Firestone 600 (The Resumption) Fast Facts

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Firestone 600 (The Resumption) Fast Facts

Race weekend: Friday, June 10 – Saturday, Aug. 27 (Race was scheduled for June 11, started on June 12 and was red-flagged after 71 laps. Race is scheduled to restart on Aug. 27)

Track: Texas Motor Speedway, a 1.455-mile oval in Fort Worth, Texas

Race distance: 248 laps / 360.84 miles (177 laps/257.535 miles remaining)

Firestone tire allotment: Each Entrant will be allotted one new set of tires for the mandatory install lap and practice session. Entrants will be allotted six new sets for the race.

Twitter: @TXMotorSpeedway @IndyCar, #Firestone600, #IndyCar

Event website: www.TexasMotorSpeedway.com 

INDYCAR website: www.IndyCar.com

2015 race winner: Scott Dixon (No. 9 Energizer EcoAdvanced Chevrolet)

Current race leader: James Hinchcliffe (No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda)

Current running order: Firestone 600 Lap 71 (PDF) Note: Cars must be in the aerodynamic configuration they were in when the race was red flagged. The only exception will be the front wing angle. Lap count will begin the first time by the start/finish line upon exiting pit lane.

2016 Verizon P1 Award winner: Carlos Munoz (No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda), 48.2460 seconds, 217.137 mph (two laps)

NBCSN television broadcast: Race, 9 p.m. ET Saturday, Aug. 27 (live); Kevin Lee is the lead announcer for the NBCSN broadcast this weekend alongside analysts Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy. Pit reporters are Jon Beekhuis, Katie Hargitt and Robin Miller.

Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network broadcasts: Mark Jaynes is the chief announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton. Jake Query and Nick Yeoman are the turn announcers with Brad Gillie reporting from the pits. All Verizon IndyCar Series races as well as qualifying sessions are broadcast live on network affiliates, Sirius 212, XM 209, IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and on the INDYCAR Mobile app. All Verizon IndyCar Series practice sessions are available on IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and on the INDYCAR Mobile app.

Video streaming: The practice session from Texas Motor Speedway (5:30 p.m. ETSaturday Aug. 27) will be available on RaceControl.IndyCar.com.

INDYCAR Mobile app: Verizon Wireless puts fans around the world in the driver’s seat with its INDYCAR Mobile app. The app has been enhanced with new features to keep fans in the know of the latest race-day action. Exclusive features of the INDYCAR Mobile app for Verizon Wireless customers will stream live through the app and includes enhanced real-time leaderboard and car telemetry; the ability to follow the race in real time with the interactive 3D track; live in-car camera video streaming for select drivers during Verizon IndyCar Series races; live driver and pit crew radio transmissions during races and live Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network audio streaming during all track activities.

At-track schedule (all times local):
Saturday, Aug. 27
4:30 – 5 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice, RaceControl.IndyCar.com (Live)
8:15 p.m. – Command to restart engines
8:16 p.m. – Firestone 600 resumes on Lap 72 (171 laps/257.535 miles remain), NBCSN (Live)

Championship facts:
•  Simon Pagenaud leads the Verizon IndyCar Series championship with three races to be completed for the first time in his career.
•  Simon Pagenaud leads Will Power by 20 points. Pagenaud has led the championship since the second race of the season at Phoenix. With 54 maximum points available at Texas, the points lead could change for the second time in 2015.
•  There are 15 drivers still mathematically eligible for the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series championship: Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, Carlos Munoz, James Hinchcliffe, Graham Rahal, Charlie Kimball, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi, Juan Pablo Montoya, Sebastien Bourdais and Mikhail Aleshin. Any driver who trails the points leader by 158 points or more following the race will be eliminated from contention.
•  Three drivers were eliminated from championship contention at Pocono on Aug. 22 – Takuma Sato, Marco Andretti and Conor Daly.
•  Since the first Indy car race at Texas in 1997, the winning driver has won the championship six times: Sam Hornish Jr (2001 Race 2; 2002 Race 2); Tony Kanaan (2004 Race 1), Scott Dixon (2008 and 2015) and Dario Franchitti (2011 Race 1).

Key championship point statistic: The driver who has led the championship with three races to go has failed to win the championship in five of the last six seasons. Will Power in 2014 is the exception.

Point differential: The 20 points which separate Simon Pagenaud and Will Power is the third smallest margin with three races remaining since 2010. Will Power led Helio Castroneves by four points in 2014 and Ryan Hunter-Reay by five points in 2012. The average deficit with three races to go since 2010 is 23.16 points.

Championship-eligible drivers’ results at Texas: Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan and Will Power have all won races at Texas Motor Speedway. Castroneves, Dixon and Kanaan have seven podium finishes. Pagenaud’s best finish was fourth in 2014. Newgarden (who will not participate in the race’s resumption due to crash on June 12) has never finished better than eighth.

FIRESTONE 600 PRE-EVENT (RACE RESTART) QUOTES:

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA (No. 2 hum by Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): “I don’t know what to say anymore. This season just gets more and more frustrating. The hum by Verizon Chevy team continues to give me great cars and dumb things keep happening. They’ve worked so hard this year and I can’t thank them enough. I like racing at Texas and we’ve gotten good finishes. We’ll start 10th (when the race resumes) which will put us in a spot to make some moves. We’ll see what happens.”

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 AAA Insurance Team Penske Chevrolet): “I’m very happy to be going to Texas, a place where the AAA Insurance Chevrolet team has had some success. We need it about now. We’ve gotten caught up in stuff the last couple of races. We’ll keep fighting. You can count on that. We’ll restart seventh, which isn’t bad. There are 177 laps or so to go, so we have plenty of racing left and an opportunity to make good things happen. We need to get back to the consistency we had earlier in the season. That’s what got us to this point.”

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda, race leader when Firestone 600 was suspended June 12): 
“We are excited to get back to Texas Motor Speedway to finish off the Firestone 600. Certainly we hope the No. 5 Arrow Electronics car ends up where we are now, in the lead! But we know it’s a pretty unique situation with the restart and the parc ferme, so we will see how it plays out. I’m going to miss people reminding me I’m leading on Twitter, so hopefully we win and can keep the trend going.”

MIKHAIL ALESHIN (No. 7 SMP Racing Schmidt Peterson Honda): 
“I’m happy to finally (go back to) finish the race in Texas. Both of our cars looked good there last time with James in the lead and the SMP Racing No. 7 car in third, so we just need to do the same job we’ve been doing already and we will be up there at the front. After our second-place finish this weekend in Pocono, we know we have the speed to do it.”

MAX CHILTON (No. 8 Gallagher Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): “It’s an odd situation going back to finish a race from several months ago, but it’s the same for everyone and we’ll just have to make the most out of it with the Gallagher team. It will be interesting having such limited practice time and readjusting to new conditions. I hope we can get the car dialed in quickly and get back in the groove of things to move up in the race and score a strong finish.”

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series champion and 2015 Firestone 600 winner): “I think there are obviously some strong opinions on each side of this race and if you restart it from where we left off or start it over completely. It’s out of our hands as drivers, though, and we all have the same set of circumstances to deal with now. For me, I think the biggest challenge will be getting your car right for much different conditions than when we started the race. That short practice session before we restart the race is going to be crucial, I think. Hopefully we make the right decisions and have a Target car that can contend and get to the front.”

TONY KANAAN (No. 10 NTT Data Chevrolet): 
“It’s unfortunate that the weather didn’t cooperate with us in June and we weren’t able to get the race in when it was scheduled, but Texas Motor Speedway is one of my favorite tracks on the INDYCAR schedule so I’m not upset that we get to go back to finish. I felt really bad for all of the loyal fans that stuck with us throughout the weekend, but we have to focus on safety first and there was just no way we were going to get that race in safely. I think INDYCAR and the track have worked really hard to make sure that fans have a good experience the second time around. We’ll do everything we can to make sure we put on a good race for everyone watching and hopefully put the No. 10 NTT Data Chevrolet in Victory Circle.”

WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): “I think I said the first time that Texas is one of my favorite races. It’s always a lot of fun with the speeds we get there. The Verizon Chevy was awesome in Pocono and (re)starting fourth in Texas puts us in a great position to continue our momentum. Everything has been feeling great recently after starting off the season in such a bad place, personally. The whole team is clicking on all cylinders now and you have to get all you can when it’s going that way.”

TAKUMA SATO (No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda): “I’m very excited to be back in Texas again. It’s our team’s home race and we feel we have a lot of support from the fans. It’s going to be a tough challenge for us because we have to restart from a lap down, but I believe we have a good package so hopefully we will be able to get back on the lead lap in the early stages to challenge and have a strong race.”

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 Mi-Jack/RLL Honda): 
“I think it will be a pretty tricky race but it’s going to be the same for everybody. In the big scheme of things, I think it’s going to be tough because you really get no practice. When we go race, the track is going to be pretty green but we just need to go have a good race and gain some good points, which is the biggest key to this deal. Texas is tough simply because it takes a while to get your visual bearings straight. With the bumps and the banking and everything else, it always takes a little time to get your eyes settled there. The way I look at it is the challenge I face is the same as everybody will face and we just have to do a better job of it than the others.”

GABBY CHAVES (No. 19 Boy Scouts of America Honda): “We hope to have good weather this time in Texas. I went into the race at 22 years old and I’ll finish it at 23, so hopefully that will be some good luck. We’re definitely in a position where we can actually go for the win, so I’m very excited and very much looking forward to finishing out the oval calendar on a very high note for the team and myself. It’s always tricky to get back in the car, especially that we will only have 10 minutes to get sorted and get running before going straight into the race. You have to be committed and trust in the abilities that you have and trust in what the team gives you and that’s what I’ll be doing.”

ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet): “I am excited to get back to Texas and finish what we started in June. It is an odd circumstance to go back and pick up a race that began such a long time ago, but we are determined to go get a result for ECR (Ed Carpenter Racing), Fuzzy’s, Chevrolet and for Josef (Newgarden), who will not be competing in the remainder of this event. It is also the last race for me of 2016, so I want to go out on a high note after what has been a challenging season for the (No.) 20 car. I know that we have what it takes to get a victory in Texas, now we just have to go and make it happen.”

SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 22 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Chevrolet, 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series championship leader):
 “Pocono didn’t go very well, but that happens. I wish it hadn’t, but we have to move on and put it behind us. The Hewlett Packard Enterprise Chevy will (re)start 15th, but that’s not indicative of the car we had or will have. We pitted later in the sequence than some of the other teams. There’s a lot of racing left. It’s going to be an exciting race. We don’t lose sight of the big picture, but that’s not the strategy. We got to where we are by attacking and being on the offensive. That’s not going to change. We’ll focus on winning races.”

CARLOS MUNOZ (No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda):
 “Going back to Texas, we’ll be restarting the race ninth after the rain red-flagged the first date. I was leading a lot through the first part of the race – we qualified on pole – so I definitely think the car is going to be good. We only have a 10-minute practice and then the race. Everything is going to be totally different – the weather and everything is going to be different – so we’ll see how the remainder of the race goes. We’re in the fight for some good points, so hopefully we can come out with a podium finish.”

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 27 Snapple Honda): “We’re headed back to Texas and will restart in a less-than-ideal situation. When the race was red-flagged, we were a lap down, so we need to make (up) a lap with the Snapple car. We have a lot stacked against us right now, but we won’t give up.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): “We had a great start to the race going from 11th to second before the rain started to fall.  Hopefully we can carry the momentum from Pocono back to Texas Motor Speedway and get that first win of the season for the DHL Honda. We’ve had a tough season and I hope we can get DHL, AutoNation and Butterball the win they deserve.”

JACK HAWKSWORTH (No. 41 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda): “It’s going to be a strange race, as we will be starting one lap down and will probably have to serve a penalty straight after the start due to the pit hose incident in the first half of the race. However, I think we have a reasonable race car and we will give it our all to dig ourselves out of the hole we made for ourselves during Part 1 of the race.”

CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 Tresiba Chevrolet): “It’s definitely a unique situation, going back to restart the race after taking the green flag almost three months ago. When we went red in June, the No. 83 Tresiba Chevrolet was running inside the top 10, so we’ll see how we fare from there. Above all, I hope we can put on a good show for the fans who come back to Texas Motor Speedway this Saturday night.”

ALEXANDER ROSSI (No. 98 Castrol Edge/Curb Honda): “I can’t wait to get back to Texas this weekend. We were very strong in Pocono and I think that should translate into a good result for us. It’s a little bit strange starting a race from where we left off two months ago, but the Castrol Edge Honda is in a good position on the lead lap for when the green flag gets dropped again.”