Indy 100 Race Preview
This weekend the Nationwide Series teams arrive in Indiana for round 2 of the championship, the Indy 100 from Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The 2.5 miles of track here are steeped in history and the track is the spiritual home of IndyCar, but NASCAR has been an annual visitor since the 1990’s. After the 300 mile test of endurance that was the DRIVE4COPD300, all of the teams will be happy for some light relief in the form of this relatively short contest. With only 40 laps to play with, the pit window and qualifying position will be equally important as it is much harder to pass at Indy than at it’s higher speed cousin, Daytona and you’ll have just over half an hour to make those passes. Despite the fact many drivers are running the Daytona 500 on the same day, the grid is still looking strong which is a testament to the commitment of some of the guys involved. Here’s your team news for this week….
Richard Childress Racing – It was a weekend of ups and downs at Daytona for the RCR team; Smuffy in the #88 and Carbonox in the #24 finished 2nd and 4th respectively which helped the team to the top of the owners table, but rookie driver Dave May has been parked for the remainder of the season due to reckless driving leaving an open seat at RCR. Team owner, Crazy, said that Sprint Cup drivers from Hendrick Motorsport would be filling in the #48 car throughout the season and when questioned about whether the loss of Dave May would affect the team he said
“I think the loss of Dave May will be overlooked as RCR is on top of the owners points”. He also seemed pleased that Smuffy and Carbonox were in good stead in the drivers championship.
JR Motorsports – Even the Florida sunshine couldn’t lighten the mood in the JR camp after the 300 as all three drivers, Chqr, Trynor and reserve driver, Harry Payne were forced to retire from the race due to mechanical failures. I asked team director Knelly if he still believed in the team, he replied,
“Absolutely, mechanical failure and illness made the opener disastrous for SGR, but we have fixed the solution and are now all fighting fit, ready for Indy”. JR have also stated they are looking at a podium finish or better at Indy.
Rick Ware Racing – It was a solid opening round for RWR who have slotted quietly into second place in the owners championship. Joe came through a challenging race to finish on the podium and the #99 car picked up 5th place; unfortunately the Portuguese full time driver, Filipe, had to retire due to transmission issues. The Ford powered team will be hoping that the issues with the car won’t have the chance to affect the Portuguese rookie in such a short race.
Red Bull Racing – It was also a mixed weekend for the Red Bull team. Team owner, Mule, took an amazing and well deserved win at Daytona but full time driver Jazza was forced to retire early. Mule played down the importance of having more than one full time driver in a post-race press conference; he said that he and Jakob would be making many of the races so the team still has a chance at the owners championship. He also said of his victory,
“Well, it just goes to show that if everything goes right, almost anyone on that grid can win at Daytona”.
Joe Gibbs Racing – JGR had a fairly quiet race with all 3 drivers finishing mid-pack; Cowboys, Drop and Fastfox finished 6th, 7th and 9th respectively even though Fastfox had to park up after 90 laps. When asked how his first race as a NASCAR rookie had gone, Cowboys simply pushed the camera away; we can only deduce that he was unhappy with his performance. Fastfox on the other hand seemed confident that he could improve on his disappointing Daytona performance when we spoke to him as the JGR trucks rolled into the Indianapolis track today;
“I'm feeling great about being at Indy. The JGR #11 is fast and is handling like a dream”.
Remember to tune into the race, live and uninterrupted on
Reflex TV. The channel will be on air shortly before the green flag at 19:00GMT (15:00 Eastern).
Tom McDonald – Nationwide Series Co-Race Director