Aaron Bearden Tag

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor The NHRA season has been over for a month, but earlier this week a few stars of the sport found themselves going in a straight line once again. This time they even brought some Verizon IndyCar Series friends to compete with them. No one was racing, though. They were bowling – and all for a good cause. A host of drivers and fans from both tours flocked to the Western Bowl in Indianapolis on Wednesday for “This Is How We Roll,” an annual charity bowlRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Staff Writer Motorsports Tribune reviews the season of the top 12 drivers from the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Our list wraps up with the champion, Scott Dixon. Scott Dixon, No. 9 PNC Bank/NTT Data Honda 2018: 1st in the championship  Wins: 3, Top 5: 13, Top 10: 15, Poles: 0, Laps Led: 357 Best Finish: 1st (Belle Isle, Texas, Toronto)  Tasked with topping a host of emerging stars while fending off retirement questions, Verizon IndyCar Series veteran Scott Dixon put together one of the greatest seasons of hisRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor Motorsports Tribune reviews the season of the top 12 drivers from the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Our list continues with the fifth-place finisher, Josef Newgarden. Josef Newgarden, No. 1 Hitachi/Verizon Chevrolet 2018: 5th in the championship  Wins: 3, Top 5: 6, Top 10: 14, Poles: 4, Laps Led: 485 Best Finish: 1st (Phoenix, Barber, Road America) Josef Newgarden’s 2018 matched the highs of his 2017 championship season, but a lack of podiums and season-long consistency kept the Tennessean from mounting a successful title defenseRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor Motorsports Tribune reviews the season of the top 12 drivers from the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Our list continues with the 10th-place finisher, James Hinchcliffe. James Hinchcliffe, No. 5 ARROW/LUCAS OIL Honda 2018: 10th in the championship  Wins: 1, Top 5: 5, Top 10: 9, Poles: 0, Laps Led: 65 Best Finish: 1st (Iowa) If it weren’t for that race, James Hinchcliffe’s 2018 campaign would be regarded as one of the Canadian’s best in his eight years of Verizon IndyCar Series competition. But to disregard what happened toRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor MADISON, Ill. — Post-race review and analysis from the Verizon IndyCar Series race at Gateway Motorsports Park. Who Won?  Will Power. The Australian surged around pole-sitter Scott Dixon on Lap 150 and overcame Alexander Rossi’s late fuel strategy play to earn his third win of 2018. Top Stories Minor Gains The summer’s IndyCar championship battle between veteran leader Scott Dixon and scrappy challenger Alexander Rossi hasn’t been a tale of big swings or surprises. It’s been a battle in the trenches, and in recent weeks Rossi’s had the upperRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor LEXINGTON, Ohio — Two years ago Simon Pagenaud found Victory Lane at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course en route to his first-career Verizon IndyCar Series championship. In Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 the Frenchman was content to come home in eighth. Pagenaud overcame a dismal 17th-place qualifying effort to gain nine spots on the narrow Mid-Ohio circuit and salvage a top 10 result. The run was the Team Penske ace’s sixth-consecutive top 10, though he failed to score a podium for the 11th time in 13 starts this season. “TheRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor LEXINGTON, Ohio — Alexander Rossi made a step back toward the championship with a dominant win from pole at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Rossi led 66 of 90 laps and put together a textbook drive with a two-stop strategy to claim Sunday’s Honda Indy 200. The result was his fourth-career Verizon IndyCar Series, and his second of 2018. “To be able to rebound from the three pretty difficult weekends we had coming into this one is a fantastic effort by everyone on the 27 NAPA team,”Read More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor LEXINGTON, Ohio — The Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires doubleheader at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course played out much like the season prior to it in 2018. Colton Herta was nipping at his heels, but Patricio O’Ward held on to score consecutive trips to victory lane. O’Ward held off another late surge from Herta to claim Sunday’s Cooper Tires Indy Lights Mid-Ohio Grand Prix Race 2 – his seventh win of the 2018 season (vs. Herta’s four), and fourth triumph in the past five races. HertaRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor LEXINGTON, Ohio — Kyle Kirkwood captured the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda crown with a Friday win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. He celebrated a new series record with his eighth-consecutive win on Saturday. On Sunday the Cape Motorsports star got out the broom for a weekend sweep. Kirkwood surged ahead of polesitter James Raven in the first two turns and drove off from there to claim another dominant victory in Sunday’s Cooper Tires USF2000 Mid-Ohio Grand Prix Race 3, tallying his ninth-straight victory andRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor LEXINGTON, Ohio — Rinus Veekay didn’t have another dominant effort from pole in the second Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. But after polesitter David Malukas went off-course on Lap 8, the Juncos Racing driver won the race all the same. Veekay held on to his second starting position through the opening circuit and benefitted from Malukas’ misfortune to claim Cooper Tires Pro Mazda Mid-Ohio Grand Prix Race 2, completing a weekend sweep that saw the Dutch shoeRead More