SM Staff

After taking the lead on the first round of pit stops, Scott Dixon didn't look back as he led the rest of the way, scoring the victory in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. It marks the first victory of the season for the Chip Ganassi Racing driver.

Team Penske would continue their dominance in Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying for the Grand Prix of Long Beach with Helio Castroneves topping the charts to score the Verizon P1 Award. It marks the 42nd career pole for the driver who is coming off a solid runner-up finish at NOLA Motorsports Park.

I watched my first race at Bristol Motor Speedway in August of 2002, amongst a sold out crowd of over 150,000 when I watched Jeff Gordon execute the bump and run on Rusty Wallace with three laps remaining in the Sharpie 500.

In a continuing trend for the Verizon IndyCar Series this year, Team Penske swept the top-three, and four of the top-five spots in practice for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Will Power would top the charts with a lap of one minute and 7.5485 seconds.

With this weekend’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the daffodils are blooming and Richard Petty Motorsports has begun their spring cleaning project. This week’s edition of NASCAR Behind the Scenes focuses on Petty’s newest sponsor, a cleaning product company called Nature Blast, which will be a primary sponsor on Sam Hornish’s No. 9 Petty Ford this weekend.

Dale Coyne Racing announced on Thursday, April 16 that Pippa Mann will drive the organization in the Indianapolis 500. Mann will drive a pink car in support of Susan G. Komen, the world’s largest breast cancer organization. It marks the second consecutive year for the arranged partnership.

Following the Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana, INDYCAR officials announced six different penalties against drivers and crews for their actions during the event.

On Tuesday, April 14, Chip Ganassi Racing Teams announced their plans for the No. 8 Chevrolet for the rest of the Verizon IndyCar Series season. The entry will be split between Sage Karam and Sebastian Saavedra.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced on Tuesday, April that Oriol Servia will drive a second car for the team in the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500.

While the focus was on Schmidt Peterson Motorsports' pair of drivers being on the podium, Team Penske's Helio Castroneves finished in between them on track, crossing the finish line in the second spot. It marks his second straight top-five to start the year after finishing fourth at St. Petersburg two weeks ago.