From Road & Track” data-reactid=”23″>From Road & Track
Traditionally, the Indianapolis 500 is held on Memorial Day Weekend, before NASCAR’s Coca Cola 600 and after the Monaco Grand Prix. This weekend’s 600 happened months ago, while Monaco was canceled outright. The 500 still won’t have the weekend to itself, however. These are the races that will support it on television instead.
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Just three races remain before NASCAR begins its postseason. One of those is a pack race at Daytona, so these are the only two relatively traditional races left on the calendar.
The driver to watch this weekend is Jimmie Johnson, who needs to either make up a sizable chunk of points on teammate William Byron or win a race to qualify for a chance to win a championship in his last season before retirement. Dover, home to 11 of his 83 wins, is far and away his best track, and, as a result, this weekend’s two opportunities to win represent his best remaining hope of making the 2020 playoffs.
This doubleheader weekend also includes two Xfinity Series races, one of which will be running up against the Indianapolis 500. It is this author’s professional opinion that, given the choice between watching the second Xfinity Series race of a weekend and watching the 104th Indianapolis 500, one thinks very hard before choosing the Xfinity Series race.
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Only GTLM and GTD are racing in this event, so a GTLM car is likely to win overall. Porsche’s two factory entries will lead that class to green, thanks to an uncharacteristically large gap of half a second over the lead BMW M8 in qualifying. In GTD, the Compass Racing McLaren starts on pole, but the AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC-F entries that have dominated the class throughout the season will be coming from third and sixth on the grid with a chance to win.
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Three months of delays later, the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has not joined two world wars in cancelling an Indianapolis 500.
In addition to the expected high race day temperatures expected from the event being run well into the Summer, this year’s race is also the first ever to feature the aeroscreen, a windscreen-like safety device that has significantly changed the aerodynamic drag of each car. Significant cooling upgrades have been made to the aeroscreen design since it debuted in June, but teams are still expecting both things to play a factor in both driver comfort and a newfound difficulty to pass on race day. Given that last year’s race ended with passes for the lead on laps 198 and 199 of 200, “Difficulty to pass” does not necessarily mean a predictable or uninteresting race.
dominance in qualifying, Honda hold eight of the nine spots on the first three rows of the grid. However, Chevrolet teams Ed Carpenter Racing and Arrow McLaren SP have shown impressive speed in race trim practice sessions throughout the last two weeks, particularly from drivers Conor Daly and Patricio O’Ward, respectively. The first 30 laps of green flag running should give us an idea of the true balance of power between the two engine manufacturers, but, even if Chevrolet’s race pace is real, polesitter Marco Andretti seems to have a rocket of a car that will give him his best chance at a 500 win since his rookie year, and his best chance of any IndyCar win since 2011.” data-reactid=”71″>Thanks in no small part to their dominance in qualifying, Honda hold eight of the nine spots on the first three rows of the grid. However, Chevrolet teams Ed Carpenter Racing and Arrow McLaren SP have shown impressive speed in race trim practice sessions throughout the last two weeks, particularly from drivers Conor Daly and Patricio O’Ward, respectively. The first 30 laps of green flag running should give us an idea of the true balance of power between the two engine manufacturers, but, even if Chevrolet’s race pace is real, polesitter Marco Andretti seems to have a rocket of a car that will give him his best chance at a 500 win since his rookie year, and his best chance of any IndyCar win since 2011.
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