IndyCar: Big Machine Spiked Coolers GP Preview

After their big race on the streets of Nashville, Tennessee, last weekend, IndyCar teams return to the familiar Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course as the drive to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship continues.

Teams and drivers will compete in the 85-lap/207-mile Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix on Saturday, Aug. 14 as part of a unique doubleheader with NASCAR – which runs the Verizon 200 Cup race on Sunday in place of the Brickyard 400.

Chevrolet has won eight of the 10 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races, including the past three

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course is a 14-turn asphalt paved road course that spans 2.439-mles and is located inside and a part of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The race features six former INDYCAR champions, seven Indianapolis 500 winners, 17 drivers who have won INDYCAR races, and a season-high six rookie drivers.

One of those rookies is RC Enerson, who will hope to give Top Gun Racing its first series start with the No. 75 Chevrolet. Formula 2 race winner Christian Lundgaard will make his series debut in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Cody Ware is back for his third INDYCAR race in the No. 52 Nurtec ODT Honda of Dale Coyne Racing with RWR.

And, of course, there’s Jimmie Johnson, the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion in his first season with Chip Ganassi Racing. With stock car racing in town for the IMS tripleheader, more eyes than ever will be fixed on the No. 48 Carvana Honda.

Picking a Winner

Who will win the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix Music City this Saturday, Aug. 14 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course (12:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN)?

Nine of the previous 10 races held on this circuit have been won by drivers who had either won an INDYCAR championship or soon would. Those include four wins by Will Power (No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet), three by Simon Pagenaud (No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet) and one each by Scott Dixon (No. 9 PNC Bank Grow Up Great Honda of Chip Ganassi Racing) and Josef Newgarden (No. 2 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet). VeeKay, who will drive the No. 21 Sonax/Autogeek Chevrolet, is the lone non-champion to have won one of the non-oval events.

Power has easily been the circuit’s most dominant driver, capturing five poles and leading 285 laps. In all, 28 drivers have led laps in these INDYCAR races, with Pagenaud and Dixon tied for the second-most laps led with 68 each. Newgarden has led 59 laps, VeeKay 48, Castroneves 46, rookie Romain Grosjean (No. 51 Nurtec ODT Honda of Dale Coyne Racing with RWR) 44 and Graham Rahal (No. 15 One Cure Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) 41.

Curt Cavin: In years past, a Team Penske driver would be a lock for this selection, but as was the case in May when Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay won the GMR Grand Prix at IMS, I’m projecting a new race winner for the series. Romain Grosjean, in his first INDYCAR season with Dale Coyne Racing with RWR, was brilliant in the previous road race at the Speedway – he won the pole and led a race-high 44 laps — and he has had five races since then to learn what it takes to win one of these unpredictable affairs. I’ll say he takes this one.

Zach Horrall: I think it’s hard to argue with Curt here. The way I see it, Romain Grosjean is the favorite to win the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix on Saturday. His drive in May was impressive for just his third NTT INDYCAR SERIES race. But when you factor in the idea that the IMS road course is a European-style track with a smooth surface and curbing, his success makes sense. He’s been racing on these tracks his whole life, and now he returns to an NTT INDYCAR SERIES track for the first time. I’ll give an honorable mention to Will Power. Roger Penske owns IMS, but his driver has figuratively owned this place since his first win on the road course in 2015.

Paul Kelly: You guys are looking at the form book, which usually is a good strategy when trying to predict a winner. But previous stats don’t mean a damn thing this Saturday because there won’t be a more motivated race driver anywhere on Earth than Colton Herta. He will atone for his stunning mistake with five laps to go while chasing for the lead in Nashville with a storming victory Saturday at IMS for Andretti Autosport. It’s not like Herta’s dominance in Nashville was any kind of fluke – he’s one of the fastest drivers in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES on any circuit. Plus, Andretti Autosport put two drivers into the top four for the first time this season even after separate incidents derailed the team’s two quickest drivers of the weekend, Herta and Alexander Rossi. An incredibly motivated driver plus a rapidly improving team equals seeing the drummer for The Zibs atop Victory Podium Saturday afternoon at IMS.

28-Car Entry List

	CAR	DRIVER	HOMETOWN	CAR NAME	TEAM	ENGINE
1	2	Josef Newgarden	Nashville, Tennessee	XPEL Team Penske	Team Penske	Chevrolet
2	3	Scott McLaughlin (R)	Christchurch, New Zealand	CarShop Team Penske	Team Penske	Chevrolet
3	4	Dalton Kellett	Stouffville, Canada	K-Line Insulators / A J Foyt Racing	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet
4	5	Pato O’Ward	Monterrey, Mexico	Arrow McLaren SP	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevrolet
5	06	Helio Castroneves	Sao Paulo, Brazil	Meyer Shank Racing	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda
6	7	Felix Rosenqvist	Värnamo, Sweden	Arrow McLaren SP	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevrolet
7	8	Marcus Ericsson	Kumla, Sweden	Huski Chocolate	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
8	9	Scott Dixon	Auckland, New Zealand	PNC Bank Grow Up Great	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
9	10	Alex Palou	Barcelona, Spain	NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
10	12	Will Power	Toowoomba, Australia	Verizon 5G Team Penske	Team Penske	Chevrolet
11	14	Sebastien Bourdais	Le Mans, France	ROKiT / A J Foyt Racing	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet
12	15	Graham Rahal	New Albany, Ohio	Rahal Letterman Lanigan	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
13	18	Ed Jones	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	SealMaster	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan	Honda
14	20	Conor Daly	Noblesville, Indiana	U.S. Air Force	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
15	21	Rinus VeeKay	Hoofddorp, Netherlands	Sonax / Autogeek	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
16	22	Simon Pagenaud	Montmorillon, France	Menards Team Penske	Team Penske	Chevrolet
17	26	Colton Herta	Valencia, California	Gainbridge	Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian	Honda
18	27	Alexander Rossi	Nevada City, California	AutoNation / NAPA AUTO PARTS	Andretti Autosport	Honda
19	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Fort Lauderdale, Florida	DHL	Andretti Autosport	Honda
20	29	James Hinchcliffe	Toronto, Canada	Genesys	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	Honda
21	30	Takuma Sato	Tokyo, Japan	Panasonic / Mi-Jack	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
22	45	Christian Lundgaard (R)	Hedensted, Denmark	Mi-Jack	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
23	48	Jimmie Johnson (R)	El Cajon, California	Carvana	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
24	51	Romain Grosjean (R)	Geneva, Switzerland	Nurtec ODT	Dale Coyne Racing with RWR	Honda
25	52	Cody Ware (R)	Greensboro, North Carolina	Nurtec ODT	Dale Coyne Racing with RWR	Honda
26	59	Max Chilton	Reigate, England	Carlin	Carlin	Chevrolet
27	60	Jack Harvey	Bassingham, England	AutoNation/SiriusXM	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda
28	75	RC Enerson (R)	New Port Richey, Florida	Top Gun Racing	Top Gun Racing	Chevrolet

All cars use fourth-generation NTT INDYCAR SERIES chassis (Dallara IR12) with universal IR-18 aerodynamic bodywork, Chevrolet or Honda engines and Firestone tires.

(R) – Denotes Rookie of the Year candidate Issued: 8/11/2021

Fast Facts

Race weekend: Friday, Aug. 13 – Saturday, Aug. 14

Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course (clockwise)

Race distance: 85 laps / 207.3 miles

Push-to-pass parameters: 200 seconds of total time, with a maximum time of 20 seconds per activation.

Firestone tire allotment: Five sets primary, four sets alternate (Note: A sixth set of primary tires is available to any car fielding a rookie driver.)

Twitter: @IMS @INDYCAR, #TheBrickyard #INDYCAR

Event website: www.ims.com

INDYCAR website: www.IndyCar.com

2020 race winners (Harvest Grand Prix doubleheader): Josef Newgarden (No. 1 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet) and Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet)

2020 NTT P1 Award winners (Harvest Grand Prix doubleheader): Rinus VeeKay (No. 21 SONAX Chevrolet), 1:09.6903, 125.992 mph; Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet), 1:08.9767, 127.295 mph.

Qualifying lap record: Will Power, 1:07.7044, 129.687 mph, May 12, 2017 (Set in Round 3 of knockout qualifying)

NBCSN telecasts: Qualifying, 7 p.m. ET Friday, NBCSN (live) and Peacock Premium; Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix, 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday, NBCSN (live). Leigh Diffey is the play-by-play announcer for NBC’s coverage of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, alongside analysts Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy. Kevin Lee and Marty Snider will be the pit reporters.

Peacock Premium Live Streaming: All NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice sessions and qualifying will stream live on Peacock Premium, NBC’s direct-to-consumer livestreaming product.

INDYCAR Radio Network broadcasts: Mark Jaynes is the chief announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton. Chris Denari, Jake Query, Nick Yeoman and Michael Young are the turn announcers. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan and Ryan Myrehn will report from the pits. The Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix will air live on network affiliates, SiriusXM 138 and Sirius XM 205, indycar.com and the INDYCAR Mobile app powered by NTT DATA. All NTT INDYCAR SERIES practices and qualifying are available on SiriusXM 205, indycar.com and the INDYCAR Mobile app.

WEEKEND SCHEDULE/RESULTS (All Times ET)

Date	Time	Event	TV
FRIDAY, AUG 13	3:00 PM – 4:00 PM ET	Practice 1	Peacock Premium
FRIDAY, AUG 13	7:00 PM – 7:10 PM ET	Qualifications (two rounds knockout qualifications/10 minutes each) – Round 1 Group 1	Peacock Premium
FRIDAY, AUG 13	7:20 PM – 7:30 PM ET	Qualifications – Round 1 Group 2	Peacock Premium
FRIDAY, AUG 13	7:40 PM – 7:50 PM ET	Firestone Fast 12	Peacock Premium
SATURDAY, AUG 14	8:45 AM – 9:15 AM ET	Warmup	Peacock Premium
SATURDAY, AUG 14	12:30 PM – 3:15 PM ET	Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix (85 laps/207.3 miles)	NBCSN

 

Championship facts:

• Alex Palou leads the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship with five races to go for the first time in his INDYCAR SERIES career. Palou has led the point standings after seven of the 11 races this season.
• Since the first INDYCAR SERIES race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course in 2014, the winning driver has won the INDYCAR SERIES championship twice: Simon Pagenaud in 2016 and Scott Dixon (2020-Race 1).

Key championship point statistic: Since 2008, the championship leader with five races to go has gone on to win the championship seven times. Those drivers were: Scott Dixon (2008, 2018 and 2020), Dario Franchitti (2011), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2012), Simon Pagenaud (2016) and Josef Newgarden (2019).

Point differential: The 42 points that separate Alex Palou and Scott Dixon is the seventh-closest point margin since 2008. Entering this season, the average lead with five races to go since 2008 was 43.9 points.

CHAMPIONSHIP WITH 5 TO GO

Year	Leader	Second-Place	Lead	Eventual Champion (Deficit- if any)
2008	Scott Dixon	Helio Castroneves	58	Scott Dixon
2009	Ryan Briscoe	Scott Dixon	8	Dario Franchitti (-11)
2010	Will Power	Dario Franchitti	41	Dario Franchitti
2011	Dario Franchitti	Will Power	62	Dario Franchitti
2012	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Will Power	34	Ryan Hunter-Reay
2013	Helio Castroneves	Scott Dixon	31	Scott Dixon
2014	Helio Castroneves	Will Power	28	Will Power
2015	Juan Pablo Montoya	Will Power	46	Scott Dixon (-49)
2016	Simon Pagenaud	Josef Newgarden	73	Simon Pagenaud
2017	Scott Dixon	Helio Castroneves	3	Josef Newgarden (-23)
2018	Scott Dixon	Josef Newgarden	62	Scott Dixon
2019	Josef Newgarden	Alexander Rossi	29	Josef Newgarden
2020	Scott Dixon	Josef Newgarden	96	Scott Dixon
2021	Alex Palou	Scott Dixon	42	?

 

Race Notes:

• There have been eight different winners in 11 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races this season. Alex Palou (Barber Motorsports Park, Road America), Colton Herta (Streets of St. Petersburg), Scott Dixon (Texas Motor Speedway-1), Pato O’Ward (Texas Motor Speedway-2, Raceway at Belle Isle Park-2), Rinus VeeKay (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course-1), Helio Castroneves (Indianapolis 500), Marcus Ericsson (Raceway at Belle Isle Park-1, Streets of Nashville) and Josef Newgarden (Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course) have all won in 2021. The modern record (1946-present) for most different winners in a season is 11 in 2000, 2001 and 2014.
• There have been eight different winners in the last 10 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races (Alex Palou, Colton Herta, Scott Dixon, Pato O’Ward, Rinus VeeKay, Helio Castroneves, Marcus Ericsson and Josef Newgarden) The only repeat winners in that stretch are O’Ward (Texas-2 and Raceway at Belle Isle Park-2) and Ericsson (Raceway at Belle Isle Park-1 and Streets of Nashville)
• The Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix will be the 11th INDYCAR SERIES event conducted on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course. Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power and Rinus VeeKay are the only drivers to win on the IMS road course. Pagenaud won the GMR Grand Prix in 2014, 2016 and 2019, Power won the GMR Grand Prix in 2015, 2017 and 2018 and the second race of the Harvest Grand Prix doubleheader in 2020. Dixon won the 2020 GMR Grand Prix, Newgarden won the first race of the 2020 Harvest GP doubleheader and VeeKay won the GMR Grand Prix in May.
• The 28 cars entered in the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix is the largest field of cars entered in a non-Indianapolis 500 INDYCAR SERIES race since 29 cars started at Kentucky Speedway in 2011.
• Romain Grosjean, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Felix Rosenqvist and Sebastian Saavedra have won the pole position in the GMR Grand Prix. Saavedra claimed the pole in 2014, Power in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2020, Pagenaud in 2016, Rosenqvist in 2019 and Grosjean in May of this year. Power and Rinus VeeKay won the NTT P1 Award in the Harvest Grand Prix doubleheader last October.
• Four NTT P1 Award winners have won the GMR Grand Prix from the pole: Will Power in 2015, 2017 and 2018 and Simon Pagenaud in 2016. Power also won the second Harvest GP race from pole in 2020.
• Eight drivers have competed in every INDYCAR SERIES race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course – Scott Dixon, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato. All are entered this weekend.
• Scott Dixon has finished first or second in four of his last seven starts on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
• Six rookies — RC Enerson, Romain Grosjean, Jimmie Johnson, Christian Lundgaard, Scott McLaughlin and Cody Ware — are entered this weekend. Enerson will be making his first start of 2021, while Lundgaard will be making his INDYCAR SERIES debut. Ware will be attempting to compete in both the NTT INDYCAR SERIES race on Saturday and NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday.
• Twenty-five of the 28 drivers entered in the event have competed in INDYCAR SERIES races on the IMS road course. Fifteen entered drivers have led laps in INDYCAR SERIES races: Will Power 285, Scott Dixon 69, Simon Pagenaud 68, Josef Newgarden 59, Rinus VeeKay 48, Romain Grosjean 44, Graham Rahal 41, Colton Herta 29, Ryan Hunter-Reay 22, Felix Rosenqvist 16, James Hinchcliffe 4, Alexander Rossi 2, Marcus Ericsson 1, Jack Harvey 1 and Alex Palou 1.

Manufacturer Competition

• “Team Chevy has had success on the challenging Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, most recently in May with Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing earning his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory,” Chevrolet INDYCAR program manager Rob Buckner said. “Teams and their Chevrolet trackside engineers will work together to incorporate the familiarity of the racetrack with performance gains to hopefully produce another victory and solid results by all drivers.”
• The NTT INDYCAR SERIES returns to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix, the second race of the season to be held on the 2.439-mile infield road course at IMS.
• Honda continues to hold the lead in the 2021 INDYCAR Manufacturers’ Championship, with seven victories from 11 races this season. Returning to Indianapolis, Honda holds a 119-point advantage (959-840) over rival Chevrolet. The company is seeking its fourth consecutive NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship in 2021.
• In addition to Helio Castroneves’ historic win at the Indianapolis 500 in May, Honda race winners this year include championship leader Alex Palou at Road America in June and at the season-opening Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama; Marcus Ericsson last weekend in Nashville and at the first race of the Detroit Grand Prix doubleheader weekend; defending and six-time champion Scott Dixon (Texas Race 1); and Colton Herta (Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg).
• Palou comes to Indianapolis leading the Drivers’ Championship with two victories and 410 points to 368 for Dixon, his teammate and the defending series champion, as Chip Ganassi Racing drivers hold three of the top-five places in the title chase. Two-time winner Ericsson rounds out the top five for Honda with 331 points.
• Other Honda drivers in the top 10 include Graham Rahal, sixth with 286 points; Colton Herta, eighth with 275 points; and Sato tenth with 231 points.
• Seven wins in 2020 brought Honda the company’s ninth INDYCAR Manufacturers’ Championship, and third consecutive title, with Honda driver Dixon prevailing to win his sixth Drivers’ Championship, highest among active drivers in the series.
• Honda’s Indy car win total of 259 in 25 years of North American open-wheel racing – including 14 Indianapolis 500 victories since 2003 – is unmatched by any other manufacturer in the same period.
• “The race weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be extra special with the rare opportunity to catch up with our Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series personnel and watch the races,” Buckner added. “We wish our Chevrolet teams good luck as they close in on regular-season championships and their respective Playoff events.”