IndyCar protest hearings to be held today

UPDATE IndyCar officials said no ruling would be issued before Wednesday morning.

08/23/11 A three-person panel will convene Tuesday morning in Indianapolis to hear protests from Newman/Haas Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing over the final results from the IZOD IndyCar Series race held Aug. 14 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay was awarded the victory when IndyCar officials used the running order before a final restart to determine the finishing order.

Wet conditions caused a multi-car crash on that restart, and the protesting teams believe their drivers (Oriol Servia, Newman/Haas; Scott Dixon, Ganassi) had passed Hunter-Reay before IndyCar officials threw the caution flag. Servia was listed second behind Hunter-Reay and Dixon third in the posted results.

IndyCar president of competition and operations Brian Barnhart chose the three panelists for the hearing. They are New Hampshire Motor Speedway executive vice president and general manager Jerry Gappens, USAC chairman Jeff Stoops and former USAC president and chief executive officer Rollie Helmling. Andretti Autosport also was invited to participate in the protest hearing.