Before we look over the storylines in today’s race, Mario Romancini will be able to start this afternoon at Kansas Speedway — his backup No. 34 Conquest Racing machine is ready. The Brazilian rookie crashed the primary car during practice yesterday and was unable to qualify. He’ll start 27th at the rear of the field.
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1. Tune-up for Indianapolis. Today’s 300-miler is the lead-in for the Indianapolis 500, so everybody will be looking to get good finishes and maybe a bit of momentum heading into the month of May. With this being the first oval of the season, Kansas will also be a barometer for teams’ speedway programs in general. With the “500” approaching, it’ll be interesting to see which teams have their oval program in top form and which teams will have to quickly raise their game.
2. Power play. Will Power holds the IZOD IndyCar Series title lead, but with today starting a stretch of four straight ovals on the schedule, he needs to stay out of trouble and continue to capitalize on opportunities when they present themselves. Power showed himself as one of the best road/street racers in the series with two victories in the first four races of 2010 (all on twisty tracks); now he has to replicate those results on the speedways.
3. The Target Express. Target Chip Ganassi Racing has ruled Kansas for the last three seasons and their drivers Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti are starting second and third this afternoon. Dixon dominated last year’s run in the Heartland, leading 134 laps en route to victory. Can anybody can keep these two pilots off the top spot of the podium (like polesitter Ryan Briscoe, perhaps)? Or will the Bullseye Boys continue to reign in the Sunflower State?
4. Eye on the grandstands. There’s been some talk about this perhaps being the final IndyCar event at Kansas Speedway (the Saturday scheduling is probably feeding that to a point), so let’s see if the fans will come out to see a potential swan song.
5. Dan and Marco. Both Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti had their qualifying times disallowed after they both went below the white line during their Q runs. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Wheldon (starting 25th) and Andretti (starting 26th) be aggressive from the get-go and charge toward the front as quickly as possible. This could be fun to watch.
