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.

Over the course of a couple days at the end of this past week, IndyCar’s two engine manufacturers Honda and Chevy put the latest iterations of their new hybrid system to the test.

After having completed tests on road courses, a simulated street course in the form of Sebring, and a short oval, the new system was finally given a run on the 2.5-mile oval of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Six drivers hopped behind the wheel with the new systems affixed, and up to four cars were on track at a time. In all 1,325 laps were turned around the famous track at speeds over 220 MPH.

They tested all aspects of the hybrid power system, including deployment and regeneration of the super capacitor, drafting techniques, and of course reliability of the system.

IndyCar officials were on site to participate in the testing of the components that are due to be implemented for the full 2024 season, as were many high-ranking engineers from both engine manufacturers.

Matt Niles, Senior Engineer at Honda Performance Development, is the project lead for HPD’s version of the hybrid components, and offered his thoughts on the tests so far.

“I think, yeah, we’re pretty set on where we are with the energy storage [capacity],” said Niles. “I think we’ve been finding out how all these different components survive in this environment.

“The vibration is unique. Also the temperatures that we deal with. We’ve been learning a lot about that. But I think going forward, a lot of it is really how we use the system and the parts and pieces we have, and how that’s regulated on track and how the drivers use it, how the engineers interface with it, how we go racing.

“That’s where we’ve been going through sort of street course at the short course at Sebring, we’ve been running short ovals, road courses, and now we’re here at this hallowed ground to see how it works here.

“We just kind of have to go back through all the data, start making some decisions on how we go to St. Pete.”

IndyCar’s implementation of hybrid components has been a long time coming, and was delayed for a couple years due to complications surrounding the pandemic.

The system is also unique among other racing series that have their own electrification components.

IndyCar devised a way to stick with its existing 2.2-liter engine, and placed the super capacitor energy store within the bell housing, which sits between the engine and the gearbox.

This allows for a direct attachment to the drivetrain, and also keeps the entire package small and light, which is crucial for an open wheel car.

Different levels of driver control have been tested throughout the development cycle as well, with every option from manual regen and deployment to fully automatic usage through software programming put through its paces.

When the driver is in full control of the system, the clutch pedal on the steering wheel is repurposed as the regen paddle, and a button on the front of the wheel deploys the stored energy.

The final decision about how the hybrid power will be controlled has not yet been made, but the goal for IndyCar officials is to get that finalized soon. And the goal for Honda and Chevy is to get the new components sent out to all the teams in time for them to have the system implemented at the first race in early March.

“I think to get all the teams have their hands on it, our goal is to have that before the end of the year,” continued Honda’s Matt Niles.

“I think getting all the parts and pieces in place by St. Petersburg is going to be a challenge. But that’s what we do here, is challenges. So we’re going to keep pushing ahead and get it done.

“We had [steering wheel] paddles on the car already. Using that for regen seemed like the natural thing to do. We had to do some software trickery to reassign the clutch paddle for use while out on track.

“But it seems like it could work, and that’s what we’re trying to figure out here today and tomorrow, is get the drivers out there together and see if we could get it to work in a pack.”

Although secretive, the two-day test was presented as successful. Drivers were able to drive in a pack, plan their regen strategies, deploy extra power for a pass, and all the things they expected to be able to do.

A couple of the drivers with the most experience testing the hybrid systems were part of the test at Indianapolis, with the two most recent series champions Will Power and Alex Palou providing their insight.

Alexander Rossi, Colton Herta, Marcus Ericsson, and David Malukas were also part of the test, and were able to give a wide range of feedback to the engineers directing the procedures.

The feedback from all sides was positive, and there was next to no downtime due to technical issues or repairs. Driver’s thoughts instead focused on the differences in driving techniques to fully utilize the hybrid power.

“I have to say, in qualifying, you’re going to be pretty busy on that first lap,” said Will Power describing how an Indy 500 qualifying run might proceed. “Pretty sure you regen on that lap, decide when you deploy.

“Between that, the weight jacker, switching the fuel slot, and the bars, yeah, pretty busy qualifying.

“As soon as you’re in the draft of someone [during the race], you’re going to be regenerating. Then you’re going to be trying to time that deploy of what you want to pass.

“Maybe you’re not going to get him and switch off and regen again, wait for a better run. I think that will be really based on how you’re running.

“Yeah, I think you’ll try to keep that tank full. Instead of hitting the limiter or lifting, you’ll grab the paddle to regen. Yeah, it will just be a constant changing thing.

“I think [IndyCar officials] are still playing with the rules, because you may have it where you have auto regen and deploy, but you also have the ability to pull the paddle. Instead of getting into the hard limiter in top gear, you use that as a regen tool.

“Yeah, it’s still a lot of stuff to go through. I mean, I have had a lot of miles in that thing. I think if you’re not having to pull that paddle [on the road courses], it would be an advantage because that is quite awkward on a road course to be grabbing that, hitting it every time out of a corner.

“I don’t think that will be the case. The last test we weren’t doing that. It was auto everything. I think they’re still kind of trying to understand how best to use it, which I think the best way to use it is to get the most out of it for lap time, which is using it as much as we can.

“At first, it’s going to be reliability.”

With four drivers running at a time without issue this past week, the next major goal is to have 10 cars on track at the same time.

Reliability is the number one goal for the system – teams would not be happy to have race retirements that are out of their control – and reliability is best tested with as many cars on track as possible.

A 10-car test, with 10 different teams on track at once, is currently scheduled for early December, and will represent a significant milestone towards the rapidly-approaching deadline that is the 2024 season opener.

For now, a bit of satisfaction as the system seems to have worked as expected while powering the cars for the unique demands of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

One day ahead of the season finale race weekend, the NTT IndyCar Series held an open test session around the famous Laguna Seca circuit.

All drivers participating in the upcoming race were given a chance to take stock of the newly repaved circuit a day early, giving their teams time to make adjustments before the limited official track running gets underway on Friday afternoon.

After five hours of open track time, it was Will Power that ended up setting the fastest lap around the 2.24-mile course in southern California.

The veteran set a time of 1:07.2762, which is well faster than cars have been able to run in recent years.

New pavement provided plenty of grip for the open wheeled cars to utilize, and Power’s pole time from last season of 1:11.6127 looked downright slow compared to the times set during the test.

The times were so fast that a full third of the drivers participating set times that were faster than the all-time IndyCar pole record, which was set by Helio Castroneves in the year 2000.

Among the best performing drivers were Christian Lundgaard and Scott McLaughlin, who set the second the third fastest times of the day.

The rookie Juri Vips had a mightily impressive day just four days after his IndyCar debut, and was able to set the fourth fastest time in the #30 RLL Honda.

Marcus Ericcson was the fifth fastest, and was followed closely by all three Arrow McLaren drivers, who have been very near each other in performance for much of the later portion of the 2023 season.

The newly-crowned champion Alex Palou set the 12th best time, and only turned 40 laps on the course where he blew away the competition in last year’s finale.

There were 1378 laps turned in total by all the drivers, with Power completing the most with 70. Devlin DeFrancesco set the fewest with only 26 laps turned, and he ended 21st on the timing chart.

Of course, outright speeds are not as important during the test as they are during the race weekend. Teams use the time to trial out many different setups and parts in order to be better prepared for when the speed does matter.

In this particular case, the newly-paved track provided plenty of new challenges, and gave everyone one extra day to figure out how best to adjust the myriad of settings available across the car.

The first practice session of the Laguna Seca race weekend takes place Friday afternoon at 2:30 PM Pacific Time.

IndyCar took to the banked oval of World Wide Technology raceway on Saturday evening for the weekend’s lone practice session, which was delayed due to rain throughout the afternoon.

The one-hour session got under way just as the sun was going down, and all 28 drivers took to the track to get as many laps in as possible.

From the outset, Josef Newgarden set himself apart from the rest of the field. He set his fast lap of 24.9944 seconds on just his 12th circuit, and nobody was able to catch him the rest of the time.

The current oval king set the fastest time on the new alternate tires, which were in use on an oval for the first time during the session.

As time was winding down, an incident involving three cars brought out the red flag and the session was not able to be resumed.

It all started when Scott McLaughlin lost control in turn 1 and came to a stop on the bottom line as other drivers came through.

His team-mate Will Power was the first on the scene and had to move up the banking in order avoid a collision, but the marbles that had built up meant he could not stop his #12 Chevy from drifting into the outside wall.

As he spun back across the track at the exit of Turn 2, Marcus Ericsson had nowhere to go and his car speared into the nose of Power’s car at nearly full speed.

Both drivers were able to climb from their cars uninjured, but their crews will have a lot of work ahead of them before Sunday morning’s qualifying session.

McLaughlin and Power each set strong lap times before the incident to end the session, with the two drivers putting in the second and fourth fastest times respectively.

The results show that Team Penske continues to possess the magic setup needed to pace the field on the banking.

Takuma Sato put in the third fastest time, setting his fast lap on the primary tires. He also had a scare when he brushed the wall at the exit of Turn 4, but was able to continue back to the pits with minimal damage.

Graham Rahal was the most frustrated driver at the track after the session was done, as a setup mistake by his RLL crew led to him sitting on pit lane for a majority of the evening.

He only completed 29 laps, and was not even able to get a qualifying simulation under his belt.

The next time drivers will be on track will be for qualifying, which was moved to Sunday morning on account of the weather delays. The race is still scheduled for its original time at 2:30 PM Central Time.

The NTT IndyCar Series took to the streets of Nashville on Friday for the first practice session of the Music City Grand Prix.

When the 75-minute session was complete, it was Will Power that was the fastest of the 27 cars on the 2.1-mile course.

The reigning champion completed a lap in 1:16.4042, putting in that fast lap near the end of his 20 laps as rubber was put down on the temporary course.

The track was extra clean at the start of the session due to multiple rounds of heavy rain that moved through the area in the 24 hours before the race weekend.

The track was dry by time IndyCar took to the course, but the humidity was still very high and gave the drivers a workout behind the wheel.

Alex Palou was the fastest for a good portion of the session, but lost out in the final minutes to Power’s lap and ended practice in second. He was a quarter of a second slower than the top time.

Third on the list was Alexander Rossi, who was narrowly the fastest Arrow McLaren driver. Pato O’Ward was just 0.05 seconds slower than his team-mate and was the fourth fastest of the day.

Christian Lundgaard, the most recent street course winner, rounded out the top five, and will look to use that momentum through the rest of the weekend.

Linus Lundqvist impressed in his debut IndyCar session, setting the 11th fastest time of the afternoon in his role filling in for an ailing Simon Pagenaud.

The 2022 Indy NXT champion was even faster than his veteran team-mate Helio Castroneves, who was the 16th fastest driver of the afternoon.

Even though the Nashville course typically has a lot of carnage, there were very few incidents throughout the opening session.

It took until five minutes remaining before the red flag came out, and that was only because Callum Ilott stalled while trying to spin around in the runoff area for the final corner.

When the drivers took to the track for the final few minutes, Power pushed a bit too hard and clipped the inside of turn 2.

The impact ripped the wheel out of the veteran’s hand, but he reported that he was not injured by the spinning wheel. The team will look over the car to see how many parts need to be replaced before Saturday’s running.

The second practice session takes place at 10:40 Central Time on Saturday morning, when additional rain is forecast to be in the area.

Qualifying for the NTT IndyCar Series double-header from Iowa speedway was delayed nearly two hours on account of a rogue rain shower and moved through just as the first car was about to get underway.

There was no doubt who was fastest, however, and Will Power stomped the field to take pole for both races, a feat that he accomplished last year as well.

Scott McLaughlin was over a full mile-per-hour slower on both laps, but still was able to take the outside spot of the front row for both races. Team Penske was simply too quick for anyone to mount a challenge.

READ MORE: IndyCar Iowa – Full Qualifying Report

Benjamin Pedersen was not able to compete in qualifying due to his #55 AJ Foyt Racing Chevy failing inspection. He will start from last for both events.

The first race of the double-header takes place Saturday afternoon from central Iowa, and the second will be run Sunday afternoon.

Race 1 Qualifying results

Race 2 Qualifying results

Qualifying for the double-header on the short oval of Iowa Speedway was delayed by nearly two hours due to a rain storm that moved through just as Ed Carpenter was set to begin the session.

The wet track shifted qualifying later into the morning, but still offered drivers a chance to earn their starting positions as opposed to being lined up be entrant points.

The starting grids for both races were set in a single session, with the first lap counting for the first race and the second lap setting the lineup for the second race on Sunday.

READ MORE: IndyCar Iowa  – Full Qualifying Results

Just as he did last year, Will Power dominated both parts of qualifying around the 7/8-mile oval and earned two more poles to his illustrious record.

The poles are the 69th and 70th career IndyCar poles for the veteran, and he was over one mile-per-hour faster than his nearest competitor.

That nearest competitor was his own Team Penske team-mate Scott McLaughlin, with the Kiwi earning the second position for both races.

Josef Newgarden made for the Penske trifecta in race one by earning the third starting spot. David Malukas earned the third starting spot for race two with a quick second lap in his Dale Coyne Racing Honda.

Team Penske was a mile ahead of the rest of the field in general, and no others looked nearly as solid while cruising the short oval at 180 MPH.

Drivers overall were forced to qualify with a race setup due to impound rules being in effect, which meant many were quite uncomfortable behind the wheel as they pushed the limits.

No driver hit the wall, but a few did get loose and were forced to lift the throttle to prevent a spin.

Benjamin Pedersen did not take part in qualifying due to his AJ Foyt Racing Chevy not passing technical inspection, and will start in the final position for both races.

Jack Harvey was assessed a grid penalty for his part in the opening lap wreck in Toronto last weekend, and will start from 26th instead of 17th for the first race.

Race one of the double-header takes place later Saturday afternoon, with the green flag waving near 4:00 PM central time.

At the NTT IndyCar Series race from Mid-Ohio, there was one driver who made many of his competitors angry over the course of the event.

Benjamin Pedersen, a rookie driving for AJ Foyt Racing, was seen fighting tooth and nail against every driver that came up in his mirrors, even when he was a lap down and leaders were coming past.

The eventual race winner Alex Palou was held up for multiple laps by Pedersen, who was defending as hard as he could to stay on the lead lap.

Once he was lapped, other drivers were held up by the 24-year-old as well, causing some angry messages to be sent over the radio regarding the tactic, and more discussion after the race was over.

“I think that the blue flag rule, it’s crazy,” said Will Power after the race. “You use push-to-pass up and have to race somebody that’s going to be a lap down like you’re racing for position.

“The series is so tight and competitive, and everyone is so good now that I think we could have a [more strict] blue flag rule. It’s not like we have yellows constantly, and you’re going to get your lap back.

“Maybe they do it in the second half of the race, but it’s ridiculous when a leader gives up 10 seconds. I mean, I think you [Scott Dixon] were five seconds down the road, and I closed it right up. I probably would have overtaken you if I didn’t get held up on going a couple of laps longer.

“I think that’s actually the problem is it takes a lot of people to police that because if there’s a blue flag rule and the first guy passes and then you’ve got to have a command blue for everyone.

“I think that’s the thing. It becomes a bit difficult, but we’re at the stage where this competition is so tough maybe we have to add some people [in race control] to do that.”

IndyCar does wave blue flags at slower drivers, but there is not a mandate for them to move over and allow the faster cars to pass.

A general drivers’ agreement typically keeps those a lap down from slowing up the leading cars too much.

With Pedersen being a rookie, he will likely get some direction and coaching from the other drivers on how he should change his driving style when at the back of the field.

But after affecting so many drivers’ races this past weekend, he has likely used up any free passes he had for quite some time.

Pedersen finished in 26th position on Sunday, one lap down and the last car that was still running.

The NTT IndyCar Series was back on track at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday morning, with the final practice session before qualifying on tap.

The session started off with much more excitement than anybody wanted to see, as Simon Pagenaud tumbled dramatically through the gravel trap at the exit of Turn 4.

The veteran lost control at the end of the long straight at nearly 180 MPH, and launched his Meyer Shank Racing Honda off the racing surface.

Pagenaud rolled through the gravel a full seven times, shedding parts all the way, and his car ended up resting against the tire barriers on the side of what was left of the chassis.

The AMR safety crew was on site nearly immediately, and helped the Frenchman climb from the car under his own power.

While confirming on the radio that he was unhurt, Pagenaud said that he suffered brake failure at one of the fastest portions of the track.

The Meyer Shank Racing crew rushed to get a backup car unloaded from the hauler to get it ready for this afternoon’s qualifying. Pagenaud was subsequently deemed not fit to take part, and the car will not be needed until Sunday morning.

After cleanup was completed, the session was resumed for the remaining drivers. Colton Herta quickly set the fastest time in his Andretti Autosport Honda.

That didn’t last long, however, and Will Power ended the session in the top position. His time was nearly identical to O’Ward’s fast lap on Friday, showing the Team Penske crew found some pace for the second day of running.

Alex Palou was second fastest, just as he was on Friday, and Herta ended up in the third position.

Santino Ferrucci was the only other driver to cause a red flag during the session, but his problems were limited to being stuck in the wet grass.

The oft-predicted rain was closing in on the track by the end of practice, and the expectation is that qualifying could well be in very different conditions than the rest of the weekend has been to this point.

Qualifying gets underway at 2:45 PM Eastern time with a standard knockout format.

Will Power had an incredibly frustrating Saturday at Road America, and he let his emotions show by making comments about the driving standards of a couple of the other drivers.

The most explosive comments came after he was eliminated from qualifying when he told the NBC crew what he thought of Romain Grosjean in particular.

Grosjean put what seemed to be a block on Power on the long back straight in the morning qualifying session, forcing the latter off onto the grass.

Even though a few hours had passed since the incident, the reigning champion let his frustrations fly on a range of topics in his television interview after being knocked out of qualifying.

“This track’s terrible when you go off,” Power told NBC. “They did a terrible job here. They need to pick up their game. Anywhere you go off you almost break your back every time. Done it a couple times this weekend. Need a kick in the butt for this place.

“I’m just pissed what Dixon did this morning, has just ruined our whole weekend. Just a terrible move all up.

“The guys did a great job. Everyone thrashed and did a fantastic job. We got out there, did everything I could. It’s just so hard in this field if you’re behind the 8-ball. You’re not sure, with a new front wing and new floor, where the aero balance will be.

“Frustrating because it felt like we were really quick this morning. Disappointed with what happened. Really disappointed.

“And Grosjean is a piece of crap! If you saw what he did in practice, he needs a punch in the face.”

The comments about Dixon referenced another, more significant accident that happened later in the morning practice session.

After being shoved off track by Grosjean, Power was then taken out by Scott Dixon when he attempted to get out of the way after spinning off track.

Dixon did not see Power passing him, and both drivers suffered massive damage in the ensuing collision. Power was even seen shoving Dixon in the aftermath of the second incident.

If the veteran has any hopes of recovering his weekend from fully unravelling, he will have to pass a lot of drivers from his 23rd starting position.