IndyCar Category

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer LONG BEACH, California — Andretti Autosport had the full spectrum of positives and negatives during qualifying for Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach as their four cars had varying degrees of good and bad fortune ahead of the third race of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season. Alexander Rossi wheeled his No. 27 NAPA Auto Parts Honda to a pole position-winning lap of 1 minute, 6.5528 seconds around the 1.968 mile street circuit. It was Rossi’s second career pole following Watkins Glen in 2017. “TheRead More

By INDYCAR LONG BEACH, California (Saturday, April 14, 2018) – Alexander Rossi wasn’t to be denied in his quest to claim the Verizon P1 Award in qualifying for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The Andretti Autosport driver was fastest in all three rounds of knockout qualifications on the 11-turn, 1.968-mile temporary street course. He punctuated the effort by earning the pole position in the Firestone Fast Six with a lap of 1 minute, 6.5528 seconds (106.454 mph) in the No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS Honda. It was theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer LONG BEACH, California —The opening day of practice for the 44th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach kicked off with two practice sessions with Andretti Autosport on the fast end of the grid. The duo of 2010 Long Beach winner Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi were second and third in the morning session but in the afternoon Rossi led the field from Hunter-Reay. 2015 Long Beach winner Scott Dixon led the first session with a 1 minute, 8.4112 second lap around the 1.968 mile street circuit.Read More

By INDYCAR LONG BEACH, California – Being a past winner of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach paid off in practice today for Sunday’s 35th Indy car race on the famous street course in Southern California. All seven prior race winners entered this year finished in the top 10 on the combined timesheet for the two sessions on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary circuit. Scott Dixon, the 2015 Long Beach race winner, was quickest for the day with a lap of 1 minute, 8.4112 seconds (103.562 mph) logged in theRead More

By INDYCAR LONG BEACH, California — James Davison became the 35th confirmed driver for next month’s Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil when he was named today to drive the No. 33 Chevrolet entered by AJ Foyt Racing along with partners Jonathan Byrd’s Racing, Hollinger MotorSport and Belardi Auto Racing. Davison, a 31-year-old Australian, will be attempting to qualify for his fourth Indy 500. “I am honored to be driving for the legendary A.J. Foyt with Byrd-Hollinger-Belardi at the Indianapolis 500,” said Davison. “This will be my first full programRead More

By Josh Farmer, Contributing Writer LONG BEACH, California — Robert Wickens is off to a fast start to his Verizon IndyCar Series career. The first two Verizon IndyCar Series races for the 29-year-old Canadian show the talent he possesses. He had a near win in the bag at St. Petersburg, but collided with Alexander Rossi on a restart with two laps to go and had to settle for 18th. He followed that up with an impressive run at the ISM Raceway, leading 44 laps before being passed late by Josef Newgarden.Read More

LONG BEACH, California – Crown Royal and Andretti Autosport have joined forces to honor American veterans with the Crown Royal Wall of Gratitude. The Wall of Gratitude will allow racing fans 21 years old and older to submit names of their military heroes between now and the 102nd Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil. The company’s goal is to receive 31,680 names, enough to lap the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That number will far surpass the 4,000 names they received last year. “Crown Royal has had a long traditionRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer LONG BEACH, California — The 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season makes its first of two stops to California for Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. This weekend marks the 44th time a race has taken place along Shoreline Drive, the 34th such time for IndyCar racing and the second of a back-to-back-to-back stretch. Long Beach has provided for some interesting results. Last year marked James Hinchcliffe’s return to Victory Lane after a two year drought, but it is his fellow Canadian teammate that is makingRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer JR Hildebrand will be back in the Verizon IndyCar Series paddock for the Month of May. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing announced Thursday that Hildebrand, 30, will pilot the team’s second entry in the 102nd Running of the Indianapolis 500. The Californian will pilot the No. 66 entry in the event, returning to the organization where he made his IndyCar debut in 2010. The effort will be sponsored by Salesforce, a cloud-based platform for customer relationship management. Thursday’s announcement marks the first time in seven years thatRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer (New)Garden of Eden There are a few places in the Verizon IndyCar Series that some would consider paradise. For the sport’s oldest supporters, no location compares to victory lane at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. West Coast fans often point to the prestigious Long Beach street circuit. Some prefer the history of tracks like Road America, while others like the sheer excitement of ovals like Texas Motor Speedway. For Roger Penske, though? Recently it’s been wherever Josef Newgarden is found. The Tennessean joined Team Penske as the sport’s hottest free agent goingRead More