My Kinda Town

Despite Chicagoland Speedway being a short drive up I-65, I had never made the trip to Joliet, Ill..  To be honest, my knowledge of Joliet consisted of The Blues Brothers.  But with tickets readily available and hotels relatively cheap in Chicago, making it to Chicagoland was easy this year.

Just like at Kentucky last year, fans were treated to a typical Chicagoland finish - frantic and close.  In all honesty, when a .042 of a second finish is considered 'not that close,' the IZOD IndyCar Series clearly possesses the right formula for success at Chicagoland.

Honestly, upon arriving at the track, I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of a crowd.  Tailgating in the parking lot, there seemed to be a steady stream of cars heading into the lots.  And what turned out to be a late-arriving crowd saw a thrilling race, one that was eerily reminiscent of the Indianapolis 500, minus a death-defying late crash.

The crowd wasn't big enough that my wife and I couldn't move around to different seats during the race; the strategy at Chicagoland Speedway appeared to be to work down from the tops of each section, as Row 63 was well-filled, while rows lower were not.  By the end of the race, we had moved down to Row 53, or something like that.

Regardless, the action on track was exciting throughout the night; the leaders ran in a pack for most of the night, spreading out briefly as Sarah Fisher moved back through the field after an alternate pit strategy moved her to the front.  While Ryan Briscoe held the lead, he was quickly reeled in by Will Power and Marco Andretti, and the lead pack was back together for the remainder of the race.

At the three-quarter mark of the race, it looked like all Dan Wheldon would need was a solid pit stop in order to pick up Panther's first win in a few years.  Instead it was Dario Franchitti's daring pit strategy that won him the day.  And combined with Power's late pit stop because of a lack of fuel, the series points championship became much more interesting.

Power's mistake is the kind he must avoid the rest of the way if he wants to win; though the Team Penske driver showed well most of the night and was a contender to win, he left a chance at a win on the table and let Franchitti close within 23 points with three races to go.  Once again, it looks as if the IZOD IndyCar Series championship will come down to Homestead-Miami.

To lose Chicagoland Speedway would be a major mistake for the IZOD IndyCar Series and the International Speedway, Corporation.  The series has given no indication that they are looking to leave the track, while the reception has been cool from ISC.  Still, with a decent crowd and always exciting racing, it would behoove both sides to come together and find a date that works.  And if they do, I'll be back. 

Your Chicagoland Preview

(Note: I am also writing over at SB Nation Indiana, covering auto racing.  That means I write about NASCAR and any other series that visits Indiana.  You can follow SB Nation by clicking here.  This also means that the following article runs on SB Nation Indiana, too.)

With the Sprint Cup Series taking the weekend off, the IZOD IndyCar Series takes center stage on Saturday night, putting one of its most exciting races on display at Chicagoland Speedway.  The Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 has routinely produced side-by-side racing and photo finishes, with five of the 10 closest finishes in series history occurring at the Joliet, Ill., track.

Last year, Ryan Briscoe used his push-to-pass button down the stretch to hold off Scott Dixon at the line, winning by .0077 of a second.  While another photo finish isn't guaranteed, it isn't advised to miss the end of this race.

Chicagoland marks the beginning of the final stretch of the IZOD IndyCar season.  While the series does not have a "Chase," it doesn't need one either, as each of the last four seasons (and six of the last eight) have seen the series title come down to the final race.  Though Will Power holding a 59-point lead with four races to go, questions still remain about his ability to hold onto the lead on the 1.5-mile ovals.

Power has never finished better than fifth on an oval, while his closest pursuer, Dario Franchitti, is one of the most well-rounded drivers in the IndyCar Series.  Franchitti knows a thing or two about close finishes, having won both of his series titles (2007, 2009) in the last race of the year.

2009 Winner: Ryan Briscoe. Briscoe's win by a scant .0077 of a second helped push him into the series lead at the time, and the Team Penske driver narrowly lost the series title after Franchitti's win at Homestead-Miami in the series finale. This year, Briscoe could use the pick-me-up, as he has won just once in a relatively 2010 season. Briscoe's lone win was on another 1.5-mile oval, coming at Texas.

What to Watch: The side-by-side racing. The 1.5-miles tend to bunch the IndyCar field, and if faster drivers get stuck behind slower traffic, be sure to keep an eye on that. With 29 drivers scheduled to take the green flag, conflicts between front-runners and backmarkers are sure to crop up over the 300 miles.

Who to Watch: Power. If he is going to win his first IZOD IndyCar Series championship, his performance on the last four races of the year will decide his fate.  The Australian has shown steady progress on ovals, finishing fifth at Iowa after claiming the pole. Power also qualified second at Indianapolis.

Keep an eye on Franchitti and Dixon as well, as both need to race for wins the rest of the way if they want to make up ground on Power. For Dixon, the eighth time at Chicagoland might be the charm. In his first seven trips to the track, the Kiwi has finished second five times, including 2009.

When to Watch: Versus has the coverage from Joliet, Ill., beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET, on Saturday night. Indycar.com will have streaming of practices, qualifications and the Firestone IndyLights race.

SB Nation Indiana and Drive Hard, Turn Left will be providing on-the-scene coverage during the weekend as well, so be sure to check back often for updates from Joliet.

There's Always Someone

So on the heels of another fantastic finish at Chicagoland, Speed's Robin Miller writes in his post-race notebook that:

IndyCar has somehow avoided The Big One as long as its had this package. Still, it would be nice to see a little more separation in 2010. And it would be even nicer to see Phoenix, Loudon and Milwaukee replace Kansas, Chicago and Homestead by 2011.

Now, I've been an advocate of finding a way to get the IndyCar Series to Phoenix and New Hampshire (and back to Milwaukee).  But at the expense of three ovals makes no sense to me.  Yes, IndyCar will play second fiddle to Trucks at Kansas in 2010, and who knows who will show up at Homestead.  But if the oval package is producing consistent side-by-side racing, why would the IndyCar Series shoot itself in the foot by taking away three ovals, especially it's most successful side-by-side racing track?

Yes, the pack racing that closed the race at Chicagoland was dangerous.  It was also damned exciting.  That edge of controlled chaos and carnage is one of the primary reasons people watch IndyCar racing.  Any driver in NASCAR can run into another vehicle - with closed wheels, heavy cars and lower speeds you are more protected than in IndyCar.  As Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi can testify, when open wheels touch, the results are much more interesting.  

Besides, if Helio Castroneves hadn't turned right instead of left with a handful of laps remaining, we would have never seen the pack finish we did. Would Miller still be advocating to leave Chicagoland if the 1st-13th hadn't been within 0.8 second of each other?  Because prior to Castroneves' crash, it was roughly 10 seconds (or more, I haven't watched the race replay).  That crash brought together a perfect storm of elements for the finish - a bunched field and side-by-side racing.  Yet, every driver in the field seemed to drive fairly smart over those final 5 laps.

Look, wrecks are going to happen.  They happen on road/street circuits; they happen on ovals.  Just because cars happen to run close at one track in particular (and over green flags the top cars separated themselves pretty easily) is no reason to suggest that the IndyCar Series abandon Chicagoland.

I agree with plenty of what Miller says in his notebook (especially about start times, though I can appreciate night racing at the right tracks), but on abandoning Chicagoland, he is way off.

Chicagoland Comes Through Again

Looking to attend just one IndyCar race a year?  If you're looking for side-by-side racing and a high probability of a photo finish, the evidence is quite clear - you need to head to Chicagoland Speedway.  Once again, the track delivered, as Ryan Briscoe somehow passed Scott Dixon on the penultimate lap to win the race by .0077 second and build on his points lead.


Indianapolis has the spectacle, history and tradition (I will never miss this race); Kentucky has a similar setup to Chicagoland and camping; Iowa is a bull ring; Texas has a history of close finishes.  But Chicago has the most close finishes in series history (now three of the four closest in IndyCar Series history) and is close to Indianapolis (3 hours or so, allowing you to drive to it the day-of, like Kentucky) and is near Chicago if you want to make a weekend out of it.  Why I haven't been there yet is a failing on my part.  Next year I will correct this.

Courtesy of teammate Helio Castroneves, who suffered suspension failure for the second straight race, Briscoe was aided in catching the Target-Chip Ganassi cars of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti.  The duo had built an impressive lead after green-flag pit stops, and Briscoe used most of his push-to-passes getting back to third place.  His work was inversely proportional to blog favorite Tony Kanaan, who entered the pits in fifth and when everyone had cycled through was in 12th.  That's probably why he tweeted:

Morning, very frustrated night. Not happy at all. Let's turn the page and move on.

(UPDATE, as of 12:30 p.m., Aug. 31:  Tony Kanaan says he wasn't upset at Marco Andretti when he went to talk to Michael Andretti after the race, he was upset about the race strategy, which included him losing several spots during green-flag pit stops after he stayed out while most of the field pitted.)  From @TonyKanaan: 

To clear things out here guys, I went to talk to Michael after the race about the strategy, nothing happen btw me and Marco.

With Dixon well out front, Castroneves' crash was just what Briscoe needed to bunch the field and get around the Target cars.  And with a lap to go, he did just that.  The yellow flag also created the closest 1-13 finish in series history - just 0.8269 second separated Briscoe from Kanaan.

Now Kentucky was a fantastic race because of the racing throughout the field, with drivers trading places most of the night.  Chicagoland was exactly the same, if not more exciting, as multiple cars were going three-wide throughout the night.  Honestly, who didn't think that the combination of Mario Moraes, Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti going three-wide in the closing laps would not result in a wreck?  Amazingly, it didn't.

Even with Versus seemingly cutting to commercials every 10-15 laps (seriously, you don't have enough ads for this.), it is apparent that the IndyCar Series is back on track with their oval racing setup (though admittedly the late yellow really helped after the field separated themselves in green-flag stops).  

As usual, Chicagoland proved to be the grounds for exciting races.  Let's hope Motegi (get excited - it's 3 weeks from now!) and Homestead-Miami deliver the goods as well.

Sweet Home Chicago

Ok, Chicago isn't my home, but it's close.  I do spend an inordinate amount of time there, whether it's visiting family or attending Cubs games.  Which is why not attending this weekend's race at Chicagoland Speedway hurts.

Granted, I've never been to a race at Chicagoland, but then again, I've never had an outlet from which to convey my impressions of the IndyCar Series.  And now that I do, I figure I should try and make some races, whether they be at Indianapolis (my backyard), Kentucky (just a 2.5-hour drive) or Chicago.  This year, however, it's about saving a little bit of money.  And judging from the amount of good, cheap tickets available online, I should be able to go next year (especially if I can't go to Kentucky because of work).

Anyways, Chicagoland has been one of the IndyCar Series' go-to tracks, along with Texas, for exciting side-by-side racing.  Four of the 10 closest finishes in series history have come at the track, including three of the top five.

With that in mind, along with the push-to-pass system (drivers will get 20 at Chicagoland) and the aerodynamic options introduced at Kentucky, I would expect more of the same exciting racing we saw in early August.  As for who will come out on top, who knows.  Could anyone really have predicted that Ed Carpenter would fall just short of topping Ryan Briscoe at Kentucky?  Or that the Target cars - the ones who helped spearhead the car changes - would struggle with their setup most of the night?

Mix in a three-man battle for the points lead (does anyone really want the points lead at this point, though?  It's been traded around after all but one race this year.), and you have the ingredients to make Chicagoland an intriguing race to watch Saturday night.  Now, it won't help that the race won't start until roughly 9:45 ET (TV coverage on Versus starts at 9 p.m. ET), but hopefully the racing will be such that the highlights will be splashed on TV the following morning for those who can't stay up late.

As for me, I'll be up late, beer in hand, wishing I was at Chicagoland.