Louden Race Track

Indy cars to race in NH Sunday

BRATTLEBORO -- An IZOD IndyCar Series event will take place at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H., on Sunday at 3:30 p.m., for the first time since 1998. The race is scheduled to go 225 laps.

The "Magic Mile" hosted seven Indy car races from 1992-1998, with drivers such as Bobby Rahal, Nigel Mansell, Al Unser Jr. and Tony Stewart claiming race wins. Who will join the list of Indy car winners at NHMS?

Last year, Dario Franchitti overcame what some people thought was an insurmountable advantage held by Will Power over the final third of the season. In 2011, Power looks to turn the tables on Franchitti. Can the Team Penske driver, who enters New Hampshire trailing Franchitti by 62 points, cut into the point lead?

Coming off his first win of 2011 at Mid-Ohio, Scott Dixon looks to ride success on the short oval at New Hampshire back into the title picture. Can Dixon, the only driver to finish in the top-five in each of the four previous races, get a second-straight win and make the championship a three-man race?

For the first time ever, a "Magic Mile" record four women will race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway during the MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225. Joining Danica Patrick will be Simona De Silvestro, Ana Beatriz and Pippa Mann, who will be racing with Rahal Letterman Lanigan.

Second generation racer Graham Rahal will look to add to his family’s legacy at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Rahal’s father Bobby won the first Indy car race at New Hampshire in his championship-winning season of 1992 for Rahal-Hogan Racing. Can the younger Rahal win in series’ return to Loudon?

New Hampshire holds a special place in the heart of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing co-owner Robbie Buhl. Buhl graduated from New England College, not far from NHMS, where he claimed the first of his two Indy car wins in 1997. He returns to Loudon with a two-car team.

The MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 will be the fourth IZOD IndyCar Series event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but the first at the track since 1998. No driver entered has raced an Indy car at the track.

Past winners at the track are: Bobby Rahal (1992), Nigel Mansell (1993), Al Unser Jr. (1994), Andre Ribeiro (1995), Scott Sharp (1996), Robbie Buhl (1997) and Tony Stewart (1998). The New Hampshire race winner won the Indy car championship in the same year he won at the track four times in the previous seven events.

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I’ve been writing this blog all season with an eye on one race, and now it’s finally here. I’m excited to compete this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and I’m happy to be taking you along with me.

But before we talk about this weekend, let’s talk about Sunday’s race at Mid-Ohio. My teammate, Scott Dixon, ran away with the victory while I finished second, so it was a solid 1-2 finish for Team Target.

From the test session before the race at Mid-Ohio until the final lap of the race, Scott was really good. He’s been fast all season, but he’s encountered some bad luck. On Sunday, he lifted his performance to another level. He didn’t make any mistakes and for once he didn't have any bad luck. He deserved to win, and I was very happy for him.

For me, second was the best result I could have hoped for. The No. 10 car wasn’t bad, but I never could get the balance where I wanted it. To finish second was absolutely as good as it could have been, so in that sense I’m very pleased with how it turned out and very proud of the entire Target team.

As I've said before, this is very much a team sport and from the guys who build the cars and do pit stops to the engineers who come up with setups and work with the great strategists to figure out how and when to pit. They all did another amazing job at the weekend.

It also was a positive result in terms of points, as we still lead the IZOD IndyCar Series championship, increasing the lead to 62 points with six races remaining. And Scott’s win further solidified his third-place position in the championship standings.

But it was a crazy race. Looking at it from the outside, it was fairly tame. But from inside the cockpit, it was wild. It was hot and humid, so the track was slippery. There were plenty of times when I was struggling to hang on. On the last lap, I got completely sideways. It was a tough race from a driver's perspective.

But now we’re on to Loudon, which means we’re back to a short oval after three road and street-course races. I haven’t raced NHMS before in an IndyCar, but I did race NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup cars there in 2008. You might think that gives me an advantage, but it doesn’t. There’s really no comparing Indy cars and stock cars, so I’ll be coming into this race with the same unknowns everyone else will have.

If you’re looking for a good comparison to what you might see this weekend at NHMS, check out this video from YouTube . It’s from the 1993 New England 200, so you'll have an idea of how exciting this form of racing can be at this track.

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