Genesys 300 At Texas Motor Speedway Opens INDYCAR Season Without Fans In The Stands

"Please Come Back - I'm Ready" by Bill Patterson depicts the new Dallara with first season Red Bull Aeroscreen

Genesys 300 At Texas Motor Speedway Opens INDYCAR Season Without Fans In The Stands

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES got off to a late season start in a most grand and professional way. For the first-time ever, the season started the evening of June 6th, 2020 at a first-time venue for a season opener titled the Genesys 300 at Texas Motor Speedway - a high-banked mile and a half oval known for 214+mph speeds and close finishes. This event also featured a first-time where no one was allowed to pay money at a turn-style and sit in a seat to witness the competition on the track - in America? No concession's confectionery was allowed to be purchased because there were no fans.

Graham Rahal during the Genesys 300 at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday, June 6, 2020. Graham tracks along pitlane in his Aeroscreen modified Dallara racecar in oval trim as the field goes to restart without fans in the stands a Texas Motor Speedway. Image Credit: Chris Jones - NCIS (2020)

From the beginning, everyone knew this was going to be a high-stress affair ever since the nation went on a commercial lock-down, due to fears and concerns in readiness over the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in March after the first major event cancellation was ordered by Austin Texas Mayor shut down the rites of late winter South By Southwest (SXSW) music and culture festival. Soon thereafter, the traditional season-opener through the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida followed suit setting off a chain of chaotic ripples throughout the potentials of a 2020 racing series season originally set a 17 races ending in September.

Adding insult to injury to this set-up of a natural disaster aided by Human decision-making and control, this was to be the very first season the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) was under the new leadership of Roger Penske, who had purchased the INDYCAR sanctioning body and the track from the Hulman & Co. who had been in control of both the unified series and the track since February, 2008. The IMS track and the INDY 500 event had never been under any other leadership than Hulman & Co. since the facility was purchased by Tony Hulman, November 14, 1945, re-setting the modern history of American motorsport.

Given the chaos created in this era of the hysteria and fear created by the illness and potential ending of life in a newly identified (first isolated and identified on January 7, 2020) virus infection from Wuhan, China, it is probably amazing that this first race of a recently confirmed 16 race 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season (down from 17 races), ending in October at St. Petersburg, Florida, was actually held - fans or no fans.

With all of this as a backdrop, oops - adding that there was a 6 race 2-D gaming race series held in order to keep 3-D driver skills up and fan interest somewhat focused, but this effort, while better than nothing, left most fans with a very large void that real life, with real teamwork and the technology of cars on a dynamic physical forces track (masks, or no masks) could ever be matched in the cyber world.

Again, with all of this as a backdrop, oops - with a week's worth of Black Lives Matter violent protests (riots with property damage, deaths, and fires to 100s of buildings} - masks, or no masks by gatherings of people in very close shoulder to shoulder physical proximity without a Governmental concern of enforcement to their edicts on Social Distancing. As well as the fact that the Governor moved to a stage one open-up crowd strategy of 25% commercial capacity allowed for open air event environments for music and sporting events - whereas, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and Texas Motor Speedway decided not to take advantage of for this first-time set of circumstances.

Lastly, again, with all of this as a back drop, the INDYCAR teams put on the event under a 30 some-odd page booklet of COVID-19 protocols including masks, pit crew behavior, number of people in a pit crew, TV interview set-ups and protocols, and etc.. One could sense the tension that was requisite above and beyond just racing in the first race of the season - what comes to mind was watching team owner of the winner of the race - Scott Dixon - Chip Ganassi, struggling to keep a mask properly displayed upon his face throughout the event.

Firestone Firehawk tires used during the race came from an interesting sets of background and understanding. First off, this Dallara had never turned laps while in race trim at full anger. This being the first race of the season with a new platform, created some guesswork by the professionals at Firestone. What they ended up with is that the Rightside/Outside tires were the testing tires used to match up with the new aerodynamic stresses and down-force presented with adding the Areoscreen to the body. The Leftside/Inside set of tires chosen were last year's INDY 500 tires figuring that they would be able to handle the Texas track heat (nearly 150F degrees at race time) and speeds of around 214 during Qualifications for the Genesys 300 at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday, June 6, 2020. Image Credit: Chris Owens - NICS (2020)

The whole of the teams, owners, drivers, emergency support staff, and the TV production crew at NBC put on a real professional event performed at the highest levels of standard and to anyone with a trained eye, not one foot was placed wrong throughout the event.

Were mistakes made? - YES, this is reality with real world consequences. No quick digital pitlane resets here.

Was any of this a distraction to the professionalism of staging a race with a whole new platform of race car with the added safety feature of an Aeroscreen which changed up potentials in tiree wear on a banked oval track with average speed of over 214mph between 23 of the 24 cars scheduled to take to the track for just under 300 miles of tire to tire, side-by-side racing? - NO, in fact this first race of a Penske owned professional racing series at the highest levels of professional challenge in motorsport anywhere in the world was beyond a phenomenal success.

As far as holding a race without fans in the stands, NBC for its part decided to broadcast the race on Saturday evening through its over-the-air general non-cable portal with a tremendous response.

Scott Dixon celebrates with his socially distanced/virtue-signalling team after winning the Genesys 300 at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday, June 6, 2020. Image Credit: Chris Owens NICS (2020)

This excerpted and edited from IndyStar -

Saturday's 2020 series Genesys 300 that served as the season-opener shown on NBC, IndyCar's first network broadcast in primetime in seven years, averaged 1.285 million viewers across the show, which aired from 8-10 p.m. Unsurprisingly, Indianapolis led all markets with a 4.36 household rating — meaning 4.36% of homes with TVs on during the broadcast were tuned into the race.

On a national scale (and excluding Indy 500s), it was the most-watched NBC-broadcast IndyCar race ever, surpassing last year's race at Road America (1.110 million viewers), and it became the series' most-watched race since the 2016 Dual at Detroit Race 2 (1.397 million on ABC).
[Reference Here]

Bravo to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES for a near perfect race under extremely un-perfect circumstances breaking a near 80 day lock-down of society as a whole.

RESULTS >>>

Next up? NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the GMR Grand Prix on Saturday, July 4 on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

One can only hope that this race is attended with people on the grounds at IMS under these understandings: If one is sick and has a fever - report to a hospital or stay home. If one is in an identified vulnerable demographic and fearful - stay home. Outside of this, enter living life at one's own risk, with the exact-profitable-densities the retail establishments had, as if it were New Year's Day 2020!

Lookin' for FANS, not NO FANS come race day at IMS - home at Indiana, Wuhan Red Death be damned.

... notes from The EDJE




TAGS: NTT INDYCAR SERIES, COVID-19, Wuhan Virus, GMR Grand Prix, Genesys 300, Texas Motor Speedway, NO FANS, Masks, Social Distancing, Professionalism, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud, Penske Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing, The EDJE

NTT IndyCar Series Championship Predictions Four Races Out

Beginning of the last race of the 2017 season with Josef Newgarden in command as the field gets ready - 2 by 2 - entering Turn 11 at Sonoma Raceway for race start. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2017)

NTT IndyCar Series Championship Predictions Four Races Out

Predictions are a tricky business since this is always about placing odds on human outcomes. Variables are all over the map from driver talent and mistake performance involvement, equipment preparation and in-race support performance, track layout combined with prevailing weather, to the old adage of past performance is the best predictor of future performance and outcomes.

That being stated, there is a great portal for information about future chances that allow predictions to hit their mark much better than not. This portal is titled The Single Seater and the reason they are so good at what they do, they eliminate emotion as much as they can through mathematics ... statistics ... all that include the adage stated above.

Winner's Circle celebration as caught by NBCSN at 2:01:05 - from left to right is GoPro Grand Prix Of Sonoma race winner Simon Pagenaud being congratulated by 2017 NTT IndyCar Series Championship winner Josef Newgarden, Motorsports Journal Managing Editor Edmund Jenks, and NBCSN's Broadcaster Jon Beekhuis. Image Credit: NBCSN telecast via screengrab (2017)

This excerpted and edited from Single Seater -

State of the Championship: Assessing Newgarden’s Weak Spot
By: Drew Bennison - Aug. 8th, 2019

There are four races left in the IndyCar season. The finale at Laguna Seca has double points on offer, meaning there are at most 266 points available to any one driver. The Single Seater model currently has Newgarden in control of the championship with a 66.4% chance of winning the series title. Rossi has around a 30.9% chance of winning as he sits 16 points behind Newgarden, and Dixon and Pagenaud both hold a 1.3% chance of pulling off a late-season upset.

The helmet, gloves, and HANS device of Josef Newgarden just a minute before J-New puts them on for the final practice at the 2019 Acura Grand Prix Of Long Beach. The Team Penske driver finished this fourth race of the season P2 at about 20 seconds behind Alexander Rossi, his chief rival going into these final four races. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2019)

Newgarden holds the lead
Newgarden has led the points standings for most of the year thanks in no small part to his qualifying efforts. He has the second-best average starting position this year (5.8) just behind Rossi (5.5) and was the fifth most consistent qualifier as judged by average starting deviation. Newgarden qualifies for races incredibly well, but he doesn’t start races well at all. On average he loses -0.9 places in the first two laps of the race and has only retained his starting position on 54% of race starts. Ryan Hunter-Reay is the only driver in the top-10 of the points who retains his starting position at a worse rate. This could pose a threat in the final quarter of the season as two of the last four races are on road/street courses where passing is tougher. Giving up a good qualifying effort in the opening laps puts Newgarden at greater risk of getting involved in a crash or simply being unable to pass a championship rival back. Even on the ovals where it’s traditionally easier to overtake, giving up free track position obviously isn’t an ideal way to close out a tight championship battle.

Andretti Autosport celebrates its 200th win as a racing organization in the Long Beach Grand Prix Victory Circle. This mark was secured by Alexander Rossi as he won his second consecutive Acura Grand Prix Of Long Beach (2018 & 2019). Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2019)

Rossi’s advantage
Rossi has been an even better qualifier than Newgarden with two pole positions and retains his starting position at a much higher rate than Newgarden — doing so 85% of the time. Attacking Newgarden’s weakness on the start is going to be a solid approach for Rossi to claw back the 16 point deficit. Newgarden is not a driver that makes a ton of mistakes in the race — his overly optimistic dive to Hunter-Reay’s inside on the last lap at Mid Ohio is not a move you’ll see him go for again — so being in front of him early is so important. All drivers are aggressive at the start of the race, but Rossi can be more tactfully aggressive since he knows Newgarden struggles in the first two laps. And what might be an even bigger advantage for Rossi is if Newgarden knows he struggles on starts, leading to out-of-character driving in an effort to retain his position that could cause him to make a mistake. Winning a championship is as much a mental game of keeping your concentration high as it is a physical battle on track.

So what could Newgarden do to improve this weakness in his profile? I’m not a driver coach, but I would think that taking some time in practice to simulate the start and running on cold tires could only serve to benefit him. His teammates both retain their starting position more than 75% of the time, so maybe they have some advice for their fellow driver too. With only four races left, it would do more harm than good to try to do much more and risk psyching himself out at race starts. It’ll be a problem to deal with in the off-season.

Chip Ganassi Racing's 5-time IndyCar Racing Series Champion takes the pre-race fan greet ride just as every other driver. Here Scott rides around with sunglasses and his PNC Bank hat on backwards as her tracks around infamous Turn 9 at the Acura Grand Prix Of Long Beach circuit. Vantage thanks to Doug Mockett, from his special trackside suite sponsored by Doug Mockett & Company - Fine Architectural Hardware. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2019) 

Pagenaud, Dixon round out the top-four
Pagenaud and Dixon are both longshots to win the title as they sit 47 and 62 points out of the championship lead. Their success in the title hunt is going to come down more to what mistakes Newgarden and Rossi make more than anything they can do. 

INDY 500 winner for 2019 had a hot hand at IMS winning everything the track had to offer - IndyCar Grand Prix and the INDY 500. Image Credit: Shawn Gritzmacher - NTT IndyCar Series (2019)

Pagenaud has actually been the luckiest driver this season already according to Expected Points. He is outperforming his xPoints through Mid Ohio by +72. That means he’s scored 72 more points than we would have expected him to as judged by his average track position in races. For example, in the Indy GP Pagenaud had an ATP of 6.6, led only five laps, and was in the top-five for just 41% of the race. We would have expected him to score 28.5 points that race (about a sixth-place finish) but instead he scored 51. We see drivers who overperform compared to their expected points for a stretch of time eventually regress back to the mean. This could be over the next couple of races or next season, we don’t know exactly. But if Pagenaud is really riding a somewhat lucky sequence of races, it could mean Dixon has a good shot of at least overtaking him in the points in these last four races if Pagenaud’s results start to line up with how he has been driving. Right now, our model has Pagenaud with an expected championship finishing position of 3.3 compared to Dixon’s 3.4.

Pocono is up next
In the 50,000 simulations we did of the last races of the IndyCar season, no other driver won the championship besides these four. Newgarden and Rossi head into Pocono with a combined 97% chance of winning the title. There have been just three oval races so far this year, but Newgarden has the edge over Rossi in average starting (6) and finishing (2) position on these types of tracks. He also scores better in ATP (4.2) and ATP25 (1.9). A good weekend at Pocono could give him some breathing room in the points, but it won’t be easy. Rossi has had a good start to his career at Pocono with two podiums including a win in three races there. Newgarden has two podiums and no wins in six attempts.

These aren’t huge sample sizes, and I’d say these guys are about even. Newgarden with the advantage at ovals this season and Rossi with the advantage at Pocono the past few years. A DNF from either Rossi or Newgarden would probably flip the championship odds from “lean Newgarden” to “likely Newgarden” or to “lean Rossi” depending on who DNFs, so Rossi has more to lose than Newgarden does when it comes to a strategy gamble or risky overtake opportunities. I expect both of these guys to play it relatively safe (no high-risk-low-reward moves like we saw with Newgarden at Mid Ohio) at Pocono with three races still to go after. Pagenaud and Dixon might try to shake up the race a bit with alternative strategies given their longshot status too.

The Current Championship Odds

“Expected Championship Position”
The Expected Championship Position for each driver is the average championship finishing position we would “expect” from a driver if the end of the season were repeated infinite times. It is useful to get a point estimate forecast for each driver.

Statistical Information & Image Credit: TheSingleSeater.com (2019)

[Reference Here]

Sitting on the sidelines is only fun when one is engaged and informed.

So, with four races remaining in the 2019 season - ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway - Long Pond Pennsylvania, Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway - Madison Illinois, Grand Prix Of Portland at Portland International Raceway - Portland Oregon, Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca - Monterey California it's GREEN, GREEN, GREEN and may the best of outcomes prevail for all, even if the odds strongly favor Team Penske's 2017 NTT Series Champion to chalk-up a number two for his career in the double-points race at Monterey.

... notes from The EDJE




TAGS: INDYCAR, POCONO, GATEWAY, PORTLAND, LAGUNA SECA, POINTS CHAMPIONSHIP, Newgarden, Rossi Dixon, Pagenaud, The EDJE 

Spoils Go To The Canadian Victor At The 43rd Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports' James Hinchcliffe driving the No. 5 Honda Dallara DW12 IndyCar celebrates with his red-gloved fist in the air as he wins his first Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

Spoils Go To The Canadian Victor At The 43rd Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach

Victory takes on many forms when one perseveres through the struggles of being a top-level race car driver in a top-level racing series.

It had been two years since Oakville, Ontario's James Hinchcliffe stood at the middle and top spot of a podium platform at the end of a Verizon IndyCar Series contest held at the "one-of" race held in the rain at NOLA Motorsports Park outside of New Orleans. Just soon after this momentous fourth win in IndyCar, James suffered a major life-threatening puncture to his left upper thigh reaching up into the pelvic area through a Turn 3 crash at 220mph at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during INDY 500 practice.

Driving the No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda, Hinchcliffe collected the first pole of his Verizon IndyCar Series career in what will be his 79th race, edging Josef Newgarden for the honor by a mere 0.0407 of a second over the 10-mile run. Image Credit: IndyCar (2016)

Recovery and the drive in James Hinchcliffe to continue in this passion of driving a race car at the highest levels of competition were rewarded one-year and three days later when he captured his first ever Verizon P1 Pole Award at the very same track that almost killed him.

As icing on this cake, it came at the celebration of the historic 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil. True grit was shown because James put together this scintillating four-lap run of 230.760 mph as the final driver of the day in the Fast Nine Shootout - no pressure.

James Hinchcliffe gets instructions while in the pits at the 38th Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach at the controls of his Andretti Autosport No. 27 Go Daddy Chevrolet DW12 Dallara. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2012)

Hinchcliffe has raced here at Long Beach in the Verizon IndyCar Series since 2011 with three different teams - Newman-Haas, Andretti Autosport, and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports - and has reached the podium once at P3 in 2012 for Andretti Autosport.

James Hinchcliffe leads Andretti Autosport teammates Alexander Rossi and Marco Andretti through the Hairpin Turn before applying the power down the long Shoreline Drive front straight early in the race before all Andretti Autosport cars retire with problems by the race's end. Image Credit: Myles Regan (2017)

This excerpted and edited from CBS NEWS (AP) -

IndyCar star James Hinchcliffe, who nearly died in race, checks big one off bucket list
CBS NEWS (AP) - April 10, 2017, 7:46 AM

Not once did James Hinchcliffe think his career was over after a near-fatal accident in 2015.
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At long last, he’s got his first win on the race track since his accident.

Hinchcliffe won a three-lap shootout to the finish Sunday on the streets of Long Beach to win in a Honda for Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports. It was the Canadian’s first victory since 2015 at New Orleans, a month before his accident at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“To finally do what was goal No. 1 when we set out at the start of the season, to get back into winner’s circle, to do so as early in the season as we have, as convincingly as we did, was great,” said Hinchcliffe.
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He’ll gladly take it at Long Beach, the most historic street course race in the country.

“After Indy and personally me for Toronto, this is the biggest one to win,” Hinchcliffe said. “I’ve had a lot of luck here. We’ve been really quick here in the past and to finally get to victory lane here is more than I can put into words. This place has a lot of history, that’s what drivers really care about. The greatest of the greats have won here.

“Toronto, Indy and this place were on my bucket list to win before I die, and it’s nice to check one off.”

Sebastien Bourdais followed his season-opening victory at St. Pete with a second-place finish to give Honda a 1-2 podium finish.

Josef Newgarden was the highest finishing Team Penske driver and was third in a Chevrolet.
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[The three-lap shootout] set it up for Hinchcliffe to have to race Bourdais to the finish, but Bourdais was focused on the big picture in the closing laps. Hinchcliffe had gotten off to such a great start when racing resumed, that Bourdais tried only to maintain his running position.

“We played to our strengths and I’ve always been comfortable saving fuel,” Bourdais said. “We lost balance a little bit, and I was really thinking about saving second place. I was thinking championship.”
[Reference Here]

Oh Canada! ... James Hinchcliffe celebrates with Canadian maple leaf flag in Victory Circle as he captures his fifth win in the Verizon IndyCar Series sharing the podium with Frenchman and four-time champion, Sebastien Bourdais and American Josef Newgarden. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2017)

Complete Race Description By Motorsport.com  HERE >>>
Verizon IndyCar Series Box Score HERE >>>

For many who race at the highest levels in autosport, the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (TGPLB), after running as an event for 43 years and exclusively the home of American open-wheel racing for for 33, is the considered to be "INDY 500 of street courses."

James Hinchcliffe expressed this attitude and feeling about the TGPLB with the following comment, "We worked hard this off-season to perfect the package we had. Good speed at a lot of races last year. To roll off the first two races of the season, being in the Fast Six both times, if not for a caution falling for the wrong time at St. Pete, could have been in the top five or on podium there. To do it here and finally at this place, a track that I love so much, a track that's been very good to me in my career, one that I think is the Indy 500 of street tracks, it's the second longest running race after the 500. I think because of that history, it makes it a very special event, one that every driver wants to win. The greats have all raced here, the greats have all won here. To get in the winner's circle was huge."

Additional points of order to history as a race car driver from Canada are reflected in a bit of everything James Hinchcliffe does, from the number on his car - No. 5, which he now has as the number of wins in IndyCar matching the marks set by Greg Moore, Jacques Villeneuve, and Patrick Carpentier.

Champagne bath provided to winner James Hinchcliffe by three-time winner of the TGPLB Sebastien Bourdais who came in P2. Josef Newgarden takes a swig on the podium at P3, his first Podium since becoming a Penske Chevrolet driver. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2017)

Additional Post Race Quotes From James Hinchcliffe:

“If someone told me after NOLA last year that five wins was the number Greg had, the number Jacques Villeneuve had, and I believe the number Patrick Carpentier had. Only PT is higher than that in the list of Canadians in in IndyCar racing. To drive at a level with those guys, I mean, it’s tough to put into words”

“Greg was a huge motivation and a huge inspiration to me as a child. I followed Jacques’ career religiously. When Pat and Greg were teammates, followed Pat as well, to now be level with those guys is incredible.

“You know what, when I came into this sport, I felt a huge responsibility, to be honest, to keep up the good name that Canadian drivers had in IndyCar. There haven’t been a ton of us. The ones that have been here have been race winners, they’ve been contenders week in and week out. I wanted to maintain that, you know, record for Canada, not be the guy that let us down.”
ENDS

AND ... about the Red Gloves with the Canadian flag and HINCH emblazoned on them, raised high in victory? A tribute to the shortened career of Greg Moore.

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: James Hinchcliffe, Sebastien Bourdais, Josef Newgarden, Red Gloves, Greg Moore, Jacques Villeneuve, Patrick Carpentier, Paul Tracy, #TGPLB43, No. 5, Arrow, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda, Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, The EDJE