helio Castroneves 85

18. James Hinchcliffe ® 80

19. Charlie Kimball ® 78

20. Ryan Hunter-Reay 68

21. Raphael Matos 67

22. E.J. Viso 65

23. Sebastian Saveedra 62

24. Dan Wheldon 59

25. Ana Beatriz 55

26. James Jakes ® 55

27. Sebastien Bourdais ® 44

28. Bertrand Baguette 30

29. Tomas Scheckter 28

30. Paul Tracy 27

31. Ed Carpenter 26

32. Simon Pagenaud ® 24

33. Townsend Bell 21

34. Buddy Rice 20

35. John Andretti 16

36. Davey Hamilton 16

37. Alex Lloyd 15

38. Pippa Mann ® 15

39. Jay Howard 14

40. Bruno Junqueria 4

 My Predictions

It will be virtually impossible to predict the finishing order for both races.  With the second race's starting positions determined by a draw, there are many factors that can change up the finishing order.  I'll try to predict both to the best of my abilities.

Look for race two to have a lot of cautions and some intense moments with double file restarts and drivers having to start the race due to a blind draw.  With only 114 laps each race, look for some pit strategy at the end.

Race 1

1. 3 Helio Castroneves

2. 9 Scott Dixon

3. 6 Ryan Briscoe

4. 82 Tony Kanaan

5. 38 Graham Rahal

Race 2

1. 7 Danica Patrick

2. 26 Marco Andretti

3. 67 Ed Carpenter

4. 82 Tony Kanaan

5. 10 Dario Franchitti