Round 2: PPG 375, Texas Motor Speedway. April 1-2.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 2: PPG 375, Texas Motor Speedway. April 1-2.

St. Pete seems like ages ago. Hopefully, after this weekend, things will start to feel like the season is finally underway.

This weekend's race will be the 26th consecutive year Texas Motor Speedway has been on the IndyCar calendar and like last year it will be a single race event.

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On June 7th 1997, the Indy Racing League held the "1997 True Value 500", the 6th round of the fledgling series at Texas Motor Speedway and it was the first night race in the history of AOWR. It was won by Arie Luyendyk, driving a Panoz G-Force-Oldsmobile for Treadway Racing.

From 1998-2004 the track hosted two races per season, with the first race held mid June and the second race held in October. In 2007, the race distance was increased from 500km to 550. In 2011, the 'Firestone Twin 275s' were held, made up of two 275km races, separated by a "halftime", with half points awarded for each race. The grid for the second race was decided by a random draw, which proved so unpopular the twin race format was scrapped the following year. In 2014, the race was further extended to 600km.

In 2001, CART added the "Firestone Firehawk 600" and it was scheduled for April 29th, at TMS and which would have been Round 4 of a 21 race calendar. However, after practice and qualifying the race was cancelled, as drivers reported vertigo like symptoms and vision problems, after sustaining high lateral forces of 5.5G, while driving in excess of 230 mph or 370 km/h on the 24 degree banking. TMS sued CART, after it emerged CART officials had ignored repeated requests to test their cars before the race. This resulted in a legal settlement, estimated to have been around $5–7 million, which CART paid to TMS. Many pundits have cited the law suit and subsequent settlement as a key factor in CART's demise.

In 2020 and 2021 both seasons were affected by the covid pandemic and racing at Texas Motor Speedway was no exception. The start of the 2020 season was postponed and a number of races were cancelled. The 2020 season eventually got underway on June 6, with TMS holding the season opener.

In 2021, rather than having one 600km race, TMS held a double header, the Genysys 300 on Saturday, May 1 and the Xpel 375 on Sunday, May 2 with the race distances in miles rather than kilometers. Last year TMS was moved forward from its usual place in June and holding the second round of the 2022 season, which reverted to a single race event.

Some Trivia:
Driver with the most wins: 5.
Scott Dixon: 2008, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2021.
Team with the most wins: 11.
Team Penske: 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2022

Track Layout:



Length: 1.5 Miles (2.4 km)
Turns: 4

Lap record:
Paul Tracy April 28 2001. 0:22.542, 239.552 mph (385.521 kmh)
Team Green,
Reynard 01i-Honda HR-1,
CART FedEx Championship Series.

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Last Year's Race
https://www.indycar.com/news/2022/03/03-20-texas-race

Pole:
Felix Rosenqvist
Arrows McLaren SP
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6

Last year's winner:
Josef Newgarden,
Team Penske
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6

Laps: 212
Distance: 300 Miles (482.803 Km)
Time: 2:09:29.7270
Average speed: 165.467 Mph (266.293 Km/h)
Fastest lap: Pato O'Ward - Arrows McLaren SP, Lap 63, 23.4930 sec.. 220.661 Mph, (355.119 Km/h)

Cautions: 4
Laps: 12 - 15, 99 - 112, 114 - 127, 129 - 148.

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Practice and Qualifications

Saturday, Apr 1

Practice 1. 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM EDT

Qualifications. 12:15 PM - 1:15 PM EDT

High Line Session. 1:45 PM - 2:15 PM EDT

Final Practice. 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM EDT

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Broadcast:
NBC: April 2, 12:00pm EDT, 4:00pm UTC
Sky Sports F1: 5:00pm BST