2010 schedule much easier on IndyCar teams

One change that has received praise from all factions of the IZOD IndyCar Series is the grouping of similar tracks in strategic clusters throughout the season. The first four races of the season will take place on road and street courses while the following four are on ovals, another five events will be held on road and street races and the season will conclude with a stretch of four events on ovals. From a time management standpoint, this has helped the teams immensely.

“The way they have arranged the schedule this year is MUCH better," said NHLR's Craig Hampson. “From oval to road track, the car is totally different. We use different suspension, brakes, wings, dampers and it’s also a different mindset for the engineering staff. So a changeover from one type of track to the other is a massive undertaking, and extremely difficult to do if we have only a couple days between events. The way they have arranged the 2010 schedule means we only need to do the road track to oval changeover (or vice versa) three times. This is going to make it much easier on the team and the mechanics." NHLR