Second half of IndyCar season kicks off with ‘big’ race in Texas

Simon Pagenaud (Paul Sancya/AP)

The grind of the 2016 schedule continues for IndyCar Series teams this weekend. After a gruelling month of May then the double-header last week in Detroit, teams reconvene this weekend to compete on the high banks at Texas Motor Speedway. The 1.5-mile, D-shaped oval produces lots of side-by-side racing and plenty of passing which equals excitement for the fans.

Many teams held a test session at Texas a month ago and nearly unanimous opinion says we’ll have lots of action over the 600 km race distance.

Plenty of attention will be focused on Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi to see how he fares at this challenging track. Rossi stated during a conference call he’s been looking forward to returning to Texas since the test day and with an Indy 500 win in his pocket that should add to his confidence.

With the enormous points boost from the Indy 500 win Rossi is now fifth in the overall standings. The American’s next best finish this year is tenth place. Rossi also spoke about wanting to compete for the championship; he and the team will have to prove they are capable of better and more consistent finishes quickly to show they are up to the task.

As we enter the second half of the season there are a few drivers to keep an eye on to see if they can begin to mount a challenge to overall championship leader Simon Pagenaud. The Penske driver posted a disappointing 13th-place finish in Race 1 last week but followed it up with his third second-place result to go with three victories in the first eight races. Pagenaud leads the overall standings by 80 points over Ganassi driver Scott Dixon.

Dixon is a two-time winner at the Texas track with one of those victories coming last season. It was one of his three wins on the season that helped him to his fourth series championship. Ganassi teammate Tony Kanaan is also a former winner.

Pagenaud’s teammate Helio Castroneves is the only four-time winner at Texas, his most recent victory coming in 2013. Castroneves was in position to score his first race win in two years at Detroit before an untimely caution period dropped him out of contention.

Will Power, who collected his first race win in over a year on Sunday in Detroit, has sat on pole for the last three Texas races. Despite missing the first race this season, Power is up to seventh in the standings. He has never stopped being one of the fastest cars at any track but a series of misfortunes has cost him victories. Did last week’s victory burst the bubble of bad luck that’s followed him around?

After an impressive month of May, James Hinchcliffe started off June in miserable fashion at Detroit winding up in the wall in both races. His dislike for the Motor City track is evident and he’ll be happy to move on to Texas and try to get back to more consistent results that had pushed him up as high as fifth in the overall standings.

Yes the racing will be exciting but there’s even more to enjoy. As with everything in Texas, they do it big. From the giant video replay screen known as “Big Hoss” that is over 20,000 square feet of HD magic, to the post-race fireworks and winning driver firing six shooters in the air. Just another night in Texas.

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