On Wednesday, IndyCar took to the Milwaukee Mile speedway for the first time in eight years for a tire test ahead of the series’ return next year.

Will Power and Linus Lundqvist turned laps around the historic oval, helping Firestone’s engineers determine the best compound to bring to the low-banked track.

IndyCar has a very long history with the Milwaukee Mile, which stretches back the CART and USAC days. But the series has not visited since the 2015 season.

Even though multiple changes have been made to the cars’ downforce package in that time, the track drove very similarly to how it did eight years ago.

“The track has not changed very much,” said Power, who has won one race at the track in 2014. “Felt very similar to when we last raced here almost 10 years ago.

“It’s a really cool oval because it’s low banking, which is good for our cars and really good for racing. Excited to be coming back.

“It felt exactly the same, of what I can remember. It’s a long time ago. It’s good. This series is so tough and competitive now, tougher than it was when we last raced here. I think the fans will be in for a real treat.

“Never know who’s going to win the races. It’ll be coming down to the wire of the championship as well, so it’ll be a big part of the championship, these two races.”

The Milwaukee Mile features long straights and corners with low banking, with the corners topping out at just 9.25 degrees, almost identical to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The double-header race event will come on the penultimate racing weekend for the 2024 season, placing a high priority on good performances at the venue.  

With the track feel being so similar to how it was years ago, the veterans of the series may have an advantage over the younger drivers.

The two races will be held on August 31 and September 1, with race length and start times yet to be determined.

This weekend IndyCar trialed a new component to oval racing for the first time, giving drivers two different tire compounds to run during the race.

The softer Firestone tires wore down quickly, and most drivers chose to pit early to remove them in favor of the harder compound, but they did produce similar lap times if they were used gently during the run.

They also produced more marbles than the standard tire, leading to a treacherous upper groove that caught out a few drivers to dared to venture too high.

The danger of the upper groove made passing more difficult, as making a move on the outside was all but impossible once 50 laps had been run.

“It brought in some pretty horrendous marbles onto the racetrack, which made the second lane almost impossible to use,” said Pato O’Ward after the race. “I don’t think I was the only one.

“Not that the black [walled tires] don’t create marbles, but definitely this alternate tire was a special add-on to that. It made it pretty hard. The difference in grip wasn’t that big of a difference.

“I think two different tires for the ovals is actually pretty cool. I just think if they want good racing, we can’t be in single file. Then even the lappers can be racing with the leaders.”

Despite the drawback, most drivers reported that the experiment was largely a success. The day’s winner Scott Dixon even went so far as to say the tires should fall off more quickly to give drivers a more difficult time.

There has been no word from IndyCar if an alternate tire compound will continue to be brought to short oval races in the future, but it seems likely given the lack of problems experienced this weekend.

Two tire compounds are standard procedure for road and street courses, and will be in use for the final two races of the season at Portland and Laguna Seca.

This weekend the NTT IndyCar Series is visiting the final oval venue of the season with a race around the 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway.

The familiar venue will play host to a new set of tire rules that the series is trying out for the first time, which will force teams to use two different rubber compounds during the race.

Each entry is given only two sets of the softer, red-walled Firestone tires for the weekend. One set must be returned after Saturday’s practice, with the second set saved and used for at least two laps at some point during Sunday’s feature.

The rules for using the alternate tire compound are similar to the formula that has been used at road and street courses for many seasons, but there are some limitations the series is putting on teams this weekend.

The biggest difference is that the alternate tire cannot be used during qualifying. Only the black-walled primary tire can be used during the two-lap qualifying runs.

A second difference is that drivers will have to start the race on the harder tires, making for an even playing field for at least the first few laps.

Also, with only two sets of the softer tire being provided, and only one set available for the race, there is not a lot of varying strategy the teams can employ.

They will be essentially limited to a decision to run the alternate tires for a stint in the middle of the race, or to save them for the final run to the checkered flag.

Josef Newgarden, who was won the previous three races at Gateway and is on a five-race oval winning streak dating back to last season, gave his approval of the experiment.

“It’s an unknown for all of us,” Newgarden told Motorsportweek.com. “I don’t mind that we’re giving it a go here. We’re going to have something different, and that’s okay with me.

“We’ve all got the same opportunity to hopefully get up to speed with them, sort of understand what they’re all about.

“They’ll only be utilized in the race, and that simplifies things a little bit. You don’t have to worry about them in qualifying, so you’ve only got to worry about the race conditions and the way they operate.

“It’s hard to say what we’re going to get from them until we try them. It’s one of those deals where you’ve got to experience them in the weekend, and then we’ll have some feedback afterwards.”

Newgarden’s comments echoed other drivers, who were generally in favor of IndyCar testing out a new formula to potentially spice up the series’ short oval package.

The alternate tire compound is identical to the one Firestone brought to Gateway a couple years ago, so there may well not be many surprises in the way of car performance once they get used on track.

The first time the tires will be used is during Saturday’s opening practice session, which begins at 10:00 AM Central Time.

Marco Andretti, third generation driver and veteran of 17 Indianapolis 500s, has said that there would be better racing if the provided Firestone tires lost more performance throughout a stint.

In recent years, tire performance has been nearly consistent across a run at Indianapolis. That is expected to be even more the case with the added downforce the cars have this year.

During a typical Indy 500, drivers will make around five pit stops. However, that is usually determined by fuel and the timing of any caution periods rather than tire performance.

Andretti explained ahead or race day that even though the racing is going to be close on track, if the tires wore down quicker, the racing would be even better.

“In my humble opinion, I think Firestone is too good,” said Andretti. “I think we need some deg. We need degradation to really make comers and goers halfway to late in the stint.

“I think you should have to try to do a better job, put more of an emphasis on the end of a stint and taking care of your tires. We don’t have to do that. They’re pretty robust now.

“I think if there was more falloff in the tires, you’d probably see better racing.

“[Firestone] don’t want their tires falling off. Which I don’t blame them. They don’t want drivers commenting on the tires falling off. However, I think that does create good racing. I think they’re doing too good of a job.”

Since 2021, Andretti has left behind full time IndyCar racing and instead races only in the Indy 500 in a fifth Andretti Autosport entry.

This gives him plenty of time to focus on the biggest race of the year, and he’s still quite happy with his decision to cut back on his overall schedule.

Andretti will start his 18th Indianapolis 500 this Sunday, and will roll off from the 24th position.

The NTT IndyCar Series has announced that it will use the softer compound tire on an oval track for the first time this season, with the debut of the new arrangement coming at World Wide Technology Raceway in August.

Usually drivers do not get a choice of tire compound outside of street and road courses, but the addition of the second type of rubber on the 1.25-mile oval will open up plenty of strategy options.

The rules for the Gateway weekend will closely match a typical road course event, with drivers needing to complete racing laps on both compounds of tires at some point during the race.

Other minor changes for the 2023 season were announced by the series as well, including a few updated safety items on all cars.

These include a higher side cushion on the headrest, stronger wheel tethers, an updated steering arm designed to hold up better in an accident, and a finalized design for air vanes on the nose of the cars to help keep water from pooling on the Aeroscreen during rainy days.

Other aerodynamic changes were approved specifically for the Indianapolis 500 to allow for better racing at high speeds.

Various small wickers and vanes were approved for use, as well as a new rear wing mount which will allow for more freedom in adjusting the angle of attack.

“At the Indy 500, drivers in the pack can run up to 10% more downforce than last year,” said Tino Belli, IndyCar director of aerodynamic development. “With the increased rear wing range, teams can still try and trim out the rear wing for end of race speed – and go for the win – if they have worked their way up into the lead group.

“Overall, IndyCar wants to give race teams more options going into 2023. The optional barge boards give them a crucial tool when they consider, strategically, what it will take to get to victory lane.”

The popular additional practice sessions on oval tracks to allow select cars to ‘rubber in’ a high groove in the corners will continue this year.

There will also be minor tweaks to the qualifying sessions, which will guarantee more green flag time in the event of a stoppage during the short sessions.

Bridgestone Americas, the parent company of Firestone, has announced that it will utilize its new plant-based guayule tire at all of IndyCar’s street races this season following a successful test last year.

Branded with a green sidewall stripe rather than red, the new Firestone Firehawk tire compound was developed as renewable alternative to the company’s standard tire compound.

The new compound is built into the sidewalls of the tire carcass, the details of which are critical to the performance of any open wheel car.

The debut weekend for the tire last year was positively received, and the series has now agreed to run the new compound at all five street courses throughout the 2023 season.

 “We are driving sustainability in every area of our business, and we’re thrilled to be advancing guayule and other sustainable practices in America’s premier open-wheel racing series,” said Paolo Ferrari, CEO of Bridgestone Americas.

“Firestone has a tremendous legacy of innovation and performance in racing, which we will continue to build upon as we move into this new era of cleaner, safer and more sustainable mobility on and off the track.”

The guayule tire was first used last season at the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, with the compound replacing the normal soft compound tire for the event.

Drivers reported that its performance was almost indistinguishable from a standard tire, and that it held up to the rigors of a race weekend.

Over 1900 tires will be produced from the sustainable plant that’s native to the American southwest, and a majority of the season’s race tires will be produced at Bridgestone’s Advanced Test Production Center.

Also part of the announcement was the news that the company’s synthetic rubber compound, which is produced from recycled plastics, will be used for all race tires in the upcoming Indy 500.

The first time the guayule tire will see the track this year will be at the opening round from the streets of St. Petersburg on March 5.

During IndyCar’s recent visit to the Indianapolis road course, multiple drivers expressed frustration over the lack of consistency in performance of Firestone’s softer compound tire.

Firestone has been the sole supplier of tires in the series since 2000, and they provide sets to all the teams on the grid.  For road course weekends, two different compounds are delivered for use throughout the weekend.

The softer, red-walled tire was the compound in question at IMS, and multiple drivers reported that their car balance was completely thrown off from one set to the next.

Speaking to NBC after being knocked out of qualifying, Colton Herta expressed his frustration at the lack of control he had over the situation.

“These last two years, Firestone tires have been so inconsistent,” said Herta.  “We go out with one balance, don’t change the car at all, and we go out the next time and it’s incredibly different.  We’ve had problems with this, everyone has, for the last year and a half.

“It’s so frustrating when you have a good car.  The car is fine, it’s not the car’s fault.  Inconsistent tires suck.  You’re locking up the rears and super loose.  So yeah, I’m pretty frustrated about it.”

Herta’s lap in the second round of qualifying was two-tenths of a second slower than what he put down in the first round, and a lap that matched his first time would have advanced him into the final Fast 6 round.

Conor Daly was also seemingly bitten by a poor performing set of tires in qualifying, and echoed Herta’s thoughts on the television broadcast.

“There was a bit of red tire inconsistency.  You put on another new set of reds, and the balance was completely different for Q2.  We’ve seen that a couple times this year, and a couple times on the black tires too.

“Firestone’s a great tire partner, but there’s just some odd inconsistencies.  I don’t know whether it’s the weight of the car now, or whatever it is.”

Daly’s time in the second round was also slower than the lap he was able to set just a few minutes before, leading to his frustration whether or not a particular set of tires was the cause.

At times it is difficult for drivers and teams to pinpoint their performance issues to a bad set of tires when so many other factors are in play, but there does seem to be an ongoing consistency issue.

The weekend’s eventual race winner Alexander Rossi also chimed in the disparity in individual sets of tires, saying that it is well known there is a chance to receive a set that is not up to par.

“I think we all at one point unfortunately will get burned by it at one point in the year,” said Rossi.  “I mean, it is a thing.  It does exist.  It’s frustrating for sure when it happens.

“Firestone for the most part does a very good job, but there certainly has been inconsistencies that have popped up, especially on the red tire, I think for the past couple of years.

“They produce thousands of tires and it’s a couple, maybe 20 to 30 a year.  Maybe that’s being generous, I don’t know.  But it’s pretty hard to pinpoint.”

Firestone brings nearly 250 full sets of tires to each race weekend, and affixes them to the team’s rims on site at the track.

Teams are purposefully left out of the process to prevent any sort of unfair advantage, but they do expect to receive largely identically performing tires throughout the entire weekend.

Some variability in the process is expected, but it seems that larger discrepancies are being introduced at some point in the manufacturing or delivery process than the teams and drivers would prefer.

The NTT IndyCar Series has chosen Earth Day to announce a few new environmentally friendly initiatives that will be become part of the series in later this year.

Firestone, the series’ sole tire manufacturer, will be a big part of the changes by providing tires made with natural rubber sourced from alternative and renewable sources.

The main source of the rubber for the new tires will come from the guayule plant, which produces rubber in its stem, branches, and roots.  The plant grows in the southeast United States and Mexico, and requires very little water to grow.

These tires will be used first during the Pit Stop Challenge on Carb Day just ahead of the Indianapolis 500, and then will be used as the alternate tire option at the upcoming Music City Grand Prix in August.

Firestone has stated that the new tires should be virtually identical to the traditional tires used today, and teams are not expected to have to adapt to the sustainable compound.

“This will be the most sustainable Indy 500 in our 100-plus year history,” Penske Entertainment Corp. President & CEO Mark Miles said.

“Moreover, through excellent coordination and teamwork with partners who are true innovators in this field, we’re moving IndyCar toward industry leadership when it comes to environmental awareness and impact.”

Other initiatives were also announced, including the intent that transportation trucks for all 26 full-time entries will use renewable diesel fuel to reduce travel-related emissions.

The truckloads of tires used for the Indy 500 will also be delivered from Firestone’s warehouse to the track via a Freightliner eCascadia electric semi-truck.

Fans attending the Indy 500 will also be given the chance to offset their own travel footprint via a contribution to the GreenTrees reforestation project.

Last year, the Indy 500 achieving 37 social and environmental standards of good practice and was certified at the Silver level by the Council for Responsible Sport.

Recent renovations to the track that included water-efficient sinks and extensive use of LED lighting have significantly reduced emissions generated by large events at the track, and more improvements are currently being worked on.

The name of the game for Sunday’s IndyCar race from Road America appears to be the battle to keep performance in the tires for more than a couple laps.

For reasons unknown to the drivers, the series-mandated Firestone tires are simply not lasting as long as they have in previous years when the series has visited the 4.05-mile course.

There were hints all weekend as to how critical the quick degradation of the tires would be, but Saturday’s qualifying cemented its importance.

The softer tires did not even last long enough to put in a couple fast laps, and Josef Newgarden was able to rocket to pole by employing an alternate strategy and running his fast laps on the harder, black-walled tires.

After qualifying, the veteran elaborated on what can be done during Sunday’s race to help the tires to last as long as possible.

“The name of the game is not over-slipping the tire,” explained Newgarden. “The tire is always sliding.

“[The cars] generate grip by slipping the tire, but you don’t want to over-slip it.  You want to slip it just enough to get good grip, good speed, but not doing any damage.

“Some guys are easier on tires versus not.  Colton [Herta] is certainly one that you’d see him be strong in the beginning, fade pretty aggressively a couple years ago.  He’s better at that now.

“Longitudinally and laterally are how you’re wearing the tire out, how much you’re sliding it.

“There’s a lot of long-duration lateral corners here where you are constantly loaded for five, ten seconds, like the carrousel.

“You can do a lot of damage to tires if you’re too aggressive in those types of corners.  There’s all kind of sorts of stuff you can do to dial out the wear, but you’re sacrificing speed if you do.”

There will be considerable thought put into tire strategy ahead of Sunday’s race, as teams are expected to try to run as few laps as possible on the softer tires.

There is an added element of rain as well, which is expected to arrive right around race time.  If rain does come, any requirements surrounding tire compounds are removed as soon as the rain tires are fitted.

The 55-lap race from Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin gets underway Sunday at 12:30 PM EDT.

The Detroit Grand Prix is no stranger to a rain shower interrupting proceedings when IndyCar visits each summer, and there is a reasonable chance of rain for the first of two races of the double-header again this year.

The combination of rain tires and the Aeroscreen, which was introduced for the 2020 season, has not yet been seen in a race, but they have been used together in testing and in qualifying for Mid-Ohio last season.

Firestone confirmed that there have been no changes to the rain tire compound since 2018, and there are no concerns about their potential use later today.

Drivers similarly shrugged off the prospect of a rain shower moving through just as the race will be getting under way.

Many of them have run in the wet multiple times in the past, and they still carry tear-offs on their visors to help clear any spray that would make it to their helmets.

The Aeroscreen was designed to shed water at speeds without the need for a windshield wiper, but teams can remove any built up dirt during a pit stop through the use of the larger tear-offs on the windscreen.

If the rain does arrive during the race, drivers are no longer obligated to run both types of dry weather tires that normally required.

Forecasted rain chances have bounced between 30 and 50 percent for Saturday’s race, and it will be closer to race time before solid plans can be made.

Qualifying takes place at 11:00 AM Eastern time, well before any showers are expected to build up.  The first race of the double-header will be run at 2:00 PM Eastern, however, just as the rain is expected to build in the area.