Firestone Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Ore. – Last Sunday’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway certainly had its opinions. Some see it as Scott Dixon dominating the race as he lapped all but the podium en route to his second win of the season. Others look at the oval debut of the Firestone alternate tires as either overhyped or arguably worsening the product at Gateway. On paper, the race saw 10 lead changes but Dixon and Josef Newgarden led a combined total 221 of 260 laps. It’sRead More

By INDYCAR ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Josef Newgarden’s cagey tire strategy paid off Saturday with the NTT P1 Award for the REV Group Grand Prix presented by AMR at Road America. Two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Newgarden was the only driver in the Firestone Fast Six who elected to use new Firestone primary “black” tires for the entire final round of qualifying instead of used primary tires or the grippier, but less durable Firestone alternate “red” tires. That paid off with a best lap of 1 minute, 46.0186 seconds in theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer For the second straight day, Team Penske left the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix heartbroken. Yesterday it was Will Power’s car not firing up after the red flag was lifted. Today, it was Josef Newgarden’s rear tire wear playing a role on finishing second after leading the first 67 laps. “Sad. Just pretty sad,” said Newgarden. “It’s hard not to be disappointed. We had the car to beat, but the cautions (came out) when we didn’t need them. Wrong tires when we didn’t need them.” Right outRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — Both Carlin and driver Conor Daly have endured positive and negative series of events over the past month in the NTT IndyCar Series. Carlin’s Month of May at Indianapolis was one to forget after only Charlie Kimball made the field while Max Chilton and Pato O’Ward missed the race. Then lead engineer Geoff Fickling left the team and Steve Barker stepped in. Finally, Carlin announced Tuesday that Daly will replace Chilton in Saturday’s DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway as he’llRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — When it comes to ovals, Ed Carpenter Racing tend to have stronger qualifying efforts. It was modestly the case for Spencer Pigot, but not so much for driver/owner Ed Carpenter. Carpenter has to work his way from the field in Saturday’s DXC Technology 600 after qualifying 13th on the grid, feeling that his No. 20 Autogeek Chevrolet was slow despite having a positive balance. “My balance was good. I was flat and the car was good, but not very quick for someRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Firestone’s extension as exclusive tire supplier to the NTT IndyCar Series through the 2025 season shows the strength of IndyCar racing with the most important part of the car settled for the next few seasons. The only component of a racing car designed to purposefully make contact with the racing surface are the tires. That’s why they are so critical to a race car’s performance. But don’t take this author’s word for it, Mario Andretti’s opinion would be the more important one. “There’s no element ofRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The NTT IndyCar Series races at Road America and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca both have new title sponsors for their upcoming 2019 races. The June 23rd race at Road America will be called the REV Group Grand Prix at Road America. REV is a parent company of more than 30 specialty vehicle brands that span emergency, bus, recreation and specialty markets. In appreciation of first responders, REV will also host a special hospitality area at Road America to salute them. “REV is excited to be theRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer NEWTON, Iowa— Heading into Sunday afternoon’s Verizon IndyCar Series Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway, Spencer Pigot had just five top-10 results in 32 starts, with his best career finish a seventh-place showing at Mid-Ohio in 2016. An unexpected lack of rear grip cost Pigot a lot in qualifying and his No. 21 machine lined up back in the 18th position on the 22-car starting grid. But after a solid 300 laps at the 7/8-mile oval, he had earned his first podium result, crossing the stripeRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer NEWTON, Iowa — Battling four-wide with 15 laps to go in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway, Robert Wickens got around Spencer Pigot for the third position and everything looked set for the Canadian duo to share the podium as his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammate James Hinchcliffe was poised to earn the team’s first victory of the 2018 season. That all changed when the caution flag flew for just the second time of the race with seven laps to go when Ed Carpenter got sidewaysRead 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