First-time winner Scott McLaughlin, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and four-time Indy 500 champ Helio Castroneves among top stories as Texas Motor Speedway kicks off its 26th season.
FORT WORTH, Texas (March 17, 2021) – The NTT INDYCAR SERIES takes center stage as Texas Motor Speedway opens its 26th season of racing with this weekend’s XPEL 375.
The XPEL 375 will be the second event of the 17-race NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, following the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg that was held on Feb. 27. Only a race into the season, plenty of storylines are developing including Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin registering his first career win at St. Petersburg.
· The XPEL 375 will be a two-day affair, with the NTT INDYCAR SERIES hitting the track on Saturday for qualifying (1 p.m. CT) and a pair of one-hour practices (10 a.m. & 4 p.m.). The weekend culminates with the running of the 248-lap XPEL 375 on Sunday, beginning at 11:30 a.m. (TV: NBC, Radio: INDYCAR Radio Network, SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation, Ch. 160, and 95.9 The Ranch (local).
Let’s take a look at the “Fast Five” storylines:
1) Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin (No. 3 DEX Imaging Chevrolet), the 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES rookie of the year, opened his sophomore campaign in grand fashion with his first career series win in the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
He went wire to wire, earning his first career pole and leading a race-high 49 of the 100 laps en route to the victory over defending series champion, Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing.
The three-time Australian Supercars champion impressed in his first-ever start on an oval coming last season at Texas, where he finished a season-best second in the opening race and eighth in the finale.
McLaughlin is hopeful of keeping up a recent trend in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES where the winner of the season-opening race has gone on to win the series championship the past three years (Josef Newgarden-2019, Scott Dixon-2020, Palou-2021).
2) Chip Ganassi Racing driver Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Carvana/American Legion Honda) is returning to a familiar track and style of racing that could have the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion poised for the best result of his young INDYCAR career.
After competing in only road course and street circuit races in his 2021 rookie season, Johnson is running the full season this year with the XPEL 375 officially serving as his INDYCAR oval debut.
While the differences between stock cars and Indy cars are abundant, Johnson definitely knows his way around this challenging 1.5-mile oval. He owns the track record for most career Cup Series victories with seven as well as ranking first in top-five finishes (16) and laps led (1,152).
3) Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner and fan favorite Helio Castroneves (No. 06 SiriusXM/AutoNation Honda) will be making his first start at Texas Motor Speedway in five years. Castroneves, whose last appearance at TMS came with Team Penske in 2017, returns to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES as a fulltime competitor with Meyer Shank Racing and teammate Simon Pagenaud.
Last season, he ran a limited six-race schedule for Meyer Shank Racing and the season was highlighted by his record-tying fourth Indy 500 crown and the first for the organization.
Castroneves should welcome the return to Fort Worth, given the fact that his four career TMS wins rank second all-time only to Scott Dixon’s five.
4) Alex Palou (No. 10 NTT DATA Honda) of Chip Ganassi Racing is looking to become the first driver to repeat as the NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion since Dario Franchitti won three in a row from 2009-11.
Last season, the 24-year-old, second-year driver won the first three races of his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career en route to becoming the first Spaniard and seventh-youngest champion in history.
He opened the 2022 season with a strong runner-up finish at St. Petersburg and returns to Texas Motor Speedway where he had a solid doubleheader showing last year.
He finished fourth in the opening race and followed with a seventh in the finale. He currently stands second in the championship standings, trailing Scott McLaughlin (54-41).
5) Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing have dominated at Texas Motor Speedway with the two organizations combining to win 17 of the 34 INDYCAR races at the venue.
Team Penske owns a track-record 10 victories with the most recent coming in 2019 from two-time series champion Josef Newgarden.
Chip Ganassi Racing has won seven, with the last four of those being by six-time series champ Scott Dixon. Dixon’s most recent came in the opener of last season’s doubleheader.
The two organizations also have combined to win six of the last eight at Texas, with the only breakthroughs by other teams coming from Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in 2016 and Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren SP in the doubleheader finale last season.
The XPEL 375 weekend opens Saturday, March 19, featuring NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying (1-2 p.m.) and a pair of practices (10-11 a.m., 4-5 p.m.). On Sunday, March 20, the Fan Zone opens at 8 a.m. and the gates at 9 a.m. for the XPEL 375 that takes the green flag at 11:45 a.m.
TICKETS:
Texas Motor Speedway is offering a $48 special promotion for two tickets to the race. Tickets for children 12 and under are only $10. For more information on tickets and the race, please visit www.texasmotorspeedway.com.
Tickets for Texas Motor Speedway’s 2022 major event season, including the March 20 NTT INDYCAR SEREIS XPEL 375/American Flat Track races and, May 22 NASCAR All-Star Race, are on sale now at https://www.texasmotorspeedway.com/events/season-tickets/.
MORE INFO:
Keep track of all of Texas Motor Speedway’s busy schedule by following on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Keep up with all the latest news and information on the speedway website and TMS mobile app.
