This weekend’s Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway is critical in several ways. For starters, it’s going to show which teams can truly contend for wins anywhere on the schedule. After four road and street races to start the season, we have a few drivers outside the Team Penske and Target Chip Ganassi […]

Sorry about the lack of activity in the last few days. I needed to go off the grid, so to speak. This coming Saturday will mark the end of my first year in the real world and since I still don’t have a job that has any connection to my journalism degree, I’ve been a […]

Got some good stories out there this morning…Here’s a few for you to check out over coffee. Tony Johns at Pop Off Valve has a great piece on the art of drivers’ interaction with fans at the racetrack and its importance for the IZOD IndyCar Series going forward. While one would think that a more “grassroots” approach like […]

For the second year in a row, forty entries have been filed for the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race. This year’s event will feature four former Indy winners (Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Dan Wheldon) and IZOD IndyCar Series champions (Dixon, Franchitti, Tony Kanaan, Wheldon), as well as a rookie class of six drivers. As of […]

Kansas Speedway, the next stop on the IZOD IndyCar Series schedule, will see plenty of testing in the next few days as drivers and teams prepare for the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 on Sat., May 1 (1:30 p.m. ET, ABC) — the first oval event of the 2010 season. Slated to test today on […]

1. Ryan Hunter-Reay scores big win. Will a victory at the biggest open-wheel event outside of the Indianapolis 500 be enough to help him nail down funding for a full season? Let’s hope so. Because after his dominating effort on Sunday, he seems in line to finally become the true American contender that the series […]

http://youtube.com/watch?v= nfdl9xCLPQw[/youtube] American driver scores victory at legendary Long Beach With a great car under him and thoughts of his late mother on his mind, Ryan Hunter-Reay joined an illustrious list of winners at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach yesterday under sunny skies with a 5.6-second victory over Justin Wilson. Hunter-Reay dominated the race from the […]

Today’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is slated for a 4:15 p.m. ET green flag, with coverage starting at 3:30 p.m. ET on Versus, IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, and IndyCar.com. But you can also follow along with in-race updates at my Twitter page. Point your browser to twitter.com/estradawriting and interact with me, […]

1. Day of the underdog? While Team Penske has a good shot of making it four-for-four to start the 2010 championship, there are lots of underdogs that could get “everybody else” on the board. The Target Chip Ganassi Racing duo of Scott Dixon (starting eighth) and defending Long Beach winner Dario Franchitti (starting 12th) are […]

Interesting news coming out of Southern California right now, where Dale Coyne Racing driver Milka Duno may be pulling a NASCAR-style “start and park” in today’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach due to her lack of pace this weekend. According to a Twitter report from The Indianapolis Star’s Curt Cavin,

Former Champ Car World Series champion (and current Twitter enthusiast) Paul Tracy will get another crack at his first Indianapolis 500 win — or his second, depending on your point of view. The Canadian star will return to the Brickyard next month with KV Racing Technology in the No. 15 GEICO machine that he drove […]

http://youtube.com/watch?v= Iv_LTve0ocE[/youtube] Andretti Autosport’s Tony Kanaan likely summed up the thoughts of the entire IZOD IndyCar Series paddock yesterday after Will Power claimed the pole position for today’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (3:30 p.m. ET, Versus). “We wake up every day thinking about it,” said the 2004 series champion of Power’s current hot streak. […]

The battle for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach pole is set to start in less than an hour (LIVE, 5:30 p.m. ET on IndyCar.com; 6 p.m. ET on Versus) out in Southern California. Here are the groups that will begin the first round of knockout qualifying. Group 15-Takuma Sato6-Ryan Briscoe8-E.J. Viso9-Scott Dixon10-Dario Franchitti11-Tony […]

One of the more unique elements of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend is the annual Pro/Celebrity race that features professional racers and entertainment figures going head-to-head in identically prepared cars on the legendary Long Beach street circuit. At the least, it’s interesting to see who’s on the entry list every year and […]

Yesterday, Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport threw down a lap of 70.6346 seconds to pace IZOD IndyCar Series practice for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday. It was an eventful day for the American driver. During the IndyCar practice session, he spun out on course and narrowly missed an oncoming car while he was […]