National Speed Sport News

SPARTA, Ky. - Helio Castroneves went "slow enough to win" Saturday's IZOD IndyCar Series Kentucky Indy 300 as he was the only driver whose car was "good to the last drop" of fuel.

Castroneves scored his second victory of the season and it came in the 200th race in Indy Racing League history.

"We had a little issue on the pit stop and things happen for a reason," Castroneves said. "We were notread more

LOUDON, N.H. - Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon took part in the first day of a two-day Firestone tire test at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Tuesday, and both drivers put down some impressive lap times.

The goal of the test for Firestone was to determine the appropriate tire combination for the return of the series to the 1.058-mile asphalt oval. The series last raced at New Hampshire Motor Speedway inread more

INDIANAPOLIS - Paul Tracy will return to the IZOD IndyCar Series behind the wheel of the No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dallara Honda for the races at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta. Ky., Sept. 4 and Twin Ring Motegi in Japan Sept. 19.

Wheel manufacturer Motegi Racing Wheels will join the team and Tracy for the two events as primary sponsor of the No. 24.

"It's great to be back with the Dreyer &read more

JOLIET, Ill. - There are many traditions in IndyCar racing, including the fact that team owners are often at odds with the series sanctioning body over such things as rules, cars, tracks, schedules and other issues.

It has led to divisive splits, including 1978 when CART was formed and broke away from USAC and in 1996 when the Indy Racing League went into competition and practically every team inread more

JOLIET, Ill. - Just when it looked like Will Power was in position to score the first oval win of his career, his hopes went up in exhaust fumes as his fuel tank ran out of ethanol just four laps from the finish.

Instead of challenging for the victory, his late-race pit stop to get enough fuel to make it to the finish proved costly to his championship points lead as Dario Franchitti went on to winread more

JOLIET, Ill. - The Indy Racing League has revised its qualifying procedure for the four IZOD IndyCar Series oval events that will close the 2010 season as a result of expanding entry lists.

The second sentence of Rule 8.2(F)(1) is amended and reads as "A qualifications attempt is the total of two consecutively timed laps." The remainder of the oval qualifying rules remains unchanged.

Previously, theread more

SONOMA, Calif.
He may not have driven an IndyCar in competition in 16 years, but Mario Andretti still carries himself with tremendous presence as one of the all-time racing legends in the sport.

Part of what made Andretti one of the best of all-time was his ability to win on nearly any type of race course - from short ovals to superspeedways to natural terrain road courses to temporary streetread more

Fin. St. No. Driver Car Laps Status
1 1 12 Will Power Verizon Team Penske Dallara Honda 75 Running
2 6 9 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara Honda 75 Running
3 3 10 Dario Franchitti Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara Honda 75 Running
4 5 6 Ryan Briscoe Team Penske Dallara Honda 75 Running
5 2 3 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara Honda 75read more

SONOMA, Calif. - Will Power left little doubt that in 2010 the IZOD IndyCar Series driver was the King of the Road.

By driving to a decisive victory in Sunday's Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma at Infineon Raceway, Power scored his fifth victory in the nine road course races this season. He dominated the race by leading all but two of the 75 laps.

More importantly, Power padded his point lead. He enteredread more

FORT WORTH, Texas - Fans of the IZOD IndyCar Series have been wishing for a return to the roots of open-wheel racing. It looks like Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage and Indy Racing League CEO Randy Bernard were listening.

For the first time in IZOD IndyCar Series history drivers will compete in two individual races on the same day. The event, formally known as the Firestone 550k, willread more

LEXINGTON, Ohio
It was late in Sunday's IZOD IndyCar Series race when two of Team Penske's cars driven by Will Power and Helio Castroneves were closing in on the much slower car driven by Milka Duno.

Power passed the "Moving Chicane," but Castroneves took evasive action and drove down pit lane to make his final pit stop rather than push the issue with Duno.

After all, Castroneves was placed onread more

Fin. St. No. Driver Car Laps Status
1 2 10 Dario Franchitti Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara Honda 85 Running
2 1 12 Will Power Verizon Team Penske Dallara Honda 85 Running
3 6 3 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara Honda 85 Running
4 14 77 Alex Tagliani CV Logistics/FAZZT Race Team Dallara Honda 85 Running
5 5 9 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Racingread more

LEXINGTON, Ohio – There has been some shuffling to the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule that has caused IndyCar Series CEO Randy Bernard to move dates around because certain tracks are involved with the massive restructuring of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule.

The Baltimore street race was originally scheduled for Aug. 7, but will likely move to Labor Day Weekend. The IndyCar race atread more

LEXINGTON, Ohio - Not exactly a secret but now it is a formality - Honda will build engines using the new platform announced by the IndyCar Series earlier this year.

Honda Performance Development announced Saturday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course that it will build the new engine that will be used in 2012.

HPD has been supplying engines to IndyCar since 2003 and is current contract was set toread more

LEXINGTON, Ohio - Dario Franchitti's victory in Sunday's Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by Westfield Insurance was earned in the pits.

The IZOD IndyCar Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was a No Passing Zone on the race track as the high-speed IndyCars have difficulty finding a passing area on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course. So the race-winning pass came on lap 25 when Franchittiread more

INDIANAPOLIS - IZOD IndyCar Series officials have fined driver Helio Castroneves $60,000 and placed him on probation for the remainder of the season for his actions during the July 25 race at Edmonton City Centre Airport.

Castroneves was penalized for refusing to follow the direction of officials as well as portraying unsportsmanlike conduct when he engaged in physical contact with two officials onread more

EDMONTON, Alberta - It was a few hours before the start of the IZOD IndyCar Series race at Edmonton's City Centre Airport and a large crowd was arriving to pack the grandstands for Sunday's Honda Indy Edmonton.

But huddled away in the back of the Target Chip Ganassi team transporter was two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti, 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon and team managing directorread more

EDMONTON, Alberta
It's been painfully obvious that three-time IndyCar Series champion and 2006 Indianapolis 500 winner Sam Hornish, Jr. has struggled to achieve the same results in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Although he has displayed flashes of brilliance in a stock car, he has not produced consistent results that are expected of the top drivers in NASCAR.

Because of that, Hornish said Fridayread more

Fin. St. No. Driver Car Laps Status
1 3 9 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara Honda 95 Running
2 1 12 Will Power Verizon Team Penske Dallara Honda 95 Running
3 4 10 Dario Franchitti Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara Honda 95 Running
4 5 6 Ryan Briscoe Team Penske Dallara Honda 95 Running
5 8 37 Ryan Hunter-Reay Team IZOD Dallara Honda 95read more

EDMONTON, Alberta - Helio Castroneves paid a mighty big price when he was called for blocking Team Penske teammate Will Power on a restart with three laps to go in Sunday's Honda Indy Edmonton.

The penalty was a black flag that cost him a victory as Scott Dixon won the IZOD IndyCar Series race without leading a single lap.

Castroneves dropped from an apparent win to 10th place and after the race, heread more

INDIANAPOLIS - Even in a city like Indianapolis where motorsports is truly an industry, rarely is the sport discussed on the op-ed page of the city's major daily newspaper.

Last week's "new car strategy" announcement by the IZOD IndyCar Series, however, was more than just a sports story in Indianapolis. One only had to look at the back of the auditorium where the media was staged to quicklyread more

Fin. St. No. Driver Car Laps Status
1 2 12 Will Power Verizon Team Penske Dallara Honda 85 Running
2 5 10 Dario Franchitti Air Wick Dallara Honda 85 Running
3 4 37 Ryan Hunter-Reay Team IZOD Dallara Honda 85 Running
4 8 11 Tony Kanaan Team 7-Eleven/Nestle Pure Life Dallara Honda 85 Running
5 14 02 Graham Rahal NHR/Quick Trim Dallara Honda 85 Running
6 12read more

TORONTO - Will Power is known for displaying coolness under fire. He needed those qualities in Sunday's Honda Indy Toronto to wait for the right time to make the race-winning pass in the IZOD IndyCar Series race.

Power has gone two in a row for the second time this season and that added up to his fourth victory in the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season.

Power passed race-leader Justin Wilson on aread more

INDIANAPOLIS - To call the new IZOD IndyCar a "spec car" would be simply erroneous.

While the major component of the new car that will be used in the IZOD IndyCar Series beginning in 2012 will be manufactured by Dallara, the concept will be far from making this a "spec car."

Various manufacturers will produce changeable bodywork for this car known as aero kits. The aero kits will give the carsread more

The announcement of the new IZOD IndyCar Series chassis made waves yesterday throughout the auto racing world. Below are quotes from a number of players in the racing industry discussing the announcement.

"The fans were a major influence in this decision. They made it clear that they wanted to see some variety in the cars and the ICONIC Committee constantly factored that desire into theread more

INDIANAPOLIS - There should be something for every faction in the new IndyCar that will begin competition in 2012 including cost-effectiveness, efficient, innovative and most importantly - American-made.

Although the Dallara concept was chosen over DeltaWing, Swift, Lola and BAT, the Italian carmaker has agreed to move its IndyCar production facility to Main Street in Speedway, Ind. That willread more

INDIANAPOLIS - The IndyCar Series's hand-appointed Innovative, Competitive, Open-Wheel, New, Industry-Relevant, Cost-Effective Advisory Committee (ICONIC) has chosen what will be known as the IndyCar Safety Cell for the future car of the IZOD IndyCar Series.

The IndyCar Safety Cell, as it will be known, will be manufactured by Dallara at a new facility in Speedway, Ind., and will serve as the baseread more

INDIANAPOLIS - Graham Rahal is back with Newman/Haas Racing.

Rahal will drive the No. 02 Quick Trim Dallara Honda beginning this weekend during the IZOD IndyCar Series Honda Indy Toronto at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, with plans to enter five more events for Newman/Haas Racing this season thanks to sponsorship from Quick Trim.

Rahal, the youngest winner and pole sitter in series history,read more

INDIANAPOLIS - J.R. Hildebrand, the reigning Firestone Indy Lights champion, will make his IZOD IndyCar Series debut for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Aug. 8.

Hildebrand will make two starts for Dreyer & Reinbold behind the wheel of the No. 24 Dallara Honda. He will race at Mid-Ohio and again the following week at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

"I'm really excited toread more

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.
Every racing series has its drivers who may be in way "over their head." When Michael Andretti was a race driver, that driver was "King Hiro" - Japanese driver Hiro Matsushita. In the early days of the Indy Racing League, it was "Dr. Jack" - not Kevorkian, but Dr. Jack Miller - a dentist from Carmel, Ind., who became one more road hazard on the race track, as if the early daysread more