Looking Forward to Texas

IndyCar races at Texas Motor Speedway have produced some exciting, edge-of-your-seat, down-to-the-wire thrillers, but last year was not one of them. After a gripping contest in 2012, with a surprise victor in Justin Wilson, IndyCar tweaked the 2013 package so much that only five cars finished on the lead lap. Helio Castroneves dominated the race, which most agree was a snoozefest. In response, teams tested at the track this year to come up with a new, more fan-friendly and balanced downforce solution. All of this leads to a great mystery. We really have no idea what to expect from the Firestone 600 tomorrow night. I think everyone is hoping for a better race than last year but in reality we just don't know. I can't remember a race with more technical question marks than this one.

We do know that things will be at least a little different. For one, the race is longer than last year (50 kilometers--and yes, it's the Firestone 600 kilometer race, not 600 miles. Guess that sounds better than the Firestone 372.8, which is how many miles it actually is.) That in itself will lead to some new fuel and pit strategies. Furthermore, when teams tested in April, the weather was much cooler so it's difficult to predict how the cars and tires will respond to the heat that is typical of Texas in June. Temperatures will be in the mid-90's when the green flag drops Saturday evening, with the track temp even higher. Temps will continue to fall as the race goes along, and who knows how the cars will respond to those changes. IndyCar announced this week that it would allow teams some flexibility with the downforce restrictions, giving them the option to increase downforce as they desire (up to a point). So we might see a preview of what may happen with the introduction of aero kits next year, with one team running away from the rest of the field. This decision does seem to favor the big teams like Penske and Ganassi. I really don't know what we'll see though, which makes this race both interesting and tense.

I expect to see a good crowd tomorrow evening, with myself one of many in attendance. From a fan's perspective, Texas Motor Speedway really spoils us. In addition to allowing coolers and free parking, this year they offered a promotion where you could purchase 4 tickets plus 4 hot dogs and Cokes for $79. That amounts to less than $20 per person, and it was actually cheaper to do that deal than to buy three tickets separately. Thus, I am only bringing two people with me (including a new IndyCar fan experiencing his first race ever!) but I bought four tickets. I imagine this is a creative way to increase attendance figures. It might lead to some empty seats if others followed my strategy, which will set the television viewers into a tizzy, but this track still draws one of the biggest IndyCar crowds and they will again this year. TMS has another attraction, the world's largest HDTV ("Big Hoss") and that has already generated a good deal of buzz from people who just want to see it. And this is one of the rare combined NASCAR-IndyCar weekends, with the truck race Friday evening. Iowa also has this arrangement, and it works well for both series.

There has been a great amount of confusion this week regarding the telecast, and understandably so. NBC had originally scheduled the second game of the Stanley Cup finals on NBCSN, but they have now moved that to the network channel, which is rightly where it should be in my opinion. That meant the IndyCar race was originally scheduled to be aired on CNBC, which was even promoted during Carb Day. That would have been a ratings disaster for IndyCar, so I'm thankful it has been moved to its usual home of NBCSN. Hopefully viewers will be able to find it now. I know some guides were slow to update the change but all appears to be okay now.

I don't usually make predictions as to who will win the race, and I feel even less confident with this race because of all the unknown factors, but I will say there are several drivers to keep an eye on. I think Ed Carpenter will be one to watch, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least to see him do well. Ryan Briscoe has had good success at Texas in the past, too, and is coming off a promising weekend in Detroit. Helio has the hot hand right now, and certainly handled Texas well last year. Tony Kanaan had the fastest time in practice this morning, and has proven he can master the ovals. He was the most exciting driver to watch last year, passing multiple cars as usual, as he sliced and diced his way through the field on his way to a podium finish. So no predictions per se, but these are the drivers who I expect to have good results at Texas tomorrow night. It will also be interesting to watch the rookies, because this is a track unlike many of them have raced before, particularly Mikhail Aleshin. Above all else, though, I hope we see a safe and entertaining race.