IndyCar: XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway Preview

Following the season-opening round of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, the IndyCar contingent moves to oval competition, with the series returning to famed Texas Motor Speedway this weekend for the XPEL. 375.

The 1.5-mile oval in Fort Worth has been a constant on the INDYCAR schedule since  2012. In that span, Team Chevy drivers have won six times at the circuit including a victory last year for Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward. Honda drivers won the other four races.

Despite playing host to INDYCAR every season since 1997, this year’s race presents a bit of a new wrinkle in that the race takes place in mid-March instead of early June… although last year’s doubleheader took place in early May.

“That will be the biggest challenge,” confirmed Rob Buckner, Chevrolet Program Manager for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. “The racing surface at Texas is always hard to predict with the different treatments to the tarmac and its impact on degradation of the tires. Throw in the unknown of temperature ranges and this could be a completely different TMS than what we’ve experienced in the past. It definitely puts a premium on qualifying and track position.

“Having said all that, we’re confident of our chances to win again at Texas,” Bucker added. Pato’s victory there last year was a big one for Chevrolet. Not only do we want to continue on the momentum for our strong showing at St. Petersburg, we want to use Texas as prep for the Indy 500. It’s our only opportunity to race with the mandated engine boost ahead of Indianapolis, so the learning process will be doubly important to help all our Chevrolet teams this weekend and looking ahead to Indy.”

Select Quotes

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HITACHI CHEVROLET, TEAM PENSKE: “I’m looking forward to Texas. It’s one of the most exciting tracks we get to go to. I love the fact that we’re so committed at that track. You’ve got to have a car that you’re really confident in. For me, it’s all about the transition in and out of the banking and making sure the car is really secure so you’re not feeling too much understeer behind cars in traffic. Those are the keys for me to find speed around that track. Confidence needs to be high. It’s a super high level of commitment around Texas. We won there before and are hoping to get a better result this weekend so we can kick-start our year in the 2 car.

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 PPG CHEVROLET, TEAM PENSKE: “Back to business as normal at Texas. We’re going to have a little bit of a different downforce package from INDYCAR, as well, so will be interesting.

Yeah, I’m fully prepped, like I said. If I’m not on the pole I’m going to start 20th, and I don’t want that to happen, so I’m going to work hard. It’s business as usual. St. Pete was great, but it was the first race; I’m not getting ahead of myself. It’s just head down, bum up, and make it happen.

Graham Rahal, No. 15 RLL Honda “The performance last year was pretty good. Getting my fourth podium at Texas was pretty cool but I do know that we had an opportunity to win that race. Every time I got to the front though I was getting very loose so we need to get the car a little more settled so that when we are in the front being able to lead, and being able to do it more comfortably. Last year it was kind of an interesting race with the fuel savings. Whoever was in the lead, it was a massive detriment. Dixon and I went back and forth and back and forth a long time, but I do think we’re one of the teams that are going to be very competitive there. I expect Penske to be good, I think they’ve made good improvements in the off season. Definitely, I think there are some areas that we can improve from last year but generally we were very good.”

Christian Lundgaard: RLL Honda: “My expectations for Texas are kind of neutral to be fair. I think it’s going to be an interesting weekend for my first oval race and I’m looking forward to it. At the test, you got to a point where you got comfortable with the car, comfortable with driving around at high speeds and turning left. But I think the preparation up to it has been quite extreme. Obviously for me its all new so I want to have as much information as possible. During the test it was a big beneficial factor in that and I’m just looking forward to getting out there and racing around and be around the other 25 cars on track. Its going to be exciting. We were six cars at the test and running in traffic in the afternoon went well and I think that’s where I gained the most confidence really. So now having to go out there and hopefully win the thing — that’s the plan at least — it would be awesome to come and kind of lay your mark on the ovals. I know it’s so different to whatever I’m used to but I’m looking forward to it and super excited. Texas here we come!”

Jack Harvey RLL Honda: “This will be my 13^th oval start. Honestly, at this point I’m just excited to get back on one. Throughout my time in INDYCAR and Indy Lights, I’ve really enjoyed racing on ovals. There’s definitely a lot of things I’ve had to really work on but I think last year was a big breakthrough for me in general, also was 2020 in general so I feel like we have some really good momentum right now on oval racing. I feel like I’ve got good momentum right now. I’m just excited that it’s another opportunity to go out and have a great weekend. The demands at Texas are quite simple: it’s the ability to be comfortable going into Turn 1 where it always feels like the rear isn’t underneath you. You turn into the corner, and you blend in and the car just kind of goes light for a second and it doesn’t feel like there is any feedback from the steering or anything like that. The first time I went, I wasn’t super comfortable with it. Throughout the two races we did last year, I became really comfortable with it and ended up making two great starts, a great first race and in Race 2 we were running third at the time and, unfortunately, we had a mechanical which took us out of the race. Certainly, I feel like we had a podium opportunity. I think oval racing in general is working through it in a methodical way but also then taking that little bit of brain out of it and just understanding that you’ve got to go fast. I know that’s a simple, silly thing to say but oval racing is so much about commitment and confidence and making sure that we have all those things in a good place.”

DALTON KELLETT, NO. 4 K-LINE CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING: “I’m excited to be back racing in Texas, it’s the hometown race for the Foyt team! Being the first oval of the year, I’m excited to be back to that type of racing. IndyCar has made a slight downforce increase for this year, so we will have to see how that affects the racing and if it opens up the second lane at all. I think it will still be somewhat difficult to pass, so we are definitely focused on qualifying. Starting with good track position always makes it easier! From there, we’ll need a stable and predictable car in race trim to able to make some moves and race for a good finish for the #4 K-Line Chevy.

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW McLAREN CHEVROLET, ARROW McLAREN RACING SP: “I love Texas. Texas is very close to my heart because it’s been home to me for many years, and it holds a special place in my heart because I got my first NTT INDYCAR SERIES win there! On top of that we get to kick the weekend off with Pato’s Home Fiesta presented by Mission Foods on Thursday to celebrate last year’s win. I’m looking forward to having some good fun and hoping to take home some nice hardware while we are at it.

FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 7 ARROW McLAREN VUSE CHEVROLET, ARROW McLAREN RACING SP: “We are headed to Texas this weekend; it’s becoming one of our favorites on the calendar, especially with a win last year from Pato. I also had two very good races that we could have won last year so we’re all ready to get back. The first oval of the year is always exciting, as we can get the Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolets up to high speeds again.”

JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 11 ROKIT CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING: “With the schedule the way it is, only getting one hour-long practice at Texas  before qualifying, it’s going to be important to get up to speed right away. It was great to get in the car even if just for a few laps when Kyle did his rookie test a couple weeks ago, so at least I got a bit of a sight picture for the place the way it is now and we have some recent data and video to work from.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G CHEVROLET, TEAM PENSKE: In the years I’ve been in this series it’s the toughest it’s ever been, the quality of the teams and the drivers are higher than it’s ever been, and yeah, just so many good young drivers. You can tell that the field quality is really high because there’s not many yellows, even in practice. Even at Sebring we hardly had any yellows when we had the one test. Just the level of talent and quality of teams is at — it’s such a good product. We’ve just got to get it out to the world. It’s the best open-wheel racing product in the world.

KYLE KIRKWOOD, NO. 14 ROKIT CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING: “I believe the XPEL 375 will be a great event for us as a team, we have the very experienced addition of J.R. Hildebrand for the ovals and a lot of new people with new ideas on how to get our cars as quick as possible. We’ve been fortunate enough to have one full day on track at Texas Motor Speedway in the past few weeks with the new aero changes and feel we have the car in the right window for the race. Conditions are looking to be the same as the test. So, if everything is still the same, we will have three very competitive cars on the grid.”

CONOR DALY, NO. 20 BITNILE CHEVROLET, ED CARPENTER RACING: “I don’t think I’ve ever felt as confident heading into the Texas weekend as I do now! It was great to test there last week and I was very, very happy with the BitNile Chevy. We’ll have a lot to go through once we get there for the race weekend, but it feels like we have a good amount of information from the test from Rinus and I. We’ll have Ed in the car this weekend as well, so that will help even more. The more information we can gather, the better! I am very excited to get down there and get things going. I love racing at Texas! It will also be my first time there with ECR so I am excited to see how we can all do.”

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 SONAX CHEVROLET, ED CARPENTER RACING: “I am really excited to head back to Texas! We had a great test there last week and I feel like we are in a very good place with the car. Also, I am excited for barbecue and cowboy hats!”

ED CARPENTER, NO. 33 ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET: “I am excited to get back to Texas! It’s always fun going to a track you’ve won at before and a place you’ve been successful, hopefully we can repeat that this year. My teammates tested there last week and it went fairly well. I feel really good about the work the team got accomplished, though it would have been nice to have participated in the test myself. But, as a part-timer, I have to pick and choose what I do! I am ready to get going and excited to have a race in the No. 33 – a new number for me! – and get back in the groove before we get to Indianapolis.”

CALLUM ILOTT, NO. 77 DYNAMIC EDGE CHEVROLET, JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING: Looking forward to racing around my first oval with Chevy power behind me. Will be a steep learning curve, but for sure an exciting one.”

Entry List

	CAR	DRIVER	HOMETOWN	CAR NAME	TEAM	ENGINE
1	2	Josef Newgarden	Nashville, Tennessee	PPG Team Penske	Team Penske	Chevrolet
2	3	Scott McLaughlin	Christchurch, New Zealand	XPEL Team Penske	Team Penske	Chevrolet
3	4	Dalton Kellett	Stouffville, Canada	K-LINE / AJ 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	AutoNation/SiriusXM	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda
6	7	Felix Rosenqvist	Värnamo, Sweden	Vuse Arrow McLaren SP	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevrolet
7	8	Marcus Ericsson	Kumla, Sweden	Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
8	9	Scott Dixon	Auckland, New Zealand	PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
9	10	Alex Palou	Barcelona, Spain	NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
10	11	JR Hildebrand	Sausalito, California	ROKiT / AJ FOYT RACING	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet
11	12	Will Power	Toowoomba, Australia	Verizon Team Penske	Team Penske	Chevrolet
12	14	Kyle Kirkwood (R)	Jupiter, Florida	ROKiT / AJ FOYT RACING	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet
13	15	Graham Rahal	New Albany, Ohio	Fleet Cost & Care	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
14	18	David Malukas (R)	Chicago, Illinois	HMD	Dale Coyne Racing with HMD	Honda
15	20	Conor Daly	Noblesville, Indiana	BitNile	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
16	21	Rinus VeeKay	Hoofddorp, Netherlands	SONAX	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
17	26	Colton Herta	Valencia, California	Gainbridge	Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian	Honda
18	27	Alexander Rossi	Nevada City, California	NAPA AUTO PARTS / AutoNation	Andretti Autosport	Honda
19	28	Romain Grosjean	Geneva, Switzerland	DHL	Andretti Autosport	Honda
20	29	Devlin DeFrancesco (R)	Toronto, Canada	PowerTap	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	Honda
21	30	Christian Lundgaard (R)	Hedensted, Denmark	PeopleReady	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
22	33	Ed Carpenter	Indianapolis, Indiana	Ed Carpenter Racing	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
23	45	Jack Harvey	Bassingham, England	Hy-Vee	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
24	48	Jimmie Johnson	El Cajon, California	Carvana Chip Ganassi Racing	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
25	51	Takuma Sato	Tokyo, Japan	Nurtec ODT	Dale Coyne Racing with RWR	Honda
26	60	Simon Pagenaud	Montmorillon, France	AutoNation/SiriusXM	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda
27	77	Callum Ilott (R)	Cambridge, England	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Juncos Hollinger 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

Fast Facts

Race weekend: Saturday, March 19 and Sunday, March 20

Track: Texas Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile oval

Race distance: 248 laps/372 miles

Firestone tire allotment: Eleven sets primary to be used during practice, qualifying and the race.

Twitter: @TXMotorSpeedway @INDYCAR, #XPEL375, #INDYCAR

Event website: www.TexasMotorSpeedway.com

INDYCAR website: www.indycar.com

2021 race winners: Race 1: Scott Dixon, 1:45:51.3417, 173.036 mph (212 laps/318 miles); Race 2: Pato O’Ward, 2:06:31.1155, 169.360 mph (248 laps/372 miles)

2021 NTT P1 Award winner: Race 1: Alex Palou (Points); Race 2: Scott Dixon (Points)

Qualifying record (based on track distance of 1.44 miles)

One lap: Charlie Kimball, 23.2730, 222.747 mph, June 9, 2017

Two laps: Charlie Kimball, 46.5861, 222.556 mph, June 9, 2017

NBC Sports race telecast: 12:30 p.m. (ET) Sunday, NBC (live). Leigh Diffey is the play-by-play announcer for NBC’s coverage of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, alongside analysts Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe. Marty Snider and Kevin Lee are 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. NBC’s XPEL 375 race telecast will be simulcast on the streaming service, while Peacock Premium’s exclusive post-race show – featuring driver interviews, podium ceremonies and post-race analysis – will debut following the race.

INDYCAR Radio Network broadcasts: Mark Jaynes is the chief announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton and turn announcer Nick Yeoman. Jake Query and Michael Young are the pit reporters. The XPEL 375 race and all NTT INDYCAR SERIES practices and qualifying sessions air live on network affiliates, SiriusXM 160, racecontrol.indycar.com and the INDYCAR App powered by NTT DATA.

At-track schedule (All times local/Central Time):

Saturday, March 19

9:45-9:55 a.m. NTT INDYCAR SERIES two-stage pit speed limiter practice

10-11 a.m. NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice, Peacock Premium

1 p.m. Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award (Single car, cumulative time of two laps), Peacock Premium (Live)

4-5 p.m. NTT INDYCAR SERIES final practice, Peacock Premium

Sunday, March 20

11:30 a.m. NBC on air

11:40 a.m. “Drivers, start your engines”

11:45 a.m. XPEL 375 (248 laps / 372 miles), NBC (Live)

Race Notes:

• Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin kicked off the 2022 season with a bang, claiming his first career NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory Feb. 27 on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. The 27-year-old New Zealander outdueled series champions Alex Palou and Will Power to claim the championship point lead for the first time.
• The XPEL 375 will be the 35th INDYCAR SERIES race at Texas Motor Speedway, dating to Arie Luyendyk winning the INDYCAR SERIES event in 1997. No driver has competed in every INDYCAR SERIES race at TMS, but Scott Dixon has started 22 races.
• Scott Dixon has won five times at Texas Motor Speedway, the most wins by an INDYCAR SERIES driver at the track. Dixon won in 2008, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2021 Race 1. Seven past TMS winners are entered in this year’s XPEL 375: Dixon, Helio Castroneves (2004 Race 2, 2006, 2009 and 2013), Will Power (2011 Race 2 and 2017), Ed Carpenter (2014), Graham Rahal (2016), Josef Newgarden (2019) and Pato O’Ward (2021 Race 2).
• Will Power has won the pole for three of the past 10 Texas Motor Speedway races (2013, 2014 and 2015). Other past pole winners entered this year are Scott Dixon (2008), Josef Newgarden (2018 and 2020) and Takuma Sato (2019). Dixon and Alex Palou were awarded the pole based on entrant points after qualifying was rained out in 2021.
• Six drivers have won the Texas race from the pole: Sam Hornish Jr. (2001 Race 2), Gil de Ferran (2003 Race 2), Helio Castroneves (2004 Race 2), Tomas Scheckter (2005), Scott Dixon (2008) and Ryan Briscoe (2010).
• Drivers who have won at Texas have gone on to win the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship nine times, including in three of the last four seasons. Champions who won at Texas are Sam Hornish Jr. (2001 Race 2 and 2002 Race 2), Tony Kanaan (2004 Race 1), Scott Dixon (2008, 2015, 2018 and 2020), Dario Franchitti (2011 Race 1) and Josef Newgarden (2019).
• Twenty drivers entered this weekend have competed in past NTT INDYCAR SERIES events at Texas Motor Speedway. Twelve drivers have led laps at the track: Scott Dixon 1,043, Will Power 433, Josef Newgarden 187, Ed Carpenter 93, Simon Pagenaud 85, Takuma Sato 72, Graham Rahal 49, Pato O’Ward 25, Alexander Rossi 10, Alex Palou 9, Rinus VeeKay 5 and Marcus Ericsson
• Five rookies – Devlin DeFrancesco, Callum Ilott, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard and David Malukas – are entered. All five, plus seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and seven-time Texas race winner Jimmie Johnson, will attempt to make their first NTT INDYCAR SERIES start on an oval this weekend at Texas. Ed Carpenter and JR Hildebrand are slated to make their 2022 season debut this weekend.
• Milestones: Colton Herta will attempt to make his 50th NTT INDYCAR SERIES start … Takuma Sato will attempt to make his 200th NTT INDYCAR SERIES start … Scott Dixon will attempt to make his 290th consecutive start, the second-longest streak in INDYCAR SERIES history.