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.
Despite having to head down pit road at lap 198 for a loose right rear, Kasey Kahne would recover during the second half of the Duck Commander 500 to post an eighth place finish.
Despite qualifying outside the top 20, Dale Earnhardt Jr. entered the race confident that he would have a good run. That confidence proved true as he crossed the finish line third. However, it wasn't an easy night, though.
Following finishes outside of the top 20 in the first five events of the season, Roush Fenway Racing went to work in building new, faster cars. Those cars were debuted on Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway and while they were better, the results were still poor. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. would finish best of the three drivers in the 15th spot, with Greg Biffle finishing 17th and Trevor Bayne in 18th.
With lightning and rain in the area, Verizon IndyCar Series officials were forced to cancel qualifying for the Grand Prix of Louisiana. As a result, the field was set by entrant points.
In the third and final practice before the Grand Prix of Louisiana, it'd be Scott Dixon topping the charts in his Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon would lap the 2.74-mile, 13-turn road course in one minute and 18.5538 seconds.
Carrying the positive momentum forward, Darrell Wallace Jr. put together a solid performance on Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway, scoring a sixth place finish. For Bubba, it marks his best finish of the season to date.
In an abbreviated session due to rain, it'd be Will Power topping the speed chart in the second practice for the Grand Prix of Lousiana. Power, who led both practices at St. Petersburg before finishing second, topped the charts with a lap of one minute and 20.1704 seconds.
The road to NASCAR’s championship runs through Charlotte Motor Speedway this October, as the sport’s top drivers return to the track’s historic 1.5-mile oval for Bank of America 400 weekend.
One of the biggest races in NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship playoffs will also get a major spotlight on FOX, as the 15th annual NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway will air on FOX adjacent to a FOX football broadcast on Sunday, Oct. 4.
Austin Cindric and the No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse team delivered one of their strongest performances of the season Sunday afternoon at Kansas Speedway
Josh Berry and the No. 21 Menards/Dutch Boy team have regularly found themselves in contention for top-five and top-10 finishes, including a strong stretch since the start of the NASCAR Cup Series Chase.
