104th Indianapolis 500 Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Fernando Alonso’s quest for racing’s Triple Crown began on a positive note, ending up fifth fastest (223.238 mph) during Opening Day practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Wednesday. While both full-time Arrow McLaren SP teammates Pato O’Ward (28th fastest) and Oliver Askew (31st) were getting their foot in the door at the 2.5-mile circuit, the two-time Formula 1 champion wasted no time setting a flying lap in his No. 66 Ruoff Mortgage Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. “Today was good,” said Alonso, who ran 29 main practiceRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Marco Andretti started his “Month of August” at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a positive opening day, setting the second fastest overall speed at 224.345 mph during Wednesday’s practice. While it was a strong outing for his Andretti Autosport teammates with James Hinchcliffe fastest overall (224.526 mph) and Ryan Hunter-Reay fourth (223.431 mph), Andretti is simply focusing on the bigger picture with hopes of finally capturing the Borg-Warner Trophy next Sunday. It didn’t meant Andretti wasn’t satisfied with his speed right out of the gate as heRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Nearly 15 months removed from one of the lowest points of McLaren CEO Zak Brown’s motorsports career, he and the entire Arrow McLaren SP operation are making excellent strides for not just their NTT IndyCar Series program, but assuring last year’s Indianapolis 500 is just a blip on the radar. It’s no secret that McLaren’s independent effort in 2019 was an absolute disaster the moment they began testing with Fernando Alonso, something Brown admitted during Tuesday morning’s video conference. “You’ve got to get it pretty wrongRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer INDYCAR veteran James Davison will be competing in the 104th Indianapolis 500 Presented by Gainbridge in a collaboration effort led by Dale Coyne Racing. The third DCR Honda entry will be sponsored by Jacob Construction with Davison’s car number being No. 51. Both are representations of NASCAR’s Rick Ware Racing, who’ll be attempting their NTT IndyCar Series debut. Davison recently competed for Ware’s Cup Series entity last Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway where he finished 30th. He’ll be make an additional two Cup starts forRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The man wearing a black t-shirt around the paddock is back. Cole Pearn, former NASCAR crew chief for Martin Truex, Jr. (from 2015-19 that resulted in 24 Cup Series wins and the 2017 championship), will make his return to auto racing as the head engineer for Conor Daly’s efforts for the 104th Indianapolis 500 Presented by Gainbridge August 23. Pearn spent two nights with Daly’s team (Ed Carpenter Racing) and has been preparing for the “Month of August” from a computer as he’s ready to markRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The unfortunate reality of having the 104th Indianapolis 500 Presented by Gainbridge without fans is set into stone. Especially, when it involves businesses that could suffer of not having any revenue due to folks not coming. Let alone, not even having the event at all has implications for teams and sponsors. Those touchy topics became the focal point of Graham Rahal’s comments about whether or not the decision was correct following the Indianapolis Motor Speedway announcing Tuesday the race running behind closed doors. As soon asRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Team Stange Racing, LLC announced via Facebook on Wednesday their intentions of not participating in the 104th Indianapolis 500 Presented by Gainbridge. With alarming concerns of not having 33 entries due to the COIVD-19 pandemic, there have been a few drivers and teams being rumored of having a last-minute entry for the 500-mile race that’ll commence Sunday, August 23 behind closed doors. However, the one-off NTT IndyCar Series entry won’t be among those entering to fill up the 33-car quota this year and will concentrate onRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer For the first time in the history of the Indianapolis 500, there won’t be fans surrounding the 2.5-mile circuit as the extremely unpopular yet difficult decision was confirmed Tuesday morning. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway issued the following statement regarding this month’s race: “It is with great regret that we announce the 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500 will take place on Aug. 23 without fans. This tough decision was made following careful consideration and extensive consultation with state and city leadership. “As dedicated as we wereRead More