IndyCar: Sunday update from Sonoma (Update)

UPDATE The air temperature is now almost 90 degrees, just one hour until the start of the IndyCar race, but it's a dry heat. The sun has been brutal today and it is hot. Cars are moving out to the grid now.

After the DHL/Andretti Autosport press conference that announced that DHL would be sponsoring Ryan Hunter-Reay for the next four years, I asked Hunter-Reay how he felt about the having the Honda package for the future. He replied, "I think the Honda package itself has shown some advantages on some courses and disadvantages on others. There are strength and there are weaknesses like any team has. I see that the direction we are headed is the right one. We need to as a team really level out our lows. And if we do that, we will be contenders for a championship." Lucille Dust

Morning Update

Firestone tire wear must be managed today

09/18/16 Good morning from Sonoma. This morning the sun is shinning and the temperature is 60 degrees, with no breeze. All other mornings we have had fog lingering over the track, but not today. It will be a hot day for the final race of the 2016 season. The temperature is expected to reach 95 today.

The track is buzzing with activity with traffic and people moving all over. The IndyCar garages are busy with teams putting the cars together for the end of the season race.

We are expecting excessive tire degradation today during the race. If you calculate the fuel mileage, you come up with three stops. But I am hearing that with the tires falling off so quickly, four stops might be the right call for the race today.

Will Power commented on this after his qualifying attempt yesterday. "Yeah, we'll see how the race plays out. It's actually a lot of stops. I think it's going to be a four-stopper. That makes for a lot of interesting stuff to have strategy-wise. Last thing we need now is a straightforward race because Simon will be tough to beat if that's the case."

And Simon Pagenaud, one race away from the 2016 Championship, had this to say about tire degradation, "I think there will be degradation. The cars always degrade here. The tires here suffer a lot. There are so many hairpins and traction out of the corners. We have a lot more power than we used to. More horsepower right now. It's asking a lot of the tires. It's an old tarmac, as well, with a lot of dust on it, so it creates a lot of wear."

"We did a long run in practice two Friday. I said that's the best car I've had here in terms of degradation. In that sense, I feel comfortable with what I have. It's hard to know who is going to be strong and who is not going to be strong. There will be cars that were not good in qualifying that might be good in the race. We'll have to see."

I spoke to the RLL team and they also expect to see four pit stops today due the the tires. Interesting fact I learned from them is that this track is used for some event 362 days of the year. No other track is used that much. It might just be street cars but it is constantly being driven on.

Today is the final race to watch a red Target sponsored Indy car. Chip Ganassi Racing has had this sponsorship on his cars for the past 27 years. Alex Zanardi, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jimmy Vasser, the late Dan Wheldon, Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon have all successfully driven cars with the retailer's logo. Ganassi’s IndyCar team has won 101 races, 11 season championships and four Indianapolis 500s in the Target colors.

I will update you after the morning warm up today at 11:30 am

Lucille Dust reporting from Sonoma Raceway