SM Staff

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.

With 26 laps to go, Erik Jones had a solid restart, clearing both Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to take the lead. He would then cruise the rest of the way to scoring his first career XFINITY Series victory in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. Speaking in the media center afterward, Jones called the victory 'surreal'.

It seemed fitting that a race featuring caution after caution would end with a caution, but the final caution that ended the race featured the biggest wreck of the race. It also left Ryan Hunter-Reay and Simon Pagenaud in a disagreement.

Knowing that cautions were running rapid due to wet conditions and the race was coming within the time distance allowed, James Hinchcliffe and his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team played strategy on Sunday afternoon at NOLA Motorsports Park. That strategy would pay off as Hinchcliffe took the victory in the inaugural Grand Prix of Louisiana.