Each day of the week, the column will highlight a division, highlighting five drivers and mentioning things that you should know going into the next week of racing.
After a wet-weekend in Detroit, the Verizon IndyCar Series is set to tackle the high-banks of Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. With safety concerns at a high due to three flips during Indianapolis 500 practice last month, INDYCAR has made some key changes to the aero kits entering this weekend. Hopefully that will keep all the cars on the ground and allow for a thrilling race for the fans on Saturday night.
Ed Carpenter leads the way into the weekend as he scored the victory last year after leading 90 of the 148 laps. Another run of that nature would be welcome as he has only made one start thus far this season – Indianapolis – where he finished 30th following a crash during the race. So far this weekend, though, he isn’t off to the best start as he will start Saturday night’s Firestone 600 in the 15th position.
So if he wants to win, he’ll have to make by Team Penske and they enter this weekend with a lot of confidence based on their speed and 1-2 finish at the Indianapolis 500. Juan Pablo Montoya won the Indianapolis 500 after having to restart from the back of the filed early in the event due to rear-wing damage. Currently leading the points by 21, he is looking for a strong run this weekend after finishing 10th in the second Detroit race due to running out of fuel. He knows how to do well at Texas, having posted a third place finish last season. He’s also having a weekend thus far, having led the final practice. He will start the event from the fifth spot.
Montoya’s teammates won’t be far behind him this weekend, especially Helio Castroneves and Will Power. They’re both looking to bounce back this weekend after being involved in an accident together in the second Detroit duel.
Castroneves has visited victory lane four times at Texas Motor Speedway, most recently in 2013. He also badly needs to start running well if he wants to close the 65 point gap that sits between him and Montoya. He’ll start Saturday night’s event from the third spot.
Meanwhile, Power will start the event from the pole and he has a win, three top-fives and five top-10s in seven starts for an average finish of 6.9. He also has momentum, as far as oval competition, with the second at Indianapolis.
Chevrolet has proven to have their aero kit right now stronger than the Honda aero kit, as evident by how strong they performed at Indianapolis. Sebastien Bourdais, who drives a Chevrolet. enters this weekend full of confidence after winning the second Detroit Duel. Texas hasn’t treated him well in the past, though, as he has finished 20th in both of his previous starts. So far, this weekend isn’t going much better than those previous performances as he’ll start the event from the 18th spot.