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2016 INDYCAR

100th Indianapolis 500 Nominated for Sports Event of the Year Award

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The 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil in 2016 was nominated for the Sports Event of the Year award to be presented at the 10th annual Sports Business Awards, the leading recognition for the North American sports industry.

Sports industry leaders will gather Wednesday evening, May 24 at the New York Marriott Marquis at Times Square for the ceremony, presented by Street and Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal. This year’s event features 87 nominees across 17 categories.

“The 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil was an incredible success that created lifelong memories for our fans and generated significant momentum for the Verizon IndyCar Series,” Hulman & Company CEO Mark Miles said. “We’re grateful to the SportsBusiness Journal for its recognition of the hard work that went into years of planning and execution for this once-in-a-lifetime event.”

This is the first time “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” has been nominated for this esteemed award. Other 2016 nominees are the Copa America Centenario Knockout Round, Ryder Cup, World Series, Pilot Flying J Battle at Bristol and the World Cup of Hockey.

The 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 was one of the most memorable and successful editions of the world’s most prestigious race, which has been an American icon since the inaugural running in 1911.

IMS was completely sold out for an Indianapolis 500 Race Day for the first time, with a massive crowd witnessing Alexander Rossi become the first rookie winner of the race since 2001.

The facility, which opened in 1909, also underwent many significant physical improvements for spectators as part of the Project 100 program that culminated with the 100th Running.

SOURCE: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Little League champs named Watkins Glen grand marshals

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Watkins Glen International will recognize the newly crowned Little League World Series champion Maine-Endwell (N.Y.) baseball team with players and coaches set to serve as grand marshals at Sunday’s INDYCAR Grand Prix at The Glen.

A sparkling 24-0 season record was capped by five Little League World Series wins – including a 2-1 victory over South Korea in the final – making Maine-Endwell the first team from New York to win the title since 1964. The team also received the Jack Losch Little League World Series Team Sportsmanship Award, an honor voted on by peers at the tournament.

Watkins Glen also announced that Doug Allen, the in-house singer for the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, will perform the national anthems prior to Saturday’s Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires race and Sunday’s Verizon IndyCar Series race. Also known as “Anthem Guy,” Allen’s enthusiastic deliveries of “O Canada” and “The Star Spangled Banner” have been thrilling thousands of Sabres fans more than 20 years.

SOURCE: INDYCAR

RC Enerson confirmed for final two INDYCAR races with Coyne

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Dale Coyne Racing confirmed that RC Enerson, who made his Verizon IndyCar Series debut in impressive fashion a month ago at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, will drive the team’s No. 19 Boy Scouts of America Honda in the final two events of the season – this weekend’s INDYCAR Grand Prix at The Glen and the Sept. 16-18 GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma.

Enerson was quick from the outset during the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio race weekend, posting the seventh-best lap in a pair of practice sessions and clocking the fastest race lap of any Honda driver, when he finished 19th after going a lap down midway through the event after he ran out of fuel coming into the pits.

The 19-year-old Floridian, who started this season in Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires, is eager for the challenge of Watkins Glen International after testing on the 3.37-mile permanent road course Aug. 11.

“I think we have a good weekend ahead of us,” Enerson said. “We were really quick in testing, we seem to have pretty good cars. We still need to work a little bit more, but we should be able to dial in the car in practice before qualifying and that should put us in a pretty good spot.”

Watkins Glen is the site of the first Indy car win for Dale Coyne Racing, captured by the late Justin Wilson in 2009. Enerson will team with fellow Verizon IndyCar Series rookie Conor Daly there this weekend.

“I’m just looking forward to getting back in the car. I think the track layout is pretty cool, it has a bit of a Mid-Ohio taste to it almost because of all the elevation changes and a lot of high-speed, flowing corners. That new pavement that they have – I never got to drive on the old one – but apparently it has way more grip and I believe it because it’s pretty intense how much speed you can carry into the corners and how much the car will actually take.

“I think my objective for the weekend is pretty much the same thing as Mid-Ohio, to pull as much experience as I can from this and do my best and see what kind of result I can bring home.”

SOURCE: INDYCAR

Firestone 600 post-event infraction

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INDYCAR announced the following post-event infraction from the conclusion of the Firestone 600, which was completed Aug. 27 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas:

•  INDYCAR fined Schmidt Peterson Motorsports $20,000 and penalized the team 25 entrant and driver points after the No. 5 entry of James Hinchcliffe was found in violation of Rule 14.6.8.2.2 of the Verizon IndyCar Series rule book (domed skid wear) in post-race inspection.

“In our post-race analysis this week it was determined the skid plate on the No. 5 entry was worn and in violation of our rules,” said Jay Frye, INDYCAR president of competition and operations. “This was both a performance advantage and a safety concern, as the domed portion of the skid had been ground down to the point it would have been ineffective.”

Members may contest the imposition of the penalties pursuant to the procedures and timelines detailed in the review and appeal procedures of the Verizon IndyCar Series rulebook.

SOURCE: INDYCAR

2016 Firestone 600 Race Results

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Results Saturday of the Firestone 600 Verizon IndyCar Series event on the 1.455-mile Texas Motor Speedway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, aero kit-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (13) Graham Rahal, Honda, 248, Running
2. (10) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 248, Running
3. (8) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 248, Running
4. (6) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 248, Running
5. (3) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 248, Running
6. (15) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 247, Running
7. (1) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 247, Running
8. (7) Will Power, Chevrolet, 247, Running
9. (17) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 246, Running
10. (18) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 246, Running
11. (9) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 246, Running
12. (12) Marco Andretti, Honda, 245, Running
13. (11) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 245, Running
14. (22) Gabby Chaves, Honda, 245, Running
15. (19) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 243, Running
16. (16) Mikhail Aleshin, Honda, 231, Contact
17. (20) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 227, Contact
18. (14) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 223, Contact
19. (2) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 211, Contact
20. (4) Takuma Sato, Honda, 160, Mechanical
21. (21) Conor Daly, Honda, 42, Contact
22. (5) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 41, Contact

Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed:  144.901
Time of Race: 02:29:24.8886
Margin of victory: 0.0080 of a second
Cautions: 5 for 53 laps
Lead changes: 14 among 8 drivers

Lap Leaders:
Munoz 1 – 37
Newgarden 38 – 39
Hunter-Reay 40
Hinchcliffe 41 – 74
Hunter-Reay 75 – 84
Hinchcliffe 85 – 120
Castroneves 121 – 126
Hinchcliffe 127 – 220
Carpenter 221
Hinchcliffe 222 – 225
Castroneves 226
Hinchcliffe 227 – 235
Kanaan 236
Hinchcliffe 237 – 247
Rahal 248

Verizon IndyCar Series point standings: Pagenaud 529, Power 501, Kanaan 416, Castroneves 415, Newgarden 406, Dixon 397, Rahal 394, Hinchcliffe 392, Munoz 382, Kimball 361.

SOURCE: INDYCAR

Graham Rahal wins closest finish in Texas Motor Speedway history

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Verizon IndyCar Series fans waited 76 days for the Firestone 600 to be completed at Texas Motor Speedway. It was definitely worth the wait.

Graham Rahal passed James Hinchcliffe coming out of the last turn of the last lap and held on for the win by 0.0080 of a second – the closest finish in the 20-year history of the 1.455-mile oval and the fifth-closest finish of any Indy car race in history.

“I didn’t want to go through this year without a win,” Rahal said. “On that last yellow, I was telling myself this could be my chance, you’d better get it done. We’re just lucky it all worked out.”

The nail-biting finish climaxed an evening of thrilling Verizon IndyCar Series racing as the event suspended by rain after 71 laps June 12 was completed under the lights at TMS. Eight drivers swapped the lead 14 times throughout the 248 laps (including the June portion), with Hinchcliffe setting the pace for 188 laps in the No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda.

Hinchcliffe and Rahal led the field to the green flag on the final restart on Lap 240, with Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Simon Pagenaud the only other lead-lap cars giving chase. On fresher tires after making pit stops during the last caution period, championship leader Pagenaud and Kanaan each made bids for the lead that Hinchcliffe denied – often with the help of a push from behind by fellow Honda driver Rahal. At one point on Lap 244, the top four cars ran side by side.

On the final lap, Rahal ducked inside of Hinchcliffe in Turns 3 and 4 and pulled enough of an advantage to hold on by the narrowest of margins for his fourth career victory and first since winning at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in August 2015.

“I knew I was going to have to try to fake Hinch to the top side because there was only one way to actually clear him, which was to the bottom,” said Rahal, the 14th driver to win an Indy car race by leading only the last lap and the first to do it since Hinchcliffe at Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2013. “I was just very lucky it worked and I have to thank Hinch a lot because he gave me some good room at the bottom and it didn’t end up in tears.”

Hinchcliffe wasn’t consoled by his best finish of the season and best since he won at NOLA Motorsports Park in April 2015.

“When we cleared Tony and it was just me and Graham coming down to the checkered, I thought the momentum is on the outside. I feel like I’ve kind of seen it here 10 times before in races in years past, and I thought we were still going to be able to do it.

“But, man, he rolled through the center of (Turns) 3 and 4 with a whole lot of speed. I hadn’t been next to a car all night that cleared me that quickly. That was the time to make that move. It’s just tough having a car like that and leading that many laps, but not the one that counted.”

Kanaan wound up third, the 76th podium finish of his 19-year Indy car career (11th on the all-time list). Pagenaud finished fourth, upping his points advantage to 28 over teammate Will Power, who finished eighth, with two races remaining.

“Wow, that was exciting!” Pagenaud said. “I don’t think I have any breath left. I thought we were going to get it, but when it went four wide I got touched and pushed me into (Hinchcliffe) and I had to back out of it or there was going to be a big wreck.”

The race restarted with 20 of the 22 cars competing. Josef Newgarden and Conor Daly crashed on Lap 42 in June and were ruled ineligible for the completion because their cars could not have been repaired that day.

With the INDYCAR Grand Prix at The Glen (Sept. 4) and the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma (Sept. 18) remaining on the schedule, nine drivers remain mathematically alive for the 2016 championship: Pagenaud, Power, Kanaan, Castroneves, Newgarden, Scott Dixon, Rahal, Hinchcliffe and Carlos Munoz.

Win by Power at ABC Supply 500 tightens championship race

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It’s a whole new race for the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. By winning today’s ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway, Team Penske’s Will Power claimed his fourth victory of the season and closed within 20 points of the top of the standings.

Power held off Verizon P1 Award pole winner Mikhail Aleshin by 1.1459 seconds on the 2.5-mile “Tricky Triangle” oval to also collect the 29th win of his Indy car career. It tied him with a pair of Team Penske greats for 11th on the all-time victory list – Rick Mears and Helio Castroneves.

“I love winning 500-mile races and this is one of the toughest ovals that we race on,” said Power, whose other 500-mile victory came in the 2013 season finale at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

The 200-lap race was delayed a day after heavy rain Sunday forced its postponement. Starting eighth, Power gradually moved his No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet to the front, not taking his first lead until Lap 64.

“The car started off really, really difficult to drive,” said the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series champion, who led 55 laps on the day, including the last 36. “We adjusted on it all day and, for the second half of the race, the car was just awesome.”

Meanwhile, points leader Simon Pagenaud crashed out of the race on Lap 158 in the No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet, finishing 18th, and saw his cushion trimmed by 38 points with three races remaining on the 2016 schedule – the completion of the rain-suspended Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on Aug. 27, the INDYCAR Grand Prix at The Glen on Sept. 4 and the double-points GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma on Sept. 18.

“We are chipping away at it and obviously there is still a lot to go,” said Power, who sat out the season opener at St. Petersburg with an inner-ear infection but ran his string of finishing first or second to the last six completed races. “Now we will give it everything. We will give it everything because we really want to win this championship.”

Runner-up Aleshin led a race-high and career-high 87 laps in equaling his career-best finish. The driver of the No. 7 SMP Racing Schmidt Peterson Honda shadowed Power over the closing 18 laps but couldn’t make the pass for the lead.

“I’m very proud of my team and everyone who works on the SMP Racing car No. 7,” said Aleshin, the first Russian driver to win an Indy car pole position. “They did a fantastic job today and it paid off. Will was just faster in the end and I couldn’t do anything with him.

“When I was catching him, I almost put my car into the wall a couple of times but I still couldn’t overtake him. He has a fair win, for sure, but I’m happy to be in second place because we had some difficult moments this race and this year, so this is a good position to move forward.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay, winner of the 2015 ABC Supply 500, charged from last place on the starting grid to finish third. Hunter-Reay moved into the lead by Lap 49 and ran up front until an electronics malfunction in his No. 28 DHL Honda on Lap 163 dropped him a lap down. The Andretti Autosport driver got back on the lead lap during the last caution period and raced from 12th place to third over the final 20 laps.

“I had to come through the field twice and that is heartbreaking for us,” Hunter-Reay said. “This is the type of year it has been, really heartbreaking. The No. 28 DHL Honda really deserved to be in contention for the win there at the end.

“I was going through Turn 2 and (the car) just shut off. I (power) cycled the car once and nothing happened, then I came into the pits and power cycled it again – turned it off, on – and then it refired and we were a lap down. I had to come through the field twice, but the car was a rocket ship. It’s a shame.”

2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi, three-time Indy 500 winner Castroneves and Charlie Kimball were involved in a pit-lane incident on Lap 64. As Rossi was exiting his pit, his car made contact with Kimball, who was entering his pit. Rossi’s car was launched over the top of Castroneves.

None of the drivers was injured. Kimball continued and finished 15th, while the contact ended the day for Castroneves and Rossi in 18th and 19th, respectively. Also uninjured was Takuma Sato, who crashed in Turn 1 on the opening lap and finished 22nd.

SOURCE: INDYCAR

2016 ABC Supply 500 Pocono Race Results

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Results Monday of the ABC Supply 500 Verizon IndyCar Series event on the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, aero kit-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1.  (8) Will Power, Chevrolet, 200, Running
2.  (1) Mikhail Aleshin, Honda, 200, Running
3.  (22) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 200, Running
4.  (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 200, Running
5.  (18) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 200, Running
6.  (19) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 200, Running
7.  (5) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 200, Running
8.  (15) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 200, Running
9.  (9) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 200, Running
10.  (6) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 200, Running
11.  (11) Graham Rahal, Honda, 200, Running
12.  (13) Marco Andretti, Honda, 200, Running
13.  (17) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 200, Running
14.  (12) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 200, Running
15.  (16) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 199, Running
16.  (20) Conor Daly, Honda, 198, Running
17.  (21) Pippa Mann, Honda, 197, Running
18.  (14) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 157, Contact
19.  (4) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 63, Contact
20.  (7) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 63, Contact
21.  (10) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 57, Mechanical
22.  (3) Takuma Sato, Honda, 1, Contact

Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 180.198 mph
Time of Race: 2:46:28.9856
Margin of victory: 1.1459 seconds
Cautions: 4 for 20 laps
Lead changes: 29 among 9 drivers

Lap Leaders:
Aleshin 1
Newgarden 2 – 10
Aleshin 11 -31
Rossi 32 – 33
Dixon 34 – 35
Bourdais 36 – 37
Aleshin 38 – 48
Hunter-Reay 49 – 55
Aleshin 56 – 60
Newgarden 61
Rossi 62 – 63
Power 64 – 65
Aleshin 66 – 89
Hunter-Reay 90 – 93
Newgarden 94 – 95
Kanaan 96
Dixon 97
Power 98 – 99
Aleshin 100 – 119
Hunter-Reay 120 – 122
Newgarden 123 – 125
Power 126 – 128
Pagenaud 129
Aleshin 130 – 133
Hunter-Reay 134 – 150
Power 151 – 156
Bourdais 157
Power 158 – 163
Aleshin 164
Power 165 – 200

Verizon IndyCar Series Point Standings: Pagenaud 497, Power 477, Newgarden 397, Dixon 386, Castroneves 384, Kanaan 380, Munoz 354, Hinchcliffe 349, Rahal 343, Kimball 333.

SOURCE: INDYCAR

ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway postponed until Monday by rain

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About the only thing to slow Mikhail Aleshin this weekend at Pocono Raceway is Mother Nature.

Heavy rain Sunday afternoon forced postponement of the ABC Supply 500 at the “Tricky Triangle” until noon ET Monday (NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network). The green flag for the 200-lap race on the 2.5-mile oval is scheduled to wave at 12:09 p.m. The forecast for Monday calls for sunny skies and a high temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

The delay forces Aleshin, who Saturday became the first Russian driver in Indy car annals to win a pole position, to wait an extra day to lead the 22-car field to the green flag.

“It is a disappointment, definitely,” said Aleshin, driver of the No. 7 SMP Racing Schmidt Peterson Honda. “The thing is, we have what we have in this situation. I feel very sorry for the fans because they came out and now we have rain. It’s something we can’t do anything with. We need to hope that tomorrow has no rain and it will be fine.”

The ABC Supply 500 becomes the second Verizon IndyCar Series race this season delayed by weather. The Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway was scheduled forJune 11 but pushed back to the following afternoon by rain and wet track conditions. Seventy-one laps were completed June 12 before rain returned. The race was suspended at that point and will be completed Aug. 27.

The ABC Supply 500 is scheduled to be the 13th race to be completed on the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series calendar. It was scheduled for a 3:10 p.m. ET start today, but light rain moved into the area shortly after noon and became heavier as race time approached. With a stronger front moving through the area later in the afternoon, INDYCAR and track officials announced the decision to postpone the race at 3 p.m.

Aleshin won the Verizon P1 Award in qualifying Saturday with a two-lap speed average of 220.445 mph after clocking the fastest lap in practice (221.932). The 29-year-old from Moscow said he isn’t concerned with changing track conditions from the rain washing tire rubber off the track.

“It will be the same for everyone,” Aleshin said. “I don’t care about (the track possibly changing). We are going to prepare like we always do and just stay focused for one more day.”

Josef Newgarden will start second in the No. 21 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka/ECR Chevrolet, missing out on winning the pole Saturday by less than a tenth of a second over the 5-mile qualifying run. Newgarden’s two-lap average speed was 220.195 mph.

Eighteen drivers remain mathematically alive in the hunt for the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series championship, led by Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud. The driver of the No. 22 Menards Chevrolet has collected 484 points through the first 12 completed races of the season, building a 58-point lead over teammate Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet. Power will start eighth and Pagenaud 14th when the green flag waves.

Three past Pocono race winners will start farther back in the 22-car field. Juan Pablo Montoya, the 2014 race winner, starts on the inside of Row 8 in the No. 2 Penske Truck Rental Chevrolet. Scott Dixon, the 2013 race winner and reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion, will be on the inside of Row 10 in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Ryan Hunter-Reay, last year’s Pocono winner, starts last in the Andretti Autosport No. 28 DHL Honda after crashing his primary car in practice and not making a qualifying attempt in the backup car.

Indy cars have raced 22 times in the past at Pocono, annually from 1971-89 and again starting in 2013. All of the races have been 500-mile distances except two shortened by rain in 1975 (420 miles) and 1981 (305 miles). Both of the rain-shortened races were won by A.J. Foyt, whose four wins at Pocono are the most in Indy car history.

SOURCE: INDYCAR

2016 ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway Qualifying Results

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Qualifying Saturday for the ABC Supply 500 Verizon IndyCar Series event on the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway, with qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, aero kit-engine, and speed:

1. (7) Mikhail Aleshin, Honda, 220.445
2. (21) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 220.195
3. (14) Takuma Sato, Honda, 220.067
4. (3) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 219.781
5. (26) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 219.647
6. (5) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 219.463
7. (98) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 219.326
8. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 218.617
9. (10) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 218.606
10. (20) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 218.424
11. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 218.204
12. (41) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 218.051
13. (27) Marco Andretti, Honda, 218.012
14. (22) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 217.721
15. (2) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 217.284
16. (83) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 216.917
17. (8) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 216.689
18. (11) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 216.263
19. (9) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 215.337
20. (88) Conor Daly, Honda, 214.757
21. (19) Pippa Mann, Honda, 211.267
22. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, no speed

SOURCE: INDYCAR