SPEEDREADS
T E X A S M O T O R S P E E D WAY
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SPEEDREADS AUGUST 9, 2016
HINCHCLIFFE’S SEASON OF REDEMPTION Canadian leads the Firestone 600 when it resumes at TMS on Aug. 27 PAGE 2
RACE RESET
A refresher course on where the Firestone 600 and Verizon IndyCar Series stands PAGE 4
SHELTON NBC PROMO
Country superstar featured in network promo filmed at TMS PAGE 6
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Polesitter Carlos Munoz Check out highlights from the June (bottom right) leads the portion of the Firestone 600 field into Turn 1 during the Te x a s M o t o r S p e e d w a y | A u g u s t 9 , 2 0 1 6 | F i r e s t o n e 6 0 0 PAGE 7 Firestone 600 in June.
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SPEEDREADS
LEAD LAP
TOP NEWS FROM TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
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SPEEDREADS
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HINCHCLIFFE’S SEASON OF REDEMPTION CONTINUES For James Hinchcliffe, the theme of 2016 has been redemption. The Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda driver won the pole for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 in May. That was the same place he almost died the year before following a horrific crash during practice. He had a history of struggling in his hometown of Toronto, with his best finish being eighth in 2013 and 2014. This year he earned his first podium finish as he was third. It would seem the same races that had once caused him grief are now ending in delight. “I hadn’t thought about it like that,” he said. “I don’t remember how I finished the last couple races in ’14, but hopefully I was terrible because that would set me up for a good strong finish to the season.” He will have another chance at redemption when the Verizon IndyCar Series returns to Texas Motor Speedway on Aug. 27 to complete the Firestone 600. Heavy rain caused the suspension of the race and when it restarts, Hinchcliffe will lead the field into Turn 1 as the race leader after completion of 71 of the 248 laps. Hinchcliffe missed the race at TMS last year while recovering from injuries sustained at Indianapolis. Now he has a chance to win in Texas after finishing 14th two years ago. “I was pretty crap at Texas in ’14,” he said. “But now I’m leading that one when we go back there.” Hinchcliffe enters the season’s final four races seventh in the championship standings. He has five top-three finishes this year, which gives him a total of 10 career podium finishes. The four-time IndyCar race winner had the resolve to return to the cockpit within four months of an accident that could have ended his life. He must sometimes remind others of what he wants to do now in a race car. “It is a balancing act,” Hinchcliffe said. “And obviously compared to other pro athletes, we’re subjected to a bit more of that just because of the nature of our business, the reliance on sponsorship and things like that. “… But every once in a while, you have to go to the team people or the series people and be like, ‘Hey, just so you know, I’m actually going to Te x a s M o t o r S p e e d w a y | A u g u s t 9 , 2 0 1 6 | F i r e s t o n e 6 0 0
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SPEEDREADS
COMPETITION
VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
RACE RESET INDYCAR’s plan to resume the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway was announced a few weeks after the race was suspended following completition of 71 of its scheduled 248 laps on June 12. Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver James Hinchcliffe was leading the race when the red flag came out following heavy rain for the second consecutive day. The cars will restart the race in the same order in which they were scored at the completion of Lap 71.
Polesitter Carlos Munoz of Columbia, driver of the #26 Andretti Autosport Honda, leads the field at the start of the Verizon IndyCar Series Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 12, 2016. Drivers Josef Newgarden and Conor Daly, who both crashed on Lap 42 of the race, will not be allowed to participate when the race is resumed. IndyCar Officials said only those cars that were capable of resuming when the race was stopped at Lap 72 can participate. Newgarden’s car was damaged beyond repair and Daly’s car also couldn’t continue that day as the tub was broken.
For the drivers and teams, the day will consist of one lap for a mandatory systems check, a practice session with the field split into two groups for 10 minutes each from 4:30-5 p.m., the Verizon IndyCar Series Autograph Session Presented by Portacool on the concourse with all the drivers from 5:30-6:15 p.m. and then completion of the race which will start at 8 p.m. Cars continuing in the race will be permitted to use the chassis and engine of their choice for the completion day. Tire allotment and fuel quantity for the completion are to be determined. Pre-race aero setups from the June event will be mandatory for the completion of the race, though INDYCAR may make changes prior to the completion based on the weather forecast for race weekend. Te x a s M o t o r S p e e d w a y | A u g u s t 9 , 2 0 1 6 | F i r e s t o n e 6 0 0
SPEEDREADS
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F IR E S T O NE 6 0 0 MAJO R PLAYER in champ ionship rac e
The Firestone 600 will be a major factor in determining the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series champion. Due to the suspension of the race in June, the Firestone 600 is now the third to the last race of the season. And the chase for the title appears to be coming down to Team Penske teammates – Simon Pagenaud and Will Power. Pagenaud has been the points leader since earning three wins and two second-places finishes in the first five races of the season. Then he didn’t win a race in more than two months and had all sorts of bad luck, from ill-timed caution flags to engine-related issues. The Frenchman returned to Victory Lane in the series’ most recent race at Mid-Ohio on July 31, holding off Power for his fourth win of the season. He now enters the final four races of the season with a 58-point lead over Power. The Australian has been on a roll recently. He has duplicated what
Pagenaud did earlier in the year by winning three of the last five races to go along with a pair of runner-up finishes. While it might seem the 58-point lead is insurmountable, it isn’t. Power has considerable digging to do, but the title could be his. One only needs to look back to 2015 to see when a similar margin was overcome at the end of the season. Last year, Scott Dixon appeared to have no chance to catch series leader Juan Pablo Montoya as he trailed by 44 points with four races left. He had everything go right in the finale at Sonoma when Montoya and Power made contact. He scored the largest number of double points to earn his fourth series title.
on his teammate. He passed Power with 24 laps to go in the 90-lap race after having bumped wheels with him on the restart a half lap before. Pagenaud stuck the nose of his car under Power in the turn before the home straight and kept it there. “We’re battling for a race win, we’re battling for a championship,” Pagenaud said after his eighth career victory. “At the end of the day, we didn’t crash. We did what we’re supposed to do as top drivers. It was fantastic for the fans, I think, what happened. I just saw a chance and I went for it. I didn’t think much more than that.” “Had I not backed off we would have crashed,” Power said. “(Pagenaud) was quite aggressive how he threw it in (to the corner). At that point I thought of the team. (Team Owner) Roger (Penske) would have been pretty mad if we had taken each other out running first and second. At that point I had to lift because he wasn’t going to.”
Fans at at Mid-Ohio got to see Pagenaud and Power battle when Pagenaud made a bold move Te x a s M o t o r S p e e d w a y | A u g u s t 9 , 2 0 1 6 | F i r e s t o n e 6 0 0
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SPEEDREADS
SPLASH ’N GO
NOTES FROM TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Firestone 600 media credential deadline For media returning to cover the conclusion of the Firestone 600, paper credentials and parking are no longer valid and all must re-apply via www. smicredentials.com. For series hard card holders, access stickers remain valid but all must re-apply for parking on the site as well. The credential deadline for the August finish of the Firestone 600 is MONDAY, AUGUST 22. Those not yet registered for the website will first need to apply for access through the site. Once a registration confirmation e-mail is received, the credential request can then be submitted. Requests following the deadline will not be accepted.
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY TO HOST ‘BACK THE BLUE NIGHT’ AT FIRESTONE 600 Texas Motor Speedway will play host to “Back The Blue Night” at the Firestone 600 Verizon IndyCar Series race on Saturday, Aug. 27, to display its appreciation for the dedicated service of police officers. “Back The Blue Night” will honor police officers near and far by providing them and a companion free admission to the Firestone 600. Police personnel will be required to show their badge or proper identification at the gate for admittance to the event that will have general admission seating. Texas Motor Speedway also will extend this offer to all first responders that show proper identification at the gate.
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY HIGHLIGHTED IN BLAKE SHELTON NASCAR ON NBC PROMO AIRING DURING COVERAGE OF RIO OLYMPICS Texas Motor Speedway is being highlighted with country superstar Blake Shelton for the NASCAR on NBC promo spot that is running exclusively during the network’s coverage of the Olympics and reaching millions of viewers.
Blake Shelton is featured in a NASCAR on NBC promo spot that was shot at Texas Motor Speedway. The spot is airing during NBC’s family of networks coverage of the Rio Olympics. Click on the photo to watch the spot.
The 15-second promo features Shelton in the Texas Motor Speedway flag stand discussing what the checkered flag represents in NASCAR with underlying Olympic references. The segment also has an amusing close by Shelton.
This is the second installment of the NASCAR on NBC promos featuring both Shelton and Texas Motor Speedway. The first, which showcased Shelton singing on stage and visiting with various NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stars during filming at Texas Motor Speedway in April, was utilized to officially kick off NBC’s coverage of the second half of the season that began July 2 with the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. The AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the second of three races in the Round of 8 segment of the Sprint Cup championship format, will be broadcast live on NBC on Sunday, Nov. 6, beginning at 12:30 p.m. CT.
At Texas, it was no secret that the (first) race was going to be hard on tires, and I think there was a couple of things that happened that we now understand that made it worse than it should have been. So, I’m going back there pretty confident with what we have. I’m looking forward to it. - Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi on his return to Texas for the conclusion of the Firestone 600.
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FINAL PIT STOP
SPEEDREADS
VIDEO SOUND BITES, SOCIAL MEDIA SNAPSHOT
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LIL’ HOSS TV
Sights and sounds from June of the Verizon IndyCar Series Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway. Click on photo to watch video.
FROM THE TWITTERVERSE
Te x a s M o t o r S p e e d w a y | A u g u s t 9 , 2 0 1 6 | F i r e s t o n e 6 0 0
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SPEEDREADS
RUNNING ORDER
2016 FIRESTONE 600
Event:
Firestone 600
Round 9
Track:
Texas Motor Speedway
Report:
Unofficial Lap Report
1.455 mile(s) Verizon IndyCar Series
Session: Race
June 12, 2016
End of Lap 71:
Time of Race: 00:54:47.6417 Avg Speed: 113.120 Lead Changes: 3 Caution Laps: 30
Fastest Lap:
211.666 mph ( 24.7465 sec) on lap 38 by 98 - Alexander Rossi
Fastest Leader Lap:
208.271 mph ( 25.1499 sec) on lap 3 by 26 - Carlos Munoz
Pos SP 1 10 2 11 3 16 4 7 5 14 6 22 7 3 8 15 9 1 10 17 11 18 12 13 13 9 14 2 15 6 16 8 17 4 18 12 19 19 20 20 21 21 22 5
Car 5 28 7 12 20 19 3 83 26 2 11 15 98 9 22 10 14 27 8 41 18 21
Driver Hinchcliffe, James Hunter-Reay, Ryan Aleshin, Mikhail Power, Will Carpenter, Ed Chaves, Gabby Castroneves, Helio Kimball, Charlie Munoz, Carlos Montoya, Juan Pablo Bourdais, Sebastien Rahal, Graham Rossi, Alexander (R) Dixon, Scott Pagenaud, Simon Kanaan, Tony Sato, Takuma Andretti, Marco Chilton, Max (R) Hawksworth, Jack Daly, Conor (R) Newgarden, Josef
C/A/E/T D/H/H/F D/H/H/F D/H/H/F D/C/C/F D/C/C/F D/H/H/F D/C/C/F D/C/C/F D/H/H/F D/C/C/F D/C/C/F D/H/H/F D/H/H/F D/C/C/F D/C/C/F D/C/C/F D/H/H/F D/H/H/F D/C/C/F D/H/H/F D/H/H/F D/C/C/F
Lead Change Summary On Lap 1 38 40 41
Car 26 21 28 5
Leader Munoz, Carlos Newgarden, Josef Hunter-Reay, Ryan Hinchcliffe, James
Lap 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 70 70 70 69 42 41
Laps Down 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 29 30
Time Pit Down Stops Elapsed Time --.---7 00:54:47.6417 2.3634 10 00:54:50.0051 4.7868 7 00:54:52.4285 7.1334 8 00:54:54.7751 10.8191 7 00:54:58.4608 12.4128 7 00:55:00.0545 14.9075 10 00:55:02.5492 18.4055 9 00:55:06.0472 20.0805 9 00:55:07.7222 22.6788 9 00:55:10.3205 24.3588 10 00:55:12.0005 26.6510 10 00:55:14.2927 28.4854 10 00:55:16.1271 34.4631 9 00:55:22.1048 37.1634 9 00:55:24.8051 38.6017 9 00:55:26.2434 9 00:54:48.6999 11 00:55:04.2614 9 00:55:19.2634 12 00:53:44.9560 0 00:18:07.1680 1 00:18:07.0967
Leader Summary Car 26 5 21 28
Driver Munoz, Carlos Hinchcliffe, James Newgarden, Josef Hunter-Reay, Ryan
Avg Speed 113.120 113.039 112.956 112.875 112.749 112.695 112.609 112.490 112.433 112.345 112.288 112.210 112.148 111.946 111.856 111.807 111.491 110.966 110.464 112.070 202.357 197.552
Pts Running/Reason Out Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Contact Contact
Caution Summary Laps Led 37 31 2 1
No 1
Duration 42 to 71
Total Reason for Caution 30 Contact: Cars 18 and 21 in Turn 4 Penalty Summary
Car Reason
Lap Penalty
(C)hassis: D=Dallara | (A)erokit: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (E)ngine: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (T)ire: F=Firestone
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SPEEDREADS
DRIVER POINTS
2016 VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES TO DATE
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VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES 2016 Driver Points Through Honda Indy 200, July 30, 2016 Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
Driver Simon Pagenaud Will Power Helio Castroneves Josef Newgarden Scott Dixon Tony Kanaan James Hinchcliffe Carlos Munoz Graham Rahal Charlie Kimball Alexander Rossi (R) Juan Pablo Montoya Ryan Hunter-Reay Sebastien Bourdais Takuma Sato Mikhail Aleshin Conor Daly (R) Marco Andretti Max Chilton (R) Jack Hawksworth Spencer Pigot (R) Gabby Chaves JR Hildebrand Oriol Servia Luca Filippi Townsend Bell Ed Carpenter Matt Brabham (R) Alex Tagliani Pippa Mann Sage Karam Bryan Clauson Stefan Wilson (R) Buddy Lazier RC Enerson (R)
Total Points 484 426 373 364 357 357 329 328 324 318 316 299 294 283 257 243 240 237 187 162 134 105 84 72 61 55 45 37 35 33 22 21 14 12 11
Points Behind Leader Prev. -58 -111 -120 -127 -127 -155 -156 -160 -166 -168 -185 -190 -201 -227 -241 -244 -247 -297 -322 -350 -379 -400 -412 -423 -429 -439 -447 -449 -451 -462 -463 -470 -472 -473
-58 -53 -9 -7 0 -28 -1 -4 -6 -2 -17 -5 -11 -26 -14 -3 -3 -50 -25 -28 -29 -21 -12 -11 -6 -10 -8 -2 -2 -11 -1 -7 -2 -1
Prev. Rank 1 2 3 5 4 6 8 10 11 9 7 13 12 14 15 16 18 17 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 -
Pos. Gain 0 0 0 1 -1 0 1 2 2 -1 -4 1 -1 0 0 0 1 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Bonus Points 53 42 35 42 30 18 43 35 12 20 26 21 42 18 22 33 15 20 13 3 5 13 11 24 0 37 9 7 2 14 12 7 4 2 0
Wins 4 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Top 5 Finishes 8 7 6 4 4 4 3 2 6 2 1 4 3 1 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Top 10 Finishes 9 9 7 8 9 10 7 5 6 8 4 7 6 7 5 3 4 2 1 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Key: (R) - Sunoco Rookie of the Year Candidate
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SPEEDREADS
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PUBLIC SCHEDULE
AUGUST FIRESTONE 600 EVENTS
FYI
All frontstretch seating, including premium sections, will be general admission and priced at $28. This is a 29 percent reduction from the least expensive initial Firestone 600 individual ticket and reflects the percentage of the race that already has been run at this stage. Children 12 and under will receive a “Back To School” price of $10. Another offer features two tickets and a Racing Electronics race scanner rental with two ear buds for $49. The purchase of any priced ticket(s) for the AAA Texas 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday, Nov. 6, earns a free general admission ticket(s) to the rescheduled Firestone 600. The offer concludes Aug. 27.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27
TBD TMS Credentials Open 10:00a
IndyCar Garage Open
11:00a
IndyCar Tech Open
4:00p Gate 4 / Suites and Victory Lane Club Open 4:30p-4:35p Mandatory Install Lap 4:35p-4:45p First Half of the Field (10 Min. Practice) 4:45p-4:50p Break 4:50p-5:00p Second Half of the Field (10 Min. Practice) 5:30p-6:15p Autograph Session (Concourse) 7:05p
Final Car Check
7:10p
Push Out
7:25p
Grid IndyCars
8:15p
VICS Firestone 600
(176 Laps Remaining, 264 miles)
Levy Restaurants is offering $1 hot dogs and Coca-Cola beverages at select areas on the frontstretch concourse while supplies last. The first 3,000 fans receive a free vintage Indy-car t-shirt compliments of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Properties (SMIP) at a designated area on the Gate 4 concourse. SMIP also will provide fans with free souvenir race programs from the original June event while supplies last. All fans that purchased outside camping for the June 11 Firestone 600 will be upgraded to available prime camping spots in the infield at no charge. Camping opens Friday, Aug. 26, beginning at 3 p.m. CT and closes Sunday, Aug. 28, which also includes Burnout Alley. The pits and garage will be open to all fans at the conclusion of the race.
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY ticket info www.texasmotorspeedway.com 817.215.8500 Facebook: Texas Motor Speedway Twitter: @txmotorspeedway Instagram: txmotorspeedway
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